General Sports uploaded (22/12) - Cheltenham Festival Week 8 & Race Previews uploaded - Andy Richmond’s Beating The Bias (17/12) uploaded - General Sports uploaded (15/12) - Cheltenham Festival Week 7 & Weekend Race Previews uploaded
15/8/17
I’m looking forward to next week’s York Ebor Festival for which I’ll be covering all four days and will take a first look at the meeting on tomorrow’s Ante-Post Focus having already covered the Ebor itself last week.
I’m back after a weekend away at St Mellion down in Cornwall. That the first time I’ve ever played three rounds of golf in as many days and it was like a scene out of Dunkirk by the time I had finished my 54th hole. They used to hold the Benson & Hedges tournament there until the pros complained that it was too difficult so I reckon Justin Thomas and co had it easy in the USPGA at Quail Hollow!
Ciaran and I agree disagree over whether Hideki Matsuyama bottled it or not (I say he did) but it was still a profitable USPGA if you followed Ciaran’s pre-tournament recommendations as for the second major championship running he nailed the Top English market with Jordan Smith at 22/1 following up his 45/1 success of Matthew Southgate at The Open. Ciaran now has a week off and will be back to cover the four end-of-season Fed-Ex Cup Playoff events.
We’re not too far away now from the NFL Season which Ross Miles has covered for us for the last two years. Due to changes in his life circumstances, Ross can no longer commit to supplying weekly content and I thank him for the time and effort he has put in for us, and especially for giving us a SuperBowl night to remember in 2016 with five winners from six recommendations including the MVP at 22/1. I can tell you that he likes the Dallas Cowboys this season as he feels that they are “building something scary and their offensive line is the best in the league and being so young will only get better” but to back them after their first couple of games due to early-season injuries and suspensions, notably Zeke Elliott.
I am pleased to announce that Andy Richmond will be taking over the weekly NFL previews and he’ll also be giving his pre-season views beforehand. Andy has been churning out horseracing content for us since the website’s launch and will continue with his Beating The Bias column for the flat but be left in no doubt he knows his NFL inside out, as members will find out soon enough.
The Premier League is up and running and, believe it or not, I’ll be attending my first ever PL game this season when taking my son to see Tottenham host Chelsea at Wembley. Although the national stadium is unlikely to be the fortress that White Hart Lane was, I’d say that this is a very good time for them to be playing Chelsea and, as argued in the pre-season preview, I expect Spurs to start the season faster than last season as their English players are fresher not having an international competition to get over which can get offset that disadvantage. Odds against for a home win - yes please. That will form one of my Premier League Picks on Friday.
It didn’t take long for market over-reactions after just one game with Manchester United cut from 4/1 into 5/2 in a place after beating a dire West Ham on the day. Even worse was Luton Town being cut from 7/1 to 3/1 for Division 2 following just one game after they won 8-2 and then promptly lost at Barnet.
Finally, if any sports nuts out there live in the Northants area, after a short 20-year break I am going to be restarting my Monthly Sports Quiz from October onwards at Kettering Rugby Club. I used to enjoy running these events for a few years until my first born arrived and ready to start them up again. If at all interested please let me know and I’ll add you to the sports quiz email list.
