Mac back on track at Nottingham

A pretty good night on the greyhounds last night, Boherbradda Mac justified my faith in him after an unlucky run on Monday night at Nottingham, he revisited the track in fine style with a four and a half length success in the sprint final, returning at odds of evens, slightly less than the 6/4 forecast in the papers but unless you're on the track theres not alot you can do about it, thats one reason why the horses are more of a viable medium than the dogs long term.
Looking at how the three bookies on track were pricing up last Monday, I did expect the SP to be a little shorter as they all seemed to slightly undercut the forecast price of the favourite on every race before pushing out the outsiders nearer the off.
Over in Ireland at Cork the next round of the Laurels heats were taking place and I managed to get three out of my four picks through to the quarter finals.
In fact I was wishing I had played on the individual races on the night too as Chicken Supper (10/1), Cabra Cool (3/1) and Slip The Lark (4/6) all recorded highly impressive victories. The one low point was when Allmightyjack, drawn in the same heat as the first mentioned, started slowly and then got knocked out of the race in scrimmaging.
I found the price of the first mentioned winner particularly surprising, he was also available at 100/1 again too in the outright before this weekend (I got bits of it elsewhere and more on at 66s before it reappeared) but he has looked just as impressive as most of the other winners in the two races he's run so far.
There were a couple of others to catch my eye from off the pace last night and might consider adding one or both of them to my portfolio, although it definitely seems a front runners track in the main with most of the winners leading from start to finish all the way through the competition so far. Also its perhaps best not to read too much into the times last night as the track seemed to be getting progressively slower as the night wore on.
On to the snooker and the Shanghai Masters gets underway at 7am UK time tomorrow morning. This is one tournament where Rocket Ronnie doesnt tend to excel, usually throwing caution to the wind in his approach perhaps because in his subconcious he doesnt really want to spend too much time so far from home for what is not the best prize money ever seen on the tour.
Therefore in his section, I have to give Joe Perry a chance at 40/1, he has looked an improved player in the last year, winning Barry Hearn's Championship League competition and reaching the World semi finals along the way so its maybe not impossible now that he could pick up the odd ranking event. For good measure he also beat Ronnie in the recent Premier League meeting of course and starts off with a winnable looking match with out of form Matthew Stevens.
The other possibility here was Jamie Cope but his form seems to be very sketchy in the last year and a half, and he hasnt really blossomed into the finished article as yet, despite oodles of initial promise.
In the top section, Ding looks the most recognisable contender at first glance in his own backyard but his form of late hasnt looked particularly inspiring, losing to Mark Davis in Northern Ireland and struggling somewhat in a 3-3 Premier League draw with John Higgins.
He did win the Jiangsu Classic in the summer in the town of his birthplace but at the odds had to look elsewhere, he also has what could yet be a tough match against in-form Bananaman Dave Harold in round one.
Therefore will give Ricky Walden an e/w dabble now available at 125/1, he has already won minor events in Thailand and Belgium since mid summer and now just needs to transfer that type of form to the ranking event arena. Admittedly he has to play the local wildcard Zhang Anda in a preliminary round first but could then face the pretty rusty Stephen Hendry who hasnt really got started yet this season so could be off and running to a flyer in what looks a weakish quarter.
As I've alluded to in the past there does seem a breakaway group of serious contenders for most of the events however and I'll have to include a couple of those to make up my four against the field - namely Mark Selby at 8/1 and Stephen Maguire at 9/1. Selby looks likely to face promising youngster Judd Trump in round one but his safety game ought to see him through that one after which he could get the chance for a revenge mission with Mark King, who deposited him from the World Championships last backend, so will have plenty of incentive.
Maguire meanwhile has an awkward looking starter against his big friend Barry Hawkins but if he could get throught that one (and I anticipate a hard fought match) his draw would open up a bit from thereon.
In tomorrow mornings wildcard matches, I wouldnt get particularly carried away, the younger brigade usually manage to avoid upsets in this sphere I've noticed but they all seem priced accordingly so I've chanced my arm on a couple of 4/6 shots who nevertheless send a few shivers down the spine in doing so lol.
In what seems likely to be the early televised match, Jimmy White takes on Xiao Guodong and will be out to avenge a 5-0 thrashing in the qualifiers at Prestatyn last year at the hands of the young lad who has since won the Paul Hunter English Open in the summer despite being relegated off the tour at the end of the season.
The only real name of note he beat there was Joe Perry however and White's own form has seemed more consistent so far this term so will give him the benefit this time around despite the disadvantage of the travelling.
Will also take Andy Hicks over Li Yuan, the latter ran Marco Fu close last year in the wildcard rounds, losing only 5-4 in a scrappy encounter but it was more a case of Fu struggling rather than anything startling from the Chinese cueist so will keep faith with Hicks who beat Michael Judge, Dave Gilbert and Kuldesh Johal to get this far.
Spare a thought for Mark Allen too as you hit the sack tomorrow night, as he will take on the winner of the Liang Wenbo-Atthasit Mahitti clash at 3.30am our time on Tuesday morning which can hardly be to his advantage, he would normally be excluded until the last 32 stage, but gets pushed back a round due to the fact Dominic Dale won here last year.
See you soon,
Rick