Betfair Official Blog

Ante-Post Champion Hurdle Betting: Plenty of mileage in this market so get playing!

Click here to view market

Jeremy Grayson can see movement ahoy in the Champion Hurdle odds between now and March.

My friend and colleague Simon Rowlands wrote on these pages 10 days ago that: "Katchit is out to [10.5] in the ante-post market for the 2009 Champion Hurdle on Betfair. He would not have to get much bigger to be worth a bet for a repeat win at Cheltenham in March, in spite of his limitations".

Wish granted, Simon, as the market fluctuations following Saturday's appearances by a number of Champion Hurdle aspirants have included a further walk in the market for Alan King's pocket battleship, despite him staying in his box.

A new price of [11.5] for the win on Betfair looks increasingly enticing for a horse that hasn't had his optimum race conditions on either start so far this term. Even if you believe that ultimately something is going to improve past him in this division during 2008-9, a win or a very near miss in the Boylesports International back around his beloved Cheltenham should see his odds fall to a value most conducive to a back-to-lay strategy.

Market leader Binocular is already at that point. The [5.9] for a Champion Hurdle win on Betfair has all gone for now, but those who got a piece of before last weekend specifically for laying off later will have been delighted both with the manner of the Henderson gelding's win in the Betfair Hurdle at Haydock on Saturday, and also with the resultant reduction from [6.0] to [5.0] of his odds in the lay market.

Visually impressive though that seasonal reappearance surely was, the victory against limited and significantly inferior fellow four year-olds didn't really tell us too much about him, other than he still appears to possess four legs and a pulse.

Conversely, Crack Away Jack's running of the older and wiser Chomba Womba to 1l over a truly-run distance three furlongs further than he'll need to travel at Cheltenham still looked to me like a performance of enough substance not to warrant the walk out from [6.2] to [7.8], for all that he rather bungled two from home.

With nothing, I would suggest, likely to make an utterly irresistible case for the Champion Hurdle this side of the Boylesports at least, there's still a lot of fun to be had with this market. Enjoy yourself, Simon, and others.