The Royal Hunt Cup is a proper betting race. On the calendar since 1843, this is a straight-mile cavalry charge featuring some 30 runners.

£175,000 is up for grabs in prize money, but what jumps off the page is the lack of the classic “group horse in a handicap” types among the recent winners.

That’s because lots come into this race well handicapped at the bottom of the weights and they hold sway. The last ten winners have won carrying 8st6lbs up to 9-5, the average and median being 9-1.

As things can change, we looked at the official ratings rather than just weight carried. The last ten winners were rated 94 to 105 with the median figure being 101.

Eight of those winners were aged 4, the other two being 5 and 7. Four-year-olds are always right in the sweet spot to be well handicapped, improving types.

In terms of the draw, the winner in this period from stall 4 ran on soft ground while there were ‘good’ ground winners from stalls 7 and 11. When the ground was fast, 6 out of 7 were drawn from 11 to 33, four of them in fact from 21-33 with the near side (high numbers) retaining an advantage on proper fast racing ground.

The odds of these winners ranged from 13/2 up to 25/1. More to the point, they averaged being within the top 26% of the betting which is the first 8 assuming all 30 run. As things can and will change in the market, the top half of the betting seems like a good jumping off point.

We gave a mark to those in the top half of the betting, those drawn 15 or above, those rated up to 105 and those aged 4 or 5. Some runners only fit into two categories, leaving 18 runners.

We then took away those rated above 101 if they were aged more than 4, as well as those rated less than 96 at bigger prices. This leaves only 13 runners, with these six being our highest rated: 

Main Contenders

Bless Him 

At ten years of age now Bless Him wouldn’t be the classic Hunt Cup type, but he remains capable. He may also need some luck in running if in contention near the end.

Coeur d’Or 

Another older horse is the Irish trained Coeur d’Or. What took our eye for a mile winner was his unusual prep over six furlongs last time and he did produce a never-nearer finish.

Holloway Boy

Karl Burke’s Holloway Boy would be an interesting winner. A winner at the 2022 meeting on his debut at Listed level, it feels like he’s been around forever. He is only four however and has had just nine career runs to date.

He’s drawn well here and may be value given that his recent under-par performances are likely due to soft ground.

Real Gain 

William Buick gets the ride on this horse, a recent purchase for Wathnan Racing though James Doyle rides a different runner.

Real Gain has plenty of the stats we’re looking for, but we have to take on trust that he is ready to go given that even without bad luck in running last time he would not have gone anywhere close to winning.

Talis Evolvere 

Richard Hannon trains this horse who is drawn OK. His form is decent and his stats are good so a decent run should be expected.

Wild Tiger

Saeed Bin Suroor was responsible for the aforementioned soft ground Hunt Cup winner from gate 4 but this one is drawn much better.

A ‘young’ five-year-old, Wild Tiger has only run five times owing to injury but he’s improving very quickly now. He hasn’t been pushed yet since returning to Britain so we don’t know where his ceiling us, all we know is that he is very well handicapped indeed and has Oisin Murphy in the plate.

Summary

Wathnan Racing purchase Real Gain is favourite and is highly rated by us, but the form book tells us that it’s not certain he’ll get to his previous highest level which he’ll need to do here.

Saeed Bin Suroor’s WILD TIGER is most definitely the one on the numbers. He’s well clear on our ratings given how well handicapped he undoubtedly is, he is still improving, is well drawn and is well weighted and rated.

He has been winning over seven furlongs, but as a Frankel out of a mare who stayed a mile and a quarter this trip should be no problem at all.