Moscow Flyer, whose reputation of being a banker bet at Cheltenham's Festival meeting earlier this month nosedived when he made mincemeat of a fence and left his jockey lying on the turf, is set to race at Aintree tomorrow.

The pride of Ireland, Moscow Flyer, trained by Jessica Harrington, is up against six rivals in the £150,000 Martell Cognac Melling Chase and will be reunited with his regular rider Barry Geraghty.

An outstanding chaser, Moscow Flyer made one of his occasional jumping errors and unseated his jockey in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham, which left the way open for his arch rival Azertyuiop to triumph.

Moscow Flyer, who has never been beaten when he has completed the course over fences - 12 wins from 12 starts - is none the worse for that spill and steps up to two and a half miles tomorrow.

The extra four furlongs, especially on such a flat, tight course as Aintree, should not trouble him in the slightest. He can take the prize provided he jumps a clean round. Hold your breath if you back him at his likely cramped odds.

Sue Smith, who has two runners in Saturday's Grand National, can get into the winning groove courtesy of Royal Emperor in the Martell Cognac Sainsbury's Mildmay Novices' Chase.

The eight-year-old ran a blinder to finish second to Rule Supreme at Cheltenham, where he made a bad mistake four from home and his rider also lost his whip.

Spring-heeled jumping will certainly be required in the Martell Cognac Topham Chase, tomorrow's only race over the Grand National fences.

Super Nomad, trained by Mick Easterby, has run a succession of fine races in defeat. Quite how he'll cope with these obstacles remains to be seen, but with Alan Dempsey in the saddle, it is not difficult to see him in the shake-up.

Easterby's other runner, Hermes lll, switched to run in this race as opposed to the Grand National, is not without a fighting chance.

Kasthari, trained in County Durham by Howard Johnson, is awarded my Nap vote in the Martell Cognac Sefton Novices' Hurdle.

A high-class performer on the Flat when trained by Sir Michael Stoute, Kasthari has won his last two races at Newcastle in the style of a fast-improving hurdler. This is much tougher, but he is certainly not one to underestimate.

Friday's tips:

Aintree

2.00 Mercato, 2.35 Steppes Of Gold, 3.10 Moscow Flyer, 3.45 Super Nomad, 4.20 Kasthari (Nap), 4.55 Royal Emperor, 5.30 Mughas.

Southwell

2.20 Rust En Vrede, 2.55 Nutty Times, 3.30 Border Saint, 4.05 Demoltion Molly, 4.40 Polar Haze, 5.15 Isa'af.

Tomorrow's other meeting is at Lingfield.

Updated: 12:07 Thursday, April 01, 2004