DOUBLE HANDFUL
THERE are two notable features about the Cesarewitch. Firstly, the 2m 2f handicap race with 30-plus runners is a tough race to crack and secondly, you’re never quite sure how to spell the word. It has that in common with Cincinnati.
Buildmeupbuttercup is currently the 4-1 favourite which feels ridiculously short given no other horse sharing the title of a song by The Foundations has ever won this race.
The bookies aren’t taking any chances because when Willie Mullins and Frankie Dettori team up as trainer and rider they’re going to attract a helluva lot of support in the betting ring.
As a result pundits have been building up (building up) Buildmeupbuttercup’s chances – probably only to let you down (let you down) later this afternoon.
Sir Mark Prescott has won the Cambridgeshire three times but never the second half of the autumn double, the Cesarewitch. He’s has had the favourite on at least five occasions, notably Hasten To Add in 1993, who failed to stay and Alleulia, who came sixth in 2001 but who probably would have won if not sustaining a fracture. He throws two live arrows at this in the shape oftimoshenko and Land Of Oz.
Timoshenko won the Goodwood Cup last time out after an absence of a year so his last run having come in July won’t be a problem. Land Of Oz has won six of his last seven but a wide draw hasn’t helped his chances. Of the two Prescott horses Timoshenko looks the better bet, but I won’t be backing either.
I like Andrew Balding’s three-year old, who has won three times this season, has an advantageous low draw and is already proven on soft ground when winning a valuable handicap at Haydock last time out. He has to step up in trip today, but I don’t see that being an issue and expect a bold show. -French Proverb The shortest-priced winner Artless (1859) was 5-6, the only odds-on winner ever.
There were back to back 66-1 winners in 2012 & 2013
Only one horse, Aiim To Prosper, has won this race twice (2010, 2012). Caracciola, successful in 2008, was the oldest winner at 11.
The Cesarewitch starts in Cambridgeshire and finishes in Suffolk. THE main question posed by today’s Dewhurst Stakes is, “How far does Pinatubo win by?”
The son of Shamardal sauntered to victory in the first Group 1 of his career in the National Stakes at the Curragh by an astonishing nine lengths.
Godolphin’s star two-year-old is five from five so far, and will make it six from six later today.
At around 1-3 he’s not really worth a wager. As the old saying goes, “If you’ve got the three, you probably don’t need the extra one.”
He’s never run at Newmarket before and the soft ground may not be ideal. But on official ratings alone he is a mile ahead of today’s opposition and should win doing cartwheels. I’m already on Pinatubo (at odds against) for next year’s 2000 Guineas and you should be too.