Fixed odds betting terminal gaming: February 2011

Tuesday, 22 February 2011

GOODWOOD: Special packages for non-festival fixtures

United 9-4 to lift FA Cup for 12th time 2011 Super 15 Week One Sunday matchShort-price punters stung as Chelsea crash to penalties defeatBroad five-for seals final Cup warm-up successReds held by Prague in Europa League stalemateRead Full News Service Search News Archive

FOLKESTONE: New sponsor for Kent National meeting

USA: Mucho Macho much the best at Fair Grounds

BRIGHTON: Sponsors signed for August Festival

Disappointing Conti out of Champion

Paul Nicholls Comments Log in to post comment Show all comments Comments Help RELATED STORIES Nicholls reveals Denman had wind op after Hennessy 10:46am 20 Feb 2011 Festival Handicap not RSA for Reve De Sivola 12:50pm 19 Feb 2011 ASCOT: Riverside wins feature as Dulcote fatally injured 3:05pm 19 Feb 2011 WINCANTON: Mille Chief holds off Halo in Kingwell cracker 3:49pm 19 Feb 2011 Henderson's fab four backed for the festival 6:09pm 19 Feb 2011 NEWBURY: Aiteen Thirtythree jumps up RSA market 3:06pm 18 Feb 2011 Webber fears Jessies and Wymott for Rupert in RSA 9:41am 18 Feb 2011 Ryanair fancy Forpady ruled out of festival 12:36pm 16 Feb 2011 Starluck being lined up for surprise Arkle bid 4:28pm 17 Feb 2011 Boylesports to refund bets on first-day festival seconds 4:29pm 16 Feb 2011 Show All Current Stories TOP STORIES 10:29am 20 Feb 2011 Snow Fairy moving closer to Dubai Carnival 1:05pm 20 Feb 2011 Nicholls reveals Denman had wind op after Hennessy 10:46am 20 Feb 2011 Henderson's fab four backed for the festival 6:09pm 19 Feb 2011 ASCOT: Riverside wins feature as Dulcote fatally injured 3:05pm 19 Feb 2011 WINCANTON: Mille Chief holds off Halo in Kingwell cracker 3:49pm 19 Feb 2011 ASCOT: RSA route for Master after Reynoldstown romp 1:53pm 19 Feb 2011 GOWRAN: Champion hope Dunguib victorious on return 3:34pm 19 Feb 2011 HAYDOCK: Silver takes Trial - but uncertain for National 3:29pm 19 Feb 2011 HAYDOCK: New Albert Bartlett focus as Back beats Motion 2:17pm 19 Feb 2011 Show All Current Stories LATEST STORIES Snow Fairy moving closer to Dubai Carnival 1:05pm 20 Feb 2011 AUSTRALIA: Royal Ascot target for Melito 11:52am 20 Feb 2011 FONTWELL: Royal wedding package available for racegoers 11:02am 13 Feb 2011 SINGAPORE: Better Than Ever on course for Dubai 10:52am 20 Feb 2011 Nicholls reveals Denman had wind op after Hennessy 10:46am 20 Feb 2011 HONG KONG: Ambitious Dragon upsets HK Derby applecart 10:41am 20 Feb 2011 Richard Lee's horsebox proving a commercial hit 10:40am 20 Feb 2011 JAPAN: Transcend presses Dubai claims 10:36am 20 Feb 2011 Cheltenham Festival to be broadcast in HD 10:29am 20 Feb 2011 10:29am 20 Feb 2011 Show All Current Stories REPORTS ASCOT: Riverside wins feature as Dulcote fatally injured 3:05pm 19 Feb 2011 WINCANTON: Mille Chief holds off Halo in Kingwell cracker 3:49pm 19 Feb 2011 ASCOT: RSA route for Master after Reynoldstown romp 1:53pm 19 Feb 2011 GOWRAN: Champion hope Dunguib victorious on return 3:34pm 19 Feb 2011 HAYDOCK: Silver takes Trial - but uncertain for National 3:29pm 19 Feb 2011 HAYDOCK: New Albert Bartlett focus as Back beats Motion 2:17pm 19 Feb 2011 NEWBURY: Recession Proof takes Trophy in tight finish 1:54pm 18 Feb 2011 NEWBURY: French Opera back to best in Game Spirit 1:21pm 18 Feb 2011 NEWBURY: Noland pips stablemate What A Friend in Aon 12:47pm 18 Feb 2011 SANDOWN: Surenaga a medal winner in Sandown romp 3:35pm 18 Feb 2011 Show All Current Stories CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL Henderson's fab four backed for the festival 6:09pm 19 Feb 2011 Festival Handicap not RSA for Reve De Sivola 12:50pm 19 Feb 2011 Webber fears Jessies and Wymott for Rupert in RSA 9:41am 18 Feb 2011 Starluck being lined up for surprise Arkle bid 4:28pm 17 Feb 2011 Ryanair fancy Forpady ruled out of festival 12:36pm 16 Feb 2011 Cheltenham-bound Bouggler sidesteps RSA Chase 4:46pm 16 Feb 2011 Cue Card will run in Supreme Novices' at Cheltenham 10:36am 16 Feb 2011 Injury forces Roulez Cool out of festival Foxhunter 3:46pm 16 Feb 2011 Big guns stand their ground for Gold Cup 12:26pm 16 Feb 2011 Sizing Europe confirmed for Champion Chase 2:48pm 14 Feb 2011 Show All Current Stories CHELTENHAM PREVIEW EVENTS Tuesday, February 22 - Cheltenham preview 5:53pm 31 Jan 2011 Thursday, February 24 - Cheltenham preview 5:51pm 31 Jan 2011 Saturday, February 26 - Cheltenham preview 5:48pm 31 Jan 2011 Monday, February 28 - Cheltenham preview 5:44pm 31 Jan 2011 Tuesday, March 1 - Cheltenham preview 5:44pm 31 Jan 2011 Wednesday, March 2 - Cheltenham preview 5:43pm 31 Jan 2011 Thursday, March 3 - Cheltenham preview 5:42pm 31 Jan 2011 Friday, March 4 - Cheltenham preview 5:42pm 31 Jan 2011 Saturday, March 5 - Cheltenham preview 5:41pm 31 Jan 2011 Sunday, March 6 - Cheltenham preview 5:40pm 31 Jan 2011 Show All Current Stories DUBAI CARNIVAL Snow Fairy moving closer to Dubai Carnival 1:05pm 20 Feb 2011 One win is enough for Borel in Meydan Masters 11:58am 19 Feb 2011 REPORT: River Jetez so impressive for De Kock 6:13pm 18 Feb 2011 REPORT: Watson ends drought with carnival hat-trick 3:12pm 18 Feb 2011 REPORT: Derbass the highlight of Al Raihe treble 5:28pm 17 Feb 2011 USA: Gulfstream date for Dubai hope Gio Ponti 5:02pm 17 Feb 2011 REPORT: First strike for US star Borel in Meydan Masters 2:38pm 17 Feb 2011 Dangerous Midge heads for Sheema Classic 6:01pm 10 Feb 2011 REPORT: Splash Point stuns Zanzamar supporters 5:42pm 10 Feb 2011 REPORT: Soumillon and De Kock keep up the momentum 2:37pm 10 Feb 2011 Show All Current Stories INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA: Royal Ascot target for Melito 11:52am 20 Feb 2011 USA: Mucho Macho much the best at Fair Grounds 10:02am 20 Feb 2011 USA: The Factor out to justify Baffert hype 4:02pm 18 Feb 2011 SINGAPORE: Better Than Ever on course for Dubai 10:52am 20 Feb 2011 HONG KONG: Ambitious Dragon upsets HK Derby applecart 10:41am 20 Feb 2011 JAPAN: Transcend presses Dubai claims 10:36am 20 Feb 2011 FRANCE: Bethell's Bradbury back at Cagnes 12:50pm 20 Feb 2011 FRANCE: Snow Bay strikes for Nicholls at Cagnes 2:16pm 19 Feb 2011 USA: Eibar Coa needs surgery for neck injury 1:54pm 19 Feb 2011 UAE: Sharjah postponed after power cut 11:53am 19 Feb 2011 Show All Current Stories WORLD CLASS Harbinger remains a case of what might have been (December 27) 10:12am 27 Dec 2010 Comma To The Top looks to have bright future (December 20) 4:36pm 20 Dec 2010 JJ cements Black Caviar position as best on planet (December 13) 8:46am 13 Dec 2010 Safe option not always best when crowning champions (December 6) 9:05am 6 Dec 2010 No arguing that Buena Vista was the winner on merit (November 29) 4:44pm 1 Dec 2010 Snow Fairy maintains spell of female dominance (November 15) 10:26am 15 Nov 2010 Blame denies Zenyatta Hollywood ending (November 8) 12:42pm 8 Nov 2010 Call me cynical but Zenyatta faces greatest test (November 1) 11:13am 1 Nov 2010 Unbeaten Black Caviar sets up sprint to savour (October 25) 10:45am 25 Oct 2010 Frankel rated best juvenile of 21st century (October 18) 11:58am 18 Oct 2010 Show All Current Stories STUD AND STABLE STAFF AWARDS Nominations wanted for Irish Stable Staff Awards 2:05pm 8 Feb 2011 RACING BUSINESS Richard Lee's horsebox proving a commercial hit 10:40am 20 Feb 2011 Cheltenham Festival to be broadcast in HD 10:29am 20 Feb 2011 Levy increase 'big threat to small shops' 8:47am 18 Feb 2011 Rod Street resigns as PJA chairman 8:47am 18 Feb 2011 Ladbrokes 2010 profits rise to £202m 7:31am 17 Feb 2011 Government declares levy of £73.7m to £80.8m 12:46pm 16 Feb 2011 David Craven leaves Tote to join Timeweave 4:31pm 18 Feb 2011 CARLISLE: Alexandra Burke confirmed for ladies' night 11:30am 23 Jan 2011 RACECOURSE NEWS AND OFFERS FONTWELL: Royal wedding package available for racegoers 11:02am 13 Feb 2011 BRIGHTON: Sponsors signed for August Festival 10:06am 20 Feb 2011 FOLKESTONE: New sponsor for Kent National meeting 10:01am 20 Feb 2011 GOODWOOD: Special packages for non-festival fixtures 9:54am 20 Feb 2011 EXETER: Free entry for local racegoers 9:50am 20 Feb 2011 KEMPTON: Punters package for Racing Post Chase day 9:39am 20 Feb 2011 FONTWELL: Cheltenham preview events lined up in March 11:33am 5 Feb 2011 WINCANTON: Special Paddy Power-backed preview evening 11:29am 5 Feb 2011 EPSOM: Royal wedding offer for opening April meeting 11:21am 5 Feb 2011 HAYDOCK: Rick Astley to perform after racing in April 11:02am 5 Feb 2011 Show All Current Stories GUINEAS MEETING Hooray set to go straight to the 1,000 Guineas 7:41am 15 Feb 2011 GROUND AND WEATHER WATCH At-a-glance weather prospects 5:20pm 25 Nov 2010 Gowran fixture moved and Naas meeting added 2:41pm 17 Feb 2011 GRAND NATIONAL MEETING Live outsider From Dawn To Dusk to miss Grand National 9:52am 16 Feb 2011 McCain 'happy enough' with National weight for Ballabriggs 11:07am 15 Feb 2011 GOING AND NON-RUNNERS Sunday: 1:32pm 20 Feb 11 Monday: 1:32pm 20 Feb 11 Tuesday: 1:32pm 20 Feb 11 Wednesday: 1:32pm 20 Feb 11 Thursday: 1:32pm 20 Feb 11 Friday: 1:32pm 20 Feb 11 Saturday: 1:32pm 20 Feb 11 Search our News Archive Horse Racing News RSS Feed All Racing Post RSS Feeds Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Download our iPhone app COPYRIGHT

