Cambridgeshire Handicap Betting Tips, Winners & History

Next Race: TBD

The next renewal of this race has not been scheduled yet. We will update this once the schedule has been released for next season. The race info, trends and tips shown below will be updated for the next renewal once the final declarations have been made.

Cambridgeshire Handicap Betting Tips

Note: The following tips are from 2020. Tips for the next renewal will be added once the final declarations have been made.

Often more associated with Group race success, Newmarket handler John Gosden is also a dab hand with handicappers and, with a total of five previous wins to his name, is the most successful trainer in the history of this race. Gosden sends the three year old Kingman colt Al Rufaa to post this time around, looking for a third win in a row in this contest. As with his wins in 2019 and last year, Frankie Dettori will be in the saddle, so he’s clearly one to watch.

With a whopping field of 29 set to line up, the draw will most likely play a significant role in the outcome. Recent results would suggest that high may be the place to be in that regard, with each of the past four winners having emerged from stall 21 or above. The middle of the track seems to be best avoided, as only one of the previous 10 winners has been drawn between stalls 10 and 19.

Two of the past 10 editions of this have been claimed by the favourite. That’s not a bad strike rate considering the regular field size in this race, and has been enough to hand favourite backers a level stakes profit of +£4.50 over this period. That said, surprises certainly cannot be ruled out, with a 40/1 winner in 2011 and a 50/1 upset in 2017. This is a fiendishly difficult puzzle to unravel, make no mistake.

Tempus – 6/1

It’s difficult to be certain who will start favourite in what looks set to be a very competitive renewal, but the horse who seems to be attracting most of the money in the week leading up to the race is the Roger Charlton-trained, Tempus.

Charlton is a man who knows the sort required to succeed here, having saddled Cao Juluca to victory in 2005, before repeating the trick 10 years later in 2015 with the well-backed Blue Monday. The Wiltshire handler appears to have solid prospects of landing a hat-trick in the race with this son of Kingman, who looks to be coming to hand just in time for this.

Four from six in his career to date, he initially failed to capitalise on an opening handicap of 91 in his final start of last season, but looks to have made excellent progress over the winter, and is now a perfect two from two so far in the current campaign.

Being awarded the race in the steward’s room on his seasonal return at Newbury, he then posted a big career best to score by 1½l over 1m at Ascot last time out. Connections mentioned this race on the immediate aftermath of that win, and suggested softer ground would suit him well. He certainly looks set to get that here, and whilst this extra 1f poses a question, he is one of the more likely winners getting in under just a 4lb penalty.

Lucander – 18/1

This has fallen to a three year old in each of the past two seasons, and there are a number of likeable sorts who fall into that age bracket this time around. Chief amongst those is the John Gosden runner Al Rufaa who – going for the successful Gosden/Dettori combination – is likely to attract plenty of attention. However, another youngster who is well worth a look is the Ralph Beckett-trained, Lucander.

The key to this one could be the ground, as his form to date would suggest his chance of success will be enhanced by every drop of rain that falls – and there’s plenty of it forecast in the Newmarket area. Whilst the son of Footstepsinthesand has won on good to firm, his two best efforts have come on soft, including when storming home from off the pace to score by 1¾l over 1m2½f at York last time out.

He’s up 4lbs for that, but that doesn’t look unduly harsh, particularly with the ground coming in his favour. The drop in trip is of more concern, but this is rarely anything other than a thorough test at the distance and he can be fancied to be one of those staying on best of all from a nice draw in 27.

King Carney – 25/1

In what looks a good race for an each way punt, one to catch our eye at a nice double figure price is the Charlie Fellowes runner, King Carney. Calling the winner is so tricky that having at least one each way option seems wise and he is the one for us.

Another of the three year olds in the field, there were high hopes for this son of Australia on the back of an excellent juvenile campaign which culminated in a Listed success over 1m at Pontefract. Things however didn’t initially go to plan in his first two outings this season, as the colt put in back to back abject displays at Lingfield and Ascot.

And soon the colt was a colt no more, but rather a gelding; and as is often the case, that operation seems to have worked wonders for his form. Returned to the track at Newbury in August he ran a rock solid third to Tempus off a mark of 100 on what was his handicap debut. We particularly liked the way in which he came back at the leaders having been headed over that 1m trip that day, suggesting that this step back up in distance may well suit. A perfect two from two on soft ground, he’s another who will be well suited should the weather forecast prove correct and he can go well for William Buick.