KING REVO is fancied to maintain his 100 per cent unbeaten record and take the honours on the first day of Aintree's Grand National meeting.

Trainer Patrick Haslam deliberately gave the Cheltenham Festival a miss in favour of waiting for today's £110,000 Unwins Wine Novices' Hurdle with his stable star.

And it could prove to be a typically shrewd move by the Middleham ace since several of the classy four-year-old's rivals are bound to be a bit worse for wear having participated in leg-buckling slugging matches at the Festival.

The basis for supporting King Revo (3.10) stems from the scintillating four-timer he has rattled up over the winter months, cumulating in a gutsy success for the highly-sought-after Victor Ludorum Hurdle at Haydock 47 days ago.

He'll now be as fresh as a daisy after the short break and given that the eventual winner of this afternoon's contest will be required to be bang on top of his game, I reckon King Revo's credentials are outstanding.

As usual, the Martell Cognac Handicap Chase is a red-hot affair, although one thing is for certain, Howard Johnson's Log On Intersky (4.20) will be somewhere near to the head of affairs for the majority of the two-mile event.

Log On Intersky failed to fire at Sandown last time out. However, if you forgive the bold front-running gelding that dismal flop, then he must be in with a tremendous shout of lifting the prestigious prize.

Johnson and his jockey, Graham Lee, are also represented by Royal Rosa, unlikely to cope with Iris's Gift (2.00) in the opener, plus Inglis Drever (5.30), a much more serious contender for the closing Makro Mersey Novices' Hurdle.

But for Fundamentalist, Inglis Drever would have provided owner Graham Wylie with a Cheltenham Festival winner with his first ever runner. It was still a superb effort and the useful ex-Flat recruit can gain handsome compensation in the closing £50,000 race.

The runners and riders must negotiate the Grand National fences if they are to get round in one piece for the always-exciting Fox Hunters' Chase, confined to amateur jockeys only.

Betting big in such lotteries is not generally recommended but a small each-way interest on Forest Gunner (3.45) might not go amiss, especially as the experienced Carrie Ford is unlikely to make any mistakes in the saddle.

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