Ebor Meets Are A Little Bit Stronger
The highlight of York's entire season - the famous Ebor Festival - was a complete washout last year and both racegoers and spread betting racing enthusiasts will be praying that the rain stays away this time. A number of the key races were moved to other racecourses, including the Ebor itself which was diverted to Newbury. Godolphin picked up their first ever win in the race, but any racing spread bettor worth his salt will know that Luca Cumani is the master of this handicap and he will surely have one lined up for it. Aidan O'Brien is another who targets certain types of horses at this race and although he has only won it once, he's had a couple of hard-luck stories and there will be plenty of support on the Sporting Index win index on his unexposed Changingoftheguard. Spread punters will get another clue about the strength of his form the day before when his Chester conqueror Harbinger runs in the Great Voltigeur, potentially en route to back-to-back St Leger wins for Sir Michael Stoute.
Looking back at the last decade and even though the race is run over 1m6f, it is rare for a horse to win by more than a length. Spread betting winning distance buyers would like to see a repeat of last year's renewal where All The Good won by 3 � lengths, but that was at Newbury and the previous eight winners all won by between a short-head and a length. Four and five-year-olds have been the most successful in recent years, with six of the last seven winners falling into that bracket. Aidan O'Brien was the last trainer to win the race with a three-year-old in 2001, but the younger horses have done well over the years and spread bettors would be unwise to write them off. Those spread punters who like to play the SP markets like to see a big handicap like this, as there is always the chance of a big upset. You only have to go back to 2006 for Mudawin's shock win at 100/1. Purple Moon was a winning favourite two years ago which will please spread sellers, but there have only been three single-figure priced winners in the past 10 years and four at 20/1 or bigger.
The highlight of the final day - and as different a race to the Ebor as you could possibly find - is the 5 furlong Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes. In the past five years, we have seen winners aged between two and nine-years-old, so spread bettors will struggle to form an opinion simply based on age. Kingsgate Native was the first juvenile to win the race for 15 years in 2007 and Norfolk Stakes winner Radiohead looks likely to try to emulate him this year. Fleeting Spirit and Kingsgate Native are currently battling for favouritism, but spread bettors selling SP's will be concerned that no favourite has been successful since 2003, when Oasis Dream became the fifth winning jolly in a row. The last two winners have both been priced at 12/1, but more interestingly for winning distance spread punters is that only two of the last ten winners have won by less than 1/2 a length. In the past six years, three have won by 1 & 3/4 lengths or more and it must be surprising to spread betting racing fans that the winning margins have been closer in a 1m6f race than in a 5f sprint.
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