Free tips for Sportsbet’s Hotham – Who is the best of the worst?

Sportsbet The Hotham

ONLINE bookmaker Sportsbet has declared it the battlers’ answer to The Everest, and while the Hotham has created plenty of fanfare, who knows how a race that contains too many below-par horses will pan out?

It might have been dubbed “the maiden race of the year” by some racing experts, we respectfully disagree. If there was a betting market on the slowest-ever time recorded at Ballarat, we reckon this contest would give it a shake.

Yours truly drew the short-straw at the HorseBetting.com.au office this morning, meaning I was charged with finding a winner amongst a field of no-hopers, easy-beats and outright duds.

Let’s get this over and done with so I can head to the pub and forget this ever happened.

Which horse is capable of climbing the Hotham?

[rmOC_events_list event_ids=1140051_05]

The early favourite in the betting market is five-year-old Woohoo ($3.70 at Sportsbet), but really, being a favourite in this race is nothing to be proud of. Boasting a sparkling record of five placings from 19 attempts, only twice has this horse finished within a length of the winner. A last-start fifth in Launceston five lengths off the winner does little to boost the confidence heading into this one.

Seven-year-old Beau Dazzle is the biggest money-earner in this field, but that’s like bragging about your bank balance in the unemployment line. In its 58-start career the horse has accrued over $41,000, but after failing to place in its last 29 starts it’s easy to see why the horse is at the $38 quote.

The Black Isle is an $8 hope, but in any other field you could add about three zeros to that price and you still wouldn’t outlay your hard-earned. Beaten by over 11 lengths last start, the horse gets Melissa Julius claiming 1.5kgs, but in reality it could go bareback and you wouldn’t be any more or less confident heading into this one.

What’s with the runners that are capable of taking this race out sitting outside the allotted field?

My Giddy Aunt is at the $4 quote. The horse is listed as one of the emergencies according to the Sportsbet website, which is the equivalent of being left unselected for an Aussie Rules game in deep North Queensland – usually means you’re not very good.

When you look at the form around My Giddy Aunt however, it is easy to mount a winning case for it in this field. If you overlook the abysmal ninth-placed finish at Murray Bridge on September 24 as a key market elect, the horse had back-to-back second placings, a third and fourth across its last four runs. In a field like this that reads as good as Winx’s 21 in a row.

Woodbine Miss’ connections will be hoping for a berth in The Hotham because they know the race is probably theirs for the taking if it gets a run. Missing out by the barest of margins at Murota, the horse was subsequently spelled for three months in a presumable move to be cherry-ripe for this. Boosting a brilliant record of one second placing from six first-up attempts is like gold amongst this lot.

Hotham Verdict

Want our honest opinion? Keep your money in your pocket.

If you are desperate to have a punt on the race however, keep an eye on the final fields to see if My Giddy Aunt or Woodbine Miss get a start. Those two look to be the clear standouts in an overwhemlingly underwhelming line up.

If they do not make the field The Black Isle looks the clear pick for us. Aside from its dismal last-start failure (but what other runner doesn’t have the same story?) the horse is always somewhere around the mark, including a narrow defeat at Kyneton in February.

If there was a gun to our head – and believe me, there would need to be – we would be taking the $8 at Sportsbet for The Black Isle to win the highly coveted Hotham crown.

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