The Betfair Chase is a race that has always been used as a pointer for Gold Cup horses, and this year is no different, with last season’s Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Chase winner, Grey Dawing, putting his Gold Cup claims to the test.

He has not been set an easy task with the field stacked with graded performers and last season’s Betfair Chase winner and course specialist Royale Pagaille lining up.

Here are my thoughts on all nine runners and the best online horse racing bookmakers so you can make your next bet a winning one.

Betfair Chase runner by runner betting guide

Now it’s time to take a in-depth look into runners of the Betfair Chase and the best horse racing bookmakers to help you make a winning bet.

🏇 5 Grey Dawning

• Age: 7
• Weight: 11st 10lb
• Form: 12113-
• Rating: 157
• Jockey: Harry Skelton
• Trainer: Dan Skelton
• Odds: 15/8

Last season’s Turner Novices’ Chase winner had this race earmarked by his Trainer, Dan Skelton, for a long time.

He comes into this season with the Gold Cup expectations resting on his shoulders, and for me, he has every chance of turning into a Gold Cup contender.

Last season saw him win three of his six races, but he should have beat Ginny’s Destiny at the Cheltenham December meeting only to make a shuttering mistake two out.

He righted that wrong with a comfortable win in the Turners Novices’ Chase at the Festival but finished the season with a third at Aintree in what looked like one race too many that season.

The Skeletons won this with a similar type in Protektorat in 2022, and Grey Dawning is looking to be on the same path here.

The Turners form is nothing to get carried away with the second Ginny’s Destiny was pulled up in the Paddy Power Gold Cup last weekend when he was sent off a strong 3/1 favourite (he never won first time out).

Third, fourth, fifth, and sixth have all been beaten since.

But, he has stacks of potential coming into open company.

He has to concede race fitness to some here, but if Grey Dawning can not make a winning return here, it will put a slight dampener on his Gold Cup dream.

✅ Has huge potential
✅ Trainer is in flying form
✅ Second season novice

❌ Bested first time out in the last two seasons

Star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🐎 Bet on Grey Dawning with talkSPORT BET 🐎

🏇 1 Ahoy Senor

• Age: 9
• Weight: 11st 10lb
• Form: 4362-3
• Rating: 169
• Jockey:
• Trainer: Lucinda Russell
• Odds: 5/1

There is no doubt that Ahoy Senor is talented, but the problem is getting it out of him.

At the start of this season, he was part of a huge controversy in the Old Roan Chase at Aintree, where he was given a less-than-convincing ride to finish third.

The question is now, how much will he come on for that, and in what way will he be ridden?

He usually is ridden up with the pace, but at Aintree he was switched off out the back.

If he goes from the front, he will need to be foot-perfect to win here, and we all know that doesn’t often happen as he tends to leave his mark in a fence.

He has yet to put it all together in open company, with his only win in 13 runs coming at Cheltenham in January of last year, when he beat Sounds Russian. But more often than not, Ahoy Senior leaves you down.

I, for one, can’t trust him, and he is one that I will be taking on here.

✅ Has the talent to win
✅ This has been his main aim

❌ Only one win in 13 runs in open company
❌ His jumping can be his downfall

Star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

🐎 Bet on Ahoy Senor with BetMGM 🐎

🏇 8 Royale Pagaille

• Age: 10
• Weight: 11st 10lb
• Form: 6F/1F-
• Rating: 165
• Jockey: Charlie Deutsch
• Trainer: Venetia Williams
• Odds: 5/1

The course specialist, with four wins from five visits to Haydock, Royal Pagaille, is the defending Betfair Chase champion.

An emphatic winner of last year’s running when running away to win by over six lengths, beating Bravemansgame, the then Grand National winner Corach Rambler, and the now Ryanair Chase winner Protektorat, Royale Pagaille has a massive chance of repeating last season’s success.

As we know, he thrives on this track, and under these soft ground conditions, which can not be soft enough for him, it will take a good horse to keep him at bay.

He might be ten rising 11, but you can expect Royale Pagaille to put up a strong showing here today, and he looks to have a standout chance on a track he loves.

The last time we saw him, he fell in the Cotswold Chase, where he was a rallying third and not out of it, but the absence will not be an issue.

Venetia Williams will have this earmarked as his Gold Cup for the season, and you can expect him to be at peak fitness.

✅ Four from five at Haydock
✅ Defending champion
✅ Runs well when fresh

❌ Age is not on his side

Star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🐎 Bet on Royale Pagaille with Spreadex 🐎

🏇 3 Capodanno

• Age: 8
• Weight: 11st 10lb
• Form: 3140-8
• Rating: 159
• Jockey:
• Trainer: Willie Mullins
• Odds: 10/1

It’s not often you see Willie Mullins missing a beat, but he did here, having to supplement Capodanno for the Betfair Chase.

He wouldn’t be one of the stable stars, but on his day, he can perform at a high level, as shown when besting The Real Whacker in the Grade 2 Cotswold Chase on trials day at Cheltenham in January (Ahoy Senor fourth, Royale Pagaille fell).

But, either side of that run were terrible displays.

Given that Capodanno was able to exploit a race in which he beat some of his rivals that he will face here, he needs to be given the utmost respect.

He is rated as a key each-way player for the UK and Irish champion trainer.

