More on Goodwood
The final two days of Glorious Goodwood include the two big handicaps that get most spread bettors really excited. First up on the Friday is the Totesport Mile, one of the richest heritage handicaps in Europe. The key thing for horseracing spread betting fans to consider in this race is the effect of the draw, as the field reach the first bend fairly quickly. Prior to last year, the previous six winners were housed in stalls 16 to 22 and incredibly in 2008 the first five home came from boxes 20, 19, 18, 17 and 16 respectively. Spread punters should therefore dismiss any horse coming from a single-figure stall, then? Wrong. Last year, Mark Johnston's Laa Rayb managed to negotiate himself from stall eight to crucially grab the rail and slip past tiring horses in the straight.
Last year was an exception, though, and any spread bettor looking to buy a horse on the win index will be praying their runner gets a high draw. Laa Rayb was a generally unregarded 25/1 shot 12 months ago, but four of the last six winners of this race have been 5/1 or shorter, so it's not a bad contest for SP sellers on the spreads. Roger Charlton has won two of the last three runnings, so it will be worth keeping an eye out for any that he enters. There are often a number of hard-luck stories in this race as the field tend to bunch up and horses can get checked in their run. However, winning distance spread buyers will take some encouragement from Laa Rayb's 2 1/2 length victory and Third Set's 3 length winning margin in 2007.
Not only does the final day have the cavalry charge that is the Steward's Cup, it also hosts Goodwood's second Group 1 of the year, the Nassau Stakes, to get spread punters' hearts pumping. This features some of the best fillies and mares around and last year Midday absolutely romped home. She looks set to run again and would become only the third filly to win this race twice since it was opened up to older horses in 1975. One worry for supporters of Henry Cecil's runner on the spreads is that 14 of the last 17 winners have been three-year-olds.
The Steward's Cup is a commentator's nightmare and it wasn't made any easier last year with the 26 runners immersed in fog. It is something of a minefield for spread betting punters, but most will at least recognise last year's winner Genki turning out again. He has obviously gone up in the weights since then, though, and spread supporters of the six-year-old on the Sporting Index win index will be concerned that 11 of the past 12 winners have been four or five.
Between 1994 and 2004, only one winner of this race managed to carry 9st or more to victory. However, it has changed complexion in recent years, with four of the last five winners shouldering at least 9st 1lb. Spread sellers of SP's enjoyed a fine time of it between 2003 and 2007 with four of the five winners sent off at 7/1 or shorter, but 2008 was definitely a victory for the buyers. Conquest won at 40/1 for William Haggas and Genki's win at 14/1 last year made it another decent return for the spread buyers.
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