By Ed Culham
PUNTERS’ eyes will be alighting on the Cesarewitch (2.40pm) this Saturday, one of the biggest betting handicaps of the Flat season, and always a spectacle with a field of 34 runners embarking on a 2m2f trip over Newmarket’s Rowley Mile Course.
National Hunt trainers have had a strangle hold on this race in recent times, winning seven of the last 10 renewals and all of the last five.
It’s hardly a surprise then that the ante-post favourite, Pied Piper, is better known for his exploits over Jumps, notably narrowly missing out in last season’s County Hurdle and having finished third in the 2022 Triumph Hurdle.
Gordon Elliott’s runner has clearly been prepped for this race after finishing third in a Killarney Flat race on the back of a break of 118 days and looks well handicapped, having won well off just seven pounds lower two years ago when trained by John & Thady Gosden.
Pied Piper looks the most likely winner, but I can’t get excited about him at his current price of around 5/1, especially with rain in the air.
There’s rain forecast from mid-week at Newmarket, with 5mm expected on Wednesday and up to 10mm expected on Friday evening, so while the going is currently good-to-firm, that description could change very quickly, as it doesn’t take much rain for the ground to turn soft at this time of year.
The rain is a worry for Pied Piper, who perhaps isn’t the most straightforward and doesn’t see out this trip as strongly as some, and it’s another reason I’m keen to take him on.
With the caveat that the rain arrives, I’m going to search for two at bigger prices that will handle softer conditions and are likely to be suited to what might become a slog.
One that catches my eye is the Syd Hosie-trained TEMPORIZE, who showed his best form last time out on soft ground at Goodwood.
That effort came over 2m4f, so he’s sure to get this trip, and he had the look of a really dour stayer when seeing that race out strongly.
A former Mark & Charlie Johnston horse, he’s unexposed over a trip of more than two miles and having gone up seven pounds for winning comfortably last time, he could still have a bit more improvement up his sleeve.
They always go a good gallop in the Cesarewitch and, if the mud is flying, the race could set up well for a stayer like this four-year-old.
At a general 25/1, he appeals as a horse that could shorten up a good deal before race time, and looks worth chancing each way.
ZOFFEE seems to have been forgotten in the betting at 33/1 in places.
While he’s had a bit of an in-and-out campaign, there’s no doubt Hugo Palmer’s gelding is capable of putting up a strong performance in a handicap of this nature, as he showed when finishing fourth in this race last season off the same mark of 93.
He was also a neck second in this season’s Chester Cup, over this trip of 2m2f on soft ground. Previously he’d been kept to a sounder surface, but that suggested he has the ability to handle some cut, which will be handy should the going change.
He looks a solid proposition to run a big race at massive odds.
POINTERS
Temporize e/w 2.40pm Newmarket (Saturday)
Zoffee e/w 2.40pm Newmarket (Saturday)
