THE Betfair Hurdle has attracted an impressive 75 entries for its renewal at Newbury next month – the joint-highest number of entries since 2001 and considerably more than the 65 received last year.


The Grade Three handicap, run over an extended two miles, is Britain’s richest handicap hurdle with £155,000 in prize money and was first staged in 1963.


Britain’s champion Jump trainer Paul Nicholls has six entries, headed by Betfair’s 12/1 favourite Modus.


Lambourn-based Nicky Henderson has four entries, headed by last season’s Grade One Triumph Hurdle hero and likely top-weight Peace And Co (14/1).


The five-year-old lost his unbeaten record when disappointing in the Grade Two International Hurdle at Cheltenham last month and Henderson recently revealed he is considering whether to keep the horse in conditions’ company or go for the Betfair Hurdle.


Henderson’s other entries are Sign Of A Victory (16/1), Day Of Heaven (20/1) and Cardinal Walter (20/1).


Fellow Lambourn trainer Oliver Sherwood has entered Rayvin Black (33/1).

The seven-year-old is at home on very soft ground, scoring on his latest start in a two-mile handicap hurdle at Sandown on January 2, a race he was winning for the second year in succession.


Another chance of local success in the Betfair Hurdle comes from Royal Guardsman (33/1), trained at Eastbury by Ali Stronge.


There is a significant Irish-trained entry of 23 for the 2016 Betfair Hurdle, way up on the 11 such entries received in 2015.


Weights for the race – which takes place on Saturday, February 13 – will be revealed on Wednesday, January 20. The maximum field size for the race is 24.