2010 CHARLIE HALL CHASE BETTING PREVIEW

We’ve got a very full and very impressive-looking field set to contest one of the biggest Grade 2’s of this part of the season- the Bet365 Charlie Hall Chase. You’ll find a number of tentofollow contenders in the 3:25 at Wetherby and this is going to be a seriously open race- which you can usually expect from most chases going over 3m.
Weird Al seems to have the measure of the Wetherby surface at anywhere over 3m and you can see him taking action from the Irish punters here so his current 8/1 price could shorten as we get closer to the off. He isn’t rated nearly as well as some of the others here but he has conquered the course and distance at Grade 2 level before. The issue is that we have a number of Grade 1 contenders here but that factor may be undone by the huge amount of seasonal debuts in this one.
China Rock is another great contender and he’s already got a very high-profile score under his belt this season- capturing the Grade 3 Star Chase and the scalp of Sizing Europe on October 14. He recovered nicely from a mistake in that one to score with Ruby aboard for the trip. Prior to this he conquered the Grade 2 Gowran Park Champion Chase and he again recovered from a mistake to take the race well after being under pressure. The Mouse Morris-owned 7 year-old make a serious statement for his festival claims if he can score a victory here and his ability to recover from errors makes him a more versatile selection than some of the others on offer. He looks solid at 7/1 and he is an extremely strong play anywhere over 9/1.
Last year’s winner Deep Purple is considered the one to beat and he’s a co-favourite at 6/1 alongside The Tother One. He’s conquered a vast number of Grade 2 encounters but is still yet to score at Grade 1 level despite numerous attempts last season. He drops back down to his comfort zone for this one but a quick scan of his record indicates that last year’s victory here was his only score at the distance. He was campaigned heavily at 2m4f or so last year and there’s a big difference- especially over this type of course. Deep Purple has the ability to win this race and was able to strike last year on a seasonal debut but the 5 strong field (including a pulled-up Snoopy Loopy) was considerably less accomplished than the one on offer here.
An up-and-comer to watch here is the talented Carruthers and the 7 year-old bay comes out of the Mark Bradstock system. He has conquered some solid competition in the past but it’s the type of contenders he’s matched up against that give him a real reference here. A second-place finish to What A Friend was preceded by a fourth place finish in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Neither of those are anything to sneeze at and he has scored at 3m in the past when he and Mattie Batchelor conquered Nig Fella Thanks and Niche Market in a Newbury chase last December over 3m. The heavier the going, the better things shape up for Carruthers. He’s around 8/1 and could shorten depending on the weather.