Free Bet From Betfair To Benefit Best Mate Charities

Betfair announces today that it has given Best Mate´s owner, Jim Lewis, a free £5,000 bet at 33/1 about his horse winning the Betfair Million.

Should the triple Cheltenham Gold Cup winner succeed in landing the three-race challenge, Betfair will pay Lewis £165,000 which will be shared between the two charities associated with Best Mate, the St Richard´s Hospice (www.strichards.org.uk) and the Gentleman´s Night Out.

Betfair´s gift got the thumbs up from Lewis who said today: 'It´s a fantastic gesture to the racing game. Betfair obviously benefits greatly from racing but they also put much back and all credit goes to them. I hope the Betfair Million is a huge success, that every race is a great spectacle and that everybody understands that Betfair has made it possible.'

Lewis thinks his champion can complete the treble, which would activate the £1-million bonus, of the new Betfair Chase at Haydock on November 19, the Stan James King George VI Chase at Sandown on December 26 and the totesport Gold Cup at Cheltenham on March 17.

Horses such as Kicking King and Trabolgan are just two of the potential challengers to Lewis´ champion, but the owner is confident that Best Mate will come out on top

He remarked: 'I´m not really worried about anything else. If Best Mate turns up at Haydock in his normal form, then I think the chances of pulling it off are very good indeed. Kicking King is a worthy champion but I think our horse is a better jumper and has a better turn of foot on his day.

'I think the 33-1 is probably a fair price. First of all you´ve got to get them to the races but I wouldn´t give you 33-1 Best Mate for all three, because if he wins the first one and comes home sound, I don´t think there´s a horse about that could beat him.'

Lewis registered Best Mate as a trademark after the third Gold Cup triumph in 2004 with a view to raising funds for charity and revealed: 'We´ve raised thousands selling merchandise through our website www.bestmate.info and all the money from that goes direct to the two charities.'

Lewis is patron of the St. Richard´s Hospice in Worcester which is looking to raise £5 million.

'We are building a new 16-bed palliative care hospital and we´ve only got about a quarter of a million to go now. If we win the Betfair Million and land this bet then we could almost say for sure that the hospice would have all the money they wanted.

'The Gentleman´s Night Out has raised in excess of £10 million and that all goes to short-life children. These are kids with terminal illnesses and we send them to Lapland for Christmas and things like that to fulfil their wishes.

'I think it´s fantastic what Betfair are doing and they deserve the credit for this because first of all they are putting money into racing, but it could also have all sorts of benefits for hundreds of people.'