The admirable Albertas Run has bookmakers divided as to his chance should he head next to Haydock to tackle Long Run and co. in the eagerly anticipated Grade 1 Betfair Chase on November 19.
He is as short as 12/1 with some firms in the Betfair Chase betting whilst others discount his chance and go as big as 25/1 about the four-time Grade 1 winner landing the spoils.
There are few more hardy performers in training than Jonjo O'Neill's 10-year-old who returned to the fray this term with a surprise win of former champion chaser Master Minded in the Grade 2 Betfair Monet's Garden Old Roan Chase at Aintree last month, a performance that delighted connections who had anticipated that the Paul Nicholls-trained odds-on favourite would proved very hard to beat.
As things transpired Albertas Run made every yard of the running under champion jockey Tony McCoy, pulling away from his rivals after two out by which point the odds-on favourite was clearly not at his best and was eased off by Ruby Walsh, leaving the Trevor Hemmings-owned runner to come home a comfortable length clear of Pure Faith. That bare form doesn't in itself look good enough to trouble such as Long Run and Kauto Star, but the winner of last season's Grade 1 Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival (his second successive win in the race), would not be out of place in the Betfair Chase line-up should connections decide to let him take his chance in preference to a run in the Amlin 1965 Chase at Ascot. People looking at the horse racing betting should bear this in mind.
Although he stays three miles there is a feeling that Albertas Run is a better performer at the top level over around two-and-a-half miles, and this is almost certainly the reason that bookmakers are divided on his chance in the ante-post list for the Haydock event. Wherever he goes though the one certainty is that the winner of 15 of his 33 starts will always give his all.