Irish trainer Gordon Elliott could be double handed in the £100,000 Betfair Price Rush Hurdle at Haydock – a race which has alteady been confirmed as the target for current Champion Hurdle favourite The New One.
The 2m contest is being run for the first time on on Saturday, November 21, and replaces the Betfair-sponsored race which was previously restricted to four-year-old hurdlers.
It is hoped that the new contest will attract leading contenders for the Champion Hurdle.
Betfair Price Rush provides Sportsbook customers the chance to get better odds than they bargained for on their singles bets, thanks to the power of the Exchange.
At bet placement, Betfair automatically checks the prices offered by the thousands of customers on the Exchange. If there is a better price available in that particular Exchange market, Betfair will transfer the Sportsbook stake to match those higher odds being layed on the Exchange.
So if the customer gets a Price Rush, they benefit from better odds than they were expecting, while the Exchange layer gets their bet matched…so everyone is happy!
Barry Orr of Betfair commented: “Thanks to an exciting new development, sometimes you could get a ‘Price Rush’ where we increase your Sportsbook bet to higher odds.
“Once you place your bet, we automatically check the prices offered by thousands of customers on the Betfair Exchange. In fact, over 2.2 million Sportsbook bets have been ‘Rushed’ at an average of over 20% in recent months.
“If your bet has been Price Rushed, you’ll see it on your bet receipt.”
Trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies has already confirmed that last year’s Champion Hurdle third and dual Group One runner-up The New One is likely to be aimed at the Betfair Price Rush Hurdle.
Irish handler Gordon Elliott also has an eye on this exciting new contest and is looking to enter both Bayan and Flaxen Flare.
Flaxen Flare enjoyed his finest hour when successful in the Grade Three Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2013 and ran well under some big weights in handicap company last year at Cheltenham, Ascot and Leopardstown. He returned to action at Galway on September 10, registering a smooth two-length victory over Plinth in a two and a half-mile conditions hurdle.
Bayan demonstrated his well-being with a close fourth in a valuable mile and three-quarter handicap at Leopardstown on September 13. The five-year-old had two cracking efforts in top handicap hurdle company, going down by three lengths in the Galway Hurdle in July and taking third in the Coral Cup at the Cheltenham Festival.
Elliott reported: “The new Betfair Price Rush Hurdle is a race we are definitely looking at and I would say at this stage we would be most likely to enter Bayan and Flaxen Flare.
“Both horses put up very encouraging performances on their return to action and we would hoping there is going to be some more improvement to come from them this season.”
