The £100,000 Great Yorkshire Chase is the betting highlight of the weekend. 18 runners will take on 18 fences around three miles of Doncaster’s track on what is good ground going into the weekend.

This race has been on the calendar since 1948 and it’s always been a tough one to win. Just one jockey has won it three times, that feat being achieved back in the 50’s.  There have been plenty of abandonments over the years, though we have better luck with the weather it seems this time around.

We couldn’t glean much from previous winners’ ages. Winners have come regularly from 7yo to 10yo. Successful horses have come from up and down the handicap too, winners carrying anywhere from 10st1lb to 11st12lbs in recent years.

This time around it’s about ruling horses in rather than ruling them out. With that, these are our six top-rated contenders at the weights: 

Main Contenders

Cooper’s Cross

Cooper’s Cross has been with us for a while now and his place on this list is based upon mostly past exploits. We cannot believe that a horse like this one is done now, so getting back to even close to his best gives him a chance.

In terms of recent form, he has pulled up the last twice. That’s not a great sign of course, but as recently as last April he achieved his best form in the Scottish Grand National and shouldn’t be discounted.

Erne River 

Erne River won a course and distance handicap here in late December which of course is a plus.

It wasn’t as strong a race as the one two weeks earlier which had been contest by several of these contenders, but it’s interesting nonetheless. He is up only 3lbs for his success and can go well once again under jockey Charlie Hammond.

Famous Bridge 

Nicky Richards’ Famous Bridge is carrying the notorious Hemmings colours in this race. An eight-year-old, Famous Bridge has run only seven times over fences and has won four of those outings.

His third run was a win on good ground at Wetherby. We’d reckon that means he can handle it well, but he needs to be much better now and his subsequent strong runs have all been on much softer ground which must be kept in mind.

Mister Coffey

Nicky Henderson must be scratching his head with this horse. Clearly a talent, he has finished second on six occasions over fences but hasn’t yet won a single race in this sphere in seven attempts.

A key piece of form is his second over course and distance here in December. That was a solid run and he is very fit now having previously been engaged to run elsewhere in the lead-up to this race.

Surrey Quest 

Surrey Quest is on a hat-trick after winning at Huntingdon and Newbury at the backend of last year. Certainly an improver, the former Nicky Henderson runner has more success in him but he’ll need to reach new highs to beat this level of opposition. 

Twoshotsoftequila 

This seven-year-old has an excellent profile and looks sure to win a race of this nature very soon. Twoshotsoftequila has strong course form from a good race here back in December, is improving overall and should handle the likely conditions.

Had he won last time which some expected, he’d be rated much higher than the 121 mark he has now and so he could be coming into this race pretty well handicapped.

Summary

This one was close. There wasn’t a whole lot between our six (and a few others too), but it could be the North East connection that comes out on top in the shape of Rebecca Menzies and Nathan Moscrop.

The key race here is the course and distance event which took place on December 16th. Forward Plan, who just missed out on our list, won that day with Mister Coffey and TWOSHOTSOFTEQUILA close in behind.

Twoshotsoftequila was only just getting into gear late on six weeks ago and will be better now. He’s been kept for this race, will have been prepped well and will be ready to go.

Perpetual runner-up Mister Coffey was next on the list. Second in that course and distance handicap, he is well fancied but it’s easy to see our horse progressing past him. Twoshotsoftequila was also 11/4 favourite for the December race and was fancied to go very well, something we’ve kept in mind.