Sunday's Treats, Tips & Trades

Well Happy Easter to all,  hope you all remembered to put your clocks forward last night. Yesterday wasn't too bad with a couple of nice results coming in and the footy trades were not bad either.

Today sees the glut of sport continue, with races on both side of the water, a decent spread of football across the continent, with A Villa fighting to get out of the drop zone and Liverpool still aiming for European football. We also have Andy Murray going for the no2 spot in the world, personally I think he has got mentally stronger since teaming up with Lendl and should come out on top tonight. Then in London we have the Boat Race going off at 1630, hopefully security has been stepped up a bit and we don't have a repeat of last years idiot in the water.

Last night's sacking of Martin O'Neill was a bit of a shock, more for the timing of it rather the actual act. With 7 games to go surely you keep the faith, and trust you'll get through.  A new manager needs to get to know the team, get his instructions across and get the players to buy in to his ethos. I've seen Di Canio's name banded about, but surely the chairman is not bloody stupid, a lay in terms of common sense for me. Steve McLaren may be a good shout, although the fans wont be happy. Alan Curbishley, maybe, and what about Peter Reid going back? Personally I think it will be an appointment out of left field, lets watch and see.

Steady day for me today with low stakes all round, fancy a look at Quayside Court at Towcester, along with  Western Lodge at Plumpton, and will be interesting to see how Miserere Mei goes on grass at Musselburgh. Also watching for Pandorama at Cork. Watch out for NRs, a few starting to shown up already.

Win Bets
2.10 Towcester - Celtic Abbey
2.30 Plumpton - Bebinn
4.20 Musselburgh - Ambleside

EW Bets
3.10 Towcester - All Alhenna
4.00 Plumpton - Balder Success
4.35 Plumpton - Ttus Mills

Footy Trades - Starting Positions
Wolfsburg v Nurnberg
1-1 £5
2-1 £3
1-2 £2
3-1 £2
look at 2-2 @ 30s £2

Furth v Frankfurt
O2.5 £15
1-0 £2
1-1 £5
0-2 £3
0-0 £2

Good Luck & Enjoy your Easter

Saturday Picks & Trades

Busy sporting weekend on the horizon, but how much of it is quality?  A lot of racing so if you are trading take care, if you have automation on, look out it will only take one race to be delayed and the whole lot will start to fall apart.

The Flat season gets underway with the first Grade 1 just around the corner,  but before that we have the Grand National, so studying has started, is it worth studying, or should you just stick a pin in and hope for the best.  Thoughts are still with JT McNarama, & hopefully he is comfortably & can keep his spirits up. Other racing news includes Frankel seems to have started to earn his stud fees + interest, with the increasing likely hood of a get together with Black Caviar on the horizon. Anybody want to hazard a guess to the value of that foal!!! Couple to look out for today, expecting a good run: At Carlisle; Trouble in Paris, Haydock; Softsong & Newton Abbot: Cloudingstar. Also have a fancy for Jack's Revenge in the big one at Donny.

On the footy front a busy weekend with several teams now having their final push for promotion or avoiding relegation, interesting watching Crystal Palace last night, have they bottled it or will their mad manager turn them around? I think Man Utd have been handed the Premiership by the others rather than winning it,, and at the other end of the table my money remains on QPR, A Villa & Reading for the drop, Readings new manager will do well for them, but in the Championship. Coming up I'm glad to see Cardiff more or less securing their promotion  my worry is the behind the scenes issues, and some mumblings of financial issues on the horizon.

The axe finally fell on my local side Dunfermline Athletic this week. They have paid the price for over investing in players, low crowd base and no success to back it all up. Unfortunately I do not think they will be the last, with 4 other Scottish clubs being classed as in a 'distressed' state. In the short term it is a case of every penny counts, and if anybody fancies helping out then you can donate via Donate to The Pars . Funny enough the bookies have them at 8-1 to win today, & I believe this is a value bet, they have an exciting young team and will hopefully have something to prove.

