Sizing to bounce back

We have the ACC Champion Hurdle today at Punchestown at (4.20) and another competitive heat looks to be on the cards.
The early week betting has seen Champion Hurdle flop Sizing Europe put in as the the 7/4 jolly.
He was travelling sweetly turning for home at Cheltenham, but something went wrong with the horse and he was all but pulled up, but we expect him to bounce back on Friday.
They Bet: Sizing Europe 7/4, Sublimity 3/1, Harchibald 6/1, Punjabi 6/1, De Valera 10/1, Straw Bear 10/1 and 14/1 bar.
Big race on Saturday is the Whitbread Gold Cup and we like the look of the veteran Monkerhostin who looks a solid each-way choice at 25/1 in this end-of-season marathon. Iris De Balme hacked up in the Scottish National last week and is hoping to emulate Hot Weld last year by winning both races and is currently quoted at 9/1.
They Bet: Royal County Star 6/1, Ungaro 15/2, Iris De Balme 9/1, Bewleys Berry 12/1, Hoo La Baloo 12/1, Lothian Falcon 12/1, Caribou 14/1, Patsy Hall 14/1, Racing Demon 14/1, Newbay Prop 16/1.

Get on Celtic to go 5 points clear and take Man Utd to grab precious point at the Bridge

What a fantastic weekend of football ahead with titles in England and Scotland hinging on what happens on Saturday and Sunday.
We start in the Premiership with second-placed Chelsea taking on champions and leaders Man Utd at Stamford Bridge (Saturday 12.45).
In recent weeks both teams have gone off the boil, which is why that late Carlos Tevez goal at Blackburn on Saturday past could well turn out to be the most important goal of the season.
The Blues are unbeaten at the Bridge going on four years and it will take a big Utd performance to win there on Saturday.
All the Reds really need on Saturday is a draw and that will put them in pole position going into the final two games.
Neutrals will want a Chelsea win on Saturday to set up an end-of-season thriller, but I expect Man Utd to get the draw (11/5) that they will be more than happy with, but we have opted for the in-form Michael Essien (below)at 16/1 to open the scoring for Chelsea.
On to the SPL and, believe it or not, Celtic can move FIVE points clear if they can beat Rangers at Parkhead on Sunday.
Rangers look like a boxer on the ropes at the moment and their quadruple bid could be about to unravel.
They are in UEFA Cup action tonight against Fiorentina in the semi-finals and that could sap even more energy out of this already knackered ’Gers team.
Celtic beat them 2-1 last week at Parkhead thanks to that late, late goal from Vennegor of Hesselink and I think they will beat them again come Sunday. Celts midfielder Barry Robson has caught the eye of Celtic supporters and looks a good bet to open the scoring at 14/1.
Can they win the SPL? A tough one to call. They will go five points clear if they win on Saturday and the pressure will be on Rangers to win their three games in hand. So still a lot to play for in the SPL if the Celts win on Sunday.
On to our weekend quad and we were let down by Southampton last week who were the worst price we had, at 10/11.
On to our four this weekend and we start off with our weekend nap where we have opted for LEEDS (1/1) to win at Yeovil on Friday night. A win will secure at least a play-off place for the Elland Road outfit.
On to Saturday and MAN CIY (4/5) should send down relegation-haunted Fulham.
SUNDERLAND (6/5) still need a win to secure Premiership safety and they are the third team down in our weekend quad.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST (1/1) are still in the hunt for automatic promotion and we are banking on them taking all points away at Hartlepool.
Is this the week? Let’s hope so!
PG XXX: West Ham v Newcastle (9/4), Birmingham v Liverpool (5/2), Aberdeen v Hibs (11/5)
(remember those doubles and treble)
Live TV Double: Celtic (1/1),
Chelsea draw (11/5)
Must win Quad: Hereford (1/1), Rochdale (1/1), Barnsley (1/1), Leicester (1/1)
EURO Quad: Udinese (1/1), Ath Madrid (13/8) Beyer Leverkusen (4/5) Espanyol (5/4)

