Huh. What odds will Cloudy Lane start off?
Today's
Bettingzone Market News:
1625: Cloudy Lane looks certain to be favourite for Saturday's Grand National at Aintree but debate continues to rage on what his starting price will be.
William Hill have priced up the odds on Cloudy Lane’s SP, and make it 13/8 favourite that he will start between 9/2 and 5/1, and 14/1 to start 10/3 or less, a price that will see him be the shortest Grand National favourite since Red Rum in 1975, where he went off at 7/2.
Kate Miller, Spokeswoman for
Hills, said: "This is the hottest favourite there has been in my lifetime, and looking at our field book it seems that every punter in the land is already on! If the general public joins in with him on Saturday, conditions will be worse than 'Cloudy' for the bookies, it'll be tsunami season."
However,
Betfair are predicting that Cloudy Lane will not start shorter than 5/1 on their exchange, despite the fact that he appears to hold all the aces in the race.
He is currently trading as the 6/1 favourite on
Betfair and, despite some claiming that the horse could go off at less than 4/1 on the industry SP on Saturday, the exchange believe that he will return at 5/1 or bigger at
Betfair SP.
Betfair spokesman Tony Calvin commented: "I shall be very surprised indeed if some bookmaker predictions of Cloudy Lane starting at 4/1 or shorter come true – in fact, I think 5/1 would be the shortest price he will go off.
"You have to remember that the majority of on-course books will have no liabilities coming into the day-of-race market. And let’s not forget the trading element, too - which I believe many have.
"Cloudy Lane has been backed at a high of 259/1 on
Betfair, and £260,000 of the £1.24m currently traded on our ante-post market has been around the horse.
"I’d say there will be a lot of Cloudy Lane punters with big prices out there looking to ‘green up’ - that is to ensure a no-lose book at the minimum by laying the horse back at a reduced price - come Saturday. And that will ensure the price will not get as ridiculous as some think.
"I predict the
Betfair SP will be at least 5-1, and no shorter."