The Giant Bolster is on course for a crack
at the £200,000 Grade One Betfair Chase, the highlight of the two-day Betfair
Chase Festival at Haydock Park on Friday and Saturday, November 23 and 24.
The progressive
seven-year-old, trained by David Bridgwater, was last seen finishing an
excellent second in the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.
He came fourthbehind
Long Run in the Grade Two Denman Chase at Newbury in February, after an
impressive victory in the Grade Three Murphy Group Chase at Cheltenham in
January, scoring by 17 lengths.
Bridgwater said: "The
Betfair Chase is the likely starting point for The Giant Bolster. He has been
all right since he came back from his summer break and is in good form.
"He had a good season
last year. I wasn't surprised by his run in the Gold Cup - I said before the
race that he would finish in the first four and he did.
"I don't know if we
are the horse everyone has to beat as it depends on a number of things but it's
down to the horse now.
"We have got the same
campaign mapped out as everybody else. After Haydock, it will be the King
George and then the Gold Cup."
The three-mile contest at
Haydock Park has attracted 19 exciting entries headed by two Cheltenham Gold
Cup winners in the form of Long Runand Imperial Commander, who triumphed
in Jump racing's Blue Riband in 2011 and 2010 respectively. Imperial Commander
landed the Betfair Chase in 2010.
Other notable entries
include last season's Grade One RSA Chase hero Bobs Worth and David
Pipe's impressive Grade One Feltham Novices' Chase victory Grands Crus,
while champion trainer Paul Nicholls has four entries, headed by impressive
Charlie Hall Chase winner Silviniaco Conti.
Saturday's card also
features the £80,000 Grade Three Betfair Don't Settle For Less "Fixed
Brush" Handicap Hurdle and the 50 entries for the three-mile contest
include Big Buck's, who is unbeaten in 17 starts over hurdles in Britain
and has won four consecutive World Hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival.
Kauto Star, whose
retirement was announced last week, will parade at Haydock Park on Betfair
Chase Day, Saturday, November 24. A statue will also be unveiled to commemorate
one of the greatest chases ever, who won 16 Grade One contests including four
Betfair Chases (2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011), five King George VI Chases (2006,
2007, 2008, 2009 & 2011) and two Cheltenham Gold Cups (2007 & 2009).
To win the Betfair Chase -
Betfair bet: 6-4 Long Run, 4-1 Silviniaco Conti, 8-1 Burton Port, 10-1 The
Giant Bolster, 11-1 Weird Al, 12-1 Imperial Commander, 14-1 Al Ferof, Midnight
Chase, 20-1 Calgary Bay, 25-1 Albertas Run, Cannington Brook, Wayward Prince,
33-1 Dynaste
TIMEFORM RATINGS
LONG RUN (FR)
192
IMPERIAL COMMANDER (IRE)
184 +
CUE CARD 183 +
ALBERTAS RUN (IRE)
181
THE GIANT BOLSTER
179
TIDAL BAY (IRE) 179
$
WEIRD AL (IRE)
178
BOBS WORTH (IRE) 176
p
SILVINIACO CONTI (FR) 176
+
BURTON PORT (IRE)
176
MIDNIGHT CHASE
175
GRANDS CRUS (FR) 174 p
CALGARY BAY (IRE)
174
AL FEROF (FR) 172 +
CAPPA BLEU (IRE)
166
CRISTAL BONUS (FR) 165 +
WAYWARD PRINCE
160
CANNINGTON BROOK (IRE)
159
DYNASTE
(FR)
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