Racenet readers cleaned up at the last Cessnock meeting when we highlighted the importance of inside barriers at the 1350m start and the 1570m at the track presents similar opportunities on Tuesday.
Have a look at the July 17 story herewith our suggested strategy for the race finding the first four at a dividend in excess of $1000.
There won't be any huge dividends today but the same principles apply.
Barriers 1-6 substantially out-perform the wider gates in field sizes of 10 or greater.
Barriers 1-6 provide 75 per cent of the winners compared to 25 per cent for the gates further out but supporting the horses drawn in the lower barriers doesn't return a profit with punters losing 19 per cent of their turnover compared to a 54 per cent loss for the outside barriers but the addition of one factor totally changes the profitability scenario.
If we restrict the research to first or second favourites drawn in barriers 1-6, the winning strike rate is a healthy 54.5 per cent with a profit on turnover of 31.7 per cent.
The East Cessnock Bowling Club Class 2 Handicap is the only 1570m race on the program at Cessnock on Monday and the top two in betting are drawn in barriers 1-6 and at the odds available in early betting it is possible to back both horses for a nice profit.
The Marc Connors-trained Sensacova is the $4.20 early favourite and is the one to beat chasing back to back wins after a maiden victory at Wyong last start.
The second favourite Silent Dream, a $4.80 chance saves his best for Cessnock and was an easy winner over 1350m at the track last time out.
The third and fourth favourites have both drawn outside barrier 6.
A $24 investment on Sensacova and a $21 bet on Silent Dream for a $100 return provides a dividend of $2.20 which looks a solid bet with the form and barrier stats in our favour.
