Regal Encore Handicap Chase 2026 Tips: Henry's Friend Can Defend His Crown At A Fair Price

The Regal Encore Handicap Chase, the race formerly known as the Sodexo Live! Gold Cup, is a wide open ten-runner Premier Handicap at Ascot on Saturday, with Viroflay and Califet En Vol sharing favouritism at 7/2 and plenty of the field coming back from a break. Billy Grimshaw is not keen on either of them, and he explains why last year's winner is the one to be with at a bigger price.

Ten runners go to post for Ascot's big early season handicap over two miles and seven furlongs, and the first thing to say is that this is a race to be wary of, because the market leaders and last year's winner are all coming back from a break and nobody can be sure how fit or sharp they will be first time out. The ground is good, good to firm in places after a bit of watering, which should suit most of these, and the betting has no great conviction, with Viroflay and Califet En Vol sharing favouritism at 7/2 before the rest are spread out from 15/2 upwards. I am happy to take on both of them, but I will explain why before I get to the horse I want to be with.

Viroflay is the more reliable of the two, because he is a consistent sort who has finished first or second in nine of his twelve starts over regulation fences, and Paul Nicholls has booked Lucas Murphy to take 7lb off his back. But there is plenty to pick at for a horse who is 7/2. He has not been seen since winning a three-runner race at Newton Abbot in May as a 5/6 favourite, which has put him up 4lb to a mark of 144, and when he went to Ascot last November he was beaten at 4/5 over two and a quarter miles on quick ground. That is a long way from a ringing endorsement for a nine-year-old at the top of the weights.

Califet En Vol is the more interesting of the two, and it is easy to see why Nicky Henderson's seven-year-old has plenty of support. He beat Viroflay by two and a half lengths at Kempton in February and he is only in his second season over fences, so there could well be more to come, with Nico de Boinville taking the ride. The problem is that he has not won since that day and he ran poorly on his last start at Ayr on ground that did not suit him, so we are taking it on trust that he is back to his best. He runs off 139, 3lb higher than at Kempton, and 7/2 feels like a price that has already allowed for the improvement.

Further down the list there are a few that might appeal more. Tapley has won his last two at Fontwell and Plumpton for Jamie and Josh Moore, which makes him the only one in the field to have won within the last month, but both wins came over around two and a half miles and a Premier Handicap at Ascot over a longer trip is a big step up in class at 17/2. Queensbury Boy won at Market Rasen in July for Mickey Bowen and is respected at 15/2, while Neon Moon is a course and distance winner who had his chance in this last year before fading late on, and at 12/1 he looks the most tempting of the outsiders for a place.

That leaves HENRY'S FRIEND, who is the one I want to be with at the prices. Last year's winner is 8/1 with William Hill in a race where the favourites are 7/2, which tells you plenty about the market's memory, or its patience with a nine-year-old who has not won since. Ben Pauling's gelding was a 17/2 chance when Ben Jones took him to a one and three-quarter length success in what was then the Sodexo Live! Gold Cup, sitting handy before finding more on the run-in when challenged at the last, and he runs off a mark of 142 this time, a pound lower than he was a year ago. Take out the bad runs on soft ground since and you are left with a horse who is ideally suited to this test.

The case for him is simple enough. He is a course and distance winner who has won two of his three starts over fences at Ascot, the Reynoldstown in 2024 among them, and he did it last year first time out after a summer off, which is exactly the situation he finds himself in now. Since then he has been well beaten on soft ground at Cheltenham, back at Ascot and at Kempton, but it is much quicker here and I am not going to hold those runs against him. He has also had a wind operation since his last start, which could well bring about some improvement, and Kielan Woods, who rode him at Ascot in December, takes the ride.

There are reasons to be wary, of course. He was pulled up on his final start of last season and he has not won since the day he took this race twelve months ago, he is nine and Ben Pauling's runners have hardly been flying in recent weeks, so the market may have a point. Pauling also runs Your Darling, an 11-year-old on top weight who is another Ascot course and distance winner, but he has to give my selection 2lb and was pulled up on his last start, which makes him easy to ignore at 15/2. I would not be at all shocked if the two market leaders ran well, but both have questions to answer that I do not think my horse does.

This is a ten-runner Premier Handicap so each-way is a sensible way to play it, and William Hill are paying three places at a quarter of the odds, which should give us a decent run for our money at the price. There is plenty about this race that is up for debate, with the favourites returning from a break and the in-form horses stepping up in class, and I would rather side with a proven course specialist at a big price than back a short-priced one to prove he is back to his best. I am backing HENRY'S FRIEND to defend his crown and give Ben Pauling another big Ascot prize.