Unibet Veterans Handicap Chase

This weekend’s big handicap is the Unibet Veterans Handicap Chase at Sandown racecourse. This is a fairly niche event being limited to horses aged 10 or over. It is fair to say that the horses are in the twilight of their careers and are unlikely to play a major part at the Cheltenham festival. It is a relatively new event, first run in 2016. It is run over 3 miles and 37 yards. 18 go to post and off time is 3.00.

Most bookmakers offer each-way terms of 5 or 6 places which makes the race an excellent betting proposition.

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Go For The Long Shots

I have looked at the statistics for this race and these are my key conclusions.

1. It is best to look at those horses at the bottom of the market. Those horses with forecast odds in the range 16/1 to 20/1 have a record of 5 wins from 26 runs.
2. It is helpful to have had a recent run. Only 1 horse (from 55 attempts) has won this after a lay-off of more than 32 days. The fitter horses have a record of 6 wins from 49 runs.
3. The ideal weight range is 10st 1lbs to 10st 10lbs. This weight range has produced 4 wins from 32 efforts.
4. It is best to stick with experienced jockeys. There have been 15 horses ridden by 5lbs or 7lbs claimers and none of these have won.

Only 1 horse matches these criteria and that is SIR IVAN. The 13-year-old gelding is currently available at 20/1 with BET365 who pay 5 places.

It is worth noting that SIR IVAN has been placed in this race in both 2021 and 2022 at odds of 20/1 and 22/1. He carries 3lbs less than he did last year.

Further statistics that may prove relevant.

As already indicated, those at the head of the betting have a poor record with only 2 winners from 69 runners being in the top 9 in the betting. SIR IVAN is ranked 10.

Horses that finished 1^st or 2^nd last time have recorded 1 win from 35 attempts. SIR IVAN finished 3^rd last time.

Horses that haven’t won over the distance have a record of 1 from 24. SIR IVAN has won over the distance, albeit over 5 years ago.

All odds accurate at the time of writing