Almost forgot about the blog lol, went to a works reunion to see the inhabitants of the old typesetting department of about 18 months ago, only about a quarter of them were there this time - they seem to have a do every couple of months - so its best to pick and choose rather than go to every one of them unless you want to become an alcoholic!!
It was good to see some old mates anyhow though didnt feel so great today as a consequence of having one too many, hence the late blog entry at an unearthly hour!
After the disastrous start to the Masters wildcard snooker qualifiers, I managed to recoup the majority of the losses by latching on to Judd Trump from the last 16 stage onwards and backed him in every round since, culminating in a 5-2 win over Ken Doherty in the semi final at 5/6 and a 6-1 thrashing of surprise finalist Mark Joyce to justify odds of 2/5.
Still finished a bit down and of course the outright market was a loss maker too but it looked much more manageable at the end than it did after a couple of days of the tournament when I hadn't backed a single winner!
The second wildcard is to be nominated soon and Ricky Walden would appear to be the favourite at the moment after lifting the title in Shanghai, he's also won minor events in Belgium and Thailand this season too so would be a worthy recipient.
In last night's Premier League backed Stephen Hendry in the draw no bet market against Ding but no damage was done as in fact all three matches finished 3-3, this means Mark Selby plays Hendry and Ronnie O Sullivan takes on Joe Perry in the semi finals. Still have the Jester in the outright market at 13/2 though lost Ding last night.
The Irish greyhounds I mentioned in the last blog are in action at Galway again over the weekend in the Golden Jacket event though I'm relying on some outsiders this time so fingers crossed that one or two of them can get through to the next stage. Also Midway Skipper goes in the semi final heat of the Coventry St Leger which features four winners from the first round.
Also in horse racing the Japan Cup is run in Tokyo on Sunday morning so will be scouring the videos on Youtube probably tomorrow to try and assess the international form, managed to get the Melbourne Cup winner at big odds via that route and also was on Admire Moon last year in the Japanese event.
In the NHL Boston Bruins have gone top of the Eastern Conference and enjoyed a thumping 7-2 home success over the New York Islanders earlier this evening so looks like I may get a decent run for my money with my 33/1 each way bet struck a couple of weeks ago. Philadelphia Flyers are up to sixth place after a slow start so hopefully they can consolidate in the top eight who qualify for the end of season play offs.
In the Western Conference the Calgary Flames are currently in fifth place carrying my money but Dallas Stars have been very disappointing so far, their defence continuing to creak and are currently bringing up the rear, though it is far from irretrievable at present.
All the best for now,
Rick
Friday, 28 November 2008
Monday, 24 November 2008
Trump to blow away Jin
The dodgy spell of form leading up to the previous blog has continued into the last few days unfortunately, had just been thinking at the end of last week that things had been going pretty well and then along comes the dreaded run that rocks you back on your heels again.
Despite being warned about betting on the Masters snooker qualifiers due to the lack of prize money on offer, I ploughed on regardless and to be honest endured a nightmare run of early results which left me little hope of coming out of the event on the right side of things.
As you can see from the last blog's bets they all went belly up including Matthew Selt's capitulation from 3-0 up against David Gray, eventually losing on a re-spotted black.
Eventually bagged some winners on the third day but not before eight successive losing bets which is about as poorly as I have started in a single snooker event I think (four of them on the deciding frame), though still not losing as much as I did in last year's World Championship qualifiers at the Institute of Sport, bring back Prestatyn I say (actually they do still hold the minor qualifiers there).
Overall though am still a fair bit down on the event and made a slight loss again today despite backing Judd Trump at 11/10 to beat Jamie Cope in the clash of the young hotshots which he did 5-2. The Shotgun hasnt quite kicked on since reaching those two ranking finals the season before last and is still hovering provisionally just outside the top 16 when most would have been banking on him getting there by now, there is still time of course.
Will stick with Trump at 4/11 against Jin Long tomorrow, he seems to be getting his teeth into this one, having earlier beaten the other Stoke potter Dave Harold and it looks a tough ask for the Chinese cueist who has earned some creditable results this year on his return the tour. Having said that he has been taken to final frame deciders by Lawler, Bond and Gould so has not had things all his own way and this looks by far his most difficult encounter.
The other matches look pretty much priced up on the ball so not playing on those but Matthew Stevens is enjoying another decent run here and comes up against Fergal O Brien, Andrew Higginson takes on Mark Joyce and Stuart Bingham is going for his third win in this event and plays Ken Doherty.
The outrights all bit the dust by the end of the second round, Liang Wenbo lost surprisingly 5-4 to rookie Daniel Wells who has enjoyed a good set of results this week, Barry Hawkins was hammered 5-0 by Joyce, while Li Hang and Michael Holt were edged out 4-3 by Martin Gould and Atthasit Mahitti respectively.
John Higgins won the latest leg of the World Series in Moscow, beating Ding Junhui 5-0 in the final but this time the event was not televised on Eurosport so there were no betting markets, not sure I could have predicted such an emphatic win for the Scot there though.
Our own snooker team had a good win in the cup against the current league champions, though we did play them at a good time when three of their better players were unavailable for one reason or another, still not performing with any consistency personally though, making hard work of some frames I would have eaten a few years back, its certainly true that as you get older it seems to become especially difficult to knock in the long balls.
Its slightly easier to knock them in at pool and noticed the Mosconi Cup is almost on the horizon again featuring everyones favourite villain Earl Strickland who is now into the veteran bracket but shows no signs of becoming more phlegmatic. The Americans were pretty disappointing on home territory last year making a number of unenforced errors and in Tony Drago's backyard (its played in Malta this time) I'd fancy Europe to come out on top again at the odds of 6/5.
Jeremy Jones comes into the USA team to join Strickland, Johnny Archer (who struggled last year), Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris so only one change there as Corey Deuel is left out. Europe comprise Drago, Ralf Souquet and Niels Fiejen with Finn Mika Immonen and ex snooker pro Mark Gray replacing Konstantin Stepanov and Darryl Peach.
On to the dogs and noticed Midway Skipper was running again in the Coventry St Leger heats at the weekend so backed her in the outright market at around 3.37 after commission, had to use Betfair as no one else was offering the market so at least it was a decent bit of initiative by them on this occasion.
She won comfortably enough but the time was not one of the quicker ones of the night so will be interesting to see what transpires in the future heats. Also backed her for the heat, the Post forecast of 4/5 looked generous but as expected she was returned much shorter at 2/5.
That price looked pretty good though compared with a bet I had on the online tote, the idea is that you pay £5 to see the race meeting's webcast and get your fee returned after you have staked the same amount. I didnt realise if you did it in the opposite order though this doesnt apparently apply, so after the dividend was declared at 1.05, despite backing a winner I got £21 back having handed over £25 to start with!! Suppose these things even out as I once backed a loser at Leicester races on the tote and found that not a single player had picked the winner so all stakes were returned much to my surprise at the time.
