Five horses to follow at Aintree on Friday from our experts

Tipster: Harry Allwood.

Best odds: 5-1. 

I'm hoping connections will gain compensation after they were forced to rule their rapidly-improving eight-year-old out of the BetMGM Cup at the Cheltenham Festival, which he was one of the market leaders for.

He appeared to hold leading claims in that contest after making light work of a rating of 129 over this course and distance in December, and his runner-up effort behind Tutti Quanti, who won the William Hill Hurdle on his next outing, at Newbury is strong form. 

Relished the step up to 2m4f last time out, and while he has not been seen since December, Olly Murphy has operated at a 32 per cent strike-rate in the past fortnight, and I doubt Indeevar Bleu will be lacking for fitness here. He's also won twice returning from longer absences in the past, and returns from another wind op.

The manner of his latest win suggests a rating of 138 still underestimates him, and he should have more to offer.

Tipster: RaceiQ nap of the day (Andy Stephens).

Best odds: 9-2.

Tipster: Katie Midwinter.

Best odds: 8-1.

Tipster: Andy Stephens.

Best odds: 8-1.

Will The Wise is tailor-made for the Topham and looks a good bet, at the general 8-1 on offer, to land Friday’s big handicap chase at Aintree.

The Gavin Cromwell-trained seven-year-old is a fluent jumper with a good cruising speed, which is a good starting point for any horse running over the Grand National fences, and he is only 2lb higher than when beating all bar Madara in the Plate at last month’s Cheltenham Festival.

Will The Wise was having his first start since Christmas that day, plus has had a full month to recharge his batteries, so freshness should not be an issue.

It’s not as if he had an overly hard race at Cheltenham, either, as he travelled strongly up near the pace before being unable to match Madara from the second last.

He may again bump into the winner, the 6-1 ante-post favourite, but he gets an 8lb pull in the weights and I’d be wary of Madara being in quite the same form as his whole season seemed to have been geared around Cheltenham, where he landed plenty of good bets.

Moreover, the challenges of Aintree seem certain to play to the strengths of Will The Wise, whereas Madara has shown a soft spot for Cheltenham.

The course may not provide the test of jumping that it once did, but that’s not to say that good jumpers are not rewarded.

RaceiQ’s data tells us the first pair home in 2023 gained 32 lengths with their jumping, while the first three a year later gained 25 lengths. And, 12 months ago, the first two swiped an aggregate of 23 lengths.

Will The Wise is accurate over his fences, as he was over hurdles, and has gained almost 62 lengths in his seven starts over fences, including nine in the cauldron of Cheltenham last time despite an error at the ditch four from home.

Tipster: Dave Nevison.

Best odds: 9-2.

An Aintree winner for Tristan Durrell would cap off a magnificent season for the jockey, and it looks very much on the cards, with Harry Lowes appearing one of the few contenders that could be nicely treated here.

He was badly hampered on his only handicap run so far, and ran as well as could be expected, but has since won in decent style at Bangor. His mark has gone up just 3lb for that success, and he looks to have further improvement to come. 

This race was Dan Skelton’s only win of the meeting last year, and a repeat looks likely.