MATCH OF THE DAY
Cheltenham’s Open meeting, which gets under way tomorrow, is appropriately named as virtually all of the 18 races run over the next three days have a distinctly wide open looking feel. It’s for that very reason that a spread betting match bet comes into its own, as your selection only needs to beat one other named runner, rather than the entire field.
So, take tomorrow’s Paddy Power Gold Cup where Sporting Index are offering a match bet between the Paul Nicholls trained Tatenen and my big race selection Ballyfitz. They are forecasting that Ballyfitz will finish around three-quarters of a length in front of Tatenen, wherever they finish.
The maximum make-up is 15 lengths so if one finished three fences in front of the other, you are not going to win or lose a small fortune. In fact, if one fails to complete, the 15 lengths automatically kicks in and if both horse fail to finish the bet is void.
Therefore, I’ll be looking to buy Ballyfitz against Tatenen at 0.75 lengths and will be hoping to secure a maximum 14.25 times my stake. I am hopeful that my selection’s jumping is more likely to hold out in the testing conditions.
Other matches of interest include Tranquil Sea against Chapoturgeon (Tranquil Sea favourite by 0.5-2 lengths) and Bible Lord against According To Pete (Bible Lord favourite by 1.0-2.5 lengths). However, even though I am a Tranquil Sea fan, I do worry about his ability to stay upright when he gets tired. For that reason, I’ll be sticking with Ballyfitz.
Take a look at www.sportingindex.com for all today’s match-bets.