Aikman divides Cheltenham layers' opinions
Few horses slated to run at the forthcoming Cheltenham Festival appear to have layers literally at odds with one another more than the James Ewart-trained Aikman, who is likely to be one of two runners for the Scottish handler at the showcase fixture, writes Elliot Slater.
Aikman and his stable companion Captain Americo will be the first ever runners for the Dumfries-based handler who has held a licence for seven years but only now believes he has horses capable of running well at the 'Olympics' of National Hunt racing. The winner of a bumper at Perth in May of last year, Aikman made a luckless start to his hurdles career at Musselburgh in January when alongside eventual winner King Fingal at the second from home only to come tumbling down.
Things
went rather better next time out back at the Edinburgh track, when the
seven-year-old put in a sound round of jumping and eventually failed by
only a length-and-a-quarter to reel in Nicky Richards' promising
Waldvogel. The key to the subsequent improvement shown by the son of
Rudimentary seems to have been Ewart's decision to step him up from two
to two-and-a-half miles, a ploy that paid instant dividends when Aikman
bolted up back at Musselburgh in early February and the Cheltenham betting
On the face of it a huge step up in class to Grade 2 company might have appeared to be over-facing Aikman when he was sent south to Huntingdon to contest the Sidney Banks Memorial Hurdle, but after soon going clear under a canny ride from Harry Haynes, Ewart's charge maintained a furious gallop to see of the highly touted Nicky Henderson-trained Minella Class by three-lengths.
Although he has a number of handicap entries at Cheltenham, Ewart has all but narrowed down Aikman's options to the Neptune Management Novices' Hurdle, for which he is offered at prices ranging from 20/1 to 50/1, whilst bookmakers take an even broader range of opinions about his chances in the three-mile Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle, offering odds of between 14/1 and 50/1.
