Venetia Williams chases poignant success in race to honour Houblon Des Obeaux

Burtons Well bids to become a poignant winner of the £100,000 Unibet Veterans’ Handicap Chase Final (3.00) at Sandown on Saturday for Venetia Williams – a race run in memory of popular stable star Houblon Des Obeaux.

It was at the Esher track where Houblon Des Obeaux, winner of the Veterans’ Final last year, sadly suffered a fatal heart attack in the void race last month.

Burtons Well – owned by Trevor Hemmings – is the mount of Charlie Deutsch and won on his return at Aintree before running below par at Haydock most recently.

He is a best-priced 10-1 with William Hill and is one of 14 runners in another ultra-competitive renewal shown on ITV4 and RTV.

Jepeck – ridden by Rex Dingle – heads the betting at 4-1 after two wins and a second in three runs in novice hurdles this season, while King’s Odyssey is a best-priced 11-2 with bet365 after beating the reopposing Smooth Stepper at Warwick last time.

The Richard Rowe-trained Dark Flame contested the void race but had previously finished second to Houblon Des Obeaux in November and is a general 7-1 chance, while last year’s second Theatre Guide is 20-1 to go one better with William Hill.

Veterans' Chase Final card

Theatre Guide and Regal Flow are the oldest runners at the age of 13 in a contest open to ten-year-olds and upwards who started in a veterans’ chase series qualifier last year.

The going at Sandown is soft, good to soft in places on the chase course and soft, heavy in places on the hurdle course. The forecast is generally dry up to raceday.

Confirmed runners and riders

1 King’s Odyssey Adam Wedge/Evan Williams
2 Vieux Lion Rouge Tom Scudamore/David Pipe
3 Carole’s Destrier Robbie Dunne/Neil Mulholland
4 Burtons Well Charlie Deutsch/Venetia Williams
5 Theatre Guide Rider tbc/Colin Tizzard
6 Abolitionist Charlie Hammond (3)/Richard Newland
7 Smooth Stepper Kielan Woods/Alex Hales
8 Wild West Wind Jonathan Burke/Tom George
9 Shanroe Santos Leighton Aspell/Lucy Wadham
10 Jepeck Rex Dingle (3)/Anthony Honeyball
11 On Tour Richard Johnson/Evan Williams
12 Regal Flow Sean Houlihan (3)/Bob Buckler
13 Dark Flame James Davies/Richard Rowe
14 Horatio Hornblower Chester Williams (5)/Nick Williams

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