Track bias meant the Cambridgeshire just looked and felt wrong - while here's an underestimated Arc contender

Sometimes it's easy to think that horseracing is different from any other sport in the world. We are talking about animals that can't speak after all but if you watch lots of other sport like I do, the same parameters apply.

In the Olympics the cyclo-cross riders all went on the firmest part of the track – none of them went through the swamp. In cross-country running the athletes stick to the soundest surface, just as they do in road cycling. In motor racing the drivers stick to the part of the track which is the cleanest and provides the most traction, while in the America's Cup sailing, the yachtsmen all go for the part of the race track where there is the most wind. Basically in all sports there are areas where it is favourable to be and others where it's not.

That has always been the case in horseracing too but it was often hard to perceive. That was until this year where track biases have been rampant and some of the biggest handicaps in the calendar have been turned into five or six-runner races. We all saw what happened at the Ebor meeting with those drawn low having a huge advantage, while in the Stewards' Cup those drawn low had next to no chance compared to those on the other side. On Saturday in the Cambridgeshire, those who elected to race away from the far side had absolutely no chance, with the first seven home racing on the far side – and only 11 went that way.