Have also gotten involved in the Golden Jacket event at Galway in which ante post favourite Shelbourne Aston bowed out after being baulked at the weekend. Broadacres Turbo is the new jolly and has twice gone close to the track record but having seen some of the dogs previous runs think it might be worth taking him on at the prices available.
Had a couple of each way bets on The Other Sonic at 33s and Oakleaf Tom at 25s, a quarter the odds for the first four in the final, both should be staying on strongly over this 575m trip and if the pacier dogs meet any trouble the likes of their type could capitalise.
Also added an even bigger outsider with The Other Achill at 100s, this one tends to start a bit slowly which is a bit offputting but is fairly unexposed over the trip, having run mostly over a bit shorter until this event but was a creditable close up third to Tyrur Laurel last time, and has shown a good turn of pace in some of its races.
All the best,
Rick
Despite being warned about betting on the Masters snooker qualifiers due to the lack of prize money on offer, I ploughed on regardless and to be honest endured a nightmare run of early results which left me little hope of coming out of the event on the right side of things.
As you can see from the last blog's bets they all went belly up including Matthew Selt's capitulation from 3-0 up against David Gray, eventually losing on a re-spotted black.
Eventually bagged some winners on the third day but not before eight successive losing bets which is about as poorly as I have started in a single snooker event I think (four of them on the deciding frame), though still not losing as much as I did in last year's World Championship qualifiers at the Institute of Sport, bring back Prestatyn I say (actually they do still hold the minor qualifiers there).
Overall though am still a fair bit down on the event and made a slight loss again today despite backing Judd Trump at 11/10 to beat Jamie Cope in the clash of the young hotshots which he did 5-2. The Shotgun hasnt quite kicked on since reaching those two ranking finals the season before last and is still hovering provisionally just outside the top 16 when most would have been banking on him getting there by now, there is still time of course.
Will stick with Trump at 4/11 against Jin Long tomorrow, he seems to be getting his teeth into this one, having earlier beaten the other Stoke potter Dave Harold and it looks a tough ask for the Chinese cueist who has earned some creditable results this year on his return the tour. Having said that he has been taken to final frame deciders by Lawler, Bond and Gould so has not had things all his own way and this looks by far his most difficult encounter.
The other matches look pretty much priced up on the ball so not playing on those but Matthew Stevens is enjoying another decent run here and comes up against Fergal O Brien, Andrew Higginson takes on Mark Joyce and Stuart Bingham is going for his third win in this event and plays Ken Doherty.
The outrights all bit the dust by the end of the second round, Liang Wenbo lost surprisingly 5-4 to rookie Daniel Wells who has enjoyed a good set of results this week, Barry Hawkins was hammered 5-0 by Joyce, while Li Hang and Michael Holt were edged out 4-3 by Martin Gould and Atthasit Mahitti respectively.
John Higgins won the latest leg of the World Series in Moscow, beating Ding Junhui 5-0 in the final but this time the event was not televised on Eurosport so there were no betting markets, not sure I could have predicted such an emphatic win for the Scot there though.
Our own snooker team had a good win in the cup against the current league champions, though we did play them at a good time when three of their better players were unavailable for one reason or another, still not performing with any consistency personally though, making hard work of some frames I would have eaten a few years back, its certainly true that as you get older it seems to become especially difficult to knock in the long balls.
Its slightly easier to knock them in at pool and noticed the Mosconi Cup is almost on the horizon again featuring everyones favourite villain Earl Strickland who is now into the veteran bracket but shows no signs of becoming more phlegmatic. The Americans were pretty disappointing on home territory last year making a number of unenforced errors and in Tony Drago's backyard (its played in Malta this time) I'd fancy Europe to come out on top again at the odds of 6/5.
Jeremy Jones comes into the USA team to join Strickland, Johnny Archer (who struggled last year), Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris so only one change there as Corey Deuel is left out. Europe comprise Drago, Ralf Souquet and Niels Fiejen with Finn Mika Immonen and ex snooker pro Mark Gray replacing Konstantin Stepanov and Darryl Peach.
On to the dogs and noticed Midway Skipper was running again in the Coventry St Leger heats at the weekend so backed her in the outright market at around 3.37 after commission, had to use Betfair as no one else was offering the market so at least it was a decent bit of initiative by them on this occasion.
She won comfortably enough but the time was not one of the quicker ones of the night so will be interesting to see what transpires in the future heats. Also backed her for the heat, the Post forecast of 4/5 looked generous but as expected she was returned much shorter at 2/5.
That price looked pretty good though compared with a bet I had on the online tote, the idea is that you pay £5 to see the race meeting's webcast and get your fee returned after you have staked the same amount. I didnt realise if you did it in the opposite order though this doesnt apparently apply, so after the dividend was declared at 1.05, despite backing a winner I got £21 back having handed over £25 to start with!! Suppose these things even out as I once backed a loser at Leicester races on the tote and found that not a single player had picked the winner so all stakes were returned much to my surprise at the time.
Have also gotten involved in the Golden Jacket event at Galway in which ante post favourite Shelbourne Aston bowed out after being baulked at the weekend. Broadacres Turbo is the new jolly and has twice gone close to the track record but having seen some of the dogs previous runs think it might be worth taking him on at the prices available.
Had a couple of each way bets on The Other Sonic at 33s and Oakleaf Tom at 25s, a quarter the odds for the first four in the final, both should be staying on strongly over this 575m trip and if the pacier dogs meet any trouble the likes of their type could capitalise.
Also added an even bigger outsider with The Other Achill at 100s, this one tends to start a bit slowly which is a bit offputting but is fairly unexposed over the trip, having run mostly over a bit shorter until this event but was a creditable close up third to Tyrur Laurel last time, and has shown a good turn of pace in some of its races.
All the best,
Rick
Friday, 21 November 2008
Skipper wins but its downhill from thereon!
Well lets start with the good news, Midway Skipper won the Kent greyhound St Leger on Monday night to land the 13/8 ante post voucher though not without a few scares, having been buffeted, bumped and hampered at least four or five times during the race but in the end her stamina came into play and she eroded a five length deficit in the last quarter of the race and squeezed through on the final bend to pull clear up the straight. A fine effort indeed.
Thats where the good news ends though as regards the betting. The other ante post in the sprint had alarm signals warning in my brain after the draw had been published, with my picks drawn next to each other in far from ideal boxes. As it happens, they didnt mess with each other but the 4 dog impeded Boherduff Monti in 3 and Bohebradda Mac totally missed the break in 2 and was brought to his knees at the first bend, race over. Should really have had a bit on the early morning 9/2 about outside dog Frosty Lee for whom the race looked set up for as the only wide seed and likely to lead with it too.
