Cheltenham Betting / Simon Rowlands / 04 March 2008 / Leave a comment

Simon Rowlands is going against the Star...

A brief history of the Betfair Million...

The Betfair Million was first offered in the 2005/6 season for any horse that wins the Betfair Chase at Haydock, King George at Kempton (OR Lexus Chase at Leopardstown) and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same season.

The first season saw no winner with three different horses taking each race - Kingscliff the Betfair Chase, Kicking King the King George and War of Attrition the Gold Cup. In the Million's second season, however, Kauto Star achieved what seemed impossible by winning all three and bagged the first £1 million payout for Paul Nicholls and his team.

Now Betfair are staring down another million pound barrel. Having already won the Betfair Chase and King George at the end of 2007, Kauto has only the Gold Cup standing in the way of his second Million in consecutive seasons. Ironically for Nicholls, the biggest threat to another bonus payday looks to be from Kauto's own stablemate, Denman.

The Million looks to reward the whole team behind the horse, with £700,000 going to the owner and £100,000 each for the trainer, jockey, and stable staff. Last year saw £50,000 given to stable staff but it was decided that this year the distribution should be altered, doubling this to £100,000.

The Betfair Million is undoubtedly one of the most valuable and winnable bonuses in horseracing. Considering the strength of the competition, if Kauto Star manages to win it again this year then Betfair will be more than happy to pay out for a horse that is quite simply a one-in-a-million contender.

So what are Kauto's chances?

Plenty of horses have been described as "one in a million". There was even a One Thousand Guineas winner in 1979 called One In A Million. But few remotely live up to the title.

Kauto Star gets much closer than most, not least because he is the only jumps horse to have won a million - pounds, that is - in one race. And he could well do it again.

I'm not sure Betfair realised what it was letting itself in for when launching the Betfair Million in the 2005/6 season. They probably thought it would take at least 10 years for something to win the Betfair Chase at Haydock, the King George at Kempton and the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in the same season and land the million-pound bonus.

The winner of the Betfair Chase in the inaugural season certainly made it look difficult. Kingscliff beat Beef Or Salmon at Haydock, then was pulled up and soundly beaten in the final two legs. It seemed you really would need an exceptional horse to have any chance of picking up the dough.

Step forward an exceptional horse in the shape of Kauto Star.

Kauto Star went through the 2006/7 season unbeaten at the highest level, taking the Betfair Chase by 17 lengths and the King George by 8 and turning up for the Gold Cup as one of the shortest-priced favourites in the modern era.

In the race itself, Kauto Star was not as scintillating as he sometimes can be, but he got the job done with something to spare from Exotic Dancer.

There were some very happy faces when the cheque was handed over at Ditcheat a couple of weeks later, though owner Clive Smith stated that he would be "amazed" if the horse were to repeat the feat. Kauto Star was offered at 5/1 in one quarter to do just that.

Exceptional horses have the capacity to amaze people, even people close to them. Twelve months on, things have a rather familiar look to them. Betfair Chase, King George Chase, short-priced favourite for the Gold Cup. What can possibly prevent Kauto Star from plundering the (admittedly sizeable) Betfair coffers once again?

There are two main issues as I see them: stamina and Denman.

Kauto Star won last year's Gold Cup on his only previous attempt at beyond three miles, but it was not one of his very best efforts, and the race - the most slowly-run of recent Gold Cups according to sectionals - played very much to his strengths: he murdered his rivals for pace.

When faced with three furlongs shorter but softer ground and a truer pace in this season's Betfair Chase, Kauto Star was very impressive for most of the way but seemed to be running on empty by the end and clung on by just half a length from his old sparring partner Exotic Dancer.

Then again, a month later he won the King George - over the full three miles at Kempton, though on less testing ground - even better than he had 12 months earlier.

Kauto Star gets every inch of three miles under normal conditions, but his supporters are unlikely to be counting chickens (if any are to be counted) next Friday until the horse has crossed the line. Significant softening of the ground will not be good news for them.

Then there's Denman. In a situation uncannily similar to the vintage Arkle-Flyingbolt era of the mid-1960s, there is not just one exceptional horse around this season, but two, and they are stabled next door to each other.

Denman is the broadsword to Kauto Star's rapier. Where Kauto Star cruises and quickens, his stablemate simply gallops his rivals into submission.

Denman's win under a big weight in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Newbury in November was one of the great handicap performances of recent times. His win in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown was less impressive but seemed to underline that he needs plenty of use made of him. He will surely have plenty of use made of him at Cheltenham.

It's seldom that these dream matches come off: injury, or worse, usually gets in the way. But next Friday should see the most intriguing race of its type in my racing lifetime.

Who's it to be? Kauto Star at [2.16] or Denman at [2.96], or even a rejuvenated Exotic Dancer at [19.0]?

I've laid Kauto Star in the belief that Denman (and possibly Exotic Dancer) will outstay him. Then again, I won't be coughing up anything like a million quid if I am wrong!

Tags: Betfair Million, Denman, Exotic Dancer, Gold Cup betting, Kauto Star