Topham Chase Tips 2026: Best Bet Over National Fences

On Friday we are treated to a race over the Grand National fences just 24 hours before the big race itself. The Topham Chase has seen plenty of good winners over the years and is a real horses for courses race, so with that in mind Billy Grimshaw makes the case to back last year's hero for the all conquering Willie Mullins...

Any race which includes the enigmatic French raider Il Est Francais is fairly easy to read, at least in the early stages. He will bounce out in front and attempt to grind his chasing rivals into submission. Should he arrive here in the form he showed when romping to his stunning Kauto Star success or his gutting second in the Kauto Star a year later, he will take all the beating off a mark of 160, but the issue is he has been running poorly pretty much ever since.

He is not the only headstrong horse who will aim to take the lead here, with Jipcot for the O'Neill team a real tearaway who in victory and defeat has only ever blasted off. Henry De Bromhead's Coming Up Easy is another with stacks of form as a front runner, and I'd give him a much bigger chance of troubling both the French high profile expected leader and the rest of the field. He was last seen in the Paddy Power making a race ending mistake nearly 150 days ago and his trainer has masterfully brought horses back off a lay-off at Aintree before, so he's not one to dismiss should he take to the fences.

However the race is run, we know one thing for certain - GENTLEMAN DE MEE will absolutely love bowling around Aintree again. He has some elite form in his locker, but for this race nothing sets him up more perfectly than his win in this very contest last season when much the best and clearly relishing jumping these unique obstacles. He is 10 now, but Willie Mullins won this in 2021 with an eleven year old in Livelovelaugh so blatantly can get veterans cherry ripe for this specific race.

His G1 winning days are now behind him, of that much we can be fairly sure, but throughout his career it has been best to ignore his winter form as he blatantly sulks through the cold months and comes alive once a bit of sun is on his back and spring ground is beneath his hooves. Earlier in his racing days he was a frontrunner but he is now much more malleable in terms of in race tactics and with a good pace almost guaranteed here I cannot see him finishing out of the first three. He has just two pounds more to carry this season compared to last and while he is another year past his prime, I don't think this is as strong a renewal.

The obvious danger is Cheltenham plot job Madara, who unsurprisingly is the 9/2 favourite here attempting to back up his facile success with a 10lbs rise in the weights unlikely to be enough to stop him featuring. Perhaps he will win again, but I do suspect this is a bit after the lord mayor's show and whatever he achieves in this race, his job is already done for the season whereas for Gentleman De Mee this is his season's crescendo.

As is the case in every Topham, this is competitive and I would not be surprised if Willie Mullins has the 1-2 as I obviously like Gentleman De Mee the most but could see Ile Atlantique finally showing signs of his obvious ability if these fences spark him back to life. He was considered destined for the very top as a novice but has lost his way somewhat, but still only eight he could make a mockery of his mark in here. Will The Wise is another Irish raider with a huge chance for Gavin Cromwell who I would not be surprised to see in the frame.