Horse Racing Betting – Alanbrooke To Relish Newmarket Marathon

The Cesarewitch, they say, was named in honour of The Tsarevich, the crown prince of Russia (later to become Tsar Alexander II) who visited Britain in the early 19th century and was reportedly a bit keen on the horses. He stumped up the grand total of £300 as a gift to the Jockey Club and the second leg of the autumn double was born. Now I gleaned that information from wikipedia, so I’ll let you judge for yourself how reliable those facts are. But what I do know is that the race has the pretty unique feature of starting in one county and ending in another. Two and a quarter miles is a massive test of stamina for a flat horse, which is why you always get a fair number of classy National Hunt performers trying their luck at Newmarket, some with a fair measure of success. Detroit City, Leg Spinner and Carraciola, the last three winners of the totesport.com Cesarewitch, were all smart hurdlers, so the claims of Bahrain Storm, Mamlook and Royal Rationale all have to be taken seriously this year. A single-figure draw might put paid to the former, however, while the David Pipe pair look a fraction high in the weights to me. That accusation certainly can’t be levelled at Darley Sun, however, who is due to rise 12lbs in the handicap after this weekend’s big race. A close second to Askar Tau in the Group 2 Doncaster Cup over this 2m2f trip last month, David Simcock‘s colt (now a general 7-1) is undeniably well treated here. He is attempting to become the first three-year-old to win the race since Spirit Of Love in 1998 but if I was going to risk a bet of one of his generation I’d be far more interested in Alanbrooke trained, like Spirit Of Love, by Mark Johnston. True, this son of Hernando did finish 10 lengths behind Darley Sun over 2m at Ascot in July but he enjoys a massive turnaround in the weights here and hasn’t been disgraced in any of his four runs since, including over C&D last time. Frankie Dettori is a master at riding a waiting race from the front and he’ll have a willing ally in Alanbrooke, who is almost certain to be in the vanguard throughout. At 20-1 with victor chandler and betfred, he may be the one.