DOUBLE HANDFUL

John Shaw’s racing betting column in association with

WHAT an absolute snorter of a race the Betfair Chase looks at Haydock.

Five fantastic runners, all with their eyes on the £1million prize dangled by the Jockey Club to any horse that wins the Betfair Chase, King George and Cheltenham Gold Cup this season.

There really should be an equivalent prize for punters who back the winner in all three races.

A million quid won’t buy you happiness, but it will pay the salaries of a large research staff to study the problem.

This column tipped up Bristol De Mai in this race last year, who just edged home by 57 lengths.

Punters who back horses for courses should look no further than Nigel Twiston-Davies’ seven-year-old.

In three visits to Haydock no horse has ever got nearer than 22 lengths to him.

But 12 months ago Bristol De Mai had the benefit of a run under his belt coming into the race, as well as his favoured conditions. Better ground is the forecast today and on that basis it’s very difficult to look past the first two in the betting, who just happened to be the first two home in last year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Native River and MIGHT BITE battled out a thrilling finish that day. Needless to say I backed Definitly Red.

Watching the race in corporate hospitality at HQ, I had been pontificating pompously all afternoon as to how Might Bite wouldn’t cope with the going. I was staggered by the performance of Nicky Henderson’s horse that day, almost as much as I was by the endless succession of free booze.

The nine-year-old should be at the peak of his powers this season and given the Gold Cup defeat was his only loss in his past seven starts, anything around the even-money mark looks pretty good value.

Might Bite is around 12s to bag the Jockey Club Triple Crown. That’s also worth a small wager.