The pro punters who beat bookies' restrictions by gambling at the sales

After several blue-blooded weekends of seeing the property of princes, sheikhs and superpowers running for six-figure pots, Saturday is the day when the common man gets a look in. Heading the market for the Dubai £500,000 Cesarewitch are two horses owned by high-profile professional gamblers with their eyes on the big prize.

The Willie Mullins-trained favourite Stratum is the property of Tony Bloom, the legendary punter and owner of Brighton and Hove Albion FC, who tasted success in the race last year with the well-backed Withhold. Not far away in the market is Vis A Vis, owned by Ashley Carr and Einer Eismark, whose switch from betting on handicap plots to buying their own is one of the stories of the season.

Frustrated at being knocked back by the bookies, the pair went into pinhooking at the sales, and the latest result is the progressive Neil Mulholland-trained four-year-old, who has been not so much nibbled at in the market as gnawed to the bone.