In fact it was a case of not having the courage of my convictions again when after fancying Ronnie was a bit too short in Thursday's Premier League snooker action, I was halfway towards placing a small bet on the draw before deciding to keep my powder dry and of course it ends up 3-3. The one bet I did go ahead with was John Higgins at 1.75 against Joe Perry on the draw no bet market (he had a 3-0 h2h record going into the match and Perry was showing signs of going off the boil of late). However, nothing of the sort materialised in the match and Perry was soon home and hosed winning the first four frames with the minimum of fuss as Higgins safety play was strangely awry, maybe rushing things slightly with the shot clock in operation.
He did eventually find some form to add some respectability at 4-2 but not much use to yours truly or himself as he is now out of the competition.
My outright picks are still in with a shout though. Mark Selby heads the group and needs a draw in his last match with Joe Perry to stay there, and thus avoid Ronnie in the semis.
Ding Junhui needs to beat Stephen Hendry to qualify with the Scot needing just the draw, a year on from Ding's barnstorming 6-0 win over the Scot I'm not so sure he can dish up another performance of that ilk this time around but fingers crossed.
Went up to Sheffield to see a couple of the Masters qualifiers snooker matches today in fact, and as ever whenever I attend the venue all my bets lose. Admittedly three of them were minimum stakes outsiders anyhow, the closest to an upset was Paul Davison at 6/4 who lost 4-3 to Rory McLeod in an unsurprisingly marathon battle that lasted over four hours.
I was the sole spectator in the booth occupying the Anthony Hamilton v Andrew Pagett match and this was another game that rather ambled along though as Hamilton won it 4-0 it finished a good bit earlier. The small bet I had on the Welshman never really looked likely after he had broken down in the forties in the first frame and lost it on the black, after that the Sheriff always looked to have too much class and scored much too heavily for his opponent overall.
It was interesting to note the clashes of styles in cue action, Hamilton really giving it plenty on the backswing, cueing up two or three times before addressing the cue ball while Pagett was very much in the Dave Harold mould, with little or no backswing before he plays the ball, which is certainly not to his advantage on the power shots as it can look a bit jerky.
My perceived treble in the afternoon became a double when Chris McBreen withdrew from his match with Andrew Higginson but my slight doubts about Gerard Greene were unfounded when he romped home 4-0 against Michael Georgiou to land the first part of the bet.
I was watching the Barry Pinches v Lewis Roberts match needing a win for Norwich's finest to give me the money but unfortunately he was always making hard work of it against a previously winless opponent in the pro ranks, missing a number of straightforward pots.
Roberts for his part looked fairly confident in amongst the balls given his less than impressive record so far but perhaps sometimes came out second best on the safety exchanges. However with Barry misfiring somewhat, Roberts led 3-1 and things looked bleak but as the youngsters cue arm maybe tightened a bit looking for that first win and Pinches drew on his vast experience it soon become 3-3 and all to play for.
Pinches held a good lead for a while in the final frame and things looked rosey as he was 35 up with two reds on. However this lead was slowly being picked off until surely the game was over with Barry only needing a straight green from a slight angle into the middle pocket.
But no, he somehow contrived to miss it and Roberts stepped in with an impressive 25 clearance (though the black wobbled for a good few seconds before dropping) which gave him his first professional win, and probably deserved too overall, even though it did not do my coffers much good.
After that setback following a three hour battle, my stamina reserves were giving out and with no bets in the evening matches decided to come home with my tail between my legs, still may get up bright and early tomorrow though for the £5-million Scoop 6, must be worth a few quid of anyone's money!
Oh yes and four outsiders for me tomorrow in the snooker to try and claw back some of the losses - Li Hang 11/10, have backed him as a longshot in the outrights given a reasonable draw and must have a fair chance against out of form Martin Gould; Jamie Jones 13/8 admittedly not a lot to recommend him this season but had shown some promise last time on the tour and Andrew Norman seems to be a bit jittery at present; Matthew Selt 11/8, actually had him vying for favouritism here as David Gray seems way out of touch in his recent matches and finally Stephen Craigie at 7/4, beat Stuart Bingham in a recent pro am when reaching the quarter finals and probably underestimated a bit against Dave Gilbert.
All the best for now, will speak to you after I have collected my £5m on Monday lol
Rick
Thats where the good news ends though as regards the betting. The other ante post in the sprint had alarm signals warning in my brain after the draw had been published, with my picks drawn next to each other in far from ideal boxes. As it happens, they didnt mess with each other but the 4 dog impeded Boherduff Monti in 3 and Bohebradda Mac totally missed the break in 2 and was brought to his knees at the first bend, race over. Should really have had a bit on the early morning 9/2 about outside dog Frosty Lee for whom the race looked set up for as the only wide seed and likely to lead with it too.
In fact it was a case of not having the courage of my convictions again when after fancying Ronnie was a bit too short in Thursday's Premier League snooker action, I was halfway towards placing a small bet on the draw before deciding to keep my powder dry and of course it ends up 3-3. The one bet I did go ahead with was John Higgins at 1.75 against Joe Perry on the draw no bet market (he had a 3-0 h2h record going into the match and Perry was showing signs of going off the boil of late). However, nothing of the sort materialised in the match and Perry was soon home and hosed winning the first four frames with the minimum of fuss as Higgins safety play was strangely awry, maybe rushing things slightly with the shot clock in operation.
He did eventually find some form to add some respectability at 4-2 but not much use to yours truly or himself as he is now out of the competition.
My outright picks are still in with a shout though. Mark Selby heads the group and needs a draw in his last match with Joe Perry to stay there, and thus avoid Ronnie in the semis.
Ding Junhui needs to beat Stephen Hendry to qualify with the Scot needing just the draw, a year on from Ding's barnstorming 6-0 win over the Scot I'm not so sure he can dish up another performance of that ilk this time around but fingers crossed.
Went up to Sheffield to see a couple of the Masters qualifiers snooker matches today in fact, and as ever whenever I attend the venue all my bets lose. Admittedly three of them were minimum stakes outsiders anyhow, the closest to an upset was Paul Davison at 6/4 who lost 4-3 to Rory McLeod in an unsurprisingly marathon battle that lasted over four hours.
I was the sole spectator in the booth occupying the Anthony Hamilton v Andrew Pagett match and this was another game that rather ambled along though as Hamilton won it 4-0 it finished a good bit earlier. The small bet I had on the Welshman never really looked likely after he had broken down in the forties in the first frame and lost it on the black, after that the Sheriff always looked to have too much class and scored much too heavily for his opponent overall.
It was interesting to note the clashes of styles in cue action, Hamilton really giving it plenty on the backswing, cueing up two or three times before addressing the cue ball while Pagett was very much in the Dave Harold mould, with little or no backswing before he plays the ball, which is certainly not to his advantage on the power shots as it can look a bit jerky.
My perceived treble in the afternoon became a double when Chris McBreen withdrew from his match with Andrew Higginson but my slight doubts about Gerard Greene were unfounded when he romped home 4-0 against Michael Georgiou to land the first part of the bet.
