It’s the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown this Saturday with three Grade 1 races on an excellent seven-race card but the big betting race on the others side of the Irish Sea is the Betfred Heroes Handicap Hurdle at Sandown.
Betfred Heroes Handicap Hurdle History and Trends
Betfred have sponsored this Grade 3 event since 2014 but lost their first year to the weather. The race itself is more than 30 years old and was sponsored by the Tote for many years.
Raced over a few yards short of 3m, this is generally not a race for younger hurdlers with only one five-year-old winning since the turn of the century, though only one 10-year-old or older has been successful and that was back in 1988 – there are five in that latter age group this year. Only one winner in the last 20 years has carried more than 10st 12lb to victory and that was the brilliant Baracouda in 2004.
None of the last 10 winners has been rated higher than 135 but most recent winners ran in a Class 3 or higher before turning up at Sandown. Both Philip Hobbs and Paul Nicholls have trained the winner on three occasions in the last 13 years.
There is undoubtedly more to come from Topofthegame, who has only run five times. He was fourth in the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton last month having fallen on his reappearance in a chase at Newbury. He’s possibly overpriced at 13/2 with Coral given he is vying for favouritism in other lists with easy Fontwell winner Melrose Boy. The latter is a general 11/2 but this is a huge step up in class for Harry Fry’s runner while Dashing Perk (10/1 with Coral) steps out of novice company for the first time having beaten three rivals at Wincanton, though could be on a decent mark. Taj Badalandabad (a general 16/1) came right back to form in a decent race at Leicester last week but has been hit with an 8lb rise.
King Of Fashion, available at 16/1 with William Hill, is interesting as he’s weighted to get a lot closer to a race-fit Kris Spin than at Ayr in November, where he travelled strongly for a long way. He’ll strip fitter here and has since joined the astute Kerry Lee but OKOTOKS is also worthy of a mention.
Formerly with Tony Martin in Ireland, where he won twice, the eight-year-old attracted plenty of market interest on his first run for Fergal O’Brien at Cheltenham in December. He found the 2m1f too short but there was promise in his showing and the form of that race has worked out really well. This test should be much more to his liking and there remains untapped potential and value at the 25/1 with Coral.
Betfred Heroes Handicap Hurdle Current Best Odds
Melrose Boy 11/2, Topofthegame 13/2, Dashing Perk and Golan Fortune 10/1, Flemcara 12/1, Prime Venture 14/1, Beat That, Folsom Blue, King Of Fashion and Taj Badalandabad 16/1, Buywise 20/1, Kris Spin, Okotoks and Fourth Act 25/1, Theligny, Ubak and Man Of Plenty 33/1, Doesyourdogbite 50/1