✅ Has been supplemented
✅ Willie Mullins would not send him if he wasn’t showing the right things at home

❌ Needs to bring his form that saw him win at Cheltenham

Star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

🐎 Bet on Capodanno with VBET 🐎

🏇 6 Hewick

• Age: 9
• Weight: 11st 10lb
• Form: 3140-8
• Rating: 159
• Jockey: Gavin Sheehan
• Trainer: John Joseph Hanlon
• Odds: 10/1

There will be no fear of race fitness with Hewick.

He’s finished third on his seasonal return and ran Envoi Allen to within a half a length in the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal last month.

But this race looks a bit deeper.

With the likelihood that the ground will be a negative for him, he will need the returning Gavin Sheehan, who is back on board for the first time since they partnered up to win last season’s King George VI Chase, to be able to get the best out of Hewick here to trouble some of the key runners.

If the ground doesn’t get too soft, then he will have a big each-way chance.

✅ Race fit
✅ Second in a Grade 1 last time out

❌ Soft ground will hinder his chances
❌ Needs to rediscover his top-form

Star rating: ⭐️⭐️

🐎 Bet on Hewick with Betfred 🐎

🏇 10 Limerick Lace

• Age: 7
• Weight: 11st 3lb
• Form: 12110-
• Rating: 153
• Jockey: Keith Donoghue
• Trainer: Gavin Cromwell
• Odds: 12/1

Limerick Lace will undoubtedly have a significant role to play here, especially if the ground deteriorates.

She took her form to a new level last season, with three wins from five starts, including a Cheltenham Festival success in the Mares Chase.

Her defeats came in the Troytown Handicap Chase and the other in the Aintree Grand National, for which she was sent off as the 7/1 joint-favourite.

She has earned the right to have a crack at the Grade 1 level, and with the mare’s weight allowance and likely soft ground, she comes right into the reckoning.

You must respect her chances here at big odds, given that she is two from two when travelling to the UK.

✅ Fast improving mare last season
✅ In receipt of seven pounds from all her rivals
✅ The softer, the better for her

❌ First run of the season

Star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🐎 Bet on Limerick Lace with Betano 🐎

🏇 2 Bravemansgame

• Age: 9
• Weight: 11st 10lb
• Form: 2256-2
• Rating: 165
• Jockey: Sam Twiston-Davies
• Trainer: Paul Nicholls
• Odds: 14/1

The former Grade 1 winning chaser has looked a shell of his former self over the past few months.

His last win came in the 2022 Grade 1 King George VI Chase, and he has had difficulty regaining that form.

On his seasonal return in the Charlie Hall Chase, Bravemansgame travelled up well, as he always does, but when push came to shove, he couldn’t close the gap on The Real Whacker.

His chances of rediscovering his old form hinge on first-time blinkers working the oracle, but given that he never really finds off the bridle, the blinkers will need to take him deep into the race on the bridle if they are to have the desired effect.

It’s hard to see him returning to the winner’s enclosure here.

✅ Race fit
✅ First-time blinker

❌ Hasn’t won since December 2022
❌ Doesn’t find much off the bridle

Star rating: ⭐️⭐️

🐎 Bet on Bravemansgame with bet365 🐎

🏇 8 The Real Whacker

• Age: 8
• Weight: 11st 10lb
• Form: 2P5-U1
• Rating: 159
• Jockey: Brian Hughes
• Trainer: Patrick Neville
• Odds: 16/1

The former Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase winner finally recorded his first win since then when beating Bravemansgame by over three lengths in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby.

Even though it was great to see him return to winning ways at Wetherby, he is a very ground-dependent horse, and any rain would not be welcomed.

Unlike when winning the Charlie Hall, The Real Whacker is unlikely to get his own way of it on the front end, and if that is the case, that dampens his chances even more.

If you do want to back him, I would wait until you see how the ground is riding before the Betfair Chase.

✅ Back to winning ways last time out

❌ Won’t want the ground to soften
❌ Won’t get an easy lead

Star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

🐎 Bet on The Real Whacker with Sky Bet 🐎

🏇 4 Gold Tweet

• Age: 7
• Weight: 11st 10lb
• Form: 31-645
• Rating: 138
• Jockey: Gabin Meunier
• Trainer: Gabriel Leenders
• Odds: 20/1

Gold Tweet had a successful raid on UK racing when winning the Cleeve Hurdle in 2023 and was duly fancied to do the same in the Stayers Hurdle at the Festival, but was given a terrible ride to finish only eighth.

Since then, he has been absent from the UK, making it difficult to get a true handle on his form.

But if we go on his UK mark of 138 and the fact that he has been getting beat comprehensively in Grade 3 chases in France, you would have to say that he has been set a massive task here to pick up some prize money.

✅ A former winner in the UK

❌ Hasn’t shown that he is up to this level
❌ Well beaten on his last two starts

Star rating: ⭐️

🐎 Bet on Gold Tweet with SBK 🐎

Betfair Chase verdict

This looks to be one of the most competitive Betfair Chases we have seen in quite some time. It may lack the star power of old, but many come in here with chances.

But it’s hard to get away from ROYALE PAGAILLE, last year’s winner and course specialist.

With many coming in here with questions to answer, Royal Pagaille, at the age of ten, will be primed to win back-to-back Betfair Chases, as he will not get a better chance this season to win a Grade 1.

Limerick Lace and Capodanno race as good each-way alternatives.

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