The Final Classic
When Sea The Stars powered clear of his rivals down the Epsom home straight, there were plenty of horse racing spread betting fans dreaming of seeing the Triple Crown won in the UK for the first time since Nijinsky in 1970. Well, John Oxx's wonder colt isn't going to take in the world's oldest Classic unfortunately, but we are still left with what looks a very interesting race. The two power-house stables of Goldolphin and Ballydoyle seem to hold all the aces and any spread bettor worth his salt would know they normally don't have to look too far away from these yards. It's true that neither stable has won the race in the past three years, but prior to that they were responsible for six of the eight winners between 1998 and 2005. They also have the top three in the ante-post betting and Frankie Dettori will be going for his sixth Leger win on Kite Wood - who looks certain to start from the top of the Sporting Index win index.
Spread betting enthusiasts have enjoyed some tremendous Legers over the years and it's generally been the SP sellers who have benefited recently. Six of the past 10 favourites have won and last year's winner, Conduit - who gave Sir Michael Stoute his first victory in the Doncaster Classic - was the biggest priced winner at 8/1 in the past decade. Frankie will have plenty of fans, having won three of the last four runnings - all for different trainers and surprisingly none of them for Saeed bin Suroor. In fact, those who like to follow the Italian maestro on the spreads may be slightly concerned that only one of his five wins has been for the �Boys in Blue', whilst three of Godolphin's four wins in the race have been with other jockeys.
The ground, as always, has a huge part to play and the last four going descriptions have been soft, good to firm, good and heavy, so spread bettors really need to keep an eye out on the forecasts. This is even more important for those playing the winning distance markets with Sporting Index. Frankie and Conduit scooted clear by 3 lengths last year, which might encourage spread buyers, but that was only the second biggest winning margin since 1999. The biggest winning distance honour goes to Mick Kinane and Milan, who won by 5 lengths in 2001 for Aidan O'Brien and Coolmore. O'Brien will be relying on Age of Aquarius and Changingoftheguard this year, and spread bettors will certainly not underestimate them. The latter was an unlucky second in the Ebor down the road at York a few weeks ago and is following the same route as his trainer's Honolulu did a few seasons ago. Most spread betting fans will recognise the Great Voltigeur run at the same course as a more important trial for this race though and Peter Chapple-Hyam has decided to supplement his impressive winner, Monitor Closely.
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