JAPAN: Transcend presses Dubai claims

Richard Lee's horsebox proving a commercial hit

Macho Uno sires Kentucky Derby hope Santa Anita: smiles for French shuttler TigerHaydock: first Graded winner for CraigsteelAscot: Sonofvic hands dam quick doubleWatch one of Sea The Stars' first foals on videoRead Full News Service BLOODSTOCK NEWS Fair Grounds debut for sister to BlameGoffs graduate wins Japanese Group 3 RACING POST YEARLING BONUS New Yearling Bonus website launched Search News Archive

HONG KONG: Ambitious Dragon upsets HK Derby applecart

Nicholls reveals Denman had wind op after Hennessy

SINGAPORE: Better Than Ever on course for Dubai

AUSTRALIA: Royal Ascot target for Melito

Snow Fairy moving closer to Dubai Carnival

bent pointless international friendlies - who'd have thought?

Two games played in an international friendly double-header at a Turkish resort, none of the teams involved are ranked in the FIFA Top 50, and no local representation either.

Gee, doesn't sound fishy at all. Oh, and all SEVEN goals across the two matches were from penalties....

FIFA to probe friendly matches

FIFA have opened an investigation into last Wednesday's international friendly double-header in Antalya after heavy betting was discovered following the award of seven penalties in the two games.

Bulgaria and Estonia played out a 2-2 draw hours after Latvia had beaten Bolivia 2-1 at the Turkish resort, with all seven goals coming from the spot.Posted byScott Fergusonat19:13

Professionalism in racing

Glad to see the rescheduled meeting going ahead at Newbury tomorrow. Awful scenes last Saturday with the freak electrocution of two horses before the first race. You just can't write procedures in a manual to deal with something as bizarre and unexpected as that. Criticising the officials for running the first race after that is easy in hindsight.

One thing that British racing needs to get right though is its professionalism. Jockey Hadden Frost on Tuesday went for home a lap early in a three-mile chase and then ended up with egg on his face when crossing the finish line only meant he had a lap left to go. The jockey made a mistake, fair enough. But to let him off with just a slap on the wrist isn't good enough. This is a professional industry. Punters lost tens of thousands on that horse across the country; they get nothing back for his incompetence. Stewards said the penalty range for this infringement was just 10-14 days, so he got the midpoint of 12 days. Soft as butter.

This isn't the first time it has happened, and it won't be the last. Do racecourses make any effort to stop this from happening? Nope. Why not look at other sports and see what they do? Harness racing around the world has races over a few laps, as does athletics. What do they both use to make it clear there is one lap to go? They ring a bell as they pass the winning post the penultimate time. Crystal clear. It doesn't even need to be a real bell which requires someone to stand there, it could be electronic and activated remotely. IT ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE.

Just like when jockeys take the wrong course in a jumps race when they are supposed to know exactly where to go. Jockeys should do their homework for every race at every course, it's their job. But, in the heat of the moment, they can lose concentration and their minds go blank. It happens to all of us at some stage. Why not do everything feasible to avoid it like put out a few traffic cones where they switch course? It's not that hard. Start looking at racing like a business rather an amateurish hobby and so much can change.

I've harped on it before and will say it again. If British racing wants to become stronger then it has to stop taking the piss with punters. It's a professional industry, if you want it to be treated as such, then start acting like it from within. Punters deserve better, and when that happens, bookies will be more willing to contribute to funding the sport...Posted byScott Fergusonat23:31

Auto Bet System X – IV Review

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Catch Up

Geegeez Catchup

A quick Geegeez of all that’s been happening today. I’ve got news on Fantasy Football, my weekend with someone you might know, an update on the ante-post front, and something hot to look out for tomorrow.

Firstly, I was lucky enough to spend the weekend in South Wales with my great mate, Gavin Priestley, from NagNagNag and Festival Trends, as well as his lovely lady and young Dylan, my godson (oh, and Gavin’s son!).

And great fun it was too. We went to watch Cardiff vs Scunthorpe on Saturday afternoon – a slightly dour 1-0 home win, where the likes of Bellamy and Bothroyd threatened more than they actually delivered in the game. Before that though, we’d seen the incredible scenes from Newbury.

Now much has been written about this elsewhere, and I don’t intend to spill too much virtual ink on the subject. I will however say this. There can be no case to answer for horse racing on the matter, as it was – quite simply – a terrible accident that could not possibly have been foreseen (based on the current perceptions of what did occur).

Such an incident could just have easily transpired in a school, or an office building, or a church. And we should be thankful for the small mercy that it was ‘only’ two horses that suffered the ultimate sentence.

Everyone is shocked (absolutely no pun intended) by what happened, and it will be remembered for a long time as one of the most bizarre things to happen anywhere in sport, not just in racing. It is simply impossible to mitigate for such a freak occurence. Onwards and upwards for racing.

After the game on Saturday, it was off to Penarth’s finest balti house for some ruby tucker, before the big ‘G1 Jockey’ showdown on the Wii. Lest you don’t know (!), G1 Jockey is a horse racing game where you ride the virtual nag. Having once had the misfortune to ride a real horse (terrible experience fronted up by classic pedagogic schoolmistress whose preference for animals over humans was crystal clear), I can tell you that the pixelated version was a quantum leap easier. Thankfully.

I managed to win a couple and lose a couple, with set up my bravado for the big Scrabble grudge match against my host, Gavin. Now Gavin and I are both acceptable Scrabblers. Not excellent, far from rubbish. I may know a few more words than Gavin (and he may contest that), but I’ve always thought of him as a slightly better ’tile tactician’ – he plays the board very well.

That slight divergence of core strength generally makes for close – and hotly contested – encounters, and of course the exchange of some currency to spice things up a tad more!

Saturday’s head-to-head was as one-sided as I can remember, however, with the first game going to me in a relatively tight 28 point verdict (or

English Premier League Soccer – Blackburn Rovers v. Newcastle

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Premiership Best Bets This Weekend Include Blackburn And Birmingham At Big Odds

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Last week saw another great round of Premiership action, not many predicted that Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea would all drop points, certainly not whilst Arsenal were 4-0 up at Newcastle, and those who did predict it will have made a small fortune. All those sides have a chance to redeem themselves this weekend in what looks another great round of matches.

The highlight is undoubtedly the early kick off on Saturday which is the second Manchester derby of the season. Hopefully it will be a lot more entertaining than the 0-0 draw played out between the two sides in November. Man City set up very defensively for that match, and it was a similar case when they went to the Emirates and drew 0-0 with Arsenal. Another low scoring match is on the cards, under 2.5 goals is a good bet at 5/6, whilst Man Utd look a good bet to continue their great home record which has seen them drop just two points, 5/6 is a more than fair price on a home win.

Arsenal, who were on the receiving end of the most outstanding comeback in Premiership history on Saturday, face Wolves who were the team who inflicted Man Utd’s first Premiership loss this season on the same day. Wolves have by far the worst away record in the league, picking up just four points from twelve matches, and even the 1/4 on an Arsenal win looks value.

One of the best bets of the weekend could be Birmingham to beat Stoke at St Andrews, Birmingham have been poor travellers this season but won last week at West Ham and that was Birmingham’s third win in four games. They seem to be getting some joy out of Nikola Zigic at the moment and their odds of 6/4 to beat Wolves, who have lost their last three away matches, make them a strong bet.

Newcastle gained a great result last week against Arsenal but they were very poor in the first half and they have now failed to win in five games. Blackburn have won three of their last four home games and should really have won the game they lost against Spurs, if they replicate that performance they can beat Newcastle comfortably at 11/10 at the time of writing.

Amongst the other games at the weekend, Liverpool extending their good run with a home win against Wigan should be a formality at around 4/11, Liverpool are likely to gain ground on Spurs who have a tough trip to Sunderland. Sunderland are traditionally strong at home and they look a good bet in the draw no bet market at 4/5 at the moment.

Valuechecker.co.uk is a great site for listing all the best odds on Premiership markets.

Monday, 21 February 2011

Champions League: Are Liverpool no longer having a laugh?

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Had you mentioned to a Liverpool fan during the short-lived and rather tragic reign of Roy Hodgson that the Merseyside club could end the season in the Champions League qualification places, you would probably have been laughed out of the building, but the Liverpool betting now suggests things have changed.

With the Reds now having successfully completed the double over Chelsea and with manager Kenny Dalglish having spruced up the team by bringing in signings that have given the club a massive lift as well as getting the fans behind the team rather than on its back, you can begin to understand why the Champions League may no longer be out of reach for Liverpool.

