Betfair | Great Leighs Betting: Where the winners go wide

Great Leighs Betting: Where the winners go wide

Simon Rowlands discusses the merits and betting quirks of the Essex course which this week hosts a mini-festival.

I am not one of those obsessives who considers it a lifetime goal to visit all of the 60 racecourses in Britain - at the last count I was about 12 short - but I have to admit to feeling a particular type of nerdy pleasure in ticking off another from the list recently.

Great Leighs became Britain's first new racecourse for more than 80 years when it finally opened for business on 20th April, more than two years later than originally intended. It is near Chelmsford, in Essex, and is brash and lively, like many of the residents of that county are supposed to be.

It takes some finding, especially for anyone with a sat-nav that is more than a few months old, but is worth the effort. Facilities are basic in some respects at present, and the course could badly do with more grass of the type that grows at such an alarming rate in my back garden, but on a sunny evening it was a pleasant spot in which to watch some decent sport and a reasonable crowd turned out.

Master of Arts - trained by Sir Mark Prescott and now rated 110p by Timeform - won his sixth race in a row on the evening in question, and many top jockeys and riders have been glowing in their praise of the track itself, which is a left-handed, polytrack and just over a mile in length.

An interesting feature of Great Leighs is that conditions seem more testing than at the other polytrack courses. The home straight is ever so slightly against the collar and overall times and finishing sectionals point to the track taking a bit of getting used to.

The BHA has acknowledged this by using a conversion of time into lengths of 5.5 lengths per second, which is halfway between that for the other polytrack courses (Kempton, Lingfield and Wolverhampton) and the more testing fibresand surface at Southwell. That seems justified at this stage.

This week sees a three-day mini festival at the track, with the first day having taken place on Tuesday. In-running punters should be aware that a number of the winners came wide, though there are a couple of reasons why it should not be assumed that that will be an advantage for days two and three.

Firstly, even if there is no track bias, horses coming from off the pace are likely to come wide if the leaders stick nearer the inside: there is just more room to challenge there. Secondly, even if there is a track bias on one day there is nothing to say that it will be the same the next day: all-weather tracks can be prepared differently on different days. Still, it is something to watch out for.

On the Wednesday I quite like the look of Mister New York in the 3:30 for win backing purposes. The horse has been off for a while but is trained by Noel Chance, who is capable of getting one fit under such circumstances, and is unexposed to a large degree as a result. His sectionals early in the year marked him down as a useful prospect.

Later on the card, at 5:00, Trip The Light goes for a hat-trick of wins. However, it should be noted that the gelding ran poorly on his only two starts on polytrack and may not be straightforward, tending to go in snatches. He is a place lay for me in the circumstances.

Athania may be fairly short in the 3:00 on Thursday but drops in trip and returns to polytrack having scored on good to soft turf last time. Her three rivals are not shoddy either, especially the top-weight Asaint Needs Brass, so a straight win lay of her makes appeal.

Dvinsky, who goes in the 4:00 on Thursday, is a bit of a monkey these days but is also perfectly capable of running into the money from his current mark. He did pretty well to come from behind to finish fifth in a steadily run race at this course last time and should be suited by a return to an extra furlong. He is a place back for me.

Lastly, I like the look of Once A Gulch as a win bet in the 4:30 on Thursday. This is quite a hot race, but the selection has done well in just two starts to date, winning at Kempton last time, and has experience of this track. He looks well treated off second-bottom weight.

Markets for Wednesday's races are already up - Thursday's will be there shortly - as well as the Betfair Racing form guide powered by Timeform (click on the "racing" tab, then the "form/results/stats" icon), so why not check it out? Good luck!