18 runners are due to go to post for the latest Betfair Hurdle, a hugely competitive handicap over the extended two miles.

There is £87,000 up for grabs for winning this race and you can bet at least a dozen of these have been prepped specifically for the race, making our task as hard as ever but we’re up for the fight once again.

Despite the money this week for runners such as Icare Allen, Hacker Des Places and Monviel they don’t make our shortlist, but these six do: 

Main Contenders

Filey Bay

This is a fine young hurdler and certainly an improver.

After being placed in his first two hurdles for Declan Wall he was moved to Emmet Mullins’ yard in November. Since then, he has won very easily at Doncaster and Wincanton and has also been bought now by JP McManus.

He will certainly see a good return on his investment over time and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Filey Bay win this race, though his price is a little skinny.

Glory And Fortune

Glory And Fortune won this event last year on slightly easier ground from I Like To Move It, the horse who then went on to win the Greatwood for this column in November.

He’s 5lbs higher in the weights now but he has certainly improved, in fact his trainer Tom Lacey spoke publicly this week about the fact that he could only be happy if Glory And Fortune was to win this race.

That’s fighting talk and he most certainly has a chance, but things are arguably more competitive this time around.

Highway One O Two

Chris Gordon’s eight-year-old is 5-15 over hurdles and can still achieve plenty more.

The main thing that gets him on this shortlist is his form with Hacker Des Place, a rival in this race who is a single-figure price.

Two runs ago he destroyed that rival by 7½ lengths and he has since finished a very respectable 24 lengths behind Constitution Hill on ground softer than ideal.

He was eased down at Ascot and was probably worth a 10-length win against a rival that he is even 1lb better off with now at the weights. In other words, if you like Hacker Des Places you should like Highway One O Two even more.

No Ordinary Joe 

This is another JP McManus runner, this time one trained by Nicky Henderson.

No Ordinary Joe is an improving type, he is 3-6 now although he hasn’t run since winning at Kempton over Christmas.

He was third in the 2021 Greatwood at Cheltenham so he should be able to handle the rough and tumble of this event too.

Onemorefortheroad

Around a 25/1 shot at the time of writing, Onemorefortheroad looks good value for each-way backers and can certainly outrun that price.

We would like to have seen him achieve more in his two hurdle runs this season, but in fairness he was sent off the 9/4 favourite last time and he was very well backed near the off.

That does indeed suggest that he was considered to be fine and in form, meaning we judge him on his best form and not his most recent.

That form includes placed efforts in graded races and he is now lower in the handicap for trainer Neil King and jockey Jack Quinlan, giving him an obvious chance on the numbers.

Rubaud 

As we’ve already touched upon, much of the attention related to Paul Nicholls’ runners has gone on Hacker Des Places but Rubaud has a real chance, make no mistake.

Top jockey Harry Cobden takes the ride on this one too, a five-year-old who’s progress was rather halted last time but while still showing good form and on arguably unsuitably soft ground.

Much has been made of the dry conditions at Newbury this week, so considering how well Rubaud did on his two starts in November and December on good ground, winning both races easily, we can expect another jump forward when he takes on this race.

Summary

In normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be easy to take the form literally of a young horse like RUBAUD, along with the associated benefit gained from being apparently well in according to the handicap.

The fact is however that in the Betfair Hurdle, 17 of the 49 winners have indeed been aged only 5 and it seems it can rather suit such a young and improving type.

In recent years alone Zarkandar, Agrapart, Kalashnikov and Pic D’Orhy have shown what can be achieved and we do reckon Paul Nicholls’ runner is very well treated off 130.

The strongly backed Filey Bay also came into the reckoning heavily, as did Highway One O Two.