Should Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll manage to form an effective partnership up front, and if the likes of Steven Gerrard and Pepe Reina can start to perform at levels that fans have seen consistently in years gone by, we may well begin to observe a side that has the ability to go the rest of the season unbeaten, or at the very least on a run that can begin to frighten the life out of both Chelsea and Spurs, who seem to be in major decline at the moment and anyone looking to place a Premier League bet should remember this.

However, whilst this may well be true, the real question is whether or not it is too little too late for the Reds. Despite this, fans should at the very least be confident of seeing the club start next season on a high, and perhaps end the current season as Europa League champions as well as in a respectable position in the Premier League. This will then allow the club to attract more big names to Anfield in order to help Liverpool get back to the top of European football once and for all.

Birmingham v Sheffield Wednesday FA Cup fourth preview

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Since meeting in the Championship in 2008/09, these clubs have experienced very different fortunes. Birmingham gained promotion and a measure of stability under Alex McLeish and new owners, Wednesday have endured relegation and dismissed two managers.

The beauty of the FA Cup is still its lack of respect for league positions, so the Owls have nothing to lose against a Premier League outfit preoccupied with a relegation battle. Wednesday will hope the new manager effect takes hold at St Andrews as former player Gary Megson continues his honeymoon period in the Hillsborough hot seat, and anyone looking to place an FA Cup bet should bear this in mind.

Alan Irvine left the club unable to reverse its habit of producing similar results in clumps

Do Arsenal Have A Chance Of Beating Barcelona?

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The first knockout round of the Champions League begins this week and without much argument, the biggest tie of the round is Arsenal vs Barcelona. The two sides met last season at the quarter final stage of the competition, with Barcelona eventually winning comfortably 6-3 on aggregate.

Once again, the first leg is at the Emirates Stadium and Arsenal fans will be hoping that their side start off better than they did last year. Barcelona played some fantastic football in the first fifteen minutes of the game and very few would argue that those wearing Arsenal shirts were fortunate not to concede a few goals early on.

Barcelona are currently the favourites to win the Champions League this year and they have been on excellent form all season. The majority of people have written off Arsenal’s chances of beating Barcelona over two legs, but do Arsenal have a realistic chance of pulling off an upset?

Usually at this point of the season, Arsenal have several key players out injured which upsets the balance of the side and causes huge problems when the team faces a great side like Barcelona. This time around, however, the Gunners only have Thomas Vermaelen and Lukasz Fabianski out as long-term injuries. Samir Nasri is doubtful, but he should certainly be back in time for the second leg.

For the majority of the season, Arsenal have only been playing with one man up front. They started the season by using Marouane Chamakh in this role because Robin van Persie was out injured, but now that the Dutch striker is back and in form, he will certainly start the game.

It would be anticipated that Arsenal will line up with five in midfield, with Alex Song and Jack Wilshere both playing in a deeper role, but supporting Cesc Fabregas in the middle of the park when they can. Theo Walcott has been playing well in recent weeks and should start out in the right, with Andrei Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky most likely battling it out for the wide left position.

Arsenal’s defence should lineup with Gael Clichy at left back, Bacary Sagna at right back and Laurent Koscielny and Johan Djourou as the centre halves. In goal, Arsenal may decide to use Manuel Almunia due to his experience rather than Wojciech Szczesny, who has been playing for the club regularly in the league.

With this type of set up, Arsenal will need to keep the ball for extended periods of time, which is not an easy task against Barcelona. As Barcelona proved against Real Madrid in December, they are not just a team who work hard when they have the ball, they can also press extremely well and cause the opposing team to make several mistakes.

Arsenal will have to be at the top of their game and take any chance that is give to them. They should be looking to use Walcott’s pace against either Abidal or Maxwell down the right hand side and produce good deliveries to van Persie, who has been on good goal scoring form for the past couple of months. The absence of Carlos Puyol for Barcelona will be a major positive for the Gunners. Arsenal’s defence would be the main worry, especially in the central areas. The team do not look as solid without Vermaelen and coming up against players like Pedro, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and David Villa may prove very difficult for them.

A lot of pressure is off Arsenal because they are definitely the underdogs going into this match, which should help to ease their nerves. If they are to win this tie, you would have to say that they need to win the match on Wednesday night because the game at the Nou Camp will be their toughest of the season so far. Arsenal were destroyed at the Nou Camp last season and many would argue that Barcelona are a better side this season. Arsenal, however, also seem to be on better form this season, so it should be a fantastic match.

Written by Eddie Smith, a sports writer who likes to talk about new football shirts.

Knight hit by knee injury

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Zat Knight is expected to be on the sidelines for four to six weeks due to a knee ligament injury.

The defender picked up the ailment during Sunday’s win at football club Everton when making a last-ditch tackle on Victor Anichebe.

He was carried off on a stretcher and although boss Owen Coyle has admitted it could have been worse, he also feels that the loss is a huge blow for the Trotters.

Coyle said: “Zat suffered ligament damage. It’s not as severe as we first thought but certainly bad enough to keep him out for a period of time. There’s severe swelling in the area so I think we’ll know better in seven to 10 days when that goes down.

“But I think it’s fair to say he’ll be four to six weeks, which is a terrible loss, first and foremost for Zat, because he’s played every game for me since I came to the football club over a year ago.

“He’s been outstanding as a player and as a man and the sooner we get him back the better. It is a blow, there’s no doubt about it, and we wish him a speedy recovery.”

One man’s loss is another man’s gain though, as new signing David Wheater is waiting in the wings. He will be hoping to form a similarly impressive partnership with Gary Cahill in the heart of defence.

Coyle admits that Knight’s injury has opened the door for the former Middlesbrough centre-back as he can now enjoy an extended run in the side.

Chamakh admits poor form for Gunners

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Marouane Chamakh has admitted that he may not be able to play for sport club Arsenal until March at the earliest.

The Moroccan international moved to the Emirates from Bordeaux last summer and is struggling to deal with the pace of the Premier League.

He has started his career in England well having scored 10 goals this season but he admits he is starting to become fatigued.

Chamakh has been rested by Gunners boss Arsene Wenger in recent weeks as Robin van Persie has come into form.

This has resulted in Chamakh questioning whether he can compete at the highest level in England and he admits he still has work to do to get up to standard.

“By the start of January I felt that I had completely lost my edge,” he said.

“It was there for all to see. I am only human, so I’ve been given some rest. Besides, Arsenal have been able to profit from Robin van Persie’s form.

“It is a blessing in disguise, as the team is doing well and I’m able to get some rest. I hope to play again soon, but it could be in March rather than February.

“But it is not serious. I am here to learn, both in training and matches, and also to improve my game and to acclimatise to London and English football.”

English Premier League Soccer – West Bromwich Albion v. Wolverhampton Wanderers

Odds Shorten For No More Premiership Managers To Leave This Season

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Around two weeks ago Roberto Di Matteo lost his job at West Brom and the bookies are beginning to think he could be the last managerial casualty of the season in the Premiership, although one manager still remains under pressure.

By far the most likely manager to go in the Premiership, if one does leave before the end of the season, is West Ham boss Avram Grant. Despite some decent recent form for the Hammers they remain in the bottom three and are amongst the favourites to go down this season. That leaves Grant an odds on chance to leave West Ham after less than a season in charge, he could really do with a win in his next couple of games.

The odds have shortened dramatically on no more managers leaving this season, after Roberto Di Matteo was sacked from his job at West Brom you could get 6/1 on no more managers leaving their post, those odds are now just 2/1 at the time of writing and that shows that we may have seen out last managerial casualty of the season.

Most other managers are looking pretty safe, even those involved in relegation battles, but there are two managers who are in charge of underperforming clubs and their jobs could certainly be under review at the end of the season, if they are still in charge by the time that comes around. David Moyes has been well backed in recent weeks to lose his job, Everton have been inconsistent all season but he surely won’t be sacked, backers of Moyes may be relying on him walking out, he is around the 5/1 mark.

At around twice those odds you can back Carlo Ancelotti to leave Chelsea, they are now in danger of losing out on a Champions League place and their performance in that competition could be just as important as their performance in the Premiership as Ancelotti looks to save his job. Whatever happens it looks likely he could go in the summer. The likes of Alex McLeish and Mark Hughes aren’t 100% safe according to the odds but it would be a huge shock if either lost their jobs this season.

If you’re looking to put a bet on, we’ve found BetsFree.com to be the most generous.

Championship race still far from clear

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With the season about to enter its home straight, the race for automatic promotion to the Premier League from the Championship is still being eyed up by six sides, with around half the league still realistically having a chance of finishing in the play-offs. Scunthorpe’s 1-0 defeat of Nottingham Forest this week was a prime example of exactly how open this league is and means there is still a lot to be learnt for football betting and tipping.

Before Christmas, it looked as though the top two places in the Championship were sewn up by QPR and Cardiff but that all changed over the festive period, both sides suffering their own losses in form. While the two front-runners have returned to the summit of the table, the chasing pack has all been given a renewed sense of confidence in their fight for the top two.

Neil Warnock looks to have moulded a squad capable of seeing the job through but Cardiff has the look of possible chokers about them. In a squad packed with as many talented players as Cardiff are blessed with, is sure to bring an ego or two up to the surface.

Dave Jones knows the pain of missing out on promotion with this side and he’ll be desperate to avoid that this season, which will bring its own pressure onto the manager. As it stands though the Welsh club are in the top two by right and it will take another club to earn their place in the top two.

For football betting tips, the coming games to watch will be a good indicator of who to back. Leeds and Norwich have both had impressive first seasons back in the Championship and the duo has shown they are in this race till the end. Forest will need to bounce back from the shock Scunthorpe defeat and go on another unbeaten run. Swansea and Leicester add to the unusually busy promotion race this year and one which looks certain to go down to the wire.

Blind Stealing In Poker

Two major differences between cash games and poker tournaments are that in a poker tournament the blinds gradually increase where in cash games they do not and you cannot reload your stack at any point in a tournament (unless of course it is a rebuy). These two characteristics of tournament poker mean that you must constantly accumulate chips to keep ahead of the rising blinds and ante and one way to do that is to steal these blinds and antes.

By stealing I do not mean literally taking the blinds and antes but instead raising preflop, most of the time with a sub-standard hand, hoping to fold out the players who are yet to act so that you win the money already in the middle of the table. Doing this once or twice an orbit can be the difference in making it through to the money in the Betfair GSOP Gold Hunt or crashing out before you are financially rewarded.