I was watching the Barry Pinches v Lewis Roberts match needing a win for Norwich's finest to give me the money but unfortunately he was always making hard work of it against a previously winless opponent in the pro ranks, missing a number of straightforward pots.
Roberts for his part looked fairly confident in amongst the balls given his less than impressive record so far but perhaps sometimes came out second best on the safety exchanges. However with Barry misfiring somewhat, Roberts led 3-1 and things looked bleak but as the youngsters cue arm maybe tightened a bit looking for that first win and Pinches drew on his vast experience it soon become 3-3 and all to play for.
Pinches held a good lead for a while in the final frame and things looked rosey as he was 35 up with two reds on. However this lead was slowly being picked off until surely the game was over with Barry only needing a straight green from a slight angle into the middle pocket.
But no, he somehow contrived to miss it and Roberts stepped in with an impressive 25 clearance (though the black wobbled for a good few seconds before dropping) which gave him his first professional win, and probably deserved too overall, even though it did not do my coffers much good.
After that setback following a three hour battle, my stamina reserves were giving out and with no bets in the evening matches decided to come home with my tail between my legs, still may get up bright and early tomorrow though for the £5-million Scoop 6, must be worth a few quid of anyone's money!
Oh yes and four outsiders for me tomorrow in the snooker to try and claw back some of the losses - Li Hang 11/10, have backed him as a longshot in the outrights given a reasonable draw and must have a fair chance against out of form Martin Gould; Jamie Jones 13/8 admittedly not a lot to recommend him this season but had shown some promise last time on the tour and Andrew Norman seems to be a bit jittery at present; Matthew Selt 11/8, actually had him vying for favouritism here as David Gray seems way out of touch in his recent matches and finally Stephen Craigie at 7/4, beat Stuart Bingham in a recent pro am when reaching the quarter finals and probably underestimated a bit against Dave Gilbert.
All the best for now, will speak to you after I have collected my £5m on Monday lol
Rick
Monday, 17 November 2008
Hawk eyeing Masters wildcard double
Not the busiest of punting weekends with the Bahrain snooker tourney rather petering out from a betting viewpoint, just didnt see many value bets towards the end, part of the reason admittedly being that the players involved seemed to have rather unreliable profiles, certainly wouldn't have fancied Stevens or Robertson to be contesting the final on recent form, but with the withdrawals of a fair few of the top players, someone had to win it of course, though not convinced either of these would have been there had everyone turned up.
The Masters wildcard qualifiers get underway on Friday when I will probably be in attendance though with it being held in the World Snooker Academy itself you are I believe limited to watching one table at a time.
There is an outright market already up at Skybet but since the Walden win my confidence has evaporated somewhat with a host of first round exits, this betting game's a great leveller!
As usual I shall stick to the tried and tested formula for me anyway of one pick from each quarter. Walden himself doesnt have the most straightforward of runs at this level though if it was a ranking tournament you'd probably think he had a decent draw, however will ignore him as he could play Stevens fairly early on, assuming Matthew turns up this time (was in the draw last year and ended up not travelling). Will take Wenbo at 16/1 from that section anyhow, he ought to beat Chuang and then should get chances against the similarly open Michie and also has a good record against O Brien if he plays him in the next round, plus Fergal has seemed out of form so far this year, otherwise might have considered him.
My main pick is Hawkins also at 16/1 in the second quarter, he won this last year and might be able to repeat Bingham's feat of winning it twice in succession, could play Cooper, Joyce and Swail in the early rounds which should be winnable before things might get a bit tougher.
The third quarter was nearly a no bet with the likes of Cope, Trump and Harold all due to clash in the top half of this section, however the bottom half conversely looks quite weak with the out of form Bond and Norman in there so will have a small speculative e/w punt on the Chinese youngster Li Hang at 175/1. He could easily reach the QF without having beaten too much and at least things would be getting exciting then, remember Kurt Maflin reached the final of this last year but was still relegated off the tour at the end of the season.
In the fourth quarter, not convinced by the form of one or two of these, the possible match up of Bingham-Hicks could go either way I feel on this years form so looking down the bottom Michael Holt at 20/1 seems to be playing reasonably OK not withstanding his 5-4 loss to Milkins from 4-0 up in his last match! He plays Atthasit Mahitti first up and then Dubliner Ken Doherty who has continued to struggle to find any semblence of form this year, next up would probably be Dave Gilbert so certainly the chance is there for the Hitman to progress.
Will probably end up going to see the first and last day (if I can get a ticket for the final), have a few matches in mind but usually end up following the ones where I've had a bet, we'll have to see if anyone prices up the individual matches later on.
On to the dogs and Midway Skipper goes for me in the Kent St Leger final tonight at Crayford, she's now into 4/7 after starting at 13/8 in the ante post market but wont bother laying off, hoping she will find the gaps as she tries to come trough the field with her usual late run, it isn't the best of draws for a railer out in trap 5, but as she usually comes from behind anyway, it might not be as problematic as it would be for a front runner. Indeed she managed second in the St Leger itself from this very box.
Got a double up paying 11/10 on the Nottingham dogs on Saturday night, featuring a short priced pair - Boherbradda Mac who I'd actually inadvertently missed backing for once in midweek, but he obliged comfortably in one of the sprint heats at 2/5 while Wise Thought shook off sickness scares by obliging at the early price of 1/2.
Also took Mac in the outrights for that sprint with Betfred (the final is on Thursday) with 2pts @ 5/2 plus 1pt on Boherduff Monti @ 4/1 who qualified in second place from the other heat, that race will be televised on Sky as part of the Eclipse meeting.
Unfortunately they are drawn next to each other in the final and as they are without doubt the fastest dogs in the race, just hope they dont impede one another and hand the race to something else, would certainly have preferred something else in between them.
Had one more bet in the outright football markets by adding Reading at 9/4 for the Championship following their 2-0 win at Sheffield United, they do seem to be getting up a head of steam and although Wolves have a seven point cushion on them at present, there is a long way to go yet. Leeds who I had backed for League One after putting on a great show at Derby, then slumped to a home loss to Huddersfield, proving once again its a funny old game!!
Can't go without mentioning that I actually managed a 51 and 30 in last night's final frame of snooker practice against my usual opponent which while nothing earth shattering is quite good by my standards nowadays, the trouble was the rest of the evening I was struggling to pot a ball, its another funny old game!!
All the best
Rick
The Masters wildcard qualifiers get underway on Friday when I will probably be in attendance though with it being held in the World Snooker Academy itself you are I believe limited to watching one table at a time.
There is an outright market already up at Skybet but since the Walden win my confidence has evaporated somewhat with a host of first round exits, this betting game's a great leveller!
As usual I shall stick to the tried and tested formula for me anyway of one pick from each quarter. Walden himself doesnt have the most straightforward of runs at this level though if it was a ranking tournament you'd probably think he had a decent draw, however will ignore him as he could play Stevens fairly early on, assuming Matthew turns up this time (was in the draw last year and ended up not travelling). Will take Wenbo at 16/1 from that section anyhow, he ought to beat Chuang and then should get chances against the similarly open Michie and also has a good record against O Brien if he plays him in the next round, plus Fergal has seemed out of form so far this year, otherwise might have considered him.
