River Wylde out to follow Cheltenham hero Buveur's path

2.20 Aintree
Crabbie's Top Novices' Hurdle (Grade 1) | 2m 103yds | 4yo+ | ITV/RUK

Nicky Henderson won last year's Top Novices' with a horse who had finished third in the Supreme on its previous start.

River Wylde is out to follow in the footsteps of Buveur D'Air. He travelled powerfully through the Supreme, just as Buveur D'Air did, but flattened out up the hill.

The competition looks stronger than 12 months ago. Moon Racer is the most obvious threat, having been tried in the Champion Hurdle last time rather than the Supreme.

Perhaps unusually for a Grade 1 at Aintree, only three of the nine runners participated at Cheltenham. Besides the two mentioned above, the Colin Tizzard-trained Pingshou finished down the field in the Supreme.

Henderson has trained four of the last five winners of the race and the exception was Cyrus Darius, whose trainer Malcolm Jefferson is represented by Mount Mews. He made a winning bumper debut at around this time last year and, for all the exact worth of the form is questionable, undoubtedly progressed to win a Grade 2 at Kelso last time by the small matter of 49 lengths. His connections were just out of luck with Cloudy Dream in Thursday's Manifesto Novices' Chase.

On official ratings, the Paul Nicholls-trained High Secret has plenty to do, with 15lb to find on top-rated Moon Racer, but he comes in with a good deal of potential, having been rated 95 on the Flat when with Sir Mark Prescott and being only three starts into his hurdling career.

Sends his good ones

Some of Nicky Henderson's winners of this race – the likes of Darlan, Josses Hill and My Tent Or Yours – have been good enough to be considered for champion novice honours in most years.

Select bunch
Colin Tizzard has only outsider Pingshou here but has a good record with horses he sends up to Aintree, having seven winners from 33 runners in recent seasons.

Unfamiliar surroundings
None of the nine runners here have raced at Aintree before.

What they say

Micky Hammond, trainer of Bulkov
He's a nice horse, some of his form in France looks quite good with Footpad and the like. It's a tough ask but we didn't want to lose his novice status in a small race so we thought we'd give it a try.

Donald McCain, trainer of Chti Balko
His handicap mark means we have to run him in a race like this. I don't know if he's up to it, we'll find out.

Paul Nicholls, trainer of High Secret
He’s won with a bit in hand the twice he’s won for us and keeps progressing, so he isn’t without a chance.

Colin Tizzard, trainer of Pingshou
He wasn't too far away in the Supreme. He was there turning in but seemed to hit that hill and stop a bit. He's an outsider, but this isn't as strong as the Supreme.

Nicky Henderson, trainer of River Wylde
He must have good ground and the track will suit – he is quite sharp and won a Dovecote at Kempton. We weren't sure Cheltenham was going to suit him so hopefully Aintree will play to his strengths.

Alan King, trainer of The Unit
It's a Grade 1 race, but he's rated 140 and that puts him just 8lb shy of the top one in the field [Moon Racer] so hopefully we'll find out how good he is. He's really got his act together this season, showing progressive form, and his confidence is high. But I hope they go a good gallop – he's coming back in trip and could do with a strong pace.