Can Grey Dawning Win Another Betfair Chase?

The Betfair Chase takes place at Haydock Park on Saturday November 21. It’s one of the leading national hunt races this side of Christmas. Last year Grey Dawning was an impressive winner, can he win it again in 2026?

The nine-year-old is the odds-on favourite to win the race, available at 4-5 with top bookmakers. That price could well shorten before the race gets underway. Trained by Dan Skelton, Grey Dawning has been victorious in six of his 14 chases. This race is run over three miles and one-and-a-half furlongs.

If you want to bet on this race with an online site, it’s best to do some research before you register. Going to a site such as Bets & Horses, which gives plenty of information about online betting sites, is definitely recommended.

His most recent run was a win in the JCB Mellows Chase at Aintree in April. It was a narrow victory though, finishing a neck ahead of Solness.  That win followed his fourth place in the 2026 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Grey Dawning weakened in the final stages of that race that’s run over a distance that is a furlong longer than this race.

Grey Dawning went off the 10-11 favourite in this race last year. He was looking to reverse form with Royale Pagaiile who had won the race in 2024. That was achieved in style as Grey Dawning won the race by two-and-three-quarter lengths. Another bold show is expected this year and he’s definitely the one to beat.

The current second favourite is Gary and Josh Moore’s Salver. The six-year-old is available at 5-1 and looks good each-way value in this Grade 1 race.

Two of Salver’s six chases have been won. The most recent success came in a Grade 2 Novices’ Chase run at Windsor in February of this year. Since then, Salver has claimed second place in the Brown’s Advisory Novices’ Chase at this year’s Cheltenham Festival. He finished third in that race, but Final Demand, who ended the race in second, was disqualified.

It was a pretty tough race for Salver who was kicked before the start and hampered at one point during the race. If those kinds of mishaps can be avoided here, Salver could give the favourite plenty to think about.

Salver’s final race of last season was at Aintree in the Grade 1 Mildmay Novices’ Chase finishing in third, 11-and-a-half lengths behind winner Gold Dancer. A closer finish would have been achieved but for a mistake at the last. That can’t happen at Haydock if Salver wants to win this Grade 1 race.

Iroko is an interesting runner and currently around 9-1 for the Betfair Chase. This is certainly a drop in distance for the Oliver Greenall/Josh Guerrerio runner. The eight-year-old was second behind I am Maximus in this year’s Grand National at Aintree.

That was the second time that Iroko has been placed in the Grand National, having finished in fourth place in 2025.  That legendary race is run over a distance that is a mile further than the Betfair Chase, so we need to look at what has been achieved by Iroko in races over this kind of distance.

This year’s Cheltenham Festival produced a disappointing tenth place finish in the Ultima Handicap run over three miles and a furlong. There was a reason though with it being revealed later in the week that the gelding had scoped dirty the day after the race.

Iroko’s last victory came at Ascot last December. That was a win in the Class 2 Howden Graduation Chase with just three runners. Iroko caused a surprise in that race as he defeated the odds-on favourite Firefox.

Two previous runs on this course have both produced second placed finishes. Last year, Iroko was the runner-up in the Betfair Exchange Graduation Chase, his first run following wind surgery. While his long-term target is another crack at the Grand National, Iroko could well put on a good show here at a track he likes racing on.

Another runner who could be worth backing each-way is Henry De Bromhead’s The Big Western. You can get 9-1 on this runner with online bookmakers. The seven-year-old has had only two runs in chases, but one of those did produce a victory.

That was at Limerick in a Novices’ Chase run last December. After a second in a Beginners Chase, The Big Westerner reverted back to hurdles and was second in the Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival.  This runner clearly has some potential and could well run into a place.

This is always an informative race and has been won by such great horses as Kauto Star and Cue Card in the past. Grey Dawning certainly has a good chance of winning the Betfair Chase for a second successive year.