It's all fun and Modern Games - Chris Cook's three things to note on Friday

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1. Carlton one to look out for away from Aintree

While we're focusing on the end-of-term jumps action on Merseyside, don't forget there's some decent Flat racing happening in your peripheral vision. Only three go to post for the opening novice at Leicester but one of them was a major eye-catcher on his recent debut at Doncaster. I speak of Carlton, who, disappointingly, doesn't appear to be named after a character in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Trained by the Gosdens and carrying the Godolphin colours, he's a Frankel half-brother to a German Group 3 winner and holds an entry in the Dante. He was pretty green a fortnight ago but will have learned loads from racing in a pack like that and he came home powerfully into fourth on soft ground as the penny seemed to drop.

2. Let the amateurs meet the conditionals

The handicap hurdle that closes Aintree's card is restricted to conditional and amateur jockeys, still a fairly unusual combination but you can see the thinking behind it - these are riders lacking in experience or perhaps even in ability in some cases, they need to be given chances and here's a way of killing two birds with one stone. But the spectrum of riding experience in this race is absolutely enormous, thanks to the presence of Jamie Codd, booked by Olly Murphy for Go Dante. It's 14 years since Codd first rode a winner at the Cheltenham Festival and he rode 972 winners point-to-pointing in Ireland, making him second only to Derek O'Connor in that sphere. There are other jockeys in this race who've had one winner in their lives - though there is also Luca Morgan, who will end the season as champion conditional. It'll be interesting to see how much the difference in riding experience is factored into the betting.

3. Fun and Modern Games on a Friday night

While you're up tonight studying the National form, or doing whatever else you generally get up to at 10.16pm on a Friday night, Modern Games will be making his seasonal reappearance in Kentucky in the Maker's Mark Mile. Charlie Appleby's four-year-old returns to Keeneland, where he won the Breeders' Cup Mile when last seen in November, and is likely to be a pretty strong favourite over the same course and distance. It's an early start to the year for the chestnut, who was first seen out in the middle of May last year, winning the French Guineas. The long-term aim is presumably a third success at the Breeders' Cup, almost seven months away.

Read these next:

2023 Grand National: the runners, the odds, the verdict  

Going remains good to soft at Aintree after watering for day two of Grand National meeting  

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The Front Runner is our unmissable email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday. Not a Members' Club Ultimate subscriber? Click here to join today and also receive our Ultimate Daily emails plus our full range of fantastic website and newspaper content.