THE 12th running of the £200,000 Betfair Chase on Saturday, November 19th, is shaping up to be one of the strongest-ever renewals of the tremendous Grade 1 contest is in prospect.
Cue Card (Colin Tizzard), who has already won the Betfair Chase twice (2013 and 2015), is the 6/4 favourite with Betfair for this year's renewal of the three-mile contest, which starts off The Jockey Club Chase Triple Crown with its bonus of £1 million.
The 2016 Betfair Chase has also been named as a possible target for the 2015 Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Coneygree (Mark Bradstock, 4/1 with Betfair), who is making a comeback following injury this season.
Two Irish-trained chasers are prominent in the market with Djakadam (13/2), twice runner-up in the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup, and Vautour (14/1), successful in the 2016 Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, both trained by Willie Mullins and owned by Rich Ricci.
Another former dual winner of the Betfair Chase who could line up again is Silviniaco Conti (13/2), likely to reappear at Down Royal and successful in 2012 and 2014 and also runner-up last year. The 10-year-old is trained by Britain's champion jump handler Paul Nicholls, who was also responsible for four-time winner Kauto Star.
Bristol De Mai (Nigel Twiston-Davies, 20/1) landed the Grade 2 Altcar Novices' Chase over two and a half miles at Haydock Park in January and went on to win the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices' Chase over the same distance at Sandown Park the following month.
He contested the Grade 1 JLT Novices' Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March, and beat all bar Black Hercules when the staying-on three-length runner-up.
The Betfair Chase, worth £200,000, is the joint-richest jump race staged in Britain until the Festival at Cheltenham in March next year.
The Betfair Chase is the first leg of The Jockey Club Chase Triple Crown. Any horse who wins the Betfair Chase and goes on to land the Grade 1 32Red King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on St Stephens Day and the Grade 1 Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup on the final day of the Festival, Friday, March 17th, 2017, will earn a bonus of £1 million (65% to the winning owner, 15% to the trainer, 10% to stable staff at the winning yard, and 10% to the jockey - split a third per race if different jockeys ride).
The legendary Kauto Star won all three races in the 2006/07 season, while Cue Card came close last year when winning the Betfair Chase at Haydock Park and King George at Kempton Park before falling three out when well in contention at Cheltenham.
Betfair Chase, Betfair bet: 6/4 Cue Card; 4/1 Coneygree; 13/2 Djakadam, Silviniaco Conti; 14/1 Vautour; 16/1 Blaklion, Many Clouds, More Of That; 20/1 Bristol De Mai, Holywell, Smad Place, Thistlecrack, Un Temps Pour Tout; 25/1 Minella Rocco; 33/1 Native River, O Faolains Boy
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