Master Minded is hard to oppose

AINTREE PREVIEW:THE OLD adage might be that every horse is beatable but that particular cliché might have to be parked outside Aintree this afternoon when the brilliant Master Minded bids to add the John Smith's Melling Chase to a dramatic success in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

It would be hard to over-egg the impression that the ex-French-trained star made when becoming the first five-year-old to lift the two-mile crown.

Visually the way he pulled Ruby Walsh's arms out the whole way was remarkable and statistically it has been backed up by a handicap rating of 186 that puts him a full 18lb clear of the 2007 champion Voy Por Ustedes.

Alan King's horse had the thankless task of chasing Master Minded at Cheltenham and looks booked for a similar role today. The difference this time is the extra half mile over which Master Minded is technically unproven.

However, he was a triple winner on deep ground over two and a quarter miles at Auteuil and clutching at the distance straw might be as hopeless a move as any of the opposition trying to stay in Master Minded's slipstream.

Eddie Harty's Supreme winner, Captain Cee Bee, leads a 14-strong Irish raiding party today and it will be disappointing if he cannot follow up that Cheltenham defeat of Binocular in the Grade Two novices' hurdle.

The ground at the festival was soft enough to prompt Tony McCoy into deserting Captain Cee Bee in favour of Binocular, a choice that backfired with a display of grit from the winner that augurs well for when he encounters betting going.

He should get that this afternoon and for a smart flat horse, the quicker course shouldn't be a problem.

A total of half a dozen Irish horses line up for the Topham over the National fences including Tom Taaffe's In The High Grass who is third reserve for the National itself.

With a maximum field of 30 lining up, there should be some each-way value floating around and the best of it might come in the shape of Pak Jack.

The Richard Phillips-trained horse has run over the big fences three times and been placed on each occasion. They include a third in this race in 2006, a third in the Foxhunters last year and another placed effort in the Becher here in November when the three and a quarter miles looked too far.

A better opportunity for the visitors could come in the concluding mares bumper where Sallie's Secret takes her chance on the back of an easy success at Cork on her last start.

Three other Irish runners line up, including the flat bred Zarinava who won off a farcical pace at Leopardstown, but Sallie's Secret is in form and is bred to improve with racing.

Ruby Walsh rides The Tother One in the Grade One Sefton after Sam Thomas's clumsy effort on the horse at Cheltenham.

That came in the Albert Bartlett behind Nenuphar Collonges but it could be that another Albert Bartlett Hurdle, one run at Haydock in February, provides the winner in the shape of the highly-rated Tazbar who missed Cheltenham and will love this three-mile trip.