'A no-brainer to me' - Maddy Playle sweet on Cheltenham runner-up

Epatante
2.25 Ayr, April 2
1pt win at 14-1 with Paddy Power

This weekend marks the start of the Flat season for many with the SBK Lincoln taking place at Doncaster on Saturday but I couldn't discern any meaningful takeaways from a field full of unexposed last-time-out winners so I'm going to cling on to the jumps for a little longer.

After all, we still have Aintree, Fairyhouse and Punchestown to keep us entertained before we start donning sunglasses and trilbies just yet.

The 'Big Race Entries' section on the Racing Post website is more often than not where you'll find me on a Monday morning studying for this column and this week the Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle (2.25) and Coral Scottish Grand National Handicap Chase (3.35) were my first port of call.

I found it difficult to eke out much value in the latter, but there is definitely an outlier in the former.

Epatante ran right up to her best when second in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham – she would have been even closer but for a stumble at the last – and afterwards Nicky Henderson suggested Ayr could be her next port of call rather than face Honeysuckle at Punchestown.

The trainer trod a similar path with the 2019 winner Verdana Blue, who finished fifth in Espoir D'Allen's Champion Hurdle before bolting up in the Grade 2 under 7lb claimer Connor Brace.

Epatante is in a different league to her and while she is no doubt going to go up in the handicap for her Cheltenham effort, the British handicapper has to factor in the 7lb allowance she received at Cheltenham and the relative weakness of the division.

It has been well-documented how changes to the handicapping system have better served British-based horses and you would hope the assessor would take a sympathetic approach to Epatante, who is hardly improving as an eight-year-old and won two poor Grade 1s this season.

Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle: betting and entries

At the time of writing she is a 14-1 chance to win the race off her current mark of 153, which is plainly wrong given Henderson only entered her in the race on Tuesday morning and it is seemingly the most winnable option for her.

Conditional riders Ben Ffrench Davis and Nathan Brennan have won plenty of races for the yard already and would be ideal candidates to take a valuable 7lb off the mare's back.

She is a miles better horse than Milkwood and Faivoir, who are next in at the weights, and there doesn't look to be a prospective superstar lingering at the bottom of the handicap either.

Henderson has his County Hurdle second First Street entered too, but this race would surely come too soon and he has a plethora of other options.

Two miles on a Flat track and decent ground represent Epatante's ideal conditions these days and not only would she relegate many of her rivals out of the weights if running, she isn't going to be overburdened if teaming up with a claimer. It looks like a no-brainer to me.

Aintree winner could spring 40-1 National shock

Kildisart
5.15 Aintree, April 9
1pt each-way at 40-1 with bet365, six places

I had another glance at the Grand National on Monday and I must confess to being somewhat underwhelmed.

Galvin, Conflated, Braeside, Jett and Milan Native have all been scratched and the top of the market hardly gets the blood pumping either.

Minella Times will be up against it in his bid for back-to-back Nationals while Any Second Now, Brahma Bull and Farclas have all been there and done it before.

Snow Leopardess is a horse much closer to my heart but she is hardly guaranteed to get the cut in the ground she needs and no horse has ever won the Becher Chase and National in the same season.

Such dispassionate analysis has given me the perfect opportunity to have a crack at finding a horse at a bigger price and I think I've come across one.

Ben Pauling did me a big favour last week when Global Citizen won the Grand Annual and I think he could have been plotting to win this with Kildisart.

He drew clear of his rivals in the preceding 3m1f handicap chase to the National as top weight off a mark of 148 in 2019. The following year he was primed for a crack at the Ultima and only just missed out off 2lb higher, staying on relentlessly up the hill.

The National was the plan last year but he encountered a problem after finishing seventh in the Ladbrokes Trophy – he'd showcased his talent in a pipe-opener beforehand when third in a Grade 2 over hurdles – and he only made his return to action at the beginning of this month.

Randox Grand National: betting and entries

His running-on fourth in the Greatwood Gold Cup was a smart effort considering it came over a trip more than a mile too short and his trainer merely labelled it a "fitness tool".

Pauling confirmed the National as the plan afterwards and was uncharacteristically upbeat in his debrief, saying: "He has honestly been better this season than he ever has in his life.

"I don't know why because when you give a horse of his age 462 days off they come back a little bit rusty and a little bit slower, but he doesn't appear that way. Holly [Osborne] rides him at home and has been raving about him.

"That was ideal. He'd been dropped 7lb so there are reasons to be optimistic and if he comes out of the race as well as he went into it he's as good as he ever has been. It's exciting."

Indeed, Kildisart is a Grade 3 winner yet he will race off just 148 at Aintree, 8lb lower than his peak rating of 156. He also has two 158 Racing Post Ratings to his name, both of which came in staying handicap chases, the first of which was on good ground at this track.

Ballabriggs was the last ten-year-old to win the race in 2011 but three 11-year-olds have triumphed since and Kildisart is still lightly raced for his age, having had just the 20 starts under rules.

There don't look to be many up-and-coming youngsters lurking in this year's race and it could represent the ideal opportunity for a horse who is both proven in similar conditions but clearly has more to offer.

Read more:

'Special mare' Snow Leopardess primed for Grand National after making cut

Who are the Aintree contenders facing an anxious wait before the Grand National?

For all our exclusive free bet offers and must-have daily promotions click the free bets button or go to racingpost.com/freebets