Saturday, 5th April, sees the 2025 Randox Grand National Festival conclude with a thrilling seven-race card. Pride of place belongs to the Grand National itself, but the ever-popular marathon isn’t the only intriguing staying chase on the menu.
Around ninety minutes before the runners tackle The Chair, Becher’s Brook and Co., a competitive field of 14 sets out over 3m1f of the standard chase course. Offering £100,000 in prize money, the William Hill Handicap Chase provides a valuable late-season target for the more talented staying handicappers in training.
Backing a winner or two before the start of the big one always adds to the fun of the day. In an effort to do just that, we have looked back at the ten results of the William Hill Handicap Chase between 2014 and 2024 (no race in 2020). Here we present the standout stats and trends for this cracking contest and pick out our best trends-based bet for 2025.
Fate of the Favourite
Just two market leaders came home in front in our ten-year sample, handing favourite backers a loss of £3.25 to £1 level stakes. Six winners returned a single-figure SP, two between 10/1 and 12/1, and two 28/1+, including shock 50/1 winner Maggio in 2016.
Tried at a Higher Level
When assessing any top-tier handicap, we are always interested to see which of the runners have been tried at a higher level in the past – to be plunged into graded company, a runner must be showing some reasonable signs of ability at home. In the case of this race, nine of the past ten winners had previously lined up at Grade 2 level or above. That seems to be a good place to start when narrowing down this year's field.
Four runners fall at our first fence, bringing the field down to 10.
Stamina Considerations
Whilst nowhere near as demanding as the headlined act on National Day, a strongly run 3m1f will expose any chinks in the stamina of the contenders. The ten results in our sample suggest we should favour those who have previously scored over at least 2m4½f, with nine winners falling into that category.
Heltenham comes up just short at this stage, reducing our list to nine.
Recent Run an Advantage
The last of the 9/10 trends concerns the break of the winners. Six winners arriving via the Cheltenham Festival were joined by three others in winning this following a break of 21-31 days.
Focussing on those who fall into that 10-day window in 2025 reduces the challengers to four.
Stamina Considerations
Moving on to the 8/10 trends, we turn to the number of previous starts in handicap chase company. Interestingly, the two wins in the 8+ column were recorded by the same horse – Duke of Lucca, who won back-to-back editions in 2014 and 2015. With every other winner having seven or fewer handicap chase outings, we will use this criterion as our next filter.
Shakemup Up’arry, Richmond Lake, and Wevallbeencaught all depart at this final fence, leaving only one.
Recommended Bet: Happy to Side with Rowley Runner
The last horse standing in the trends race for the William Hill Handicap Chase is the Mel Rowley-trained eleven-year-old Happygolucky. Despite those relatively advanced years, this Jeremy gelding has only seven previous handicap chase starts to his name – all of which have come in Premier Handicap events such as this.
The pick of those efforts saw him land this very race off a mark of 149 in 2021. Off the track for 683 days following a ninth-placed effort in the 2023 Ultima Handicap Chase (when trained by Kim Bailey), he looked in need of the outing on his return. However, he caught the eye when travelling well for a long way in the 2025 Ultima before fading into fourth close home. Now down to a mark 139, and with his fitness returning, following such a long time away, he may be ready to peak at the right time for this.
Recommended Bet - Happygolucky to win @ 6/1 with BetFred
Our Top Betting Sites for the 2025 William Hill Handicap Chase:
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Paul Harrison
Falling in love with racing at a young age, Paul’s passion for sports and betting took him to Salford University, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics with Gambling Studies. Having spent ten years in the employment of a leading bookmaker, Paul opted to go it alone and pursue his dream job as a freelance writer.
