Betfair Hurdle Preview: Henderson and Williams to compete for Newbury honours

In a time when the best horses have gradually lost the common touch, forgoing handicaps and competing forever among the elite, the relationship between the Betfair Hurdle and Champion Hurdle is remarkable and just about unique, the Hennessy and Gold Cup being the only association that comes close.

Make A Stand is the direct link, the last one to do the double in 1997, but other subsequent Champion Hurdle winners have tried and failed to win the Betfair Hurdle. Rooster Booster was second on three occasions, two of them before his Champion win, and Punjabi was second in 2008 before going on to finish third and then first at the next two Festivals. Then there’s My Tent Or Yours, of course, who won the Betfair Hurdle as a novice and is arguably due a Festival win more than any other horse in training.

We don’t always get such competitive renewals, but this one is about as strong as it gets. Though we’d hesitate to say there’s a Champion Hurdler among this field with Faugheen looking poised to dominate the division for years to come, there are several horses that could develop into Grade 1 contenders and a good helping of novices who’ll have their attentions turned to graded races in the spring.

Chief among the second group is On Tour, who’s surely going to Cheltenham as he’s in all three of the Grade 1 novices and, moreover, has been kept under wraps since Betfair Chase day presumably in preparation for a spring campaign. That Haydock run last time is the one to focus on, the rest significant only in the progressive story they tell. There he ran out a comfortable winner in a race that has worked out extremely well with the likes of Morito du Berlais, Dawalan, Lyvius and Heath Hunter in behind.

The questions On Tour has to answer are his mark (should remain competitive even at this level from 7 lb higher) and suitability to a drop back from two and a half miles. The second part has to be taken more on trust, but with useful bumper form last season and a strong-travelling running style evident on all of his starts over hurdles, one has only the slightest of doubts. At 16/1 we can allow for those.

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As well as assessing the best-treated horses in a race like this, there is also the secondary yet significant consideration of finding horses suited to the big-field test. That’s luckily something we needn’t worry about with our other selection.

The last time we saw Sign of A Victory in a race like this, at Ascot, he laughed at a field that included Dawalan and Baradari. That form could scarcely have worked out better, the only caveat being that the placed horses have since shown themselves well-in over further while Sign of A Victory is almost certainly a two-miler. The visual impression of that success is enough to banish those concerns and he certainly would have won with another 10 lb on his back, as he is due to carry here.

You fancy that Sign of A Victory would have been favourite for this race but for coming up short in the Christmas Hurdle last time. Not that failing to beat Faugheen is any slight, more that Sign of A Victory failed to find much off the bridle, not for the first time. That’s the chief concern again, though he should get more of a tow through this race before it comes to that. If you’re an in-running punter, a lay at short odds is advised should you follow us in.

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There are 29 other horses entered in the Betfair Hurdle and we could make a case for half of them. To do so here would either bore us or scare us or both, so we’ll keep it to a few notable dispatches.

Activial is the obvious one among the market leaders and, though the first reaction might be to discard him off a higher mark than the one he couldn’t quite carry to victory in the Ladbroke, you’d be advised not to be so dismissive. That was his first start of the season and the Ladbroke was nearly as competitive as this. He’ll have fitness and, quite possibly, ground more in his favour here.

There will be few in the race more progressive than Seedling, a case of arrested development for Charlies Pogson who hasn’t looked back since joining Warren Greatrex. His Cheltenham win last time has worked out as well as you’d expect and his first handicap mark of 144 isn’t prohibitive. He also has that little bit of surplus stamina, which is always a positive in handicaps like this that can provide a truly end-to-end gallop.

There’s a bit of overlap between Seedling and Faustino Rustico, only the latter has improved by the more surprising route of leaving Paul Nicholls. He’s joined Dan Skelton and won both starts since, with his success at Newcastle last time over a promising Ferguson charge (Zip Top) making particular appeal. A mark of 135 would make Faustino Rustico interesting in most handicaps.

Finally we’ll give mention to Swing Bowler, who has failed to win this race off similar marks and will probably do so again, though it would be no surprise were she to outrun odds of 40/1. She’s been third and fifth in the last two renewals and has quickly come back to a reasonable mark after being unfairly put up for her efforts in last year’s Scottish Champion Hurdle. Her owner wouldn’t be persevering with a potentially valuable broodmare if the Pipe yard didn’t have a plan for her, so the revival she hinted at last time may well come about soon.

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This isn’t a race for spotting plots, or rather not in the classic sense. There’s a deliberate feel to how On Tour arrives here a month ahead of the Festival, for which he holds a fistful of entries, and on top of that his form stands out even among the umpteen 24-carat form lines on offer in this race. He’d be the one if we were forced, but Sign of A Victory also shines too brightly to ignore, the Christmas Hurdle not enough to dull the shine of his brilliant Ascot win, form which has itself worked out very well.

Recommended bets:

Back On Tour @ 16/1 & Sign of A Victory @ 12/1 in the Betfair Hurdle

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