Before you go out and begin raising as if it is going out of fashion spend a few minutes to think about the ideal scenario for a successful blind steal. Firstly you should be seated in one of the late positions at the table, preferably in the cutoff or on the button. This is because your raise has to go through fewer people so is more likely to be successful. Also, you should have a relatively tight image or have at least not shown down some weak hands in the past couple of orbits otherwise you run the risk of one of your opponents attempting to re-steal from you, costing you chips.

Also, the players in the blinds should preferably be tighter than the average player so that they are more inclined to fold. Loose-aggressive players are far more likely to play back at you, again costing you crucial chips at a time you are trying to accumulate them. Finally, stack sizes of those in the blinds are important. Big stacks are going to be more inclined to call you, short stacks to move all in on you so average sized stacked opponents are best.

If you are serious about taking down the Betfair GSOP 6 Hattrick promotion then you will need to finish in the top three places in three separate GSOP events. To do that you are going to need chips, lots of chips so why not put your new chip stealing skills to good use?

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Six Nations Odds Update

After another rugby packed weekend, it looks like Ireland have blown their chances of winning the Six Nations or the Grand Slam and now it seems, it’s down to England to halt the French’s winning streak.

Following an incredible start from Ireland, they were left wanting as they gave away school-boy error penalty after penalty allowing France to maximise what little possession that garnered in the first half.

With three tries under their belt, Ireland really did seem like they were going to storm the new Aviva Stadium in Dublin and romp home to victory but quel suprise, the French had other plans and with a bad mis-tackle from D’Arcy and some appalling mis-kicks from O’Leary and soon it was 15-25 to the Bleus.

A well deserved and well earned try 10 mins from the end left Ireland needing another score to level the playing but it was not to be and so ends another ‘always the bridesmaid, never the bride’ performance from Ireland!

England faired much, much better and their comprehensive win over Italy left them euphoric, particularly as history was made in the form of Chris Ashton. Ashton, 23, went over four times in the 59-13 thumping of Italy to become the first Englishman to achieve the feat in a Five or Six Nations match since 1914. And if their performance is anything to go by then France will have their work more than cut out for them when they next meet on February 26th.

For all of the latest and best Six Nations Odds, just check out the table below…

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Harry Findlay To Quit Racing

Harry Findlay is one of racing’s most infamous horse owners and for years has played a very dangerous game of playing the odds, more recently to his financial detriment. So much so that it now looks like the time has come when he bows out of racing.

His most famous horses are the incredible Denman whom he co-owns with Paul Barber and Big Fella Thanks, who is tipped for the 2011 Grand National and they are but two of the once 80 race horses that he owned. But Findlay isn’t just another horse owner, he’s known as Britains premier punter ans plays the odds as a profession gambler, always chasing that elusive big win. Reportedly, at one time, worth over

Fulham V Chelsea Odds

After their shocking 1-0 defeat to Liverpool, Chelsea need to bounce back this evening if they are to be in with any chance of challenging Manchester United and Arsenal for the Premier League.

Craven Cottage hosts this Valentine’s Day union between the two west London neighbours, with the home side eager for a victory that would break Chelsea hearts. The champions’ hopes of retaining their title are hanging by a thread, and if Fulham come out all guns blazing tonight and steal some points then Chelsea are all but out of the title race.

Fulham are a team in form, unbeaten at home in 2011 and up to 12th in the table after taking 11 points from a possible 18 since the turn of the year. With Bobby Zamora still out, but recovering well from his broken leg injury and Chelsea with their

Jackpot Joy Ad Break Bingo

The good folks at Jackpot Joy Bingo love an innovative new concept, and when we found out that they were sponsoring Deal or No Deal we knew that they’d be pulling out the stops and coming out with something pretty special!

The whole idea of Ad Break Bingo sounded pretty fantastic even before we knew what it was all about – and when we found out you could win

Captain Jackpot’s Cash Ahoy

s Cash Ahoy is a pretty traditional slot, with three bonus features. The first is the Treasure Chest Bonus which is activated when three or more treasure chests appear across the reels, whereupon Captain Jack materializes to open up the treasure chest, which of course contains piles of gold! After a few kicks to the chest, your win is accumulated and can be claimed when the chest slams shut.

The next of the three bonus features is the Pirate Ship Bonus which is triggered when three or more pirate ship icons come into view anywhere across the reels. You then have to choose one of the pirate ships, which then reveals what multiplier you have won!

The final bonus feature is the Captain Jackpot Bonus which comes into play when three of the Captain Jack icons appear on the middle three of the five reels. Gold, silver and bronze barrels will spin across the screen, and when they come to a standstill an arrow reveals the winning multiplier.

Symbols contained in the game are single, double and triple bars, red sevens and of course the captain icon – as well as being the jackpot symbol, the captain is also wild. This is good for those who like a traditional game, but not for those who are after something more progressive. For more fantastic games just go to Paddy Power Games!

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The Perils Of Online Casinos

Many people have been introduced to the world of gaming through online casinos, which have risen in popularity over the last five years.

Online casinos are attractive because they give an interactive gaming experience in the comfort of the customer’s own home. However, with relaxation comes complacency, so there are a few important tips which need to be considered.

The longer you play, the greater the chance of the casino winning. The long-term advantage is always slanted towards the house so quitting whilst you’re ahead is advised. If you wish to play on, putting some of your winnings safely away will ensure you won’t leave the table empty handed.

Similarly, you should not be tempted to chase losses. Setting a budget before you gamble and sticking to it is the surest way possible of ensuring you do not leave the casino with regrets.

Many online casinos offer a range of deposit bonuses and it is worth collecting all which are available to you. Some are easy to receive, some require greater work, but collect them if you can to ensure you will be offered more.

If you wish to play roulette and you have a choice between American and European wheels then opt for the latter. American roulette wheels have an extra compartment

Kings Speech For Oscar?

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last couple of months you will undoubtedly be aware of the phenomenal success of Brit flick The Kings Speech and it’s incredible clean up of awards all over the world. And with Golden Globes, BAFTA’s and Screen Actors Guild statuettes all going their way, there’s only one big one left and that’s the Oscar.

Having been nominated for 12 of them, the most for any single film, The Kings Speech is up against some incredible films for the coveted Best Picture award, including The Social Network, True Grit and Black Swan and despite it’s obvious odds on chances of winning, the Oscars are known to throw a spanner in the works when it comes to this award – anyone remember ‘Crash’ in 2004???

Colin Firth has bagged 26 awards around the world for his portrayal of King George VI and is almost certainly a guarantee for the Best Actor category but anything can happen on the night so if you think it’s a sure bet then the latest and best odds are below for you to have a punt on…

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Ballabriggs For 2011 Grand National

Following the announcement of the weights for the 2011 John Smiths Aintree Grand National, Ballabriggs has now moved firmly into poll position as the bookies ante-post favourite to take the title on April 9th.

The Donald McCain Jnr trained, 10 year old was given 11-00 in the weights today, which is well within the limits for a potential win while last year’s winner, Don’t Push It, has been handicapped at 5lbs more than 2010 on the top-weight of 11-10 which will make it incredible difficult for him to retain the title.

McCain, son of four time Grand National trainer Ginger McCain, told the Racing Post: “I’m happy with 11st, it’s a good racing weight. He is wrong at the weights but he’s a high-profile horse and is well fancied for the race, so that doesn’t surprise me. I’m not going to complain about it, we’ll just take it as it comes.”

Some horses did very well while others appear to have crippled by the handicap case in point being The Midnight Club, who, all things considered, could have been in with a real shot had he not been burdened with 11-06. Historically horses weighing less than 11-03 tend to do far better in this race due to the grueling nature of the jumps – the less weight you carry, the easier it is to get around!

For all of the best and latest 2011 Grand National Odds just check out below…

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Grand National Movers

The 2011 Aintree Grand National is one of the most highly anticipated steeple chase anywhere in the world and with so much happening so quickly, it’s no wonder that the odds are changing on a daily basis. Just today, Silver By nature has moved from mid table at around 33/1 straight to third ante-post favourite at 16/1 with paddy Power following his very convincing win at Haydock yesterday.

Niche Market has had shortening odds since he was officially entered, moving from 25/1 to 20/1 to 16/1 to his now 12/1 ante-post favourite position. I’d love to be able to give an explanation for all the sudden love he’s being showed but given that he hasn’t raced since November 2010, I can’t be certain that it’s anything other than his handicapped weight and connection murmurings!

Oscar Time has had one of the fastest turnarounds with the bookies. Originally placed in no-mans-land on the table of odds, he has rapidly been shortened for the race and gone from 40/1 to 20/1 to now 16/1 following Phil Smiths handicap weight of 10-09 which is definitely a plus for him, though still a weight he has never run a chase with.

As the race draws nearer, everybody and their neighbour will have a tip, but here’s mine – weight until final declarations, check out the 9 or 10 year olds, narrow it down to a horse who has run the distance before, on good form, performs well on the same Going as Aintree on the race day, back your chosen horse and then pray to God that he doesn’t fall!

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Sunday, 20 February 2011

Cricket World Cup Odds

With the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup well and truly underway, it only now remains to be seen who will lift the coveted trophy at the end! The 14-team tournament, which started on February 19th 2011 and will continue to 2nd April 2011, has had plenty of controversy surrounding, not least the length of time that it runs. Andrew Strauss, the England captain, told BBC’s Sportsweek: “Ideally it wouldn’t be six weeks long.”

Which is great, if you’re one of the top 8 countries that always makes the World Cup, not so terrific if you’re from a smaller nation that uses the World Cup as a platform to showcase the sport in your country. And on that note, with the 2015 ICC World Cup set to host just 10 countries, that’s exactly what’s going to happen! Big countries in, little countries out!

With two games already in the bag, New Zealand have gotten themselves off to a great start with a 10 wicket win over Kenya, while India beat Bangladesh by 87 runs. Sri Lanka v Canada are set to do battle later today with Australia v Zimbabwe ready to take each other on tomorrow, Monday 21st February, and England have their opening game against Holland on Tuesday 22nd.

