The feature race on Saturday is the Ayr Gold Cup. This is not my kind of race but I have heard a good word for Jim Goldie’s Hawkeyethenoo, who was disappointing last time but remains open to some improvement and I’m hoping the high draw (20) is a positive.
My main fancy of the day is Mark Johnston’s Montparnasse in the Cesarewitch trial at Newbury (3.30). This horse ran a decent race in this contest last season off a 10lb higher mark. Montparnasse comes to the race in decent form and with a live chance.
What a super Super Sunday we have to look forward to this weekend. I will be anchoring the show live from Old Trafford from 1pm alongside Jamie Redknapp, Graeme Souness and Gary Neville. It promises to be quite a day with Tottenham (a tempting 2.69 on Betdaq) against Liverpool (2.79) kicking us off followed by the heavyweight clash between Manchester United (1.89) and Chelsea (4.7).
Man Utd have been getting rave reviews so far but we are going to learn a lot more about the champions on Sunday. This will be their first real test, their young defenders will be put under plenty of pressure and I think the match will be a good deal closer than the odds suggest.
It’s one of the other games on Sunday where I fancy a bet. We are looking for a hat-trick of wins after Everton and West Brom both rode their luck and did the business for us.
Gary Neville spoke at length about Stoke on the Monday Night Football and in particular his admiration for their brilliant defending. The way they pressurise the ball and pin teams in to their own final third led Gary to describe Stoke as the ‘ultimate defensive unit’. They are on a real roll at the moment, with some excellent new signings to increase competition, and although they are a much stronger side at home, I can still see them causing Sunderland real problems at the Stadium of Light. The home side are short of confidence and Stoke will be swarming all over them on Sunday.
Stoke’s only win at Sunderland in the last 29 years was 1-0 in a second tier game at Roker Park in April 1994 – Mark Walters the scorer for Joe Jordan’s side. Take That were number one at the time with “Everything Changes” and I can see a change in that pattern this weekend. Stoke look a big price at 3.2 on the Daq.
Rightly little change on Betdaq’s outright prices to win the RugbyWorld Cup even after an eventful first ten days. This tournament won’t really come to life until the knockout stage begins and the pressure is cranked up.
In the first round of matches the All Blacks were impressive, while England and my fancy, the Springboks at 11.5, were disjointed and sluggish. Read little in to these pool matches. Knockout rugby will be a completely different ball game.
Some interesting games this weekend and let’s hope England (1.01) show significant improvement against Georgia (38).
