Betfair Chase Betting Tips, Winners & History

Next Race: TBD

The next renewal of this race has not been scheduled yet. We will update this once the schedule has been released for next season. The race info, trends and tips shown below will be updated for the next renewal once the final declarations have been made.

Betfair Chase Betting Tips

Note: The following tips are from the last running of the race. Tips for the next renewal will be added once the final declarations have been made.

This is one of the newer events of its type on the racing calendar, having only been with us since 2005, but thanks in no small part to its inclusion in the £1million bonus scheme on offer for winning the “Chasing Triple Crown” of this race, the King George and the Cheltenham Cup, it has quickly established itself as one of the top early season events.

It has also been particularly prone to a repeat winner in its early years, with the first 14 editions of the race being shared between just seven horses. Will we see the two-time defending champion land more repeat glory or can an outsider etch their name into the history books?

Paul Nicholls has been the dominant force on the training front, with the multiple Champion Trainer already boasting six wins to his name. Fellow Englishmen, Colin Tizzard and Nigel-Twiston Davies, boast a fair record too though, with three wins apiece over the relatively short lifespan of the race.

This has been only a fair race for favourite backers over the past 10 years. A strike-rate of 40% for the jolly over this period is healthy enough, but with the winning favourites all returning a fairly short SP, a loss of 1.45 units would still have been recorded.

BRISTOL DE MAI – EVS

Not all horses handle Haydock, particularly when the ground turns on the soft side, and as such a previous win at the track can be worth its weight in gold. One runner who scores top marks in that regard is the aforementioned Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained eight year old, Bristol De Mai.

Not only has this son of Saddler Maker won all four previous starts at the Merseyside venue, the two most recent of those wins came in this very race in 2017 and 2018. Should he come home in front once again this year, he will join greats Cue Card and Kauto Star as a three-time winner of the race (four in Kauto Star’s case), and become the first to land the prize in three consecutive years.

A winner on ground ranging from heavy to good, Bristol De Mai shouldn’t be too inconvenienced whatever the prevailing conditions are on the day, but does seem particularly effective when the mud is flying. Three from four on heavy over the course of his career, one of those three wins came when streaking clear in this event in 2017, to win by a record setting 57-lengths. Yet to be sighted at the track this season, his fitness has to be taken on trust to a certain extent, but his yard do seem in fair form, and he did win this first time out last term.

LOSTINTRANSLATION – 6/4

If there is a new kid on the staying chase scene this season, who is ready to challenge for all of the top honours, then that horse may well be the Colin Tizzard runner, Lostintranslation. Long held in the highest regard by his astute trainer, this one spent much of last season butting heads with the excellent Defi Du Seuil at around 2m4f – including when second to that Philip Hobbs-trained runner in the JLT Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

It was long felt that this son of Flemensfirth would ultimately only be seen to best effect over further though, and that certainly looked to be the case when he hosed up in the Grade 1 Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree. Six lengths too good for RSA Chase winner Topofthegame that day, he went into many people’s notebook as a potential future Gold Cup winner.

Detractors will point to the fact that Lostintranslation was beaten by a whopping 35-lengths on his only previous visit to Haydock, but that effort came almost two years ago now, and he simply looks a different horse these days. With the benefit of a recent comeback win at Carlisle under his belt, and fully effective on the likely range of going, he can’t be dismissed.

FRODON – 11/2

If this race were to be decided in terms of pure popularity of the runners (and riders), then the most likely winner would surely be the Paul Nicholls-trained pocket rocket, Frodon. The exploits of this one and his jockey Bryony Frost have warmed the hearts of the public on more than one occasion already – never more so than when he landed a first career Grade 1 in the Ryanair Chase at last season’s Cheltenham Festival. That effort showed he belongs in this type of company and stamped his ticket for all the big staying events, starting here.

A current mark of 169 actually sees the seven year old as comfortably the second best horse in the field – only 1lb behind Bristol De Mai – and such has been his rate of progression, that we may not have seen the best of him yet. A winner on his only previous start at the track, and over this 3m1½f trip, it may prove unwise to underestimate this tough and talented performer. At much longer odds than the favourite he may well be the value pick.

BALLYOPTIC – 14/1

Rounding out the field is the second of the Nigel Twiston-Davies runners, Ballyoptic. Rated 11lbs inferior to stablemate Bristol De Mai, this nine year old has work to do according to the ratings, but does head into the contest in just about the best form of his career.

Having failed to even complete the course in three of his final four starts last season, Ballyoptic has been outstanding in two outings so far in the current campaign; firstly when slamming Lil Rockerfeller by nine-lengths in a handicap, and latterly when staying on best of all in the Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby. This demands more again, but he was a Grade 1 winner in his Novice Hurdle days and it still isn’t too late for him to scale those heights as a chaser.