Andy Murray done well last night, but he was prone to the odd mistake. He's presently 1.34, and at that price he's worth looking at with a view to trading. Also some decent club on around the country, will be keeping an eye on my 'home' side of Newport, who face Llanelli, and the bookies seem to have an away victory n the cards, no real argument from me, but will look at the handicaps later.

Win Bets
2.00 Carlisle - Mojolika
2.35 Carlisle - Upsilon Bleu

EW
3.05 Doncaster - Jack's Revenge
3.45 Carlisle - Rudemeister
3.45 Carlisle - Humbie
3.50 Haydock - Patsy Finegan
4.25 Haydock - Ballyben

Place Lay/Back to Lay
2.35 Cork - Katchy Lady

Rev Forecast
3.45 Carlisle - Rudemeister/Humbie

Footy Trades - Starting Positions
Frieburg v Mgladbach
O3.5 £10
0-2 £3
1-2 £4
2-1 £3

Utrecht v VVV
U2.5 £10
2-1 £4
3-1 £6

Good Luck & Happy Easter

Sundays Tips & Trades - Snow Joke!!

Has anybody told the big man that its not meant to snow in March. Snow is for pretty pictures and Xmas cards, not for Easter.

What a wonderful day Saturday was, no trading, and only a couple of single bets on the lower division leagues. Some rubbish AW available if anybody really wanted a fix. Managed to catch a decent rugby game on Wasps v Northampton, but overall quite a relaxing and different Saturday for me. And as for Wales beating Scotland, again, then I will make no further comment.

Unfortunately it sounds like the end is nigh for my local club Dunfermline Athletic, HMRC is knocking and potential investors are getting very uneasy after the due diligence must have found one or two issues. In the town the locals are preparing the lynching posts and sharpening the pitch forks.

Onto Sunday's action and we have some horses running again and the F1 circus is in to round 2. In Malaysia the Ferrari's have qualified well again, with Massa beating his team mate, will be interesting to see how and if team orders come into play. I think Vettel will get off to a quick start, but i query of the car has the ability to last the pace. Interesting to see that Alonso is the bookies favourite, so Vettel could be a decent lay/trade. Rain is also a good possibility, so other trading possibilities may appear in running.

In the cricket England are not exactly covering themselves in glory, but a lay of New Zealand may be a value    lay.  Don't know what has gone with the squad but consistency seems to have gone out of the window, is it the introduction of Root & Bairstow and the hassle with KP that's upsetting things? Or is it just poor leadership? Time will tell.

Racing sees some flat racing over the water, couple to look for: Joe Eile, Einsteins Folly,  and Custom Cut.  Elsewhere Some small fields at Wincanton could prove for some interesting trading and racing. Be careful of non-runners, I see some already starting to mess the cards up.

Win
2.25 Wincanton - Quick Decisson
2.55 WIncanton - Little Jimmy

EW
2.25 Wincanton - Phantom Prince
3.55 Wincanton - Sidney Melbourne
4.25 WIncanton - Milarrow

Footy Trade - Starting Position
Tranmere v Stevenage
1-1 £5
2-1 £3
O2.5 £15
Lay U3.5 £25

F1
Lay Vettel in Winner Market

Good Luck

Sunday's Thoughts & Tips

Get In!!!  Anybody else have a great day yesterday? The only thing that could have gone better were a couple of football results.

That's the 6 Nations over with for another 12 months and it was so good to see the trophy coming home again. I thought the game would have been a lot closer, with not only national pride at stake but also selection for the Lions front of mind. Well obviously somebody forgot to tell England, it was a performance from a Welsh team who knew from the heart what victory was going to mean. They beat up the English, out classed and out thought them. They ensured the match was played how they wanted it to be, and they used there heads, simple stuff, if England spread the defence Wales went up the middle & vice versa. They listened to the referee  and were a lot more street wise. On 1 v 1s I really do struggle to see where any English player came out on top. I thought Jamie Roberts had a poor championship, but yesterday he would have gone through brick walls for the team, immense. Gatland is going to struggle with his lions selection, and I think the struggle will be how he justifies to the media that he only has a spattering of English players, and they will more that likely come from the pack.

