Fancy a flutter: There's always value lurking in the handicaps
REUSE AND RECYCLE: Paggane (left) won three times for Willie Mullins before joining trainer Faye Bramley, in line with her strategy of re-homing ‘recycle’ horses.
Away from the bright lights of the championship races, some of the best betting value this week can be found lurking among the supporting handicap contests. Here are recommendations for an each-way flutter on Day One.
Faye Bramley has only held her training licence for less than a year but has already experienced all the attention brought on by a lucrative Saturday televised success when Glengouly won the December Gold Cup at Cheltenham a couple of weeks before Christmas. Ambitious and well connected, Bramley has set her sights on another great career leap forward by training a winner at the festival and Winston Junior is the first of multiple runners this week.
Based in Lambourn and working from AP McCoy’s pre-training yard, he occasionally rides out for her and is a source of generous advice on a horse’s merits. "He's [McCoy] such an asset to have in training because he is just so knowledgeable. Obviously, he's a great rider and he knows what he's sitting on,” she said in a recent interview.
The main plank in her start up strategy has been to re-home and recycle horses that have previously been stabled at some of the bigger and more renowned establishments. Paggane, for instance, won three times for Willie Mullins before joining Bramley and she has an entry in the Mare’s Chase on Friday. Stattler, who won the National Hunt Chase at the festival four years ago is also a veteran of Closutton and he goes in the Hunters Chase on Friday.
But her best chance this week may come through the well named Winston Junior who will be among the favourites to break her festival duck in the juvenile handicap. A son of Churchill, he raced nine times on the flat for Jessica Harrington without winning but looks a brighter prospect over obstacles and was twice a runner up before winning the latest of his three starts over hurdles at Ascot in January. Visually impressive when beating Denis Hogan’s Genealogy, that day he earned an official rating of 131. He will be ridden by Jack Kennedy and should run prominently in an ultra-competitive race.
The Ultima Handicap Chase over three miles and a furlong is always one of the season’s most interesting and anticipated handicap chases. It is also a race that throws up good winners with bright futures, including Corach Rambler who won it twice on his way to Aintree Grand National glory. This year’s favourite, Iroko, is fancied by many to travel on the same road.
Five years ago, The Ultima was won by Vintage Clouds trained by Sue Smith who has recently added Joel Parkinson to the training licence at Craiglands farm, high up on the windblown Yorkshire moors. Parkinson (43) is the grandson of Harvey Smith, Sue’s husband, and has inherited much of the determination and resilience that defined the irascible old show jumper. His new energy is already paying dividends, and the stable is producing many winners.
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Konfusion is determined and persevering too, necessary qualities for an Ultima winner. The eight-year-old has won five of his ten starts over fences and was placed in four others. Clearly still on the upgrade he has been raised over two stone by the handicapper this season and was particularly impressive when easily winning the dependable trial that is the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle last November.
In the saddle is Callum Bewley, yet another bastion of perseverance and determination. Bewley was seriously injured in a spill at Ayr in October 2024, badly damaging his ankle and hand. Unable to grip a crutch, he was wheelchair-bound during the early part of his rehabilitation. He seriously considered retirement but decided to give it one more go. "It's been a long journey to get back to where I am,” said Bewley, “but I got to a point where I felt that if I didn’t give race-riding another go, I might end up regretting it."
