Aintree aim for Adagio Cheltenham Festival runner-up Adagio will bid to go one better in the Doom Bar Anniversary 4-Y-0 Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree next week. Having won three of his first four starts for David Pipe — including the Grade One Finale Juvenile Hurdle at Chepstow — the French import performed comfortably the best of the British contingent when runner-up to Henry de Bromhead’s Quilixios in the Triumph Hurdle. Pipe is hoping his charge can go one better on the opening afternoon of the Randox Grand National Festival on Thursday week. He said: “He was perhaps a little bit of a forgotten horse in the Triumph, but he ran an absolute cracker. “He seems good at home and he will now take his chance in the Grade One juvenile at Aintree. “He has won around Cheltenham and a quick track like Warwick, so I think he is versatile regarding ground and track. “I wasn’t sure at the start whether he would be good enough to be up to Triumph Hurdle standard, but he has proved me wrong by the performances at Chepstow and at Cheltenham.” Another Pond House inmate bound for Aintree is Umbrigado, who is set to bid for a fourth straight win over fences in Thursday’s opener — the Grade One Manifesto Novices’ Chase. The seven-year-old faces a step up in class following his latest victory in the Greatwood Gold Cup at Newbury. “Umbrigado will probably go for the two-and-a-half mile Grade One on the first day at Aintree,” said Pipe. “He was very good the last day at Newbury and although this will be different with a small but select field, the track and trip should suit him and he definitely deserves to go there. “We decided not to go to Cheltenham with him as it was close enough after Newbury. “He has always been a horse we thought a lot of and the last two performances have demonstrated that. “He is going to have to improve again, but he seems to be on an upward curve.”