The horses done OK yesterday with a nice double coming out of the EW selections, today is a lot quieter with low stakes being used across the board.  In the graded race in Limerick keep an eye out for Misunited to give the Willie Mullins horses a run for the money.

Did yesterdays premiership games start to put a seal on the final standings, Man Uts for the title, courtesy of Everton. bye bye QPR, Villa have given themselves a lifeline.  And Brendan Rodgers- Joe Allen is not the answer and I hope you have a replacement lined up for Carragher or you need to sweet talk him in to playing for another year.

Interesting Grand Prix this morning, with a surprise winner, but overall I was pleased with the run of the Ferraris, and it looks like there may be some work to do on the Red Bull. Would like to be fly on the wall of Webber's garage to understand what went on with him at the start. He ending up leaving Vettell exposed, which in turn left him high and dry to the better cars. Don't expect many big changes before next weeks GP, with only enough time for a few tweaks.

Back
2.30 Carlisle - Big Water
3.00 Carlisle -  Grey Gold
4.30 Carlisle - Upswing

EW Double
4.55 Limerick - He's Our Man
5.05 Wexford - Moigen


Rev Forecast
2.30 Carlisle - Big Water  Swaledale Lad

Back To Lay
3.30 Carlisle - Mitchell's Way - B/L

Couple of footy trades from the continent to take an interest in.

Feyenoord v Utrecht - Starting Position
U2.5 £10
2-1 £4
3-1 £6

Toulouse v Bordeaux- Starting Position
O3.5 £10
1-2 £4
0-2 £3
2-1 £3

Osasuna v Ath Madrid
Lay Madrid £15
0-1 £4
1-2 £5
1-3 £4

Good Luck

Saturday's Tips, Thoughts & Trades

Oh well that was the week that was, all over for another year. Cheltenham, invited the best of the current crop and along they came.  Some went home with their heads held high, where others went home rather disappointed, with the words of 'good effort, but more homework required' ringing in their ears. Now am I talking about the horses , the trainers, or the punters?  The Irish came out on top, with the winning trainer & jockey, punting wise i think its fair to say the bookies didn't go home empty handed.

On a personal basis, I enjoy this festival and this year have came away with a slight increase in the bank balance, so can't complain.  highlights included Hurricane Fly show his true worth, the ride that Quevega was given was a joy to behold, what a lovely horse Sprinter Sacre is, also enjoyed the runs of Champagne Fever and Benefficent along with Solwhit. Some cracking racing but with the very subtle reminder of the bravery and skill that the jockey's produce endlessly, and I am sure we all wish JT McNamara a quick and speedy recovery.

Today sees the start of the tailing off of the season, with the Midlands Grand national down at Uttoxeter, I had 2 runners for this, only for them to both be NRs. So take care today, a lot of changeable weather, and a lot of non runners starting to appear.  Some of the fields were not that big, so look out for any EW bets that you may have had. look out for Connectivity in the 3.15 Uttoxeter  long time off, but has ability, also watch for under Par in the 7.50 at Wolverhampton  can be expensive to follow, but if he puts it all together the spoils will be there to be had.

The F1 season got off to a great start (not!!) with qualifying delayed 24 hours due to weather conditions, i see Hamilton's price has been early halved for the Championship, all down to his fast practise times, so I am happy to take him on as a lay, fully expect him to drift over the next few races.. Vettell still setting the pace, and an interesting race to come.

The early kick off sees Man City travel to Everton, something seems to have gone wrong with Moyes team, at the moment. At a time he could do without it.  Man City can't afford to lose, one more lose equals curtains for their Premiership hopes.  Trade below favours a Man City win. Southampton host Liverpool, the visitors are not great value, St Mary's has no been a great place for the top teams to visit. I expect a Liverpool win, but a hard fought one.  Joe Allan is fit, but still a question mark over who is playing in goal. Arsenal have to go to a bouncing Swansea, may be a little backing of the Swans here, Arsenal have a few injury worries and don't have the best of squads to fill in.