Selby (11/2) looks the bet in World Snooker Championships

The World Snooker championships get under way at Sheffield on Saturday with defending champion John Higgins cueing off against Matthew Stevens.
The betting is led by Ronnie O’Sullivan who gets a 3/1 quote and many pundits feel that he has the easiest of draws. But which Ronnie O’Sullivan will turn up at the Crucible?
Mark Selby (11/2) who finished ruuner-up last year is a man on a mission and is the in-form player going into the championships, havingrecently won the Masters.
The same final as last year is priced at 33/1 and is worth a pound or two.
Of the home challenge Joe Swail gets a 200/1 quote while Ken Doherty gets a 25/1 pricing, but Selby looks the bet.

It’s time to get those league tables out and study

Another 10/1 winner for the PG as yet again we hit the bar with our XXX – that late goal by Stoke at Coventry thwarted us for the 18th time this season. Good grief!
We are into the final weeks of the season so our advice is to get those tables out and spend a bit of time studying who’s playing for what. It’ll pay off, honestly.
The PG weekend quad selections are all in the Championship which is turning out to be one hell of a run-in with three points covering the top five and any one from nine could be relegated with Scunthorpe and Colchester already down.
We start with the relegation battle and 55 points is the target for safety for those teams and we have gone for COVENTRY (13/10) who are on 49 points with three games to play.
They have been sucked back into the relegation battle and can get themselves out of it by winning at already-relegated Colchester
Ian Holloway’s LEICESTER (15/8) are on 48 points and travel to safe-looking Barnsley in a match the Foxes need to win.
The match of the weekend sees two of the automatic promotion rivals going head to head, with Bristol City travelling to Stoke in what could determine where one of these clubs will be playing their football next year. We have opted for a win for Tony Pullis’ Stoke side who look too strong for City and the even money on offer looks a good bet. SOUTHAMPTON (1/1) have hit form at the right time and look a solid choice against ‘safe’ Burnley at St Mary’s. The quad pays a healthy £132 for a £5 stake
PG XXX: Blackpool v Sheffield Wednesday (9/4), Watford v Crystal Palace (11/5), Carlisle v Southend (11/5)
( remember those doubles and treble)
OUTSIDE QUAD: Brechin (11/8), Cardiff (21/20), Wolves (1/1), Northampton (11/10)

Old Benny the one to beat in Scottish Grand National

A great week of racing ahead and it all gets under way today with the Craven Stakes at Newmarket (3.45) and as usual it looks a tricky heat – they all are at the start of the flat season.
The big race of the weekend is the Scottish Grand National at Ayr (3.40 Saturday) and the Welsh Grand National winner Miko De Beauchene heads the betting on 6/1.
Cheltenham winner Old Benny has been backed all week and is now as short as 13/2 in places with Richard Johnston on board and he looks the one to beat in the four-mile marathon. He won over that trip at the festival and looks on the up.
BUTLERS CABIN (12/1) was going well before falling at the Chair in the English National and if he turns up on Saturday then he looks a good each-way punt.
On to next week and we have the Punchestown Festival (our very own Cheltenham) and Champion Hurdle flop Sizing Europe is due to turn up in the ACC Bank Champion Hurdle. If he does we expect him to return to winning ways.
MOSSBANK ran a gallant race at the Cheltenham Festival when second to Old Vic, but the form has been franked with that horse beating Kauto Star at Aintree .
You’d be well advised to take the Michael Hourigan horse to upset Gold Cup third Neptune Collonges in the Guinness Gold Cup.

