Today's PreviewToday's Aintree feature, the £150,000 John Smith's Melling Chase, could turn into a classic Anglo-Irish clash and one doesn't have to wear huge green glasses to argue a case for Hi Cloy emerging best of all.
Even the neutral will find this a race to savour as there will be no odds on cakewalk in the style of Moscow Flyer last year. Instead the permutations are endless, with possibly the most intriguing questions concerning pace from the front.
There are at least four horses whose natural inclination is to make the running and if Impek, Central House, Jim and Strong Project go at it from the start, it could set things up perfectly for a late closer. Impek was palpably unlucky at Cheltenham when he got badly upset at the start and still managed to run Fondmort all the way to the line in the Ryanair. Paul Moloney takes over from Tony McCoy who is claimed for Fota Island.
Paul Carberry's experience around Liverpool means he takes over from Roger Loughran on board Central House but Dessie Hughes's horse does look better at two rather than two and a half.
The same comment looks to apply to Fota Island who ran a fine second to Newmill at Cheltenham and who significantly has winning course form here.
But with those kinds of negatives floating about in relation to the big guns, it means Hi Cloy could come into serious consideration, and at a decent each way price too.
Strictly on the book his third in the Ryanair means he has ground to make up on Fondmort, whose best from is at Cheltenham, and Impek whose style of running could leave him vulnerable.
Against that, however, is the evidence that today's trip and the way the race will probably unfold will both suit perfectly. There is also the suspicion that a slight hiccup in Hi Cloy's preparation just days before the Ryanair was hardly ideal. Yesterday Michael Hourigan reported: "He was never travelling at Cheltenham but has come out of the race seriously well. I think the ground and the trip will be ideal."
Certainly the required class for a top-flight prize like this should not be an issue for a horse whose immediate Power Gold Cup victim in 2004 was none other than Kicking King. Throw in another pair of Grade One pots this season in the Durkan and the Dial-A-Bet and Hi Cloy's credentials over his favourite distance look good.
Of the other Irish, Jim can give Robbie Power, who missed out on Newmill's Champion Chase success through injury, a good ride. But it's Andrew McNamara, the successful substitute on Newmill, who can again spring a surprise on Hi Cloy.
