Distance Dilemma

After studying the trends for Chelters over the past few hours, it is now time to try and figure out the Cricket World Cup punting puzzle. I have finally turned to stimulants (pictured) in the battle to keep sharp while pouring over the form. Topical name, eh?

Yesterday was spent in the boozer watching a cracking FA cup QF between Spurs and Chelsea, an amazing win for a patched up England in the rugby, and then a sneaky win for the glory hornet boys in the last game of the day. I found a boozer that sells the new Guinness Red, and it is thouroughly recommended. Get to your local O'Neills early on St Pats and down a few pints of this oaky firewater before the crowds arrive.

On to Cheltenham, and the best bet I have unearthed on the trends is on Betfair's 'Festival Win Dist' market, which is settled on the cumulative winning distances from the 24 races. The three options are:-

Under 65 Lengths 7.2
65 - 80 Lengths 3.2
Over 80 Lengths 1.75

The last 2 years this has made up at around the 70 mark, and in the past winning distances have been traditionally short due to the competitive nature of the meeting. The reason for the odds-on is that this is the first festival for years where we have soft ground. The softer the ground, the further apart tired horses finish. The ground seems to be drying throughout the week however, and as the horses involved are not selling platers at Taunton but high class beasts, so I can't see a massive deviation from the norm. Lay the 1.75 and have a little bit on the 3.2 middle bracket which is good value.

One race where there could be a large winning distance is the Queen Mother champion chase on Wednesday. This seems to be a race won either by a nose or a street, and with a potential superstar performance from Well Chief on the cards, I have had a bit of Skybet's 14/1 about this being the race with the largest winning margin.

I'll be posting my daily picks on here before lunch.