Betfair Chase 2017 Betting Preview & Tips

Bristol de Mai to channel winning energy at Haydock

Horse Racing Betting

Will there be a big sentimental occasion playing itself out in the Betfair Chase on Saturday at Haydock? Grade 1 legend Cue Card is bidding for his fourth title to emulate the success that the great Kauto Star had in the Merseyside showdown. Can Cue Card really roll back the years and hold off the challenges of a strong field, even though Gold Cup winner Sizing John isn’t around? Cue Card is now eleven years old and punters have still been backing him to pull off another success despite having completed just two of his last three races.

He was up against Bristol de Mai at the Charlie Hall Chase at Weatherby recently and took a fall there. The Haydock track is expected to be a little heavier this time around as well and that won’t work in his favour. With Sizing John then having been pulled from the feature race because of workload and conditions, it is Bristol de Mai who is heading up the field as the 11/8 favourite. He was the winner of that Charlie Hall Chase and he looks to be the one to beat on the weekend. This is still a step up in class for him though.

£1 Million Treble

This is the first leg of a challenge to bring home a £1 million prize. If any horse can go out this season and win the Betfair Chase, the King George and the Cheltenham Gold Cup there is a million pound prize waiting for them. However, that, of course, is going to be a hugely difficult task for anyone to pull off. That’s a lot of pressure to handle and to get over the different challenges that each of the races will bring on their day. It’s unlikely that anyone would get the job done. Even less so if Cue Card wins this one on Saturday. Cue Card had been 5/1 last week but was drawn into a price of 10/3 with Ladbrokes as the week went on.

Betfair Champion Chase Odds

Bristol De Mai 6/4, Cue Card 7/4, Outlander 5/1, Tea For Two 10/1, Traffic Fluide 28/1, Shantou Flyer 66/1.

Bristol De Mai’s success at Wetherby at the start of November saw him home by a length and a half over Blaklion in similar conditions to what the runners will be facing on Saturday. Trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies has talked up Bristol de Mai chances because of the conditions and he should be the one to excel if the going gets heavy and this turns into a slog. He has course history as well because Bristol De Mai have won twice before at Haydock.

The classy Sizing John is out then after Jessica Harrington has been worried that he had just done too much over the season in having collected the Irish Gold Cup, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Punchestown Gold Cup last year. The softer conditions wouldn’t have been in his favour either so it was expected that he may get pulled at final declarations and that leaves just the six runners in the field.

The best outsider shot is the aptly named Outlander who is fit enough to battle his way into the picture. He produced a great fight back to get a win on the board at Down Royal in his last run. He is not the most consistent of runners but he has Jack Kennedy in the saddle who ran him to two wins in three rides last season and he is a multiple Grade 1 winner. Coming out of the Gordon Elliott yard, he is a battler in a good reduced field that could well get up there enough to make a run at the title.

The Betfair Chase will be going over a slightly altered course this year as a little additional length has been added (about a furlong). The adjustment has been made to give the stairs more of a chance ahead of the first bend to get themselves settled in. The final fence will be in action three times this year.

Betting Tip:

Cue Card is ageing, has fallen a couple of times recently and has a new jocking in Harry Cobden. It would be epic, eye-watering day if he pulled it off for his fourth win in the Betfair Chase. More likely is that Bristol de Mai is going to handle the conditions far better than he is going to and the money is better on him. Outlander makes a decent charge for the race as well and is value is 5/2 at Ladbrokes in the without Bristol De Mai market for the big race.