How Best To Spend £20 On Day One Of The Grand National Meeting

In the second race of the day we believe that Adagio is the horse to beat and with that in mind we are recommending a £10 stake to be placed on our NAP on Thursday at Aintree.

The youngster made his debut in November at Warwick when winning a decent event and then two starts ago stepped over two miles at Cheltenham and finished a good second behind the Gordon Elliott trained Duffle Coat.

He used that form next time out to drop back in class and easily land the Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle over the same course and distance.

The gelding took the race with ease, travelling well throughout the race and Pipe then gave him his chance at the top level when sending him to Chepstow last time out.

Stepping up against Nassalam, Adagio was pitched into the Grade One Finale Juvenile Hurdle and was a superb winner, staying on in the final stages to dominate the field.

With Grade One winning form, Pipe waited on him and sent him to Cheltenham in the Grade One Triumph Hurdle and he finished a superb second behind the smart Quilixios.

Having now proved it twice at the top level it sees him have a slight edge over the favourite Monmiral and we are backing him to go well once more.

Currently at odds of 2/1 if placing a £10 win bet on Adagio and the horse wins you will receive £30 back with £20 of that being profit.

Our final bet with the £20 sees us place a £5 each way single on the superstar veteran Buveur D'Air in the Grade One Aintree Hurdle, who at odds of 11/1 can finish in the frame.

Buveur D'Air landed back to back Grade Ones at the Cheltenham festival in 2017 and 2018 but after that having set the bar so high may have just slightly fell below it.

Back in 2018 he started his season off in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle, as he did the season before putting in his best performance of the season when seeing off superstar Samcro like he was not there.

He then suffered a shock defeat to stablemate Verdana Blue in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day before getting back on track at Sandown in the Listed Contenders Hurdle.

His hat-trick bid in the Champion Hurdle loomed and if it wasn't for suffering his first fall of his career many think he would have picked up the pieces and landed the race that ultimately fell apart.

He headed to Aintree stepping up in trip and could only manage a narrow second to Supasundae but finished his season off in superb style showing that he still holds star ability when taking the Grade One Champion Hurdle at the Punchestown festival and reversing the form with Jessica Harrington's gelding.

Back for his seasonal debut in November 2019 he was odds on to land a third consecutive Fighting Fifth when being chinned by Cornerstone Lad on the line.

It was revealed after the race he had suffered a nasty injury when clattering one of the flights at the northern track and he was not seen for sometime.

He returned at Haydock in January and it was only a question of fitness for how he would perform and it told in the final stages when not quite having the stamina to get home in his usual style.

He has been saved for this event having missed the Cheltenham festival and if retaining any of his class from the last few seasons the 11/1 looks far too big.

If placing a £5 each way bet on Buveur D'Air, with some bookies offering extra places in the race, it could see you take home £76 at odds of 11/1, if going on to win.