With many, many weeks to go, it’s all to play for and the latest and best odds are below…

Tags: Cricket Odds, Cricket World Cup, england cricket, England Cricket Odds, England Cricket World Cup, ICC Cricket World CupShare

2011 MLB Futures Odds To Win The World Series

By Robert Ferringo

Pitchers and catchers report to camp today and the MLB season is officially underway. I, for one, couldn’t be happier and I am already weeks into my MLB research. This is going to be a great year and I am expecting to get back to the

ESPN College Hoops Analysts Pass The Tool Test, Fail Eye Test

. Which would be fine if they didn’t keep screwing it up.

The bobbleheads mention the Eye Test and then they start talking about a team’s numbers and resume. They talk about the overall record, conference record, RPI, strength of schedule and their record against the RPI Top 25 or Top 50. And they line all of those numbers up in a cute little graphic that makes the numbers look like they are actually on an eye chart.

Now, all of those tools are excellent indicators of a team’s tournament worthiness and they are worth discussion on a national forum. However, they are numbers. They are records and numbers that represent the data, on paper, that the selection committee uses to determine which teams make the NCAA Tournament. And that is THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF THE EYE TEST!

The term

NCAA Basketball – Wisconsin serves Ohio State its first defeat of the season

by Stephen Lars on Feb.14, 2011, under Basketball, Sports News

Everything that goes up must eventually come down. There is somewhat of a certain beauty when the big teams go down. It’s not just the disappointment of seeing a brilliant team lose its perfect season, or the fight of the underdog to play against the odds and pull off an impressive win. Yes, there is some sort beauty behind the fall of the perfect; perhaps it is something like the upside of failure.

And the Wisconsin Badgers now all about it. The crowd couldn’t resist much longer and stormed in the court as the home team was working its way up to defeat a No.1 ranked team for the first time since 1962. The Badgers put on one heck of a comeback on the second half to close on a 15-point margin to defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes by 71-67.

Playing the underdog is somewhat of an act of sheer faith. Yes, sometimes the spread is so significantly unbalanced that going for the little team is exciting and worth taking your chances. And yet there is a whole other approach when it comes to wagering on sports such as the College Hoops: playing against the team that is breaking all the records.

The Ohio State Buckeyes had had one phenomenal season this year, brining in not only the schools second best ever season starting winning streak. At 24-0 the Buckeyes had only one better record from the season kickoff and it came in 1960-61 when Ohio State went on for a 27-0 start. But then it all went south.

The man of the hour was no other then Jordan Taylor who in 13 minutes was capable of leading the Badgers into an impressive come from behind win over the best team in the Nation. Taylor scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half, working Wisconsin to keep the NCAA Division I basketball championship from having a perfect team since Indiana had its flawless season back in the 1975-76 season.

Taylor was the spark that started the 15-0 fire from the Badgers completing 8 straight points, including back to back three’s that really gave Wisconsin that special boost to build up enough momentum to hold back the Buckeyes desperate attempt for a comeback.

For those of you fond of stats and records, the Wisconsin Badgers have joined Florida as the only team to defeat the same No.1 team in the Nation on both NCAA football and NCAA basketball during the same academic year. As a matter of fact this is the first time that a NCAA team has defeated the No. 1 team in both football and basketball during the same season.

The Badgers have been a good team this season. Even though the squads numbers aren’t as impressive as most fans would like, at 19-5 overall and 9-3 in Big Ten conference play, the Badgers have been quite outstanding when playing at home. One must take into consideration that this is the Badgers 17th straight win at home. Wisconsin was sharp from the three point line, hitting 12 of 24 3 to really guide the team into the upset. But by the halftime break it sure didn’t look like the Badgers would be close after such a big deficit.

Taylor worked the Badgers momentum hitting a floater and two deep 3-pointers, then Wisconsin went on another 10-0 run at the end of the game to hold on to their advantage

NBA – Orlando Magic gives the LA Lakers its first defeat on this road trip

by Stephen Lars on Feb.14, 2011, under Basketball, Sports News

Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic have been a bit in the shadows due to the media attention that has been placed on both the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics who are without a doubt the two forces to reckon with in the Eastern Conference. At 35-21 for the season and 20-8 at home game, the Orlando Magic where in a serious need to break the losing streak they had been stuck in.

As a matter of fact, the Orlando Magic had not been able to win one of the last 8 games against teams with at least a .500 average during the season. And one can say without a doubt that this 89 to 75 win at home over the defending champions, the LA Lakers, is one of the most significant wins of the Magic so far this season.

On one side we have to acknowledge that the Lakers were certainly not having their best season ever. Let’s face it, the Lakers where far away from the team that last year played an epic battle against the Boston Celtics for the National Championship. Completing only 33 of 84 shots from the field and 2 of 16 (yes, just two of 16 attempts) from the 3-point line was enough to give the Lakers a whooping defeat.

Kobe Bryant had 17 points and 5 assists while Andrey Bynum closed the match with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Truth be said, that was no matchup for Dwight Howard and company who played an amazing game. Howard had 31 points and 13 rebounds and 3 assists. That was enough for Orlando to open up the gap and get six-point lead during halftime. And it will only get worse for the LA Lakers.

It seems as if finally, after many weeks since the Orlando Magic was able to make a couple of big-time changes to its rooster, that the Magic has a team capable of putting a fight among the Celtics and the Heat in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

By the middle of the third quarter the Orlando Magic had build a 56-47 lead and it was just too much for the Lakers to handle. Now, this is an important win for the Orlando Magic, but it means nothing unless they somehow manage to build up from this important result and keep on going with the momentum. They still have a good deal of complicated games ahead of them, and even though there is a good chance that the Magic would end up in the Playoffs, they must really improve their performance if they want to make their postseason run a bit longer then the usual.

Orlando made a comeback from a six-point home loss to New Orleans on Friday and managed to break a string of eight straight losses to teams with winning records. Since the Magic’s win at Dallas in early January, Orlando has not been able to win a game against teams with winning records. The Lakers on the other hand lost their 4 game winning-streak on the road. They will now have to face Charlotte tonight and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.

NBA – Boston Celtics have the key to turn off the Miami Heat

It really seems as if the Boston Celtics know exactly what it takes to keep the Miami Heat under the radar. The Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo had a triple-double and Kevin Garnet came in with 19 points, 7 boards and 3 assists to guide the Celtics on a 85-82 come from behind win against the Miami Heat. In clutch time, the Heat took their chances and went for a three-point shot that would have sent the game into overtime. But surprise, surprise, it wasn’t Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh or LeBron James who took the shot, but Mike Miller who went for it and missed.

There are a couple of ways we could look at this situation. The Miami Heat has made a multimillion-dollar investment in signing in three of the hottest players in the league early in the season. The renovated team that included players of the caliber of Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James had a bit of an extended break in period but once all the mechanisms were working together and things got oiled up, the Miami Heat was capable of impressive wins over the strongest teams in the nation, including a Christmas Day win over the defending champions the LA Lakers.

But they have yet to know what it feels like to defeat the National Championship runner-up, the veteran-wise Boston Celtics. Here are the extra kicks: playing in the eastern conference the Celtics are expectedly the team that is going to dominate the Playoffs where they will probably face the Miami Heat (which is arguably the other strongest team in that conference). And that is where the situation takes an interesting turn.

Take a look at this: The Boston Celtics have won 12 of the last 13 games against the Miami, that is including a 4-1 series victory in the first round of last year’s playoffs. Yes that was before King James came over from Cleveland. But if you look back at that series you would realize that they then knocked LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers out in the next round. So sure, in the summer James made his move to Miami to join Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, but not muchas has changed: the Heat still haven’t been able to beat Boston.

Now, this is where it gets a bit scary for most Boston fans or at least those of us who have our high hopes, and made an early bet on the Celtics to go all the way: head coach Doc Rivers should really find a way to keep his squad healthy, as the Big Three, Paul Pierce, Ray Allan and Kevin Garnett, are all in the twilight of their careers and no matter how well they do in the regular season, it is all worthless if they are not as strong and as motivated as they are right now when the playoffs kickoff.

This was enough for the Celtics two snap a two game loss streak and maintain their healthy record of not losing three consecutive games so far this season. The Celtics will now play the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday and hitting the road to play Golden State, Denver, Los Angeles Clippers and Utah this upcoming week.

Ronaldo announces his official retirement

Soccer is a demanding sport. Sure, it doesn’t require the endurance of a cyclist undergoing the 20 day plus Le Tour de France, nor does it has such a demanding schedule as a professional basketball player who has to travel and play 3-4 times a week. And yes, it certainly is not as brutal of a team sport as rugby or American Football. But no other sport can match the expectation, the fan based euphoria placed on teams and players to succeed at all cost.

Under these circumstances even the most athletically gifted bodies have to give into the pressure, and eventually the body just breaks and asks for rest. And that is why Ronaldo, one of the finest strikers the game has seen has officially announced his retirement from professional football.

After 18 years as a professional Ronaldo put an end to a magnificent career in which he not only won two World Cups with the Brazilian national team but also flourished in the most important team in Europe. The 34-year-old striker had deserved many recognitions including the FIFA World Player of the Year prize which he won three times and also, he holds the record for most goals scored on World Cup tournaments at an yet unmatched 15.

Ronaldo began his professional career in Brazil with Cruzeiro when he was just 16 years old. He moved to the PSV Eindhoven in 1993 where he became the Dutch team’s best scorer, which was enough to end him a transfer to Barcelona in 1996.

Once on Spanish ground, Ronaldo became somewhat of an idol for the Catalan club where he scored 34 goals in 37 matches in the Spanish Liga, been a fundamental part of Barcelona winning the Copa del Rey tournament. The following year he would sign a deal with Inter Milan with whom the Brazilian star help Inter clinch the 1998 UEFA Cup.

Ronaldo played for Inter until the 2002 season when he was transferred to Real Madrid, where he was part of the squad that won the Spanish Liga in 2003 and 2007. He then joined AC Milan, but his stay with the Italian team was cut short due to his third knee injury.

With the Brazilian team Ronaldo was part of the team that won the USA 1994 World Cup, although he never played as he was just a teenager. In 2002 in the South Korea- Japan World Cup, Ronaldo was back at its highest level and helped the team win the World Cup after scoring two goals in the final game against Germany. That year he won his third player of the year award, after the ones he received in 1996 and 1997.

