London, Apr 3 (ANI): A mathematician from Cambridge University has come up with what he thinks is a sure-fire way to predict the winner at horse races.
After analysing the names and ages of all of the National's previous winners William Hartson claims to have worked out a formula to pick the next champion - and is putting his money on Seabass, the Telegraph reported.
Hartson, 65, a Cambridge University graduate, made his prediction after concluding that winners were most likely to have a name of one word consisting of eight or ten letters and beginning with the letter S, R, M or C.
He also found that the winning horse was most likely to be aged nine or 10.
Seabass, an Irish 10-year-old, will be ridden by Katie Walsh. The horse is trained by Walsh's father Ted and is also one of the bookmakers' favourites after finishing third last year.
It scored 13 out of a possible 16 on Hartson's scale, which he devised by analysing the name, first letter, number of words in the name and age of all 40 horses lining up in this year's race.
He then awarded each horse a maximum of four points for each of these criteria, depending on how similar they were to past winners from the event's 174-year history.
For example, a horse whose name is eight or ten letters long - the most successful in the history of the race - would be awarded four points.
But a horse with nine or twelve letters - historically less successfully - would be awarded just one point.
Second on his scale was Tatenen, a nine-year-old which made its debut at the National last year - which also scored 13 but was not as consistent across all four areas, while Teaforthree, also nine, came out third with 12 points.
Hartston, who has an MA in mathematics and has written a number of books on arithmetical coincidences and statistics, said, "Seabass is the only horse with consistently high scores across all four criteria." (ANI)
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