Biondetti Out Of His Depth

Unless I have got the horse completely wrong and missed something that should have been screamingly obvious, I cannot see Godolphin’s Biondetti going close to winning Saturday’s Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs, writes Elliot Slater.

The Bernadini colt goes into the event unbeaten in three career starts, and last time out won the Premio Gran Criterium at San Siro in Italy, grinding it out to beat Mick Channon’s filly Singapore Lady (rated just 80), by a very hard fought half-a-length. At the time the form looked incredibly weak for a supposed Group 1 event, (I would suggest the standard was little better than a run-of-the mill British listed race), and the runner-up hardly franked the race by being a well beaten third at odds-on in a moderate Group 3 race at the same track next time out.

All credit though to Mahmood Al Zarooni for finding such an easy Group 1 for his horse who had previously won a three-runner Kempton conditions race to follow up his Newmarket maiden win on debut. Running for the first time on dirt, at a sharp track such as Churchill Downs where the emphasis is very much on speed, and racing on Lasix for the first time in his life, I believe that everything is against Biondetti proving good enough to warrant the entry. There are certainly better Irish racing tips out there.

It’s very hard to get a grip on the US Juvenile form, but clearly those opposing the Godolphin runner are amongst the pick of the local crop, and with experience of the underfoot conditions and racing on home soil there will surely be a few too good for Biondetti on this occasion and the racing tips reflect this.

Racing is all about opinions and I am more than prepared to have got this one wrong and offer an apology should Biondetti streak home, hard held by five lengths, but I really believe that his form is some way below the required Breeders’ Cup Juvenile standard.

Tags: bet, biondetti, breeders cup, horse racing, irish racing tips, kempton, tipsShare

Do The Champions Have Enough Depth To Lift The Title Again?

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Chelsea have had a fantastic start to the season and there is no doubt that they are very much the title favourites at the moment. They also have an impressive goal difference of 21 from the first 7 games. However with the news that Yossi Benayoun is set for a 6 month stint on the sidelines do Chelsea have enough in their squad to win the title again?

So far this season Chelsea have been without Frank Lampard, John Terry and Alex with Jose Bosingwa also still out. These men have all been consistent performers in Chelsea shirts and although they do have strength in some positions others, particularly central defence, looks weak especially as they didn’t sign a central defender to replace Ricardo Carvalho who moved to Real Madrid in the summer.

It is by no means panic stations for Chelsea at the moment but if they are to compete in both the Premiership and the Champions League this season then their needs to be some squad rotation involved if the players are to last the whole season.

The Chelsea squad is considerably weakened from last year with Joe Cole, Michael Ballack, Deco, Ricardo Carvalho and Juliano Belletti all having left the club and the only summer arrivals being Ramires and Benayoun. Even though all of the players above didn’t play week in week out for Chelsea they were always quality options that they had to bring on that they no longer do.

The hope is that Chelsea are able to bring through some of their younger players to fill the gaps, however there has been very little young talent coming into the Chelsea team over the last few seasons so it s going to be a big step up for the youngsters.

If Chelsea can keep the majority of their first team squad fit then they are still in pole position for the title but with Manchester City in particular not far behind. and with a much larger squad of first team players, Chelsea can not afford to get complacent or pick up too many injuries otherwise they may not be able to retain the title this season. 

Written by Colin Hill, a sports blogger who writes about euro 2012 shirts.

Lack of English clubs in Europe shows inadequate depth of Premier League

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Although Liverpool and Manchester City are both clubs more than capable of making a lasting impact in the Europa League this season, a fact clearly demonstrated in the current odds of winning UEFA Europa League list, the distinct lack of other English clubs making it through to the group stages suggests that the Premier League is not as strong as years gone by.

With the likes of Aston Villa failing to make it to the group stages, despite facing the level of opposition that they were quite rightly expected to defeat in the qualifying rounds, the question that now begs to be answered is whether Fulham’s performance last season in the Europa League will turn out to be an anomaly, rather than the dawning of a new era in which sides not from the top four of the Premier League progress through to the latter stages of Europe’s second tier club competition.

This question is becoming all the more pressing given the fact that Manchester City are unlikely to be in the competition again next season, something that their obvious Champions League ambitions and odds of winning premier league make clear.

With City the only British team prepared to (or even able to) put out their strongest side in this season’s competition, it’s clear why this is a worrying situation made all the more concerning in light of the fact that Liverpool, a club in dire need of some sort of momentum, still refuse to put out a top side in the Europa League.

If this trend continues, the Premier League may yet rue the fact that English sides choose to see themselves as being above the Europa League, especially if they begin to struggle in the Champions League if and when they finally get there.

Cup Exit Exposes Chelsea’s Lack of Depth

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