Free Racing Tips For All You Statisticians

The Cheltenham Festival is always a meeting I look forward to, probably more than Aintree in fact. As 2008 ground to a hault, I turned my focus to the Festival, to find Kauto Star was available at 3-1 for this season's Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Interesting, I thought, a decent price. So I got on it, not bigtime, but I got on it nevertheless.

My thinking behind it was this. There is in my opinion, a real lack in class opposition for him, apart from Denman, who we now know may never (unfortunately) be back to his best. Of course now Kauto Star's price has come in dramatically and he could be at evens or worse come the big race.

Just to illustrate the gulf in class between him and the rest and for all you Stattos out there, here are some facts that I discovered...

Below are the top 5 chasers since the 2007/08 season, which makes for interesting reading:

1. Kauto Star - rating of 171
2. Denman - rating of 169
3. Voy Por Ustedes - rating of 164
4. Our Vic - rating of 163
5. Exotic Dancer - rating of 162

So as we can see, Kauto Star is comfortably ahead of the rest, given that Denman is unlikely to live up to his 169 rating now, and what a real shame that is. A dual between these two at the best at the Festival again, is exactly what the public want to see.

The only thing that all Kauto Star fan's need to be watchful about, is the going at Prestbury Park. If it remains as soft as it is now, or worse, gets even softer, then the top Paul Nichols horse wil not be as happy a bunny as he should be.