Can Aye Right gain compensation on 275-mile journey south for competitive veterans' chase?

Scottish-based training team Harriet Graham and Gary Rutherford send Aye Right on a 275-mile journey to compete in this veterans’ chase and he will be their first runner at Warwick. So should punters take the hint and trust Aye Right to go one better than last time?

Aye Right went into his seasonal reappearance in the seventh leg of this veteran series last month following a fourth behind Shishkin in the Grade 1 Ascot Chase in February and nearly took advantage of a huge drop in class when beaten a neck into second by Good Boy Bobby.

That race was at Chepstow, an even longer journey for Aye Right, and the ten-year-old traded at the minimum 1.01 in running on Betfair before being run down in the dying strides. It must have been hugely frustrating for connections, but this is a good opportunity for compensation.

It’s just 65 miles from Henry Daly’s yard in Shropshire to Warwick and the stable was in fantastic form before Jimmy The Digger made his seasonal reappearance at Aintree last month. The ten-year-old went off just 9-2 for leg eight of this series, but unseated his rider.

Alice Stevens is on board again and will be hoping for a clear round, but Daly’s yard has cooled off since and just one winner in the last fortnight is only a modest recent return.

The two hottest trainers in the race are Venetia Williams and Nicky Henderson and both of them have saddled at least ten winners in the last fortnight. Williams saddles Cepage, but maybe the Henderson-trained Mill Green will prove best of the pair after a 193-day absence.
Analysis by Graeme Rodway

Going update

The going at Warwick is soft, heavy in places following 17mm rainfall between last Thursday and Sunday, but there is a dry forecast overnight into raceday.

What they say

Harriet Graham, joint trainer of Aye Right
We think we're going there with a fighting chance. It's a field of lovely old horses and we always seem to be lugging loads of weight, which we wouldn't like to be doing. He got caught on the line at Chepstow, which was character building, but we're hoping that doesn't happen again.

Olly Murphy, trainer of Thomas Darby
He's in good form and should have come on for his first run of the season at Chepstow last month. Like the rest of them, he's not getting any younger, but that run would've blown away the cobwebs and he'd be a popular winner as it's our local track. He's got a good each-way chance.

Nicky Henderson, trainer of Mill Green
He went chasing before and I didn’t think he was that good at it, but now he’s a veteran and we thought we’d look at it again. He schooled really well and he jumped five fences this morning. These races are good and he’s run some amazing races in some of the Cheltenham handicaps.

Dan Skelton, trainer of Bennys King
He ran great over the Grand National fences last time and that came in his best season yet. I've not got big expectations as he's older and needs the run, and sometimes in their first run following the National fences they can be apprehensive.
Reporting by Matt Rennie

Do you want £400+ of free bets? Racing Post have got the best offers, all in one place. Visit racingpost.com/freebets to find out more.