Unibet Becher Handicap Chase

3m2f, Grade 3 ITV4/RTV

Card and Spotlight, page 58

WITH the benefit of four weeks’ hindsight, I can now say it was a bit giddy to go linking the newly positioned Grand Sefton Chase with other autumn handicap chases like the Paddy Power. The skip that followed the Grand Sefton’s hop was always going to be the Becher Chase.

A related point that was missed last month is that the programme now gives a realistic possibility of a horse winning three times over the National fences in the same season. That will surely be Mac Tottie’s aim, particularly with his yard’s previous in producing multiple winners over these fences.

The traditional use for this race is as a Grand National prep, with varying levels of intent. Showing some strong Aintree form can be damaging to a Grand National hopeful’s handicap mark, although on the flip side the bottom half of this field probably need a rise in the weights to make the cut for the big one.

Eight of the field are actually out of the weights, including a couple of Judith Wilson-owned recruits from France who are more than a stone ‘wrong’.

That helps thin down the field a little and makes the extra place offers (six and seven places each-way are easy to find) all the more attractive.

The weights are set by Chris’s Dream, who is giving 9lb to the field. Off 162, he is the highest-rated runner in the Becher since 1996 and only the second runner off a mark of 160+ in the meantime.

Chris’s Dream is one of a number whose stamina for the 3m2f trip is in doubt. It is encouraging, but by no means conclusive, that he was still going well enough when unseating four out in April’s Grand National. Technically, he had covered more than 3m2f by then but what was left included a large proportion of the actual racing.

Mac Tottie is another with stamina to prove, along with the likes of Didero Vallis, Checkitout, Hill Sixteen and the aforementioned French recruits. The Becher can turn into a real test, but for that to happen this year depends on the forecast rain arriving at Aintree. Without that, stamina may not be at the premium it can be in this race’s more mud-spattered renewals.

The pace tends to ebb and flow in even the shorter races over the National fences, and it is expected to be the same here. There are still plenty of horses who can inject early pace over the first three fences, which come up relatively quickly and include a ditch as