Racing Post Chance
A week of dry weather means horse racing spread bettors can look forward to a Saturday afternoon of top quality jumps action on genuine good ground. The highlight of Saturday's Kempton Park meeting is the 3m Racing Post Chase and those who like to play the spreads on the big race days will be aware of the class of horse which has won this race over the years. The all conquering Paul Nicholls stable has the hot favourite in Big Fella Thanks and if the past decade is to be believed he must win the race. None of the past 10 winners have started a double-figure price and those spread sellers of SP's will look at the current market and see that the favourite is the only one trading below 10/1 at present. Four of the last 10 favourites have won the race, including another Nicholls runner Gungadu last season off top weight.
Spread punters who will be playing the win index markets will want to know about the general make-up of previous winners and interestingly only one of the last 10 has carried less than 11st. Class seems to come to the fore in this race and those wanting to buy top weight Nozic (yet another Nicholls runner) with Sporting Index will be encouraged that four of the last nine winners have carried the maximum burden. Paul Nicholls was successful for the first time in this race last year, but the spread punters' friend over the past decade has been Phillip Hobbs, who has won three of the last 10, whilst his stable jockey Richard Johnson has won four of the last nine. Supporters of Nicholls' runners on the spreads will be hoping he can produce another winner, but it's worth noting that Kim Bailey is the only trainer ever to win this race back-to-back in 1991 and 1992 with his stable star Docklands Express.
We've already seen that spread bettors who like to buy SP's will need a change of fortunes in this race, but what about those playing the winning distance markets? Well, the race looks like it will be run on good ground and those conditions have brought about the closest finishes in recent years. Gungadu was the toast of Sporting Index punters with his three quarter length victory over Kelami last year on good ground, whilst in 2001 Young Spartacus won the race by exactly the same margin in the same conditions. However, that doesn't mean to say that this race can't turn into a precession. Winning distance buyers on the spreads will point to two 10-length victories since the Millennium, whilst Gunther McBride in 2002 - for the dream double act of Hobbs and Johnson - was the clearest victor, coming home 17 lengths clear of the pack, again on good ground.
Related links:
