The Cesarewitch is set to take place at Newmarket on Saturday and it’s a very prestigious handicap over 2m2f. As it’s such a marathon trip National Hunt trainers have a fabulous record in the race, winning the last five renewals. Gordon Elliott trains the ante-post favourite this year and you can certainly see why his charge heads the market. Ryan Moore has been booked to take the ride and it’s unlikely that the current price will last long. You can check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.
Pied Piper is a very useful dual-purpose horse and was a particularly smart juvenile hurdler in 2022. His penultimate start over hurdles came in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham and he was probably a little unlucky not to win that day, finishing second by a head. Gordon Elliott’s five-year-old warmed up for this with a solid third on the Flat over 2m1f at Killarney in August.
It’s worth noting that Pied Piper has won at Newmarket before, shedding his maiden tag in a two-year-old race over 1m2f when trained by John Gosden. The ground was heavy that day so it would have been apparent early on that this lad is a strong stayer.
The trainer said: “He definitely runs. We brought him back early for the race and think he fits the profile. “He needed to run at Killarney last time to qualify for the Cesarewitch as he hadn’t ran on the Flat for so long. It should have left him spot on for this.”
Ryan Moore hasn’t won this race since he was a 5lb claimer riding for Martin Pipe but it seems to only be a matter of time before he is victorious once again. Elliott and Moore is certainly an interesting combination and it could be bad news for the bookies.
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