Punter just misses out on small fortune

An Belfast punter so nearly took Sean Graham bookmakers for 30 big ones last Tuesday.
The big question is, did the punter pick these three horses, or did he get some cracking tips? Make your own mind up...
He did two different bets on the day with the same three horses on them.
First bet was 2 x £50 each-way wins and a £100 straight win, and the second was 3 x £10 each-way doubles and 1 x £10 each-way treble – an outlay of £380.
The first horse was Tyup Pompey in the 2.50 at Ludlow and it was well-backed before the off and won comfortably at 20/1 – our punter had just pocketed a grand.
His next horse didn’t run until the evening meeting at Kempton and Hey Presto (6.20) obliged by a head, again at 20/1; not only had our punter won another £5,660, but he was now on the sweat of his life.
He had just picked two 20/1 winners, had banked almost seven grand and had a small fortune riding on his remaining selection.
His next pick, NICE WEE GIRL, was well backed and went off the 7/2 jolly. Our punter’s luck ran out as his selection could only manage second – absolutely gutting for the punter who stood to win over 20 grand on the £10 each-way treble alone.
Counting his doubles up and the £100 win he had on Nice Wee Girl, he stood to win close to 30 grand.
To rub salt into the wounds, Nice Wee Girl turned up at Wolverhampton on Friday night and won after again being well-backed. I wonder if our punter was on?
Let’s hope so.

Punter just misses out on massive windfall

An Belfast punter so nearly took Sean Graham bookmakers for 30 big ones last Tuesday.
The big question is, did the punter pick these three horses, or did he get some cracking tips? Make your own mind up...
He did two different bets on the day with the same three horses on them.
First bet was 2 x £50 each-way wins and a £100 straight win, and the second was 3 x £10 each-way doubles and 1 x £10 each-way treble – an outlay of £380.
The first horse was Tyup Pompey in the 2.50 at Ludlow and it was well-backed before the off and won comfortably at 20/1 – our punter had just pocketed a grand.
His next horse didn’t run until the evening meeting at Kempton and Hey Presto (6.20) obliged by a head, again at 20/1; not only had our punter won another £5,660, but he was now on the sweat of his life.
He had just picked two 20/1 winners, had banked almost seven grand and had a small fortune riding on his remaining selection.
His next pick, NICE WEE GIRL, was well backed and went off the 7/2 jolly. Our punter’s luck ran out as his selection could only manage second – absolutely gutting for the punter who stood to win over 20 grand on the £10 each-way treble alone.
Counting his doubles up and the £100 win he had on Nice Wee Girl, he stood to win close to 30 grand.
To rub salt into the wounds, Nice Wee Girl turned up at Wolverhampton on Friday night and won after again being well-backed. I wonder if our punter was on?
Let’s hope so.

Get on Campell and Hanson at 40/1

Our golfing expert Kevin Officer likes the look of Chad Campbell (pic above) in the Verizon Heritage tournament and he looks overpriced at 40/1 but expect last weeks Masters third Stewart Cink to be thereabouts at 14s.
Peter Hanson looks another golfer over priced in the Volvo China Open again he is 40/1.
Kevin's advice is two single wins and and each-way doubel

Local Teacher misses out on big windfall

A local teacher who needs to remain anonymous for fear of being tapped by the school kids narrowly missed out in paying off his mortgage on a Saturday night bet at Kempton Park.
His day started off with £1ew on Comply or Die at 7/1 in the Grand National. Deciding that it wouldn’t cover his Saturday night out – three pints and a fish supper – he decided to re-invest it.
Picking 4 horses at the all-weather Kempton Park meeting on Saturday night, he covered them with a 50p Lucky 15 and £1 ew quad.
Standing in the bookies he watched the first horse rump home – Lough Beg at 13/2 – by more than 4 lengths in 7.50 race.
He could taste the fish supper when the second horse Jomus won the 8.20 at 9/1.
A quick calculation on the chalk board tolk him he had well over £100 running on the final two horses on his bet.
When thethird horse Commander Cave was drove home by Richard Hughes in the 8.50 at 15/2 his calculations told him that he could being dining out in Paris if the last one obliged.
At 9.20 in the last race – our teacher had well over £1000 running onto Aggbag which opened up at 14/1.
A guaranteed return of £440 already in the bag but the final horse in his bet would net him £18,000 at 14’s.
The price shortened to 12s a quick calculation on the blackboard told him the final bet could now net £16000 plus but he didn’t mind it’s usually a good omen to see the price shorten.
The race was off and he settled back to listen to the commentary.
Into the final straight and his horse was moving up on the leaders with only yards to go he was within 2 lengths of the leader.
The yells could be hearfrom Casement Park to St Pauls as he willed his horse home.
Unfortunately Aggbag finished 4th less than 1 ½ lengths behind the winner. A quick calculation tells me those 1 ½ lengths cost our unlucky punter over £15000 – that’s over £10,000 per length and his mortgage payment will have to wait another day. Needless to say hower – the cod supper – well that’s a different kettle of fish.

Punter narrowly misses out on Grand National tri-cast

An Ormeau Road butcher just missed out on the tri-cast in the Grand National on Saturday.
It’s hard enough to pick the winner of the race, never mind the first three home.
Butcher John had placed 6 x £1 reverse tri-casts (total outlay £6).
It was heartbreak for the punter who was on one hell of a sweat as the first four horses came to the final fence.
His three horses were winner Comply or Die (right), Kings John Castle and Slim Pickings who jumped the last as the front three. The bet bit the dust as Slim Pickings started to back track and Chelsea Harbour ran on under pressure to get third place.
The tri-cast paid £2,268.11, so John was beaten out of around two grand as Slim Pickings was a 10/1 shot. To rub salt into the wounds, John also had £30 on Slim Pickings in the race – a really gutting day for the South Belfast butcher.

Title race ready to be blown wide open

The title race could be blown wide open this weekend when Arsenal lock horns with Manchester United on Sunday.
The champions have drifted to 1/4 (from 1/7) with layers to win the Premier League after they were held 2-2 at Middlesbrough on Sunday, which enabled dogged Chelsea to close the gap to three points.
Chelsea have been backed in to 11/4 and look to have the easier run-in – remember they play the Reds on Saturday, April 26 – a day that could detemine where the Premiership title ends up this season. Remember, the Blues are unbeaten at home in four years
Draw specialists Arsenal get a 20/1 quote and remain six points behind Utd after their 1-1 draw with Liverpool. If they could snatch a win on Sunday it would be three points which would keep the Gunners in with a wee bit of a sniff, but can they lift themselves after Tuesday night’s Champions’ League sickener?
Last weekend Sheffield Wednesday let us down in the PG Quad, but we still hope to be visiting the winner’s enclosure before the season ends.
First team down and our weekend nap is in-form SUNDERLAND 5/4 who know a win over Man City on Saturday will guarantee Premiership safety for next season.
READING 5/6 could send Fulham down to the Championship and also guarantee them Premiership football next term.
Another team struggling are BIRMINGHAM 9/5 and they face Champions’ League-chasing Everton – we expect Alex McLeish’s team to cause a bit of an upset here.
Making the weekend PG Quad up are FA Cup Finalists CARDIFF 4/5 who should take all points at home to Blackpool. Let’s hope we finally get that wee bit of luck we need to send us to the settler’s window.
PG XXX: Bristol City v Wolves (9/4), Coventry v Stoke (11/5), Portsmouth v Newcastle (11/5)
( remember those doubles and treble)
FIVEHIT: Cardiff (4/5), Hull (4/5), Crystal Palace (4/7), Queen’s Park (5/6), Dunfermline (4/5)
EURO QUAD: VfB Stuggart (19/10), Seville (6/4),
Valencia (11/10), Ath. Madrid (13/10)

Cink the each-way bet at 80/1

Today (Thursday) sees the start of the 72nd US Masters, writes Kevin Officer.
It is the only major tournament that is always held at the same course, the Augusta National Golf Club, and the history of the course makes the traditional Green Jacket the winner receives the prize a majority of players would choose if asked to select their ultimate glory.
The question on everyone's lips is, can anyone stop the Tiger?
Woods is the shortest priced favourite ever at 11/10 to claim his 14th major – a terrible price considering how hard the Augusta course plays. Yet again the course has been lengthened and plays around 7,500 yards which plays right into the hands of golf’s big hitters.
With victory in the Masters, the first major championship of the season, superstar Tiger could set himself up for a run at golf's holy grail – victories in all four major championships in one year. Tiger is also set to become sport’s first billionaire sportsman by 2010.
Even the great Jack Nicklaus (18 major wins) in his prime was only being priced at 5/1 to win any of the majors so the bookies are running scared of Woods – and no wonder. His stats for his last eight tournaments worldwide in 2008 read seven wins out of eight.
Last year’s winner, Zach Johnson, is priced at 66/1 to repeat last year’s win but is not playing the greatest at the moment.
Of the Europeans playing at Augusta, two players in particular are going well at present.
Irishman and current British Open Champion Padraig Harrington (33/1) and young English hope Justin Rose (40/1), who has climbed to sixth in the world ranking, look the best bet out of the Europeans but an each way bet is advised.
A top five pays 1/4 the odds. Justin Rose believes he has the game to grab the Green Jacket for Europe, nine years after Spain's José Maria Olazábal completed his second victory and 12 years after fellow Englishman Nick Faldo completed a hat-trick of Masters wins. Harrington and Rose are showing signs of form at the right time. So who do we tip to do well at Augusta?
We have gone for Stewart Cink, who is overpriced at 80/1
Apart from Woods (obviously) we have gone for a player who in the last year has started to play well again. American Cink is is a great each way bet which pays 20/1 for a top five finish.
Cink is playing great this year and is certain to make the US Ryder Cup team.
Another player to keep an eye out for is KJ Choi from South Korea. Choi is making huge strides on the U.S tour and again is overpriced at 50/1.
Others to watch out for are the Australian duo of Geoff Ogilvy (33/1) and Adam Scott (40/1).
No Australian has ever won at the Masters, so could this be the year?
This year, those each way bets look the way to go.

Grand National meeting begins

A great 3-day meeting to look forward to for punters as the Aintree Grand National meeting jumps off today.
GREAT racing today.
World Hurdle winner Inglis Drever is (11/8) to win the opener but fellow festival winner Ballyfitz (20/1) looks a strong each-way choice. Can Kauto bounce back? He is a (8/11) on shot with old foe Exotic Dancer the danger at (11/2).
Binocular (9/4) and Celestial Halo (13/8) lock horns in the novice hurdle and it looks a close one to call - don't rule out Harper Valley (7/1) who beat Frankochek at Cheltenham earlier in the season.
Christy Beamish (7/1) looks the punt in the Foxhunters Chase which is run over the National fences with the Irish trained Where Now (8/1) the danger.
Leslingtaylor (7/1) won here on his chase debut and is the one to beat in the RED RUM HCAP CHASE - Dev (16/1) will have it's supporters.
My Nap of the day is Franchoek (2/1) in the MERSEY NOV HDLE with the danger being Whiteoak. Junior (10/1) run a great race at Cheltenham and looks the bet in the finale today.

The rest is up to YOU!

Get on Cardiff (5/4) to see off giantkillers Barnsley in FA Cup

NOT AGAIN! Our XXX yet again went close last weekend – two out of three draws for the 18th time this season.
It was still a 10/1 winner for the smart punters who had doubles and trebles. We enter the final full month of the season and we hope another winning quad is round the corner.
We have the FA Cup semi-finals to look forward to and we have three Championship teams in the semi-finals.
We expect Premiership side PORTSMOUTH (1/1)  to beat West Brom in Saturday’s game. In-form CARDIFF (6/4) look a solid choice against giantkillers Barnsley who have knocked out Chelsea and Liverpool en route to the semis but have been out of form since that Chelsea victory.
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (6/4) are fighting relegation and travel to fellow strugglers Scunthorpe – we think the Owls will get the three points.
Making the weekend quad up are LEEDS (5/4) who got a vital win at Doncaster on Tuesday night and can take all points at Leyton Orient.
PG XXX: Blackburn v Spurs (12/5), Wigan v Birmingham (9/4), Norwich v Burnley (12/5)
PG FIVEHIT: Nottingham Forest (8/13), Carlisle (1/2), Newcastle (8/11), Northampton (4/5), QPR (10/11)
LONGSHOT TREBLE: St Johnstone (3/1), Dundee Utd (11/2), Man City (4/1)
Don’t forget doubles and trebles.
UEFA Cup
Sporting to grab draw
We have the UEFA Cup quarter-finals tonight (Thursday) and what a season Rangers are having. They have ridden their luck at times but Walter Smith’s team are still on for the quadruple.
However, they looked jaded against Celtic and we expect Sporting Lisbon to take a draw back to Portugal for the second leg. The draw is priced at 9/4. Add Fiorentina (1/1), Bayern Munich (1/2) and Bayer Leverkusen (4/6) for our UEFA Cup quad.

Punter out of luck

A North Belfast punter was out of luck not once but twice last week with Lucky 15 bets (below).
We begin with last Wednesday night’s bet and our punter placed a £2 Lucky 15 bet – an outlay of £30.
His first horse that night, TABOOR, scooted home at 10/1 to more than cover the outlay of the bet.
His next selection, SLIDAN 16/1, was beaten into fifth in the next but the bet received a boost when JUSTCALLMEHANDSOME  won the 7.50 at sevens.
The last selection, CASABLANCA MINX, won the 8.50 at 10/1 to secure a £1,834 payday – not a bad Thursday night’s work. But if his second leg had won you are talking £39,000, but it was well beaten.
The same punter went into the same Sean Grahams pitch the following night and did the same bet.
The bet got off to an absolute flyer when Hammer Of The Gods eased home at 14/1 in the 6.50 at Wolverhampton – what a start!
It got a whole lot better when Lucayan Dancer won the next at 10/1. Our punter had already banked over £300 and the sweat was on.
It got a whole lot better when the gritty Monkey Glas got back up after being headed to win at 4/1.
The sweat was well and truly on and our punter was waiting on Most Definitely. After a ding-dong battle with Kings Fable it was up to the judges to split them. Usually when you are in a photo-finish and your horse is called out first it’s a good sign. 99 per cent of the time your horse has won, so the signs where good for our punter. But he was left devastated as Kings Fable got the verdict. Our punter had just seen £20,000 dwindle to just over two grand – absolutely gutting for the guy. But four grand is four grand.
An Andersonstown punter hit Sean Grahams for £2,031.62 with a £20 draw quad. He took Leeds 11/5, Sheffield Wednesday 11/5, Ipswich 11/5 and Crystal Palace 9/4. Great piece of punting by both lads.

Golf punter cleans up with two 100/1 shots
We all dream of that ultimate bet that could buy you a car or pay off your mortgage.
A lucky Sky Bet golf customer was celebrating on Sunday night after winning £54,385 from just a £5 each-way double. He scooped the tremendous return by combining promising French player Thomas Levet and Andres Romero, both 100/1, to win the Andalucian Open and the Zurich Classic respectively, in an each-way double.
Levet scraped home in a play-off to delight of the punter.

McCartans to sell up to Ladbrokes?

Strong rumours in Andersonstown today that local layers McCartans are to sell up to Ladbrokes.
Staff have been summoned to a specialmeeting in the Balmoral Hotel tonight to see what future plans are.
Could this be a April Fool for staff?
English firm Ladbrokes bought over Eastwoods last month and the PG have introduced betting on who goes next!
6/4 McGranghans 7/4 McLeans 7/2 Sean Grahams.