2012 Cambridgeshire Handicap Betting Preview Part 1

The flat season is definitely winding down towards its business end with serious chatter about lineups for Champions Day and the Arc meeting starting to firm up all around. The Cambridgeshire is one of the last really big Heritage Handicaps of the season and the prices out there for this one are sure to ge punters excited – though having to navigate through this colossal field is certainly going to be easier said than done.

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We'll be taking a look at each of the main contenders in the first portion of this evaluation and then we'll take a gander at some of the longest odds selections in the next piece. There is plenty of value out there – particularly those who fancy the leading contenders and can lock in their prices early on the choice runners.

Mukhadram lines up for Sheikh Hamdan, coming out of William Haggas' yard. He is lightly-raced, as are many in this year's iteration of the race, and he enters off a second-place finish in a conditions stakes at Newmarket. Paul Hanagan remains for the mount and he is taking a sizable amount of support heading into this one.

His two prior victories, a maiden and a Div II score, both came over the surface at Newmarket and he mustered a fourth place finish in a Group 3 contest at Ascot. Connections will have big expectations for this one and you reckon that they may want to start cashing in a bit of the 190,000 Gns they splashed out on the purchase.

Punters will find Mukhadram at a solid 8/1 – the only competitor trading at a single-digit price tag with any major bookmaker.

Chil The Kite, despite having a relatively random name and some interesting breeding (by Nownowcato out of a Lion Cavern mare that produces six figure sales progeny), looms large as the second betting choice with most bookmakers. Punters can lock him in around 10/1 as he heads into this one off a loss in a listed contest at Haydock. Prior to that he had been off-track since mid-July after capturing the Deloitte Handicap at Ascot when carrying 9-1.

He had been sent off as the 5/2 betting favourite that day and performed with a minimum of fuss – responding when called upon. His last race at Haydock saw him perhaps hung up towards the back a bit for too long – he'll be looking for a stronger mid-race move here, especially if he has to navigate through more traffic than expected.

King's Warrior is priced out at around 16/1 and he pulled off a significant betting coup when capturing the 53^rd John Smith's Cup at York back in mid-July. He was sent off at 33/1 on the day an dthat's why he's likely taking a lot more money this time out. He's still delivering value at this price and shows that he can deal with the Heritage Handicap circuit and can navigate a large crowd.