17.25 Aintree: Plum Stone a juicy punt in mares’ bumper

A wide open mares’ bumper to close proceedings on day two, and the booking of Barry Geraghty to partner Plum Stone looks significant and makes her worth siding with.

Charlie Mann’s five-year-old has only had one start under rules and that saw her run out a ready six length winner of a 2m contest on the all-weather surface at Lingfield.

The daughter of Loup Suavage was well-backed that day and her supporters never had an anxious moment.

After being held up that the rear, she made smooth headway to take up the running two from home and stride clear to win as she liked.

It’s hard to know what the form amounts to, but the manner of her success suggested she was could be well above average.

She now also gets the services of Geraghty in the saddle, and that looks a big positive as he could have partnered No Pushover for his boss Nicky Henderson having ridden her to victory last time out.

Others that look to have leading claims in a trappy contest are Molly Cat and Tara Mist.

The former is trained by Alan Swinbank and after winning in good style on her debut at Wetherby ran a blinder to finish runner-up to Clondaw Banker at Kempton.

The winner, who beat her by just two lengths, is held in high regard by the Henderson team and it was an effort which suggested she would be capable of winning plenty more races.

Tara Mist is a five-year-old trained by Henry Daly, who after winning on her debut has run well to finish runner-up on her last two starts in listed contests.

The form of those contest looks strong, and sets the standard in this 22-runner contest.

The daughter of Kayf Tara looks to hold solid claims of getting back on the winning trail in the hands of Richard Johnson, but may be vulnerable to a less exposed type like Plum Stone.