racing_news/

Aintree and Haydock Park racecourses team up to create new jump racing festival
07/04/05

KICKING King and Best Mate could stage a showdown in November after Aintree and Haydock Park Racecourses joined forces to create a new weekend racing festival for the 2005/6 National Hunt season.

The Haydock highlight on the first day of the two-day "North West Masters", staged on Saturday and Sunday 19 and 20 November, is the £150,000 Betfair Chase, which becomes only the third Grade 1 steeplechase over three miles or more in Britain.

The new three-mile chase has been created to give top steeplechasers an early season target, and Henrietta Knight, trainer of three-times Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Best Mate, and Tom Taaffe, handler of Kicking King who was successful in the 2005 Gold Cup last month, are already contemplating the Betfair Chase for their stars.

Henrietta Knight said today: "We will certainly look at Haydock's new race when choosing an early season target for Best Mate. Haydock is a magnificent jumping track and, provided the ground is right, Best Mate could well be there."

Best Mate missed going for a fourth successive Cheltenham Gold Cup because he failed to recover in time from a virus.

County Kildare-based Tom Taaffe said: "This is a race that we will definitely look at for Kicking King. Of course, we’ll be keeping our options open, but £150,000 over three miles looks most interesting."

The leading betting exchange Betfair is offering a £250,000 bonus if a horse wins the Haydock Park race, follows up in the Stan James King George VI Steeplechase at Christmas and completes the hat-trick in the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup in the spring.

Josh Apiafi, director of field marketing at Betfair, which sponsors the Betfair Bowl at this year’s John Smith’s Grand National meeting, said: "Betfairis delighted to extend its sponsorship of jump racing by backing this new major event in the racing calendar.

"To celebrate the first running of the new Grade 1 race, we are offering the connections of any horse that wins the 2005 Betfair Chase, the 2005 Stan James King George, and the 2006 totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup a bonus of £250,000."

Adam Waterworth, Haydock Park’s managing director, explained that the racecourse was going all out to attract the very best horses.

"Haydock Park and Aintree are creating a major new highlight for the National Hunt season in the North West Masters. This is fantastic news for the sport," he said.

"Our principal new race is a superb opportunity for the best steeplechasers in Britain, Ireland and France. Thanks to our sponsors Betfair, we are able to offer prize money of £150,000, as well as a quarter of million pound bonus."

The feature races at Aintree on day two of the North West Masters will be the £100,000 totesport Becher Chase and the £50,000 totesport Grand Sefton Chase.

The totesport Becher Chase, run over three miles and three furlongs and founded in 1992, is used as a stepping stone to the John Smith's Grand National, while the totesport Grand Sefton Chase, resurrected in 2003, gives horses a chance of racing over the Grand National fences at the shorter trip of two miles, five and a half furlongs.

Charles Barnett, Aintree's managing director, declared: "We are extremely pleased to have joined forces with Haydock Park for an unusual North West 'double-header'. The Sunday at Aintree promises to be a great day with two races over the National fences, the totesport Grand Sefton Chase and the totesport Becher Chase."