There is saying about not letting your heart rule your head, and I am beginning to take that very seriously indeed as horse racing is my number one love (where I cannot seem to buy a winner), yet my football bets keep on coming in to reap the dividends where I least expect it – so where is the sense in that apart from my heart letting me down with the gee gees?
As a punter that will not stop me continuing to try and get one over on the layers (we are a hardy (or stubborn) bunch as punters) and armed with my profits from last, week I am building up a decent bank ahead of Cheltenham. Friday last week wasn’t too good with a large bet on the full brother to Grands Crus in the bumper at Newbury going badly astray but with 0/20 hindsight, why on earth did I think a brother to a RSA Chase and Gold Cup hopeful would be perfect at two miles is beyond my little brain?
With the damage done, I sulked for the rest of the afternoon before deciding (like most punters) to win my losses back via the evening soccer so I started poring over the websites before deciding that Southport v Grimsby simply didn’t float my boat, pretty much leaving me with Reading v Burnley. A quick look at the league tables and recent form told me this was a foregone conclusion and the best I could find on BETDAQ was 1.84, which I took but only to reduced stakes – I have seen these bets go horribly wrong before, thank you very much. After eleven minutes my computer alarm went off meaning a goal had been scored and sure enough the home team were in front and so the massacre began – or so I thought! After taking a short ish price to begin with I was too greedy to lay it back at the even shorter price, which meant I spent the next 85 minutes biting my nails as no more goals were scored, though next week the pub sounds pretty tempting or a bet with slightly less nerves involved (though knowing me I will aim for both thanks to my I-pad and BETDAQ app!).
Announcements from the Paul Nicholls yard seem pretty worrying with Cheltenham sneaking up fast, and the fact that he cancelled the annual media trip was a bitter disappointment as I usually glean something from reading the write ups. Coughing in the yard is obviously a problem, and I will be watching every one of his runners over the next few weeks to see how far off true form they really are, but whether that will make them laying opportunities come the Festival or backing options at bigger odds, only time will tell?
Looking ahead my beloved Everton do not have a game this weekend so no heart v head argument there and I can get down to the search for value once again. Anyone who has failed to notice the rise and rise of Sunderland under new manager Martin O’Neill must be living on another planet and sine he took over their record may not be perfect but they are now a side to reckon with and any fears of relegation seem a dim and distant memory. Roy Hodgson is another manager I have a lot of time for and he has proved his worth at West Bromwich Albion since leaving Liverpool, but at BETDAQ odds of 3.2, the away win for Sunderland is just too temptingly overpriced and worthy of a small bet if nothing else.
Uninspired at may seem, even the 1.8 about Newcastle to win at home against troubled Wolves looks a steal and worthy of a decent sized bet this week. The barcodes may not be everybody’s favourite team but they are playing well this season and scoring goals whereas Wolves have sacked their manager and their appointment of number two Terry Connor after a two week search hardly inspires confidence for a game that could yet make or break their survival bid.
Finally (well, for the football at least), there are too many supposed good things for my liking but I cannot resist a little accumulator with BETDAQ on a hat full of odds on shots. How about Chelsea to beat Bolton (1.35), Manchester City to see off Blackburn (1.22), Manchester United to beat Norwich (1.5), West Ham to beat Crystal Palace (1.75) and Birmingham to beat Nottingham Forest (1.7) for a 6.4/1 or so accumulator – no guarantees but worth a point!
On to other sports, and although we have the World Matchplay taking place at the moment, and I may yet back Rory McIlroy (BETDAQ 11.5), the fact is he could be knocked out by the time you read this and I have no wish to look even more stupid than is normally the case, so it looks like I need to move on to the horses in my elusive search for a winner! Kempton take centre stage over the jumps closely followed by Newcastle but my money will be on the all-weather at Lingfield where they hold a few half decent races, though one selection will do for me this week. The Cleves Stakes at 2.35pm has more than its fair share of dead wood to be honest, on official ratings at least, but it should still be a wonderful contest with the in form pair of Oasis Dancer and my selection Palace Moon taken to fight out the finish. Both come here on the back of easy wins over course and distance and looking at that form there is precious little between them but William Knight seems to have got Palace Moon back to his very best (107 rated) in which case I can but hope he can land the hat trick here?
This week’s suggested bets (odds correct at the time of writing):
Football:
1pt Win SUNDERLAND to beat west Bromwich Albion Saturday at BETDAQ odds of 3.2
3pts Win NEWCASTLE to beat Wolves Saturday at BETDAQ odds of 1.8
1pt Win accumulator on CHELSEA (1.35), MANCHESTER CITY (1.22), MANCHESTER UNITED (1.5), WEST HAM (1.75) and BIRMINGHAM (1.7), all odds from BETDAQ
Horse Racing:
1pt Win PALACE MOON 2.50pm Lingfield Saturday, estimated BETDAQ odds of 4.0
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