My local team, Dunfermline Athletic, are well and truly in the mire, the team and back room staff were going great guns at the beginning of the season, but financial issues have now taken over.  A lot of fighting over ownership, along with HMRC and other creditors are knocking at the doors. It has split the fans, so if you are thinking of having any money on a Dunfermline game, i would advise against it!!

The 6 Nations come to the end today with the big match down on Cardiff. My heart tells me a home win, but if I was the English team, i would be wanting to prove something. Experience may out in the end, along with the skill and power of the back line. Good Luck to all of those wearing red today... :-)

Backs

2.45 Down Royal - Shinrock Paddy

2.40 Uttoxeter - Grouse Lodge

4.25 Uttoxeter - Financial Climate

5.25 Ffos Las - Monkey Kingdom

EW & EW Doubles

2.15 Kempton - Lordofthehouse

2.20 Linfield - Ladies Are Forever

4.35 Kempton - Tante Sissi

5.10 Kempton - Be Definite

Place lays at 1.3, and win lays at 1.17 on all.

Home win & Double

Notts County

Montpellier

Trixie

Gillingham

Lyon

Cardiff

Lay The Draw

Southampton

Bologna

Trades Starting positions:

Everton v Man City

Lay Man City £20

0-1 £3

1-2 £4

1-3 £3

watch for small backs on Any unquoted and 1-1

Den Haag v Vitesse

Lay U3.5 £20

1-0 £3

1-1 £5

1-2 £5

0-2 £4

look for small back of 0-3

Good Luck

F1 2013

Well the start of the 2013 Formula 1 season is nearly upon us. Several new team combinations, the loss of one team, and as usual a change in some of the rules for both drivers and teams. A lot of the information needed for the season can be found on the brilliant site belonging to F1. A great source of news and information: F1 website

We also have the bonus of having Suzi Perry on our screens more often, a lot more pleasing on the eye than Jake Humphreys. My thoughts on the upcoming seasons drivers are:

Vettel is looking to for a fourth championship, but as mentioned in previous dispatches i have concerns that the Red Bull will be handicapped by the authorities and caught up by the others. Webber will do OK as he has talent, but he is not consistent and will have to listen to team orders, he is the No2.  Button is going to have to rely on his bosses building him a fast car and improve on last seasons pit stop fiascos, with the new softer tyres the new boy in the team Perez should benefit. He is been nicknamed the tyre whisperer due to him being able to squeeze every last drop out of his rubber boots, but i can't see him winning many races.  Raikkonen has the ability and a bit of history but along with his partner Grosjean, they will both suffer from the lack of development in the Lotus.

Hamilton's move I believe was not motivated by winning trophies in 2013, but with it may be worth watching in 2014. This year he is going to have to put up with uncertainty and unrest in the back room staff, along with his team mate Rosberg they will also have to overcome last seasons poor tyre wear, although going by the practises times at Barcelona they may have some good top speeds, but how will that pan out over the course  of a race distance?  Other drivers who may be picking up some scraps are Paul di Resta and Pastor Maldonado.

My money will be riding on Fernado Alonso this season. He is the No1 driver at Ferrari and had a great end to last season.  He didn't get much help last year from his partner Massa, or from some dated and poor support infra structures and mechanisms, this year they have a new wind tunnel to use for development and have one of the most experienced test drivers. so combined with his knowledge, ability and skill he gets my backing.

I have listed below some of the major rule changes, and have listed this seasons teams and calendar.  This season also sees the introduction of the voluntary agreement on a restriction of costs.

Rule changes:

1) Weight - due to changes in their structure, Pirelli's 2013 tyres are around 2kg heavier per set than in 2012, hence the car's minimum weight limit has been increased by the same amount, from 640 to 642kg. As a consequence, the weight-distribution requirement has also been revised to minimum figures of 292kg:343kg front to rear, leaving teams 7kg to play with.

2) Stepped noses - to mask the step in the car's nose (thought unattractive by many), teams are now allowed to place a non-structural 'vanity panel' over this area, the shape of which is strictly controlled by the regulations.