My main pick is Hawkins also at 16/1 in the second quarter, he won this last year and might be able to repeat Bingham's feat of winning it twice in succession, could play Cooper, Joyce and Swail in the early rounds which should be winnable before things might get a bit tougher.
The third quarter was nearly a no bet with the likes of Cope, Trump and Harold all due to clash in the top half of this section, however the bottom half conversely looks quite weak with the out of form Bond and Norman in there so will have a small speculative e/w punt on the Chinese youngster Li Hang at 175/1. He could easily reach the QF without having beaten too much and at least things would be getting exciting then, remember Kurt Maflin reached the final of this last year but was still relegated off the tour at the end of the season.
In the fourth quarter, not convinced by the form of one or two of these, the possible match up of Bingham-Hicks could go either way I feel on this years form so looking down the bottom Michael Holt at 20/1 seems to be playing reasonably OK not withstanding his 5-4 loss to Milkins from 4-0 up in his last match! He plays Atthasit Mahitti first up and then Dubliner Ken Doherty who has continued to struggle to find any semblence of form this year, next up would probably be Dave Gilbert so certainly the chance is there for the Hitman to progress.
Will probably end up going to see the first and last day (if I can get a ticket for the final), have a few matches in mind but usually end up following the ones where I've had a bet, we'll have to see if anyone prices up the individual matches later on.
On to the dogs and Midway Skipper goes for me in the Kent St Leger final tonight at Crayford, she's now into 4/7 after starting at 13/8 in the ante post market but wont bother laying off, hoping she will find the gaps as she tries to come trough the field with her usual late run, it isn't the best of draws for a railer out in trap 5, but as she usually comes from behind anyway, it might not be as problematic as it would be for a front runner. Indeed she managed second in the St Leger itself from this very box.
Got a double up paying 11/10 on the Nottingham dogs on Saturday night, featuring a short priced pair - Boherbradda Mac who I'd actually inadvertently missed backing for once in midweek, but he obliged comfortably in one of the sprint heats at 2/5 while Wise Thought shook off sickness scares by obliging at the early price of 1/2.
Also took Mac in the outrights for that sprint with Betfred (the final is on Thursday) with 2pts @ 5/2 plus 1pt on Boherduff Monti @ 4/1 who qualified in second place from the other heat, that race will be televised on Sky as part of the Eclipse meeting.
Unfortunately they are drawn next to each other in the final and as they are without doubt the fastest dogs in the race, just hope they dont impede one another and hand the race to something else, would certainly have preferred something else in between them.
Had one more bet in the outright football markets by adding Reading at 9/4 for the Championship following their 2-0 win at Sheffield United, they do seem to be getting up a head of steam and although Wolves have a seven point cushion on them at present, there is a long way to go yet. Leeds who I had backed for League One after putting on a great show at Derby, then slumped to a home loss to Huddersfield, proving once again its a funny old game!!
Can't go without mentioning that I actually managed a 51 and 30 in last night's final frame of snooker practice against my usual opponent which while nothing earth shattering is quite good by my standards nowadays, the trouble was the rest of the evening I was struggling to pot a ball, its another funny old game!!
All the best
Rick
Friday, 14 November 2008
Boherna proves he is the best
The punting highlight of the week came in Wednesday night's All England Cup greyhound final held at Newcastle and televised live on Sky where my original outright pick Boherna Best landed the odds of 9/2 by bravely holding the sustained challenge of main danger Dotlands Hit Man in a great duel which lasted almost from the first bend.
Really enjoying the dog betting as its usually been very much secondary to the horses in my previous years but its certainly proving worthwhile getting involved in some of these ante post markets while I've been catching up with the nags.
The Bahrain snooker betting has been very up and down but never really threatened to go one way or the other and as I speak one bet in the final could either mean an overall profit or otherwise.
The outrights were a flop again with most of them going out at the first hurdle, admittedly Maguire did reach the quarter finals, though he was tournament favourite anyway so better was expected following Ronnie's withdrawal.
Looking at some of the results in the match betting, very happy to come out of this one intact as any kind of form seems to have been temporary and a number of past h2hs have also been rather misleading along with recent form, which could hardly have pointed anyone in the direction of the likes of Stevens, Robertson or Allen. Even Hendry was being totally written off just a couple of weeks ago given some of his displays early season.
Having played the game at local level for around 30 years now, I know how quickly things can change at this game, myself having a great win at the weekend over one of the top county players and then performing like a complete novice when losing 2-0 to a veteran journeyman in one of the other events!! Sometimes the ball fall nicely and your cue arm gets flowing and at other times they all seem to go awkward and you just cant find any rhythm for love nor money.
Saw a great performance in the Football League Cup on Tuesday by Leeds United against my team Derby, admittedly the Rams won the game 2-1 but were totally outplayed for 70 minutes having taken an early 2-0 lead, surely on this performance the visitors will go very close indeed to securing the Division One title if they could just iron out a few defensive wobbles.
So invested a bit at 9/4 which were bigger odds than I would care to lay after that and also stuck Reading and Leeds in a promotion double for their respective divisions which pays around 17/10.
Boston Bruins have been proving a stubborn team to overcome in the NHL in the early season exchanges so had an each way bet at 33s to complete my roster for the Stanley Cup, have two picks in each division now and though my original fancies have hardly had the best of starts, still a long way to go yet.
Have rejoined the Racegoers Club for the forthcoming year, hoping that I'll be able to get out to the horsetracks again at least once a week, and at least the outlay on membership there will reduce the admission costs for the year which on first glance look a bit steep compared with what I used to pay two or three years ago when I was a regular.
Suppose I'll still be taking advantage of the exchange prices (on betdaq, where else!!) but getting out and about and seeing the horses in the flesh seems a worthwhile exercise once a week if only to avoid becoming a couch potato, plus having done all of the previous 59 existing tracks in person, still need to catch up on Great Leighs and indeed Ffos Llas when that materialises.
Will probably attend some of the Masters wildcard snooker qualifiers next week too which are held at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, failing that the UK Championship qualifying rounds are in the same building a couple of weeks later which I've already booked for on a few days.
All the best for now,
Rick
Really enjoying the dog betting as its usually been very much secondary to the horses in my previous years but its certainly proving worthwhile getting involved in some of these ante post markets while I've been catching up with the nags.
The Bahrain snooker betting has been very up and down but never really threatened to go one way or the other and as I speak one bet in the final could either mean an overall profit or otherwise.
The outrights were a flop again with most of them going out at the first hurdle, admittedly Maguire did reach the quarter finals, though he was tournament favourite anyway so better was expected following Ronnie's withdrawal.
Looking at some of the results in the match betting, very happy to come out of this one intact as any kind of form seems to have been temporary and a number of past h2hs have also been rather misleading along with recent form, which could hardly have pointed anyone in the direction of the likes of Stevens, Robertson or Allen. Even Hendry was being totally written off just a couple of weeks ago given some of his displays early season.
Having played the game at local level for around 30 years now, I know how quickly things can change at this game, myself having a great win at the weekend over one of the top county players and then performing like a complete novice when losing 2-0 to a veteran journeyman in one of the other events!! Sometimes the ball fall nicely and your cue arm gets flowing and at other times they all seem to go awkward and you just cant find any rhythm for love nor money.
Saw a great performance in the Football League Cup on Tuesday by Leeds United against my team Derby, admittedly the Rams won the game 2-1 but were totally outplayed for 70 minutes having taken an early 2-0 lead, surely on this performance the visitors will go very close indeed to securing the Division One title if they could just iron out a few defensive wobbles.
So invested a bit at 9/4 which were bigger odds than I would care to lay after that and also stuck Reading and Leeds in a promotion double for their respective divisions which pays around 17/10.
Boston Bruins have been proving a stubborn team to overcome in the NHL in the early season exchanges so had an each way bet at 33s to complete my roster for the Stanley Cup, have two picks in each division now and though my original fancies have hardly had the best of starts, still a long way to go yet.
Have rejoined the Racegoers Club for the forthcoming year, hoping that I'll be able to get out to the horsetracks again at least once a week, and at least the outlay on membership there will reduce the admission costs for the year which on first glance look a bit steep compared with what I used to pay two or three years ago when I was a regular.
Suppose I'll still be taking advantage of the exchange prices (on betdaq, where else!!) but getting out and about and seeing the horses in the flesh seems a worthwhile exercise once a week if only to avoid becoming a couch potato, plus having done all of the previous 59 existing tracks in person, still need to catch up on Great Leighs and indeed Ffos Llas when that materialises.
Will probably attend some of the Masters wildcard snooker qualifiers next week too which are held at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, failing that the UK Championship qualifying rounds are in the same building a couple of weeks later which I've already booked for on a few days.
All the best for now,
Rick
Monday, 10 November 2008
My very own giant killing act!
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
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
Friday, 7 November 2008
Wheres that other horse, oh its won!!
The end of another hectic week and thankfully the ship has been rerouted back on course after the largely unsuccessful foray into North American Sports for the past few weeks on the NHL, apart from one solitary weekend that is!!
Didnt have lots of time on Monday what with the committee meeting at the snooker club and all that goes with it but did spend an hour or so on Youtube looking at some of the significant Aussie races like the Caulfield Cup in the build up to their big one, the Melbourne Cup run early on Tuesday morning UK time.
In the end settled for the main bet on Nom De Ju with smaller each way bets on Ice Chariot and Viewed and it was the latter who did the business, though my return was somewhat smaller than the Aussie tote returns of 40-odd as I had it with the traditional bookies over here.
Had been thinking it might be backed over there as one of their own with legendary trainer Bart Cummings' great cup record also to boot. As it happens there was no money pre race and could even have got around 50s on the exchanges but was seeing it more from a place perspective rather than the win angle so only ended up with 33/1, must have more confidence in myself in the future!!
That said, it was a bit of an anti climax as I watched the replay on arising on Tuesday (no I didnt watch it live!) as I thought the Aussie commentator was calling home "Bude" rather than "Viewed" and was wondering what happened to my third selection when it suddenly clicked!!
Even then wasnt sure what had won the race, the Cumani horse Bauer was closing with every stride in the final furlong and strength in the saddle from Blake Shinn certainly looked a factor to me in the driving finish, even though in retrospect he admitted he may probably have gone for home a fraction too early.
I also backed the greyhound I have been following Boherbradda Mac in the sprint at Nottingham on Monday night and he did the business again, scoring comfortably but at rather shorter odds than expected, being returned at 2/5 as opposed to the morning forecast of 4/6, though as usual with the bread and butter dog markets, no early prices were available.
On that theme, the semi finals of the All England Cup were run at Newcastle last night and Boherna Best qualified impressively though I lost my other two ante post picks who both finished fourth, with only the top two dogs qualifying. Am kicking myself a bit for not backing Dotlands Hit Man when he was 10/1 a few days ago, he won in fine style too in the quickest time of the night so does look a real danger though his price is now as short as 6/4.
Elsewhere have added Cabra Cool to my Waterford Masters roster at 9/4, he has the plum draw in Saturday's final with the no 2 dog a possible non starter due to injury so that would be even more in his favour if it transpires that way. My other pick Ballymac Under at 9/2 has a middle draw but has all on to lead both Cabra and Lark to the first bend the way they are trapping currently.
Had a quick look at Sky's "The Dogs" programme last night and was impressed by Midway Skipper in the Kent St Leger first round heats, scooting away from them around the sharp Crayford track so, having backed her as a saver when she was runner up to main pick Bubbly Totti in the official Leger itself, had to give him a chance for compensation in this at 13/8.
Had a good night on the Premier League snooker yesterday, backed Ding to continue his good record against Joe Perry in the opening match and he obliged 4-2 at the very decent odds of 13/8, his breakbuilding was stuttering a bit but he did at least knuckle down in the tactical exchanges and did enough to see off a largely out of sorts opponent.
In the other match, backed Hendry for the highest break at 4/7 and though its a type of bet that usually has me squirming in my seat right until the very end, on this occasion the Nugget never really looked like piecing together a meaningful contribution and the Scot had the three best contributions of the encounter with an 83 and a couple of 70 odds.
Did have a throwaway few quid on Davis to win the match at 11/2 just in case the lacklustre side of the inconsistent Hendry came to the fore and he did actually have chances in a couple of close frames so the 5-1 was probably slightly flattering in the end, all in all a good night though.
The Bahrain Tournament starts tomorrow with the local wildcards taking stage against the lower ranked qualifiers, though having seen some of their highest breaks being publicised, they dont seem much better than me at my peak so wouldnt expect too many of them to be winning if any.
In fact Habib Subah is supposedly the best of them and the last time he played on the main tour he lost all seven of his ranking matches, six of them by hefty scores, and didnt fare much better in this summer's Sangsom six red international where he won only one of his five group games against someone I've never heard of from Singapore. That apart he lost 5-1 to Joe Swail, 5-3 to Dene O Kane, 5-2 to James Wattana and 5-1 to Tom Ford so hardly seems in the best of nick, the 4/11 for Mark Davis at Paddies looks rather overpriced to me.
Working on the supposition that Habib is the best local, had to have an acca too so have gone against the two with the lowest breaks and the other supposedly inferior Bahranian which means a four timer on Davis, Pinches, Lawler and Campbell paying nearly 2/1.
Have left out Milkins as he seems to be a bit unreliable in the last year and decided to leave out Dunn as he is up against Saudi's No 1 who has a top break of 143 which is decidely better than I could ever manage and couldnt find a great deal of info about him either!
Two other first round proper bets so far, took Bingham to beat Stevens at 11/10, not sure why he is odds against there as Matthew has shown nothing like his best form for a good few seasons.
Also Lee to beat King at evens, Mark has a had a poor start to this year with defeats to McManus, Bond, and Parrott already and only a final frame win over Jimmy White to shout about. Lee hasnt been in great shape either but did beat Andy Hicks 5-1 last time out and he had been showing some reasonable form in the lower echelons this year.
On the outrights, backed Fu at 20s when the first rumours appeared that Ronnie may not bother with the event, he now has a much smoother route if he can get past Dominic Dale in round one, who did beat him 5-3 in their last meeting however.
In the second quarter, taken Cope at 20s and Walden 25s, two up and coming young uns and would rather be with them than the old stagers in the section like Ebdon and Hendry who may find motivation and consistency a problem nowadays.
In the third quarter, gone with Murphy at 9s, though his form this year looks poor, he was incredibly unlucky against Gunnell in his last match when all sorts of things conspired against him and he did win a decent minor event in Germany beating Mark Selby 4-0 in the final so does have some silverware on the table already.
Had to include the new pre tournament jolly Maguire too in the fourth quarter at 6s, had 2pts on him and 1pt on the others, on form he only looks to have Perry to worry about in this section and Joe looked rather out of sorts last night against Ding at Newport.
Didnt have lots of time on Monday what with the committee meeting at the snooker club and all that goes with it but did spend an hour or so on Youtube looking at some of the significant Aussie races like the Caulfield Cup in the build up to their big one, the Melbourne Cup run early on Tuesday morning UK time.
In the end settled for the main bet on Nom De Ju with smaller each way bets on Ice Chariot and Viewed and it was the latter who did the business, though my return was somewhat smaller than the Aussie tote returns of 40-odd as I had it with the traditional bookies over here.
Had been thinking it might be backed over there as one of their own with legendary trainer Bart Cummings' great cup record also to boot. As it happens there was no money pre race and could even have got around 50s on the exchanges but was seeing it more from a place perspective rather than the win angle so only ended up with 33/1, must have more confidence in myself in the future!!
That said, it was a bit of an anti climax as I watched the replay on arising on Tuesday (no I didnt watch it live!) as I thought the Aussie commentator was calling home "Bude" rather than "Viewed" and was wondering what happened to my third selection when it suddenly clicked!!
Even then wasnt sure what had won the race, the Cumani horse Bauer was closing with every stride in the final furlong and strength in the saddle from Blake Shinn certainly looked a factor to me in the driving finish, even though in retrospect he admitted he may probably have gone for home a fraction too early.
I also backed the greyhound I have been following Boherbradda Mac in the sprint at Nottingham on Monday night and he did the business again, scoring comfortably but at rather shorter odds than expected, being returned at 2/5 as opposed to the morning forecast of 4/6, though as usual with the bread and butter dog markets, no early prices were available.
On that theme, the semi finals of the All England Cup were run at Newcastle last night and Boherna Best qualified impressively though I lost my other two ante post picks who both finished fourth, with only the top two dogs qualifying. Am kicking myself a bit for not backing Dotlands Hit Man when he was 10/1 a few days ago, he won in fine style too in the quickest time of the night so does look a real danger though his price is now as short as 6/4.
Elsewhere have added Cabra Cool to my Waterford Masters roster at 9/4, he has the plum draw in Saturday's final with the no 2 dog a possible non starter due to injury so that would be even more in his favour if it transpires that way. My other pick Ballymac Under at 9/2 has a middle draw but has all on to lead both Cabra and Lark to the first bend the way they are trapping currently.
Had a quick look at Sky's "The Dogs" programme last night and was impressed by Midway Skipper in the Kent St Leger first round heats, scooting away from them around the sharp Crayford track so, having backed her as a saver when she was runner up to main pick Bubbly Totti in the official Leger itself, had to give him a chance for compensation in this at 13/8.
Had a good night on the Premier League snooker yesterday, backed Ding to continue his good record against Joe Perry in the opening match and he obliged 4-2 at the very decent odds of 13/8, his breakbuilding was stuttering a bit but he did at least knuckle down in the tactical exchanges and did enough to see off a largely out of sorts opponent.
In the other match, backed Hendry for the highest break at 4/7 and though its a type of bet that usually has me squirming in my seat right until the very end, on this occasion the Nugget never really looked like piecing together a meaningful contribution and the Scot had the three best contributions of the encounter with an 83 and a couple of 70 odds.
Did have a throwaway few quid on Davis to win the match at 11/2 just in case the lacklustre side of the inconsistent Hendry came to the fore and he did actually have chances in a couple of close frames so the 5-1 was probably slightly flattering in the end, all in all a good night though.
The Bahrain Tournament starts tomorrow with the local wildcards taking stage against the lower ranked qualifiers, though having seen some of their highest breaks being publicised, they dont seem much better than me at my peak so wouldnt expect too many of them to be winning if any.
In fact Habib Subah is supposedly the best of them and the last time he played on the main tour he lost all seven of his ranking matches, six of them by hefty scores, and didnt fare much better in this summer's Sangsom six red international where he won only one of his five group games against someone I've never heard of from Singapore. That apart he lost 5-1 to Joe Swail, 5-3 to Dene O Kane, 5-2 to James Wattana and 5-1 to Tom Ford so hardly seems in the best of nick, the 4/11 for Mark Davis at Paddies looks rather overpriced to me.
Working on the supposition that Habib is the best local, had to have an acca too so have gone against the two with the lowest breaks and the other supposedly inferior Bahranian which means a four timer on Davis, Pinches, Lawler and Campbell paying nearly 2/1.
Have left out Milkins as he seems to be a bit unreliable in the last year and decided to leave out Dunn as he is up against Saudi's No 1 who has a top break of 143 which is decidely better than I could ever manage and couldnt find a great deal of info about him either!
Two other first round proper bets so far, took Bingham to beat Stevens at 11/10, not sure why he is odds against there as Matthew has shown nothing like his best form for a good few seasons.
Also Lee to beat King at evens, Mark has a had a poor start to this year with defeats to McManus, Bond, and Parrott already and only a final frame win over Jimmy White to shout about. Lee hasnt been in great shape either but did beat Andy Hicks 5-1 last time out and he had been showing some reasonable form in the lower echelons this year.
On the outrights, backed Fu at 20s when the first rumours appeared that Ronnie may not bother with the event, he now has a much smoother route if he can get past Dominic Dale in round one, who did beat him 5-3 in their last meeting however.
In the second quarter, taken Cope at 20s and Walden 25s, two up and coming young uns and would rather be with them than the old stagers in the section like Ebdon and Hendry who may find motivation and consistency a problem nowadays.
In the third quarter, gone with Murphy at 9s, though his form this year looks poor, he was incredibly unlucky against Gunnell in his last match when all sorts of things conspired against him and he did win a decent minor event in Germany beating Mark Selby 4-0 in the final so does have some silverware on the table already.
Had to include the new pre tournament jolly Maguire too in the fourth quarter at 6s, had 2pts on him and 1pt on the others, on form he only looks to have Perry to worry about in this section and Joe looked rather out of sorts last night against Ding at Newport.
Monday, 3 November 2008
Woeful weekend on the ice
Glad to see the back of this weekend as must have been the worst set of punting results since starting this blog!! Unfortunately ploughed on the NHL and continued to be on the wrong side of the results, often by the odd goal, so will have to call it quits as you can only go so far before your head starts bleeding when banging it against a brick wall, there do seem to be some underlying trends to the matches but every time I seem to back one of them the opposite seems to happen!! Anyway as much as I enjoy the sport of ice hockey the matches tend to finish far too late in the early hours and if I'm going to concentrate on the horse racing as is the plan this winter theres no way I can be affording any lie ins with plenty of form study to fit in before the off which is often around noon in the all weather/jumping season.
Have just had time to add Calgary Flames to the outright lists e/w for the Stanley Cup (30/1) however as they seem to be gradually improving as the term goes on and were unlucky to lose to San Jose in last years first round of play offs.
Will maybe give the IIHF World Cup a look when that starts early next year as I often take out a subscription to watch all the games and over a short timespan cant do too much damage with the punting which is a bonus, though seem to recall that this year most of the NHL players will be unavailable to their countries due to a clash of dates.
I also had the misfortune to back England in cricket's Stanford 20 20 for 20 or whatever it is called and then witnessed a totally abject performance as the top line batsmen somehow contrived to get themselves out to a succession of bizarre shot selections, surely a case of too much too soon instead of building a decent platform. At least there was a bit of humour watching the man himself Mr Stanford prancing about in front of his own personal cameraman acting like some overgrown schoolkid on speed for the most part.
The tin hat on the weekend was put firmly in place by a certain Mr S Atwell who refereed the local derby between my team Derby and rivals Nottingham Forest on Sunday. He managed to produce possibly the worst performance I've ever witnessed from any official in forty years of watching top flight football with a host of inept calls from start to finish culminating in bizarrely disallowing two tremendous Miles Addison headers in the final minute of injury time.
The first one was scrubbed out when he blew his whistle for handball against a Forest defender seconds earlier but after Camp had saved the penalty, he was soon picking the ball out of the net again only for a shrill whistle to deny the Rams a second time.
I've watched the replay twenty times over and there is absolutely nothing that could be remotely considered as as a foul by any Derby player whatsoever, the only thing I could see was a Forest man with both hands around our unpronouncable Polish international so maybe he was going to give another penalty, then realised how ridiculous it would have been and invented a free kick to the defending team instead!!
To be honest he had already gotten on my wick by being persistently conned by the Reds No 16 who continued to throw himself to the ground every time someone came within ten yards of him with the ref falling for it hook line and sinker time and again, even booking his closest marker for supposed persistent fouling!
Even the Forest sending off looked highly suspect with a yellow card looking the most suitable punishment so if this official is supposed to be the great white hope for the Premier League as he is billed I suggest some of the top brass at the FA should reconsider rather hastily as I think he would be out of his depth in the Bognor Regis and District beach five a side league on that showing.
About the only chink of light I could find was that Ballymac Under qualified for the Gain Waterford Masters greyhound final on Saturday, finishing second to the impressive Cabra Cool in his heat, but with that arch rival getting the plum draw again for the final, he will have his work cut out to overturn the form and might have to get involved on the Buckley dog too dependent on prices.
Slip The Lark is the other high profile qualifier but might just be getting a bit jaded now after a succession of tough races though can never be ruled out if he can get to the front.
Anyway got a busy day today as we have our quarterly committee meeting at the snooker club and as secretary still have to write up the notes from the last meeting from three months ago, hope my shorthand stands up to inspection from that date, otherwise I'm in trouble!!
All the best
Rick
Have just had time to add Calgary Flames to the outright lists e/w for the Stanley Cup (30/1) however as they seem to be gradually improving as the term goes on and were unlucky to lose to San Jose in last years first round of play offs.
Will maybe give the IIHF World Cup a look when that starts early next year as I often take out a subscription to watch all the games and over a short timespan cant do too much damage with the punting which is a bonus, though seem to recall that this year most of the NHL players will be unavailable to their countries due to a clash of dates.
I also had the misfortune to back England in cricket's Stanford 20 20 for 20 or whatever it is called and then witnessed a totally abject performance as the top line batsmen somehow contrived to get themselves out to a succession of bizarre shot selections, surely a case of too much too soon instead of building a decent platform. At least there was a bit of humour watching the man himself Mr Stanford prancing about in front of his own personal cameraman acting like some overgrown schoolkid on speed for the most part.
The tin hat on the weekend was put firmly in place by a certain Mr S Atwell who refereed the local derby between my team Derby and rivals Nottingham Forest on Sunday. He managed to produce possibly the worst performance I've ever witnessed from any official in forty years of watching top flight football with a host of inept calls from start to finish culminating in bizarrely disallowing two tremendous Miles Addison headers in the final minute of injury time.
The first one was scrubbed out when he blew his whistle for handball against a Forest defender seconds earlier but after Camp had saved the penalty, he was soon picking the ball out of the net again only for a shrill whistle to deny the Rams a second time.
I've watched the replay twenty times over and there is absolutely nothing that could be remotely considered as as a foul by any Derby player whatsoever, the only thing I could see was a Forest man with both hands around our unpronouncable Polish international so maybe he was going to give another penalty, then realised how ridiculous it would have been and invented a free kick to the defending team instead!!
To be honest he had already gotten on my wick by being persistently conned by the Reds No 16 who continued to throw himself to the ground every time someone came within ten yards of him with the ref falling for it hook line and sinker time and again, even booking his closest marker for supposed persistent fouling!
Even the Forest sending off looked highly suspect with a yellow card looking the most suitable punishment so if this official is supposed to be the great white hope for the Premier League as he is billed I suggest some of the top brass at the FA should reconsider rather hastily as I think he would be out of his depth in the Bognor Regis and District beach five a side league on that showing.
About the only chink of light I could find was that Ballymac Under qualified for the Gain Waterford Masters greyhound final on Saturday, finishing second to the impressive Cabra Cool in his heat, but with that arch rival getting the plum draw again for the final, he will have his work cut out to overturn the form and might have to get involved on the Buckley dog too dependent on prices.
Slip The Lark is the other high profile qualifier but might just be getting a bit jaded now after a succession of tough races though can never be ruled out if he can get to the front.
Anyway got a busy day today as we have our quarterly committee meeting at the snooker club and as secretary still have to write up the notes from the last meeting from three months ago, hope my shorthand stands up to inspection from that date, otherwise I'm in trouble!!
All the best
Rick
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