Chester May Festival
Chester May festival starts today and it’s a welcome addition to the card, but based upon previous years it’s nothing amazing from a trading viewpoint.
Obviously we all love some extra liquidity that the quality racing will bring, but it’s never been a meeting that I’ve got really good amounts from. By that I mean I’m not banging in three figure results a race. Just the odd one or two a day. The thing to note about Chester is its draw bias, which is one of the more significant in the UK. Last year we examined the draw bias in depth in a prior blog post.
When you get a strong draw bias it will radically affect the way a market trades in play. A favourite with a favourable bias should ‘hose up’. But with an unfavourable draw it will most likely have to work hard to turnover similar horses with a more favourable draw. This can lead to horses trading quite low in play, but still getting beaten as the favourite nips them near the finishing post.
The reason the draw bias exists at places like Chester is because of the tight nature of the course, it’s very ‘curvey’. Compare this to a straight course when the horse doesn’t need to be steer around the corner or run extra distance compared to somebody that is holding a favourable position on the rails. It can make a huge difference.
You should check out Bet Angel’s ‘inplay trader’ it’s a very useful tool for trading in running. The way odds are presented visually will allow you to take advantage of a late running horse or a weakening favourite. You can see the market adjusting it’s view some way out and with the click of a mouse you can click in front of the horse to back it or behind to lay it. It’s a neat way to trade this fast moving markets.
Good luck at Chester.
Category: Horse Racing
