2023 Watergate Cup Handicap Betting Odds at Chester racecourse

Saturday, 30 September 2023

The Watergate Cup Handicap will inevitably come down to which horse has been the best weighted for a long distance encounter, with the bookies not having any real certainty when it comes to the runner to beat. While Baez has emerged as the marginal favourite, there is little to split the leading contenders in the race.

Baez is a four-year-old with solid enough credentials, although Emiyn is an older counterpart who could perform well in the race, while La Hacienda is another experienced sort with the propensity to go well for trainer Matthew J Smith. Tashkan and Golden Shot are other contenders who could be interesting from an each-way point-of-view.

2023 Watergate Cup Tips

Baez has clocked up a string of victories and he’s the eye-catching horse that will line up in the Watergate Cup, although the betting odds suggest a wide open encounter. The Jim Goldie-trained charge has achieved no less than four consecutive wins and the latest of these came at Chester Racecourse in mid-September when beating six other horses.

That win was over two miles and came after a handicap win at Musselburgh, with previous victories coming at York and Catterick. The four-year-old could be the one to beat, although Emiyn has been respected in the market and the horse ran well in esteemed company last time out when finishing seventh at Goodwood out of seventeen runners.

Sent off at odds of 18/1, the horse performed well over two miles, four and a half furlongs. Previously to this came a victory in the Clogau Handicap at Chester Racecourse, with the Declan Carroll-trained runner having to cope with a hefty weight compared to several of the other leading counterparts including La Hacienda.

Matthew J Smith will hope that his six-year-old can recover from a below-par performance in the Irish Cesarewich, with Tashkan looking like a potential contender after a bright showing in the York Ebor Handicap despite finishing down the order. It could be that the conditions are right for the Brian Ellison-trained horse to go well here.