Third Intention defends crown in red-hot renewal of the Old Roan

3.00 Aintree
188Bet Monet's Garden Old Roan Limited Handicap Chase (Grade 2) | 2m3f200y | 4yo+ | RUK

The Old Roan has something of a history for being a warm-up lap for Grade 1 horses and an element of that persists this year, but more than most renewals this 13-strong line-up could pass for the more upwardly-mobile BetVictor Gold Cup field in a few weeks' time.

Last year's first two, Third Intention and God's Own, return off the same mark as 12 months ago but this year the opposition includes several unexposed chasers near the bottom of the weights that might have been thought more likely to target Cheltenham.

Shantou Village and Racing Post Arkle second Cloudy Dream are the most obvious examples, but Oldgrangewood and Ballybolley are also stepping up from a slightly lower grade.

Form around Aintree tends to count, as for any race over the stiff Mildmay fences, and few will have won bigger races here than Tea For Two, who reeled in Cue Card in the Bowl in April on his most recent start. The 2016 Melling Chase winner God's Own may stake a claim there, too.

There is an expectation that these big handicaps will be run at a decent clip, but here that may depend on Wayne Hutchinson and Richard Johnson, who are on the only two dedicated front-runners, Smad Place and Royal Regatta.

What they say

Tom George, trainer of God's Own
It's a good starting point; he was second last year and has form around Aintree besides. We're looking at stepping him up in trip after this. We'd be looking at races like the King George, but he's very ground dependent so we're in the lap of the gods. He'll stay and he's at an age where we need to step him up.

Malcolm Jefferson, trainer of Cloudy Dream
He's in great order and ready to run. We had a few options, including the Colin Parker at Carlisle, but Aintree's ground was more likely to be good. This will tell us quite a bit about where we go; I wouldn't be surprised if he got three miles in time.

Joe Tizzard, assistant to Colin Tizzard, trainer of Third Intention
He won it last year and he comes in off the same preparation - he'd had his wind done last year and we've given him a soft palate operation again this time. It's more competitive this year by the look of things, but he goes well fresh and all his form's around Aintree so it's the obvious race for him.

Nigel Twiston-Davies, trainer of Ballybolley
He won well at Market Rasen last time and that was quite a valuable race. He'll need to run the race of his life here, but we can only try and he's in very good form. There was a strong pace on last time and I'm sure there will be again.

Neil Mulholland, trainer of Shantou Village
He's fit enough for his first run and we're hoping for a respectable enough run before we go on. We couldn't get him right last year until the very end when he won at Sandown. The ground is important, he needs the better ground, so after this we'll go where that is.

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