3) Front wing tests - to prevent them flexing, front wings now face a tougher deflection test, with a 1,000N (100kg) load applied at two different points on both the longitudinal and transverse axes. The amount the wing may deflect has been reduced from 20mm to 10mm.

4) Load and crash tests - more severe load tests for the roll structure have been introduced and the crash test requirements modified.

5) Survival cell - the side load test for the survival cell is more severe too, and it must be applied to all chassis produced by a team, rather than to a single example.

6) & 7) DRS - active 'double DRS' systems - where the DRS activation mechanism is utilised for other purposes  are no longer allowed (only passive solutions are now considered legal). Also, DRS usage is now limited to the DRS zones in all sessions (previously it could be used anywhere during free practice and qualifying).

8) The concept of force majeure- circumstances beyond the team's control - has been removed from the regulations. This was an issue in two similar instances last year, when 2 of the drivers ran out of fuel at the end of qualifying. Both teams tried - and failed - to argue it was force majeure that had led to the problem. Now, if teams stop on the in-lap of their qualifying run and the fuel quantity in the tank is not what is required to finish that lap they will be automatically disqualified.

9) Curfews - The team personnel curfew - which prevents team members from being in the paddock during specified periods - has been extended from six to eight hours on Thursday nights for 2013. The number of exceptions allowed during a season has also been reduced from four to two.

10) Qualifying - Not an actual regulation change, but as the official 2013 entry list comprises 22 cars - two fewer than in 2012 - six cars rather than seven will now be eliminated at the end of both Q1 and Q2.

Calendar

Round	Race title	Grand Prix	Date
1	Rolex Australian Grand Prix	Australian GP	17-Mar
2	Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix	Malaysian GP	24-Mar
3	UBS Chinese Grand Prix	Chinese GP	14-Apr
4	Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain GP	21-Apr
5	Gran Premio de España	Spanish GP	12-May
6	Grand Prix de Monaco	Monaco GP	26-May
7	Grand Prix du Canada	Canadian GP	09-Jun
8	British Grand Prix	British GP	30-Jun
9	Großer Preis von Deutschland	German GP	07-Jul
10	Magyar Nagydíj	Hungarian GP	28-Jul
11	Shell Belgian Grand Prix	Belgian GP	25-Aug
12	Gran Premio d'Italia	Italian GP	08-Sep
13	Singapore Grand Prix	Singapore GP	22-Sep
14	Korean Grand Prix	Korean GP	06-Oct
15	Japanese Grand Prix	Japanese GP	13-Oct
16	Airtel Indian Grand Prix	Indian GP	27-Oct
17	Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Abu Dhabi GP	03-Nov
18	United States Grand Prix	United States GP	17-Nov
19	Grande Prêmio do Brasil	Brazilian GP	24-Nov

Teams

Team	Constructor	No.	Race drivers
Infiniti Red Bull Racing	Red Bull-Renault	1	Sebastian Vettel
		2	Mark Webber
Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	3	Fernando Alonso
		4	Felipe Massa
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren-Mercedes	5	Jenson Button
		6	Sergio Pérez
Lotus F1 Team	Lotus-Renault	7	Kimi Räikkönen
		8	Romain Grosjean
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	9	Nico Rosberg
		10	Lewis Hamilton
Sauber F1 Team	Sauber-Ferrari	11	Nico Hülkenberg
		12	Esteban Gutiérrez
Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India-Mercedes	14	Paul di Resta
		15	Adrian Sutil
Williams F1 Team	Williams-Renault	16	Pastor Maldonado
		17	Valtteri Bottas
Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	18	Jean-Éric Vergne
		19	Daniel Ricciardo
Caterham F1 Team	Caterham-Renault	20	Charles Pic
		21	Giedo van der Garde
Marussia F1 Team	Marussia-Cosworth	22	Jules Bianchi
		23	Max Chilton

Sunday Tips and Trades

Fairly quiet day today, yesterday was an OK day, with a couple of surprises popping up.  The main focus of the trainers and owners is definitely on next weeks Cheltenham Festival, but obviously nobody told the horses  its just another day, another race.

