Monday, March 09, 2015

Cheltenham Supreme Novices Hurdle (G1)

Though not my discipline (National Hunt Racing), Cheltenham's four-day graded stakes meeting is an exception. Effectively, this is the Breeders Cup of jumps racing. Lacking the in-depth expertise required to handicap this form of thoroughbred racing, I seek to focus on novice races where historical knowledge is as informative as current form. To that end, the Supreme Novices Hurdle has many similarities to the Kentucky Derby - young horses, many attempting a graded stakes, championship race for the first-time with little form in the book. Using dosage analysis of the "in-the-money" finishers over the last ten years and ranking the current field against this metric to identify "live" outsiders, shortlisted two interesting contenders - Shaneshill (14/1) and Tell Us More (25/1). Though not necessarily the most likely winners, these two selections are the best matched to previous contenders on dosage and, therefore, worthy of punting in both the win and show markets!