Betfred Handicap Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Derby Festival)

Updated: 554 Horse Racing

See which trainers and jockeys have performed well in this fact-packed blog for the Betfred Handicap. This is a race that is hosted at Epsom during the Derby Festival with the race being run over a distance of 1m2f, see which trends the past winners of the Betfred Handicap have set for this year.

Betfred Handicap Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Derby Festival)
In this article: Preview
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2025 Betfred Handicap Preview

This class two handicap is scheduled to take place in June of each year at the Epsom racecourse during the Derby Festival, the race is open to runners who are aged four or older and is contested over a distance of one mile and two furlongs.

Betfred Handicap Information:

If you are interested in other predictions at Epsom then head over to the Epsom tips page to see which runners are being supported by the OLBG racing tipsters and also compare those predictions to the runners that make the trend shortlist when added below. You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Races Covered at the Epsom Derby Festival section for links to these.

How competitive is the Betfred Handicap market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2013 when the race had an over-round of 112%. The race in 2017 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 125%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Betfred Handicap, the over-round has been 120%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £120 which is bet.

Betfred Handicap Trends:

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the Betfred Handicap next time out then you would have backed a total of 2 winners. Backing all 18 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -7.00. Remember to use the racing predictions along with the information on this page to find a bet on the 2025 Betfred Handicap.

The runner that holds the record over the past 20 renewals for the slowest time in the race was set in the 2016 renewal when Imshivalla from Richard Fahey under the guidance of Paul Hanagan, won in a time of 2:12.63, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, Farraaj, trained by Roger Varian and ridden by Andrea Atzeni set the quickest time of 2:04.35 in the 2014 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run Betfred Handicap over the last 20 renewals:

  1. Farraaj (2:04.35) in 2014
  2. Cadillac (2:05.51) in 2023
  3. Sky Defender (2:05.65) in 2020

Betfred Handicap Past Winners

Here are the Betfred Handicap past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. Also detailed is the stall where the horse came from and the total number of runners in the race. The trainer of the horse at the time of winning the Betfred Handicap as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

YearHorse (Drawn)Info
2024
2:12.07
Bolster (GB)
4yo 9-8 (3 of 13) 5/1
Pierre-Louis Jamin
K R Burke (GB)
2023
2:05.51
Cadillac (IRE)
5yo 9-11 (8 of 11) 12/1
Kevin Stott
George Boughey (GB)
2022
2:07.16
Royal Champion (IRE)
4yo 9-2 (1 of 14) 14/1
Andrea Atzeni
Roger Varian (GB)
2021
2:12.46
Blue Cup (FR)
5yo 8-12 (9 of 9) 9/2F
Oisin Murphy
David Menuisier (GB)
2020
2:05.65
Sky Defender (GB)
4yo 9-5 (16 of 13) 22/1
Joe Fanning
Mark Johnston (GB)
2019
2:06.08
Mountain Angel (IRE)
5yo 9-4 (6 of 11) 11/4F
Andrea Atzeni
Roger Varian (GB)
2018
2:10.27
Ajman King (IRE)
4yo 9-6 (9 of 11) 5/4F
Andrea Atzeni
Roger Varian (GB)
2017
2:06.96
Not So Sleepy (GB)
5yo 9-8 (2 of 14) 10/1
Adam Kirby
Hughie Morrison (GB)
2016
2:12.63
Imshivalla (IRE)
5yo 8-6 (1 of 10) 25/1
Paul Hanagan
Richard Fahey (GB)
2015
2:07.60
Elbereth (GB)
4yo 7-10 (7 of 13) 16/1
Edward Greatrex (7lbs)
Andrew Balding (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Betfred Handicap have been based:

  • GB: 19 winners with an additional 41 placings from 237 runners
  • UAE: 1 winner with an additional 0 placings from 2 runners
  • IRE: 0 winners with an additional 1 placing from 1 runner
  • HK: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 1 runner

Betfred Handicap Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Betfred Handicap over the last 20 renewals is Roger Varian who has won the race four times with those four winners coming from Farraaj (2014), Ajman King (2018), Mountain Angel (2019) and Royal Champion (2022). The only other trainer to have recorded multiple wins in the Betfred Handicap is Stuart Kittow (2 wins).

Here are some of the top Betfred Handicap trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
Roger Varian5-4-4+23.50+14.21
Stuart Kittow4-2-2+12.00+6.40
Richard Fahey17-1-5+9.00+5.21
Andrew Balding11-1-3+6.00+5.13
Ralph Beckett7-1-4-1.50+1.13
John Gosden4-1-2-0.75-0.59
Hughie Morrison3-1-1+8.00+4.25
K R Burke3-1-1+3.00+1.13
David Menuisier3-1-2+2.50+1.76
Saeed bin Suroor3-1-2+1.50+1.60

Betfred Handicap Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Betfred Handicap over the last 20 renewals is Andrea Atzeni who has won the race four times with those four winners coming from Farraaj (2014), Ajman King (2018), Mountain Angel (2019) and Royal Champion (2022). The only other jockey to have recorded multiple wins in the Betfred Handicap is J F Egan (2 wins). Two jockeys have not had the best of times over the last 20 renewals in the Betfred Handicap, Ryan Moore has ridden a total of 10 runners to the race without recording any wins whilst Silvestre De Sousa has ridden 10 without a winner.