The rugby went well for Wales, the only surprise being Halfpenny missing a couple of penalties.  England take n Italy today, if  the Italians play like they did against Scotland then England will steam roller them.  all that appears to play for now is the Grand Slam, hopefully Wales can thwart the English next week.

Got stung last night on the Boruusia Munchengladbach game, simple lay the draw, but greed took over and i paid when a quick equaliser went in. Must remember to stick to the plan.  looking forward to the Liverpool v Spurs game today. Both teams need to win. Spurs will be n a high from their midweek game, but the Scousers will be well rested, should be goals s will be looking at a relevant trade. Can QPR beat the drop, watching yesterdays game and looking at the future fixtures they must be in with a good shout. I would be worried if i was a Sunderland or Aston Villa fan. Well done to Wigan yesterday, certainly gave Everton a bloody nose, certainly gave Moyes food for thought for the future.

Formula 1 kicks off again next week, some interesting testing results coming through, and a lot of people goig for another Vettel win, but I think you will see the Red Bull pegged bag, perhaps a little by the authorities but also the other teams catching up. As I said previously my money is on Alonso, had a good end to the season, has experience on his side and has very little to worry about from outside pressures. He is without doubt the number 1 driver in the team so the car is set exactly as he wants, and gets all new modifications,  available at 4s @ Bet365

Win
3.20 MRasen - The Big Freeze
4.50 MRasen - Oranger

EW
3.00 Warwick - Fiddlers Bid
3.50 MRasen - Dawn Twister

Footy Trades
Liverpool V Spurs  - all stats from  Who Scored

There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 12 of Liverpool's last 13 games in the Premier League
Liverpool have kept a clean sheet in 6 of their last 8 home matches in the Premier League
Tottenham have won their last 4 matches in the Premier League.
Liverpool are undefeated in 12 of their last 13 home matches against Tottenham in all competition
Liverpool have seen under 2.5 goals in their last 3 home matches against Tottenham in all competitions.

 7.2 Average Ratings 7.1

27.5 Average Age 26.2 

182.5 Average Height (cm) 180 

(1.5) 2.3 Shots pg 1.6 (1.3)

 53% Aerial Duel Success 46% 

 0.7 Dribbles pg 0.6 

 1.5 Tackles pg 1.4

Starting Position

Lay U3.5 £10

LayU4.5£15

Back U2.5 £12

2-1 £3

3-1 £3

Newcastle v Stoke Starting Position

Lay U3.5 £20

0-0 £2

0-1 £2

1-1 £6

2-1 £4

F1
back Alonso F1 Drivers Champ @ 4s
Double with Constructors Champ

Saturday Picks & Tips

Just back from Paris, skint!!  Thank feck the wife won't have another significant birthday any time soon!!!

Rugby back again today, Wales v Scotland is the game of the day, fancy a good game but Wales need it more, Scotland have momentum but were lucky against Ireland, think the Welsh will be more clinical.  Hotshots to come in play on the spreads again

Look out for the heavy conditions all over, non-runners coming out left right and centre.

Couple to keep an eye to: Ayr 1.45 Kriss Cross, Ayr 2.15 Jonny Delta has been piled into this morning, must be a lot of local support, Sandown 5.00 Ballyallia Man

Win 
2.00 Gowran Park - Malbrook
4.00 Ayr - Shariyan
4.25 Sandown - Rebel Rebellion
4.40 Wolverhampton - Broxbourne

EW
3.25 Ayr - You Know Yourself

Footy Trades - Starting Positions
Shalke v Dortmund

Lay Dortmund £10 @ 2.14
Back 1-2 £3 @ 9.8
Back 1-3 £2 @ 17

Frielburg v Wolfsburg

0-0 £2 @ 10.5
1-1 £5 @ 7.6
2-1 £3 @ 9.4
3-0 £2 @ 21

O2.5 Double
Bristol City
Borussia MG

Rugby Union
Wales (H'Cap) -5 @ 2s @5
Wales Margin 16-20 @10s £2

Good Luck

Taff