Glorious Goodwood has some fantastic spread betting opportunities! Sporting Index always come up with spreads that allow you to use your racing knowledge to get ahead -without even picking a winner!

"Festival Markets"

"Big Races Market"
There are spreads that cover the distances and favourites performances for all of the Big races.

These are great indices because not only do they give you an interest in the star race on each day of the festival, but the gap between races allows you to trade in and out easily. We will be updating the spreads after each day's racing, so check back in with us to see the changes and market movements.

The trading desk at Sporting Index have provided us with their thoughts and views for the upcoming Glorious Goodwood Racing Festival -so we thought we would share them with you...

Glorious Goodwood is the third major flat racing festival of the summer and it's truly an oasis for any spread bettor who adores flat racing. Set on the idyllic Sussex Downs, the course is very demanding and course form often proves important here. It is also wise for spread punters to look at the trainers who target this meeting year-in year-out, just like Mark Johnston who was on fire 12 months ago.

There are five days of top quality action, but the first major highlight is Wednesday's Sussex Stakes which is likely to see the mouthwatering battle between Canford Cliffs and last year's winner Rip Van Winkle. Spread bettors will be interested to learn that this race was opened up to four-year-olds in 1960 and then to five-year-olds and above in 1975. 'Rip' will be many people's idea of the winner after his highly impressive performance last July, winning by 2 ½ lengths, the first horse to win the race by more than 2 lengths in the past decade. However, no horse has ever won this more than once which is a blow to those that will be buying him on the spreads. Aidan O'Brien's record in the race is not to be sniffed at though, winning the last two renewals and four of the last ten.

Canford Cliffs proved himself to be a top quality horse when winning the St James' Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot and his spread followers will be encouraged by the record of three-year-olds in this race. The classic generation have won six of the last ten runnings and 24 of the last 34 since the race was opened up to five-year-olds in 1975. There have been four winning favourites in the past decade which will please SP sellers on the spreads, especially that the last two jollies have both been successful. However, prior to Henrythenavigator's win in 2008, no favourite had won since Rock Of Gibraltar in 2002 and Reel Buddy took this prize at 20/1 in 2003.

Thursday's highlight is the Goodwood Cup, famously won by Double Trigger three times in the 90's and last year by Godolphin's Schiaperelli. There are no clear trends for spread bettors to follow in terms of age as a four-year-old (Allegretto) and a ten-year-old (Persian Punch) have won the race in the past seven years. However, you have to go back 21 years for the last time a three-year-old won this contest, so most spread punters will be opposing any of the younger generation that line up.

The most successful current trainer of the race is Mark Johnston with five wins since 1995, but three of those were down to the incredible Double Trigger. Other trainers with a strong record in the race for spread bettors to consider are Sir Michael Stoute, Aidan O'Brien, David Elsworth and Saeed bin Suroor, who have all won the race twice since 1999. In fact, the only other trainer to win this since 1997 is Alan Jarvis with Jardines Lookout in 2002.

This has been a good race for spread sellers of SP's recently, as five of the last six favourites have won. Allegretto was successful at 8/1 in 2007, but that was a big shock as she was the first filly to win the racesince Gladness in 1958.

The final two days of Glorious Goodwood include the two big handicaps that get most spread bettors really excited. First up on the Friday is the Totesport Mile, one of the richest heritage handicaps in Europe. The key thing for horseracing spread betting fans to consider in this race is the effect of the draw, as the field reach the first bend fairly quickly. Prior to last year, the previous six winners were housed in stalls 16 to 22 and incredibly in 2008 the first five home came from boxes 20, 19, 18, 17 and 16 respectively. Spread punters should therefore dismiss any horse coming from a single-figure stall, then? Wrong. Last year, Mark Johnston's Laa Rayb managed to negotiate himself from stall eight to crucially grab the rail and slip past tiring horses in the straight.

Last year was an exception, though, and any spread bettor looking to buy a horse on the win index will be praying their runner gets a high draw. Laa Rayb was a generally unregarded 25/1 shot 12 months ago, but four of the last six winners of this race have been 5/1 or shorter, so it's not a bad contest for SP sellers on the spreads.

Roger Charlton has won two of the last three runnings, so it will be worth keeping an eye out for any that he enters. There are often a number of hard-luck stories in this race as the field tend to bunch up and horses can get checked in their run. However, winning distance spread buyers will take some encouragement from Laa Rayb's 2 ½ length victory and Third Set's 3 length winning margin in 2007.

Not only does the final day have the cavalry charge that is the Steward's Cup, it also hosts Goodwood's second Group 1 of the year, the Nassau Stakes, to get spread punters' hearts pumping. This features some of the best fillies and mares around and last year Midday absolutely romped home. She looks set to run again and would become only the third filly to win this race twice since it was opened up to older horses in 1975. One worry for supporters of Henry Cecil's runner on the spreads is that 14 of the last 17 winners have been three-year-olds.

The Steward's Cup is a commentator's nightmare and it wasn't made any easier last year with the 26 runners immersed in fog. It is something of a minefield for spread betting punters, but most will at least recognise last year's winner Genki turning out again. He has obviously gone up in the weights since then, though, and spread supporters of the six-year-old on the Sporting Index win index will be concerned that 11 of the past 12 winners have been four or five.

Between 1994 and 2004, only one winner of this race managed to carry 9st or more to victory. However, it has changed complexion in recent years, with four of the last five winners shouldering at least 9st 1lb. Spread sellers of SP's enjoyed a fine time of it between 2003 and 2007 with four of the five winners sent off at 7/1 or shorter, but 2008 was definitely a victory for the buyers. Conquest won at 40/1 for William Haggas and Genki's win at 14/1 last year made it another decent return for the spread buyers.