Here are some of the top Betfred Handicap jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Andrea Atzeni9-4-4+19.50+10.21
J F Egan4-2-2+46.00+28.00
William Buick8-1-1-4.75-5.59
Oisin Murphy7-1-1-1.50-3.30
Joe Fanning6-1-1+17.00+8.75
Adam Kirby4-1-1+7.00+3.25
Neil Callan4-1-1+3.00+0.60
Frankie Dettori3-1-1+1.50+0.10
Edward Greatrex2-1-2+15.00+11.10
Kevin Stott1-1-1+12.00+7.20

Betfred Handicap Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +80.75 is when runners had 1 start in the past 90 days. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners finished in 4th on debut, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-32.

Here are the most recent winning draws along with the further placings in brackets:

  • 2024: Winner in 3 (11,8) [13 Runners]
  • 2023: Winner in 8 (2,5) [11 Runners]
  • 2022: Winner in 1 (3,13) [14 Runners]
  • 2021: Winner in 9 (6,11) [9 Runners]
  • 2020: Winner in 16 (12,9) [13 Runners]

The courses that have produced the most winners of the Betfred Handicap are York and Epsom, there has been a total number of 4 winners from each of those courses.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 18 winners from a total of 228 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 2 winners from a total of 13 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Betfred Handicap:

  • Danehill Dancer (2 Wins)
  • Galileo (2 Wins)
  • Lope De Vega (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Betfred Handicap despite multiple attempts:

  • High Chaparral (0 Wins from 7 runners)
  • Key Of Luck (0 Wins from 6 runners)
  • Montjeu (0 Wins from 5 runners)
  • Rock Of Gibraltar (0 Wins from 5 runners)
  • Sir Percy (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Chancellor in 2006, winning for Ernst Oertel at odds of 40/1 under the guidance of J F Egan. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 5 winning favourites in the race. Ahead of the 2025 Betfred Handicap why not head over to the best racing tipster page to see what the tipsters are backing today?

Races Covered at the Epsom Derby Festival

Here is the 2025 schedule for the two-day Epsom Derby Festival, each race will be linked to the race blog and detail last year's winner in the table below.

Epsom Derby Festival races for Friday 6th June 2025

RaceLast WinnerInfo
14:00
Woodcote Stakes
Teej A (IRE)
2yo - 7/2
K R Burke
Clifford Lee
14:35
Trustatrader Handicap
Two Tempting (IRE)
5yo - 12/1
Jonathan Portman
David Egan
15:10
Coronation Cup
Luxembourg (IRE)
5yo - 9/4
A P OBrien
Ryan Moore
15:45
Betfred Handicap
Bolster (GB)
4yo - 5/1
K R Burke
Pierre-Louis Jamin
16:30
Epsom Oaks
Ezeliya (FR)
3yo - 13/2
D K Weld
Chris Hayes
17:10
Surrey Stakes
Evade (FR)
3yo - 10/1
Archie Watson
Oisin Murphy
17:40
Tattenham Handicap
Rhoscolyn (GB)
6yo - 9/1
David OMeara
James Doyle

Epsom Derby Festival races for Saturday 7th June 2025

RaceLast WinnerInfo
13:25
Lester Piggott Handicap
Persica (IRE)
3yo - 9/2
Richard Hannon
Sean Levey
14:00
Princess Elizabeth Stakes
Breege (GB)
4yo - 5/1
John & Sean Quinn
Jason Hart
14:35
Diomed Stakes
Royal Scotsman (IRE)
4yo - 17/2
Paul & Oliver Cole
Jamie Spencer
15:10
Epsom 3yo Dash
Blue Storm (GB)
3yo - 8/1
Gemma Tutty
Rossa Ryan
15:45
Epsom Dash
Dream Composer (FR)
6yo - 6/1
James Evans
Joe Leavy
16:30
Epsom Derby
City Of Troy (USA)
3yo - 3/1
A P OBrien
Ryan Moore
17:15
Northern Dancer Handicap
Relentless Voyager (GB)
4yo - 7/1
Andrew Balding
Oisin Murphy
17:50
JRA Tokyo Trophy Handicap
Misty Grey (IRE)
7yo - 7/1
David OMeara
Rossa Ryan

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Betfred Handicap Preview are at hand, Andy and James. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews for Flat Racing.

James Banting

James Banting

Tipster competition assistant

James Banting, a passionate horse racing enthusiast and aficionado, brings a wealth of experience to OLBG, having attended numerous race meetings over the years. His background working with the Jockey Club provides him with a unique insider's perspective on the industry.
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content editor

Andy, a seasoned horse racing expert with over 15 years of experience, possesses a comprehensive understanding of the sport, from delving into complex statistical data for flat racing in the UK and Ireland to crafting insightful flat racing blogs for OLBG.

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