Soft Going: Should I Bet or Not?

Each to their own.

I don't know about you, but I always feel a touch uneasy about betting on horses on testing ground. 

Perhaps a touch of soft in good ground isn't too much of a problem but when it's soft or heavy what do you think?

Betting on the two-year-olds, you can be at the mercy of the ground because even if your horse has breeding to cope it doesn't mean that will be the case. 

I noticed a couple of two-year-old horse races at Newmarket and the field was strung out like it was a two-mile chase. 

Winners pulling clear by five or six lengths, while those at the back of the field were in a different county. 

I had a distinctly uneasy feeling and it wasn't just from the sodden ground under my size nines.

Perhaps you don't think about the ground or just chance your luck the horse you backed will be favoured rather than literally stuck in the mud. 

With limited form to know for sure whether your horse will be at home on testing ground you have to take a double gambler. Not only does it have enough ability to win but it will enjoy the ground. Or, at least, it won't be falling out the back of the telly. 

So what do we do?

I must admit, I am very careful. It is one of those things that makes you feel you can only lose. You don't bet and the horse wins. You do bet, and it comes home last eating a potato it found in the mud. 

Sometime, if you get a price, you just have to go with the flow and hope it is your lucky day. 

It doesn't inspire confidence. 

What do you think?

Guest post: Jason Coote