Jango Baie ready for Manifesto test following last-gasp Arkle success

Dramatic Arkle winner Jango Baie steps back up to what connections believe will be a more suitable trip in Thursday’s EBC Group Manifesto Novices’ Chase which kicks off the three-day Aintree festival.

Nicky Henderson’s six-year-old had his prep for the two-mile Arkle over two and a half miles in heavy ground in the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase and was only narrowly beaten by Handstands.

With no Grade One race over that trip at Cheltenham, Henderson had the choice of dropping him down to the minimum distance or running over as far as three miles. He went for the two-mile option and despite it not looking likely for much of the race, ended up with the top prize.

“The big question we had with him was do we run him in this or over three miles?” said Henderson.

“Running him in the two-mile race here never really came into it, in fact he wasn’t even entered so that shows you – even though it doesn’t look desperately strong – it was never going to happen.

“It was a toss-up whether to go over three miles or two and a half, he was in over three, but the feeling was we’ll go over this trip and then hopefully be looking at three miles next year.”

One horse who missed Cheltenham with a minor setback was Harry Fry’s Gidleigh Park, but his victory over Caldwell Potter looks even better given the manner in which the grey won at Cheltenham.

“With the way his season’s gone it hasn’t gone entirely smoothly, but as he showed at Windsor, when he’s right he’s very good and he’s in good order – we’re looking forward to him taking his chance,” said Fry.

“We take one race at a time with him so we’ll focus on this week and then see what happens and go from there, you haven’t got a lot of options after this so we’re looking forward to this week and win, lose or draw we can make plans from there.”

Willie Mullins is represented by Impaire Et Passe, winner of a dramatic Aintree Hurdle last year and another who missed Cheltenham.

“He’s done OK over fences this year and the fact the two-and-a-half-mile race was a handicap at Cheltenham made it easier to swerve that,” said Anthony Bromley, racing manager to owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede.

“He won, albeit narrowly, at Aintree last year on similar ground and we’re looking forward to seeing how we get on and also seeing him run, as we haven’t seen him since the Dublin Racing Festival, through no fault of his own.”

Another who was absent from Prestbury Park was Paul Nicholls’ Rubaud, the Pendil winner last time out.

“He is very consistent, has taken really well to fences and showed a great attitude to win at Kempton,” Nicholls told Betfair.

“While he is in good form at home and the ground has come in his favour, he has just fallen short in the past in Grade One company. But he has earned a shot in what looks a tough race.”

The Kalooki Kid steps up in class for Nicky Richards, having looked useful in beating a decent yardstick in Saint Segal last time out.

“The last twice he’s been fairly impressive so we just thought a smaller field, I know we’re going up a league or two, but it would hold him in good stead for next year travelling and jumping faster,” said Richards.

“Hopefully we’ll be looking at those limited handicaps next season, like the Paddy Power Gold Cup and the Old Roan.”