Betting Strategy / Neil Munro / 04 March 2010 / Leave a comment

With less than two weeks to go until the racing world bowls down to Prestbury Park, the tension is building. Before then, there's plenty of daily excitement for in-running players so Neil Munro has identified a few horses for you to trade on in the build-up to the big one.

"Players will have noticed his erratic behaviour but I'll still try to lay Moonbalej at low odds in-running as I think he's not completely in love with the game."

Moonbalej: Mark Johnston has a large number of horses in training, and normally gets a win out of most of them but he will need to show all of his skills with this three-year-old. Having been well beaten on his three starts at two, he was sent off a 5/2 favourite on his seasonal reappearance over 1m2f at Lingfield when travelling well into the race before becoming one paced, trading 1.16 in-running. Last time out, he dropped down in trip at Southwell, but leading two furlongs out he put his head up in the air and started to hang. He still traded at [2.0] in the run. A lot of players will have noticed this behaviour but I'll still try to lay Moonbalej at low odds in-running as I think he's not completely in love with the game.

Thaliwarru: Jeremy Gask's gelding was the subject of a serious gamble at Southwell the other day when finishing a close second to Set Back. That was Thaliwarru's first start since October and, as a two-year-old, he had shown signs that he was a bit of a monkey, hanging at times and finding little at the finish. Having seen the money come down, I was expecting that connections had got to the bottom of him but it appears not. He was too keen early on in the race and thus didn't find as much as you would have expected late on. He did then stay on late again, as he is bred to stay further than the 6f trip, so it will be interesting to see if connections step him up in trip next time out. Back him in running if he settles and lay out your stake at low odds as he does seem to have his own quirky ways.

Swift Return: Another lightly raced maiden, this time for the astute trainer Stuart Williams, who has caught my eye recently. He was seen four times as a two-year-old, trying to win his races from the front on three of those starts but without success. So it was with interest that I watched him make his seasonal reappearance over the Kempton 7f trip in a low class maiden. Again connections tried to fire him out at the front and again he was caught close to home. He is a natural back (pre-race) to lay (in-running) horse as he has traded at [1.20], [1.63] and last time out [1.45]. I would be interested to see connections change tactics slightly, as he will enjoy coming from just off the pace and going past beaten horses rather than always being passed.

Nacarat: The horse with the highest profile on the list, so perhaps one to be wary of. But I believe he's consistent enough for us to trade on him. Tom George's nine-year-old has been campaigned at close to the top level for the last couple of years and seems to enjoy prominent tactics. This was seen in the recent Racing Post Chase, when despite two blunders, he still finished a close second to Razor Royale. His record on UK flat tracks is two wins and two places in six starts and he will no doubt head to Aintree at the beginning of April. He's traded odds-on four times in his career, including the two placed efforts on flat tracks, so back pre-race and look to lay off double your stake at odds-on to enjoy an exchange green book.

Onceaponatime: There was a five-year-old gelding who had four career wins, all over 6f, three on the all-weather and one on turf. Two of those wins came this winter, during a busy campaign of fifteen runs since October. Of the other 13 starts, he finished within two lengths of the winner on no less than 10 occasions. He loves to travel out the back of a race and come through late, with the suggestion that connections like him delivered as late as possible because he does very little once in front. His in-running CV features low trades, as he looks like coming to win the race but doesn't find as much as expected. I will be looking to lay him in-running at odds-on (maybe [1.70], [1.50] and [1.30]) for the next few runs.

Tags: Cheltenham betting, Cheltenham Festival 2010, Horseracing betting, In-running betting, Moonbalej, Naract, Neil Munro