Ronaldo helped Brazil win the 1997 and 1999 Copa America as well as the 1997 Confederations Cup. He won a bronze medal with the Brazilian national team in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Ronaldo scored 67 goals in 104 games wearing the Brazilian national jersey.

Ronaldo moved to Corinthians in Brazil to finish off his career. A string of injuries during the past two years kept him from performing at a high level and he was not been taken kindly by part of the fans. Regardless of his less then ideal ending, Ronaldo has had an amazing career. His ability to comeback from three near career ending knee injuries is quite a reflection of his combative nature. He will be kindly remembered by many fans around the world.

NCAA Basketball – Jacob Pullen leads Kansas State to a win over Kansas

Instate Rivalry in college sports are among the most exciting games in NCAA regulated sports. There is so much tradition and so much history involved in each of this games that one can’t help but to feel a certain fascination for these games. So when Kansas State hosted the Kansas Jayhawks at the Fred Bramlage Coliseum in Manhatan, KS, it really seemed as if all the ingredients for a great game where on the ground.

And here is where it gets really interesting. Kansas State has been up to this point somewhat of a disappointment the No. 3 ranked team before the season kickoff was now unranked and could only hold onto a mediocre 16-9 record overall and 4-6 mark in the Big 12 before the game began. So Kansas State had to deal with the fact that the team had not have a good win since Thanksgiving and as if that was not enough, the team’s off the court shenanigans has brought them a couple of suspensions to their starters. Jacob Pullen was suspended for 3 games while Curtis Kelly took a 6-game suspension for violating NCAA rules.

On the side of the Jayhawks, there team was going through a great moment and just a couple of hours prior to the game the Jayhawks had pushed the Texas Longhorns from the top to claim themselves as the No. 1 team in the nation. So yes, on one side of the story the Jayhawks had to defend their votes that placed them ahead of the Longhorns; on the other hand, Kansas State really had to bring on their A-game and prove their fans that their season was not over.

And what better way to prove they are still alive and worthy of going to March Madness then taking a win over their instate rivals: the Kansas Jayhawks. That’s when Jacob Pullen began to shine. The senior guard was capable of turning the game around with a brilliant performance, scoring 38 points to lead the Wildcats to an outstanding upset 84-68.

To really put things into perspective, you might need to know that this is one of the most lopsided rivalries as the Wildcats have only won 2 of their previous 45 games against the Jayhawks. Pullen and company have now made that 3 wins in their head to head matchup. This was one heck of an upset. Just a month ago, the Jayhawks had beat the Wildcats by 24 points. But that was all going to change. Kansas State was a dominant, well paced and organized team.

Even head coach Bill Self, from Kansas, had to agree that the Wildcats were a much stronger team. In the press conference he commented:

NCAA Rankings: Accessing the top teams in the Nation

As the NCAA Basketball’s regular season comes to en end and we get ready for the Tournament, for all the betting action that takes place during March Madness, we begin to keep an eye out for changes on the top ten of the polls. The last games of the season are quite important for when it comes to filling in our NCAA Basketball Bracket, as usually it is the games that stay stronger at the end that have more success in the single elimination championship.

Early this week, the discussion was started when Kansas was promoted to the No.1 spot in the nation. Just a couple of hours later, the Jayhawks were losing an important game against instate rivals: the Kansas State Wildcats. So that was just about enough to really get the discussion going among some students in Austin, Pittsburgh and Columbus, because, let’s face it: it doesn’t look good when the new No.1 team in the Nation falls 84-68 to a team that had only defeated them twice in the last 45 games.

So what could we expect for the next poll? Well, expect good thing to come around for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Sure they lost to the Wisconsin Badgers, but the squad has made a good comeback with an important win over Michigan State. Still, if they want to hold on to the No.1 spot they must survive in West Lafayette on Sunday and hold strong at home vs. Illinois on Tuesday.

Expect some great basketball from the Texas Longhorns as well. We are predicting the guys from Austin, Texas, to end up in the No.2 spot in next weeks rankings. The Longhorns had to bring one their A-game on Saturday against Big 12 rivals, Baylor. At 23-3 for the season, the Longhorns are still a legit option for the postseason. If the Texas defense keeps up the good work, an undefeated Big 12 regular season isn’t so far off.

Pittsburgh continued with its impressive on the road success with a win at Villanova on Saturday. This is even more impressive if you consider that Pitt was playing without their star point guard Ashton Gibbs. Saturday’s road game at St. John’s should be one heck of a battle, so keep an eye out for the betting lines for this game. The Pittsburgh Red Storm has been vicious against ranked teams when playing at Madison Square Garden lately. They could just keep up with that success.

Portsmouth v Barnsley Preview

Both of these sides were tipped to struggle at the start of the campaign and as it stands, neither is yet safe. However, with Barnsley now on forty one points, it would take a disastrous run of form to see them relegated. Portsmouth meanwhile have a little more to do and with the Fratton Park outfit on a total of thirty five points, they are certainly still looking over their shoulder.

Portsmouth’s season has most definitely been an interesting one, full of ups and downs. After an absolute horror show of a start, Steve Cotterill’s men did have something of a purple patch and there was talk that they could even sneak their way up to the playoffs. However, they’ve slipped back a little now and with the club currently sat in 18th spot, there primary aim is to avoid relegation. Their form of late hasn’t been the best and having lost five of their last eight, they are seemingly a club in decline. On a more positive note, Pompey did manage victory over Doncaster in their last outing and that should at least provide them with some confidence as they approach this game.

Barnsley on the other hand have enjoyed a superb season by their standards and while it appears highly unlikely for the Tykes to challenge for a top six place, their supporters will still be absolutely delighted with the way this season has turned out. The club are currently sat in 14th position and with eleven points separating them from the bottom three, those pre-season predictions of a relegation struggle appear to have dispersed. Of course, a mid-table position brings inconsistency and that is obvious from Barnsley’s last six games which has seen them win two, lose two and draw two. However, having rescued a point in the last kick of the game against Ipswich last weekend, they will have given their confidence a huge boost.

As for team news, Portsmouth are hoping to include David Cotterill if his transfer from Swansea is completed in time. Elsewhere, Jonathon Hogg won’t be featuring due to suspension, but Steve Cotterill will have Aaron Mokoena back in contention after his work permit was renewed. Barnsley meanwhile are tipped to name a new signing of their own after signing Paul McShane on loan from Hull during the week. McShane will replace the injured Stephen Foster, while the Tykes will also be without Hugo Colace who picked up an injury in training and is expected to miss the next month.

As for a prediction, we’re going to go for the draw. Portsmouth may hold the home advantage, but their recent form isn’t the best and we think Barnsley will be good value for a point 2-2.

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Greyhound racing boosted by Sky

The coverage given to greyhound racing on Sky TV is proving vital to the sport.

The satellite channel showcases the vast majority of the sports major events and they also spread their coverage across as many tracks as possible throughout the United Kingdom.

Seeing the best dogs in action regularly on the TV, allows punters to gain knowledge of the dogs and also to get an idea on various dogs running styles and also their form lines. It also ensures that vast numbers of punters who wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to the sport are able to sit and watch it from the comfort of their own homes, something that can only do it good in the long run.

With the Greyhound Derby getting ever nearer it is a key time for greyhound followers to be tuning into the Sky open race action, as form clues for the Derby will be on offer with almost every race. What’s more, with the channel likely to promote the event with its usual brand of glitz and glamour, it should attract more than a few interested viewers.

The Trainers Championship meeting at Wimbledon on March 22nd promises to be a cracking night and punters looking at the Greyhound Derby odds will no doubt pick up plenty of tips. The top six trainers from 2010 face off on the night with all their main protagonists going head-to-head in a series of races over the Derby course.

If you’re a dog enthusiast it’s a meeting not to miss and it’s available live in your living room thanks to Sky sports.

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Nottingham Forest v Cardiff Preview

The big, promotion crunching games just keep coming thick and fast for Nottingham Forest as this time the City Ground outfit host 2nd place Cardiff. It was only last weekend that Forest grinded out a 1-1 draw at league leaders QPR and as they head into this encounter, they’ll be aiming to leapfrog their opponents.

It’s been a mixed week for Nottingham Forest although there’s no doubting that Billy Davies will be bitterly disappointed overall. Forest drew the plaudits after their hard-earned draw at QPR, yet they spoiled that hard work after falling to a shock 1-0 defeat to Scunthorpe on Wednesday. Had they won that game, they would have shot into 2nd and put themselves in prime position for the promotion race heading into this one. However, their supporters certainly can’t have too many complaints following the past few months, which has seen the City Ground outfit net result after result. That loss at Glanford Park was their first in twelve and having won eight of those; it’s no surprise that they find themselves in this lofty position. Defeat here wouldn’t be too disastrous either, with Forest holding a game in hand over all of the teams around them as they head into this fixture.

Cardiff meanwhile returned to 2nd place at the weekend and they’ll have been hugely relieved to keep that position following Forest’s slip up on Wednesday. After a short period which saw them struggle, the Bluebirds look to be returning to their best as they enter this game with three victories from their last six league outings. What’s more, Dave Jones’ men haven’t been beaten in their last seven in the Championship, providing evidence that they are prepared as the promotion finale approaches. They know that their bid will be given the power of strength should they master a victory here however, with a win potentially putting them four points clear of 3rd place Norwich.

On the team news front, Nottingham Forest has several problems and they start as Radoslaw Majewski continues to serve his suspension. Elsewhere, Guy Moussi and Robbie Findley will also miss out as injury hinders them. Cardiff on the other hand could welcome back Michael Chopra who has been struggling with an ankle injury, while Craig Bellamy has also recovered from a knock and should start. However, both Chris Burke and Paul Quinn are suffering from injuries and are doubtful to feature.

This is undoubtedly the trickiest game to predict this weekend, probably because it has so much riding on it. Nottingham Forest hold an excellent record at the City Ground but following their defeat midweek, we think they could have had the stuffing knocked out of them a little. With that, and Cardiff’s promising form of late, we’ll predict a tight 2-1 victory for the away side.

