Feeling pretty good this morning but nothing to do with the punting, came up against one of the best local players last night in one of the league knockouts and despite an indifferent start to the season, pulled off a big shock by winning 2-0 against a guy who has already knocked in a couple of 120+ breaks for his team. Admittedly I did receive 28pts start, but still thought I did OK given that he knocked in breaks of 35 and 56 in each frame. In fact the last time I saw him play a couple of years ago he hammered Nigel Bond 2-0 in an exhibition match so even though I did the same about 25 years ago, still well pleased with the result.
The league campaign took a turn for the worse last week when he lost 4-1, we were handicapped a bit by the fact that our one unbeaten player was on holiday but that said the reserve won in his place so no excuses. I let slip a thirty point lead in my frame but almost rescued it by potting a decent blue before missing a fairly easy pink with the black sitting over the pocket, not sure if it was a twitch but must be one of the easiest match balls I've missed a league game so felt a bit sick for a while after that.
Haven't had a great start individually to the season overall with only two wins out of five league games plus losing as a stand-in for our other team too so have alot to do at this stage to keep up my lifetime record of always winning more than I've lost in a single season.
Back to the punting and just missed out in the Waterford Masters greyhound final with my ante post pick Ballymac Under finishing second to Slip The Lark who I had supported in the previous two big Irish events. All looked set fair when my charge came out of the traps in front but around the second bend he seemed to check, not sure if he was caught slightly from behind, but the Lark went two clear and from then on just held on by half a length on the run in as my charge struggled to find an angle to challenge off the last bend. Lemon Zamora finished best of all to be a neck away in third.
Cabra Cool who I had added to my roster before the final given his plum draw, injured a hip the day before so was pulled out but at least the money was returned this time.
Also had a treble on Saturday which was thwarted when I picked the wrong one in a two dog run off for the final place in the All England Cup final at Newcastle, the other two obliged though both were at shortish odds.
Midway Skipper goes in the semi finals of the Kent St Leger tonight at Crayford in direct competition to his nearest outright market rival Black on Air so theres not much room for leeway with only the top two qualifying, he was impressive in the last round though and hopefully can come with his usual wet sail up the run in.
Currently keeping ahead in the Bahrain snooker tournament, had a four timer on the pros against the wildcards which obliged without any duress and also took on the local's "top" man Habib Subah with Mark Davis at what looked decent odds of 4/11 in a single and he won 5-0 too.
Since then its been up and down, Barry Pinches obliged at very generous odds of 6/4 to beat Graeme Dott, lacking practice and not long out of plaster on his broken wrist, 5-3 but two other odds against shots were beaten with Ken Doherty losing 5-3 to Barry Hawkins (losing the first frame on a respotted black) and rather more convincingly Stuart Bingham crashing 5-0 to Matthew Stevens. Not sure about Stuart's temperament when he gets a few frames behind, have seen him implode similarly on occasions in the past, will be interesting to see if Matthew can build on this success but not the easiest match next up against Ryan Day who has usually had the better of him in the past.
Have also backed Ricky Walden tonight at 10/11 to confirm his recent good form against the still inconsistent Stephen Hendry and also a small dabble on Marcus Campbell, fresh from his 147, at 12/5 to try and upset struggling Aussie Neil Robertson.
Plus a double (pays 4/5) on Joe Perry who takes on Rod Lawler tonight and Stephen Maguire who plays Mark Davis tomorrow, although Mark won 5-0 against Habib, he did make a few errors in that match and would probably have to step up a gear on that showing against the Scot .
The outright bets were off to a woeful start however, with Cope, Fu and Murphy all biting the dust at the first attempt which leaves Walden and Maguire only, both of these yet to play.
Anyway back to the horse racing tapes for me now, the all weather season is here and I still havent quite caught up with all the form, I can see money slipping away so better get back to the office lol.
All the best
Rick
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment