Nick Shiambouros heads to the North East for today’s 80/20… Today’s 80/20 is Pegasus Prince in the 16:20 at Newcastle. This gelding is slowly getting the hang of things and put up an improved effort last time out when finishing second to Bishops Heir at Kelso last month. I think he has more to offer and should be involved in the finish. At present he is trading at 6.2 on the exchange.
Paul Krishnamurty tells us which way some of the “swinging” constituencies such as Tynemouth and Ipswich could go in what could prove to be crucial seats in determining the outcome of the upcoming general elections. “This new constituency looks a genuine three horse race, now that Respect leader George Galloway has opted to fight here rather than neighbouring Bethnal Green and Bow, where he is the sitting MP. Doubtless Galloway is reckoning on the substantial Muslim vote swinging behind him, but it remains to be seen whether his reputation has survived the debacle of Celebrity Big Brother.” Stirling Conservative Target No
Pride and coffers dented, but confidence not, Timeform’s focus moves with no little purpose to the North East of England for today’s Placepot in a bid to get things back on track. “ Treehouse is a chaser very much on the upgrade and it will be a surprise if three are good enough to beat her.” 2.10 – Colour Clash looks open to improvement, though he’s presumably been hard to train and including him second run back looks foolhardy with that in mind. That leaves Kingsdale Orion , fit from a good Flat run and well suited by testing ground, and Tail of The Bank , who’s kept better company in two starts over hurdles to date and won’t be stopping at the end
Timeform radio pundit Graeme Smith heads to the North East for today’s selections… “Best China promises to prove formidable too, and odds around of 9.0 on Betfair make him worth a punt.” 15:10 Newcastle, Best China The market seems to revolve around the former hunter chaser Luskar here, and it’s hard to know exactly what to expect from him, but Best China promises to prove formidable too, and odds around of 9.0 on Betfair make him worth a punt. He was set to win a handicap at Down Royal in 2007/8 when crashing out at the last and still looks well handicapped on that form. Okay, so that was a long time ago, but he’s been off the track for a good chunk of that time and his recent fourth back at Down Royal suggests he’s very much on the way back, likely to have finished a deal closer but for being hampered three out and then hitting the next
“Mystical” Mike Norman has been given the task of previewing the West Midlands derby and he is very much of the opinion that form does matter in such games. Best Bet: Back Birmingham @ 1.88 to beat Wolves.
A card with the potential to be something of a guessing game given uncertainty regarding likely conditions, but Timeform’s National Hunt team have put their heads together in a bid to land the Placepot at Gosforth Park.
Ed Nicholson takes a detailed look at the Premier League fixture list, and points out three bets (two with savers) worth placing in his beloved under/over 2.5 goal column…. “I simply can’t see Wolves scoring – so can Chelsea score three goals or more?
Labour trade at just 1.25 to land the Glasgow-East by-election but a cocktail of factors make those odds look uncomfortably tight, Paul krishnamurty looks at the betting “Very few Labour seats looks entirely safe at the General Election , and history has repeatedly shown that upsets are much more likely in a by-election. Indeed, it was in the neighbouring seat of Glasgow East 16 months ago that Labour suffered arguably the worst result in the party’s history “ The popular consensus is increasingly that, despite various plots and plenty of logical reason to remove him, the Labour Party are resigned to fighting next year’s General Election under the leadership of Gordon Brown .
Common consensus about Brown’s departure from the labour leadership may be wrong, suggests Jack Houghton, who thinks he’s found the ‘bet of the century’. While looking around the politicss markets he had a peak at the Glasgow North-East By-Election odds too “There won’t be anywhere near that sense of urgency to elect a leader of a defeated party, and given a likely much more competitive field (there is no clear favourite to take over from Brown), it is entirely probably Brown will remain Labour Party leader until into July 2010.” There is a truth professional gamblers hold to be self-evident: to be profitable, you must specialise
Lover of Championship football Andrew French believes following some in-form and/or quality sides like Leicester, Newcastle and West Brom can pay handsome dividends on Saturday. “Sure, their form isn’t what it was a few weeks ago, but they are still second in the table with some top-notch players and the loan signing of Marlon Harewood only adds to that.” There are few teams able to boast an unbeaten home record stretching back more than 12 months – and opportunities to back such teams on their own patch at better than even money are few and far between. So, get on Leicester at 2.22 as they entertain Preston this weekend.