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World Cup 2011: Australia v Zimbabwe – betting preview

Game:- Australia v Zimbabwe
Competition :- Cricket World Cup 2011
Venue :- Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
Date :- Monday, 21 February 2011
Start time:- 09:00 GMT

Australia have reached the finals of every World Cup since 1996, winning it on the last three occasions. They begin their quest to win a record fourth consecutive World Cup against lowly Zimbabwe at Ahmedabad. The bookmakers have the Aussies as firm favourites for this tie. Read our preview and bet on the game with Bet365.

Australia results – last few games – most recent games on top
v. South Africa (Lost by 7 wickets) Clarke 73
v. India (Lost by 38 runs) Ponting 57, Lee 3-35

Although the Aussies have lost both their warm-up games, they are still very much firm favourites to lift the Cup. Not long ago, they comprehensively demolished England 6-1 in the one-day series following the Ashes. The Cup may well be the last tournament for household names such as Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee. The core of the side is very young and has some promising all-round players in Shane Watson, Steven Smith, John Hastings and finally, Michael Clarke.

Zimbabwe results – last few games – most recent games on top
v. Ireland (Lost by 4 wickets) Chigumbura 103, Price 2-37
v. South Africa(Lost by 8 wickets) Taylor 40, Price 1-19

The turmoil in Zimbabwe over the last decade had a morbid effect on their cricket. After looking like strong competitors at the turn of the century, their cricket faded into obscurity. As late as 2009, cricket has stabilized. Their squad is led by a young, 24-year all-rounder called Elton Chigumbura. The hard-hitting batsman has an experience of 120 ODIs under his belt and will have to lead Zimbabwe from the front. Brendon Taylor, Charles Coventry and Tatenda Taibu are no mugs with the bat. They also have a very competent spin department – Ray Price, Prosper Utseya and Greame Cremer will be more than handy on Indian pitches.

Match Verdict: Bet365 have made Aussies the clear favourites by with odds of 1/16 on a Aussie win. It’s hard to not see that happening.

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World Cup 2011: England vs Netherlands – betting preview

World Cup 2011: England vs Netherlands – betting previewPosted on February 20th, 2011 in Cricket World Cup

Game:- England vs Netherlands
Competition :- Cricket World Cup 2011
Venue :- Vidarbha Cricket Association, Nagpur
Date :- Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Start time:- 09:00 GMT

England start off their World Cup campaign against Netherlands at Nagpur. While England are expected to make the knock-out stages at the least, Netherlands would do well to win a game in the group. England have been made strong favourites by Bet365. Read our preview and place a bet or two.

England results – last few games – most recent games on top
v. Pakistan (Won by 67 runs) Pietersen 66, Broad 5-25
v. Canada (Won by 16 runs) Prior 78, Broad 5-37

England have been tinkering with their line-up in the warmup games. Their top order is yet to settle down as a cohesive unit. A lot of players are coming back into the side after injury, and hence need to be eased into the game. Andy Flower would demand that his side do much better than the 1-6 loss in the ODI Series Down Under.

Kevin Pietersen has been made the makeshift opened for the World Cup. He will face the new ball along with Andrew Strauss. Eoin Morgan’s enterprise will be sorely missed for the talented southpaw will miss the World Cup with a finger injury. On the bowling front, Tim Bresnan’s calf tear is the biggest concern. He is fighting a race against time to be fit for this game against Holland.

Netherlands results – last few games – most recent games on top
v. Kenya (Won by 2 wickets) ten Doeschate 98 & 2-47
v. Zimbabwe (Loss by 115 runs) Kervezee 33, Bukhari 3-42

Peter Borren will lead the Dutch outfit this time around, and there are six players playing their first World Cup. Essex and Tasmania star Ryan ten Doeschate and Worcestershire-based opener Alexei Kervezee will be the mainstays in batting. Young wicketkeeper Wesley Baresi, seamers Westdijk and Bradley Kruger have shown a lot of promise.

Match Verdict: Although we are not sure of England’s chances to lift the Cup, it can be safely said that they will overpower Netherlands in their opening game.

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Saturday, 12 February 2011

The betting shops in city centres debate

Interesting discussion in today's Racing Post about 'plagues' of betting shops in city centres. Councils and residents are getting sick of them, the big bookies love them and can't get enough retail shops.

Why I hear you ask? Racing's share of the gambling pound is ever decreasing, more and more punters are betting online and you rarely see anyone in the betting shops that already exist... except standing around the FOBTs (Fixed Odds Betting Terminals) or glorified slot machines. And that's what brings in the profits for the bookies. Racing, football and any other sport they show in the shops are mere sideshow value to the evil machines.

Every licensed betting shop in the UK can have four FOBTs (little wonder Irish betting shops are struggling in comparison without them), which have much higher prize limits than pub fruit machines. Sources at the biggest High St firms have told me that they consistently make up to £1m per DAY across their network of outlets from these things. No wonder they want to own as many as they can. Local govt regulations were changed in 2005, previously there had to be cause shown for an additional betting shop to be opened. Now it's just open slather.

What city centre really wants to have its streets full of betting shops, pound shops and junk food outlets? Congratulations to Newmarket City Council for rejecting betting shop no.12 in their city centre, but it should never have been allowed to get that far.

An ideal system might be X per 1000 people within a council, with licences then sold off to the highest bidders and some retained for local independents. Do we really need to see three Ladbrokes/Will Hill/Paddy Power/BetFred shops within a one-mile radius? Not even the plague of Starbucks has gotten that bad...

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless devicePosted byScott Fergusonat16:58

Betfair shares battling to fight back

Early in the week Betfair shares cracked the £10 mark again for the first time in a while, things were starting to look up, particularly on the back of some hard work promoting the company to its float partners last week. But that price took a real pounding yesterday, dropping back to 917p overnight, with a 15p recovery so far this morning. What triggered it? Did the market panic over another cold spell which may cause racing cancellations? Did some 'expert' analyst put out a sell call or did the market not like Betfair's association with sacked Sky pundit Andy Gray?

Who knows - I've given up trying to predict what the stock market will do on a day-to-day basis...Posted byScott Fergusonat09:55

Perth racing faces a critical decision

When a state capital of over 1m people has two racecourses close to the city, the inevitable pressure to sell one of them will occur as the popularity of horse racing continues to diminish relative to alternative entertainment options. Racing in Western Australia has been strong in recent years, with metropolitan prizemoney embarrassing South Australia and making it a viable option for owners and trainers. But that has come at a cost - Perth Racing has robbed Peter to pay Paul and now they are struggling to cope with interest payments of $1m per year.

Premier puts Perth Racing under the pump

WA Premier Colin Barnett is mounting pressure on cash-strapped Perth Racing to sell Belmont Park racecourse to make way for the development of a 100,000 seat football stadium.

With Perth Racing to announce major prizemoney cuts this week, the WA industry is supporting Barnett's call to dump the ageing Belmont as a winter racing venue.

Traditionally Ascot is the A-grade track in Perth, while Belmont is the venue during winter, which allows Ascot to recover for its feature events late in the year. In recent years, Adelaide have moved from three racecourses to one (sold off Cheltenham, gave Victoria Park back to the parklands, built an extra track at Morphettville and invested in a bigger provincial circuit at Murray Bridge) and Brisbane has merged its two metropolitan raceclubs in the hope of eventually selling one of the racecourses off and creating a supervenue with the cash.

The state government wants to build a huge stadium for AFL close to the city - whether they need to build it for attendances of 100k though is debatable in a state of this size. If the government gets its way, what will happen to the WACA (a great AFL stadium surely becomes a great cricket stadium) and Gloucester Park harness track? Prime land on the edge of the CBD, not much more they can do to develop it....

WA racing could handle one city track - they have strong provincial clubs including Bunbury and Pinjarra, wet tracks in the west are far less frequent than in the east so wear and tear on the racing surface isn't a big deal. Turning Ascot into a super-venue with better facilities, perhaps an extra turf track to race on and racing for better prizemoney is likely to be a winner.Posted byScott Fergusonat13:14

Betfair gets closer to cracking the US

News today that the governor of New Jersey has signed a bill permitting exchange betting within the state. It's not a given for Betfair or any other company trying to operate a betting exchange on horse racing, it just allows the possibility of such betting platforms. I posted a whole batch of reasons a month ago why investors in particular shouldn't be counting their chickens just yet.

Here's the story from US racing bible, the Daily Racing Form.

New Jersey governor Christie signs exchange-betting bill

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed bills on Monday that will legalize exchange wagering and a new method of pooling parimutuel wagers, the governor's office said on Monday. Both bills were supported by elements of the racing industry as the state continues to pursue ways to help the state's beleaguered gambling industries.

Christie also vetoed a bill on Monday that supporters said would streamline the process by which offtrack betting locations are approved and built. In a statement released by his office, Christie said that he exercised a "conditional veto" of the bill because the state is continuing to negotiate the possible sale or lease of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority's two racetracks, Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands, and the bill could have negative consequences on those efforts unless reworked.

As written, the offtrack betting bill gives horsemen's groups and other private operators the right to pursue licenses for offtrack betting locations if all of the unused licenses are not issued by the end of 2011. In the statement, Christie said that potential buyers or lease-holders of the racetrack would need assurances that they would be able to pursue the licenses on a realistic time scale.

"I am recommending that the legislation be revised to clarify that negotiations concerning the transfer or assignment of offtrack wagering locations in the context of a potential sale or lease of a racetrack shall be deemed 'progress' toward the establishment of such facilities," Christie said.

The bill legalizing exchange wagering would allow the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to contract with an exchange-wagering operator, provided constituents in the racing industry, such as horsemen's groups, approve of the deal.

That last sentence is crucial - there's still a lot of lobbying to go in the US for Betfair. They don't come more stubborn than racing industry factions....

The Betfair share price rose marginally this morning in reaction to the news.Posted byScott Fergusonat14:25

is sport finally starting to win the fight against corruption?

Could sport be fighting back against the corrupt individuals who wish to poison their respective games to line their own pockets? Encouraging signs this week with cricket and rugby league both acting to stem the tide.

In cricket, first the British Crown Prosecution Service announced it was charging the three Pakistan cricketers with obtaining and accepting corrupt payments, and conspiracy to cheat. Bear in mind that the CPS was the authority who were laughed out of court when trying to convict leading jockey Kieran Fallon of pulling horses a few years ago. Let's hope they've got their act together since then. Long drawn out cases which ultimately fail ruin reputations and make lawyers rich.

