Ben Jones Saturday rides blog: 'I'm very excited to see what he can do here'

Ladbrokes ambassador Ben Jones previews his four rides at Aintree on Saturday, November 8 and gives his thoughts on a successful week so far in his latest blog.

• Champagne Twists - Aintree - 1.30 race odds

• Mambonumberfive - Aintree - 2.05 race odds

• Golden Move - Aintree - 3.15 race odds

• Maxios Aurelius - Aintree - 3.50 race odds

The week so far (& Handstands)

We had a fantastic week, to be honest - I think we've managed seven or eight winners in the last 10 days or so, so things have been going really well.

Obviously, the biggest one would have been Handstands, who unfortunately got beat up in Carlisle on Sunday. But we're not at all worried about him; he had to do it all the hard way out in front, and because he was so fresh, he was just having a right good look out in front, wasn't jumping as fluidly, and wasn't taking me forward as he normally can.

Usually, he's quite keen and wants to get on with it, but he didn't really get racing until three or four out, and that's when he locked on and took me forward. Sean [Bowen] had a good run and did us in the last 50 yards, so we're not going to complain. You know, we got back in and I'm very, very close with Sean. Obviously when we go out there, we all want to beat each other, and so I knew none of the other lads were going to help me out, or anything like that. I knew I was going to have to do the donkey work on my own.

You can hear each other when you're out there riding, and everyone has their own plans and knows what they want to do. You know, if Gav [Gavin Sheehan, Hollygrove Cha Cha] would have come to join me earlier, then that would have helped me out, and not helped Sean out. It's all fun and games at the end of the day and we all want to win, but when we come back in, it's all just water under the bridge, you move onto the next one and you go again.

We're not worried about Handstands going into the Betfair Chase. Hopefully we'll get a bit of rain, and it'll be a proper test for him, where we'll see much more of a Handstands kind of performance. Luckily I work with Ben [Pauling] who is super understanding; he knows the race wasn't run to plan to suit us, and that's why we're not worried about him.

1.30 - Novices' Limited Handicap Chase (GBB Race) (Class 3) (4yo+) - Champagne Twist

We kick things off with Champagne Twist at Aintree on Saturday in a novices' handicap chase, and it's a first run over fences for him. I think we can put a line through all of his runs from last year, to be honest with you. He had a fantastic novice hurdling campaign, and then he got an opening mark of 131 at Aintree for the first time after his EBF win - to be honest I thought he was well-handicapped at that, but tomorrow he's running off 129, so I think he's probably got a little bit of leeway in his mark. 

His schooling at home has been brilliant; for a small little horse, we didn't really know how he was going to take to fences, and at home he's probably been the most improved horse from last year, in many ways. He looks much bigger, he looks much stronger, his schooling has been very good. Last year he wasn't really working as well as he was the year before, whereas he's shown a bit more spark so far this year. 

So hopefully we can just put a line through last year and pick up where we left off in his novice campaign.

2.05 - Handicap Chase (GBB Race) (Class 3) (4yo+ 0-130) - Mambonumberfive

Mambonumberfive runs in a handicap chase here, and I like this horse a lot. He was way too keen at Cheltenham at the start of the year, and then he actually went on to win the Adonis at Kempton very nicely, beating the likes of Mondo Man and St Pancras on that day. He then went to Aintree as one of seven or eight of Ben's horses who didn't really run their races up there, so we're happy to put a line through that. He did jump well and travel, but he didn't see out the trip that day.

He's a lovely, big horse to look at, his schooling at home has been excellent and he now has a lot more respect for fences. I'm very excited to see what he can do here. I think that he'll come on a bit both physically and mentally for this run over fences. He's got a four-year-old allowance, 128 is his opening mark... I think he's on the better side of the handicap mark. And on him, I'll be singing Mambonumberfive all the way around the course just to keep us relaxed!

3.15 - Handicap Hurdle (Go North Sea Pigeon Series Qualifier) (Class 4) (3yo+ 0-120) - Golden Move

Golden Move is one I don't know a whole lot about; I've ridden a few for Christopher Kellett over the years, and I know this one has had three runs in the flat campaign since going to Christopher, and hasn't done very well there, but if he can find a bit of the form that he had under Paul Nicholls when he was running over hurdles, then hopefully he'll have a little each-way chance. He's at the same mark here (112) as he was when he won a handicap hurdle at Kempton... hopefully he's got more of that type of form for us this weekend. 

3.50 - "Junior" National Hunt Flat Race (Category 1 Elimination) (GBB Race) (Class 4) (3yo) - Maxios Aurelius

We finish the day at Aintree with Maxios Aurelius, who I have done a lot of schooling on - he seems to do everything nicely at home. He's a typical junior, really. He's only three, so we haven't tried to get everything out of him at home just yet, we're just letting everything happen slowly. But he's a really nice horse, and he's answered all of the questions we've put to him. You know, we're not going here with him thinking he's not going to run a race at all, because all of his work has been fairly decent. 

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