Talking Horses: Clan Des Obeaux can get National meeting off to flying start

A strong renewal of the Grade One Betway Bowl is the feature event on the opening afternoon of the Grand National Festival, as two former winners – Clan Des Obeaux and Kemboy – take on the up-and-coming Protektorat, third home in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and Conflated, the surprise winner of the Irish Gold Cup in February.

Eldorado Allen, third in the Ryanair at Cheltenham, is also a serious player as Colin Tizzard looks to add to Cue Card’s win in this race six years ago.

Related: Talking Horses: the Grand National is much safer and all the better for it

The effort required to reach the frame in a Cheltenham Grade One can often take a toll at Aintree, however, with only two of 13 runners who were placed at the Festival managing to follow up in this race since 2010.

That narrows the focus towards Clan Des Obeaux (2.55) and Kemboy, both unraced since February, and Paul Nicholls’s 10-year-old, blinkered for the first time, is a fair bet at around 4-1 to extend his excellent Aintree record.

The race fell apart a little last year, when several opponents under-performed and he ran out a 26-length winner. This is still very much his track and time of year, however, and a fifth career win at the highest level is within reach.

Aintree 2.20 Brazil and Pied Piper head the market for Aintree’s Grade One juvenile hurdle having both run big races at the Festival, where Brazil edged out hot favourite Gaelic Warrior in the Fred Winter and Pied Piper was a close third in the Triumph. Both had tough races there, however, while Jonjo O’Neill’s Petit Tonnerre has not seen a track since his successful British debut at Market Rasen in February. The bare form there is a mile away from what will be required on Thursday, but he posted a