A day later, the ICC have come down hard on the three players, with minimum suspensions of five years. Expect appeals from each player pleading their innocence first, and then for leniency. There's legs in this case yet, but it's encouraging to see the ICC impose serious penalties.

In rugby league this week, charges have finally been laid in the NRL betting scandal from last season. Ironically, the player charged, Canterbury front-rower Ryan Tandy, hasn't been charged with conspiracy or sporting fraud, but giving false evidence police which is a much more serious charge in NSW. Tandy's agent and people connected to him are alleged to have bet heavily on North Queensland (the opposing team) scoring the first points of the match with a penalty goal. Tandy gave away a penalty directly in front of the posts after just two minutes, but the other team, unaware of the planned sting, chose to take a quick tap instead and go for the try.

Let's hope football, racing and tennis can get their acts together and follow suit where applicable. Tennis prides itself on using a sledgehammer to crack nuts - suspending guys for a year for placing €5 worth of bets, yet does sweet FA when blatant match-fixing occurs. UK football authorities have handed out some pathetically lame penalties for players found betting against their own team (the infamous Bury v Accrington Stanley game from a few years ago). Horse racing in the UK has recently been beating their own chest about the Casela Park case. It's all well and good to suspend guilty parties, but when the perception is one rule for the minnows of the sport and another for those with a higher profile, it defeats the purpose....Posted byScott Fergusonat08:23

Even sumo is bent these days...

It's not a good sign for the innocence of the world if even sumo wrestling is facing match-fixing problems....

Sumo wrestling rocked by match-fixing scandal

The head of Japan's sumo association has apologised to fans after it was revealed wrestlers may have been fixing matches.

In some of the text messages uncovered by police, wrestlers would tell their opponents what to expect inside the ring while others would instruct their rivals to throw a match.

One wrestler texted another: "You fall when I move to tackle."

It is just the latest scandal to tarnish this ancient sport, with dozens of wrestlers last year admitting to placing illegal bets on baseball with the Japanese mafia.

A culture where gambling is illegal, the participants like a bet on other sports with the black market bookies and then they get blackmailed into throwing matches so they aren't exposed for breaking the law...

(Cheers to Richard Farmer for the link)Posted byScott Fergusonat10:27

Farcical law to suppress honesty in the media

Former jockey Dean McKeown was as bent as a three-bob note and was warned off British racecourses in 2008 for his role in pulling up 11 horses trained by Paul Blockley. He is guilty, that part is etched in stone. Yet ATR presenter Sean Boyce is facing defamation charges for calling a spade a spade, or in this case, a crook a crook.

McKeown's efforts on Rascal in the Mix in November 2008 when fulfilling a previously booked mount before his ban took effort were abysmal. It was a hook job and Boyce was not afraid to call it as it was. McKeown took a battering in the phone interview before eventually hanging up.

The High Court, and in particular, Justice Tugendhat, have shown how ridiculous the law is by allowing McKeown to sue one of a select few racing media men who have the balls to rid the world of ambiguous bullshit and cut to the facts of the matter.

Four years isn't enough for McKeown, people like this should never be allowed to return to the industry.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless devicePosted byScott Fergusonat22:20

Annoying and misleading Betfair TV ad banned

You seriously have to wonder where the brains department of Betfair have disappeared to. A TV campaign based around the theme 'cut out the middleman'. Look it up in the dictionary - Betfair are the irrefutable definition of the word:

mid·dle·man

Weekend Racing Preview

Cheltenham Festival

Plenty of top class action this weekend, dear reader, as we enter the ‘final prep zone’ for fancied horses tuning up for the big Cheltenham Festival. And where better to tune up than Cheltenham racecourse itself? As well as Cheltenham tomorrow, there’s also high class action at Doncaster today and tomorrow, and an informative fixture at Punchestown on Sunday.

Today at Doncaster sees my first – and possibly worst – Cheltenham Festival ante-post wager bid for a win at the fourth time of asking. Step forward, Franklino (3.05 Doncaster), who runs in the same colours as Mille Chief and Walkon, and had hopes that this one would be as good. The 25′s each way taken by me back in September, and advised to you as coming straight from the horse’s (well, Choc Thornton’s) mouth, is looking more like a 100/1 shot currently.

But such is the fickle nature of ante-post markets that one tidy victory today could propel him up the lists. In reality though, I suspect his smart trainer will more likely target the Fred Winter which might be right up his street.

He takes on another well-touted type who was disappointing so far over hurdles in Empire Levant from the Paul Nicholls stable. That Empire is still available at 20/1 tells you about the murky and less than top class Triumph picture, and I suspect we’ll know more after the weekend as there’s also a tip top juvenile hurdle on the Cheltenham card tomorrow.

The other race of interest to me today is the 1.00 Fontwell, where Definity will be bidding for another short priced notch for the novice chase system I mentioned to you recently. Since I mentioned it, there have been six winners from nine runners (albeit, all at odds on, as that is a rule of the system), for a small profit using Betfair – when we’re betting at the margins we need to take the bits and pieces of bonus offered there.

Unusually in such a small sample, two of the three losers to date tipped up. We’d normally expect maybe one in ten to do that.

Onto tomorrow, and all roads lead up Cleeve Hill and to Cheltenham. There will be Festival market movers aplenty, starting in the opening JCB Triumph Hurdle trial at 12.55. Here, although the entries are not yet finalised, it looks like Smad Place will take on Grandouet. Given that they are first and second favourite for the Triumph Hurdle itself, expect one of these to contract and the other to skid in the lists.

If you want a bit of value though, the one who beat Empire Levant last time – on hurdling debut – is Colin Tizzars’s Third Intention. He’s currently 25/1 for the Triumph but that is bound to at least halve if he lifts the spoils here. Given that he probably works with Cue Card at home, he could be pretty useful, and I’ve had a couple of speculative quid (

Carnivals and Festivals: Weekend Review

Quarter Horses are fast!

Horse racing is a sport enjoyed across the length and breadth of the globe, dear reader, and it manifests itself in a multitude of different guises. From the bottomless slog of a four mile chase at Towcester, via two furlong ‘quarter horse’ dirt races at greyhound tracks masquerading as horse racing tracks in the US, to the slick monied – slightly surreal – racing of Meydan’s tapeta track in Dubai, there really is something for everyone in racing.

Last weekend saw countless clues for both the Carnival and the Festival: Dubai’s culminating World Cup meeting on March 26th, and Cheltenham four day National Hunt season highlight running from March 15th to 18th.

First, roving reporter Ross relates the latest Godolphin / de Kock domination in the Emirates, then I’ll expound on my views of the virtues (or otherwise) of this weekend’s Festival trials from Britain and Ireland. Over to Ross, and a somewhat unpatriotic rallying cry (unless you happen to be Gallic)…

February Trainer To Follow

V for Victor: Dartnall's a man to follow in February

In a packed programme tonight, as the pair of Ronnies used to say, we’ve got a trainer from Devon who is well worth keeping on the right side; two horses in whom I have a personal interest running today; and, a quick update on the questions I asked you earlier in the week.

So to business. I’ve been ‘mucking around’ with some settings in the Stat Attack feature in HorseRaceBase.com (the brilliant site I told you about a few weeks back), and each day it gives me a report for my criteria.

Essentially I’m always on the lookout for hot trainers (remember that TrainerTrackStats was my invention way back when, before Gavin took it on so excellently, and I’m still a trainer stats fiend!). And the chap I want to talk to you about today is one of those wonderful creatures who have recorded a level stakes profit in recent years.

In layman’s terms, if you’d backed all of his horses since the start of 2007, you’d be in front. Nice work. So, drumroll please, and step forward, Mr. Victor Dartnall.

He’s in great form at the moment which is what highlighted him to me today. But let’s break down his overall performance to draw on a few sub-trends in his profile.

Firstly, January and February have always been strong months for our Vic. In fact, during the period 2007 to now, he’s shown a 150% return at SP. To Betfair odds, that translates to an eye-watering 231.9%.

Now before you go mortgaging your house/spouse/mouse to lump on, note that Vic hasn’t made a profit in every year, though in the lean years, there was only a slight loss.

What about race types? Does Mr D focus on any specific types of race or is he a dab hand at one distance range over all others?

‘Yes’ is the unsurprising and short answer. In races of 2m5f or less (including flat races), Victor Dartnall has the following figures to his name since the start of 2007:

73 wins from 359 bets for a level stakes profit of 65.86 points at bookies’ starting price. Betfair punters would have been swimming in gravy to the tune of a whopping 203.73 points profit. Yikes!

In class 4 races or lower (i.e. Class 4, 5, 6, or 7) at the distances above, Dartnall’s stats are even hotter:

61 wins from 282 bets (21.6% strike rate) for a profit of 83.97 points. That’s

Friday, 11 February 2011

Welsh Champion Hurdle Preview

Welcome to Ffos Las!

Less than two years after becoming Britain’s first new turf racecourse to open in more than seventy years, Ffos Las hosts the inaugural William Hill Welsh Champion hurdle tomorrow. This represents the biggest day in the Carmarthenshire racecourse’s short history, writes Paul Moon.

You will not find Ffos Las (blue ditch) on any map as there is no such place: it lies between the old mining villages of Trimsaran and Carway and was named after the farm that once occupied the site. Twelve years ago the course was the deepest coal mine in Europe!

The Welsh Champion Hurdle has been revived and given the kiss of life by Ffos Las Racecourse. Before its deterioration this was a listed event run at Chepstow, but for whatever reason the administration there allowed the race to wither then perish. It became an ordinary Class 2 handicap giving rise to greater quantity at the expense of quality! At its new venue, it is to be hoped that the race’s former eminence and lustre will be restored with added relevance and value, seeing as the timing will now render this a meaningful Cheltenham Champion Hurdle trial.

Ffos Las is ideally equipped to stage the Welsh Champion Hurdle, and has a determination to increase its appeal. After losing the race last year because of freezing weather conditions everything looks set fair for tomorrow at 2:40, when a select quintet of runners will take their chances. Belatedly and to add a bit of glamour, Channel 4 will make their first ever live visit to the track.

Speaking to Public Relations Manager, Kate Miller of William Hill, during the week, she told us:

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