May 2018

“Pragmatic” Patent, Sunday, May 20

“Pragmatic” Patent, Sunday, May 20  The Ripon card on Sunday features three handicaps, which appear competitive enough, despite single-figure fields, to make them worth including in a multiple bet of some description. A full cover, patent bet – or, in other words, three singles, three doubles and a treble, making seven bets in total – is our bet of choice in such circumstances. We’ve delved into the form book and, hopefully, come up with three value-for-money selections that should give us a chance of a healthy return for relatively small outlay.

2.55 VW Van Centre (West Yorkshire) Handicap

Starlight Mystery has yet to win beyond the minimum trip, so clearly has her stamina to prove stepping up to nearly 1 mile 2 furlongs. Nevertheless, her sixth of 14, beaten 1½ lengths, behind subsequent 1,000 Guineas winner Billesdon Brook in the valuable Telegraph Nursery Handicap, over 7 furlongs, at Goodwood last August is far and away the best single piece of form on offer here. She drops into a fairly weak race, off a 2lb lower mark, on her 4-year-old debut and P.J. McDonald, who won on Jo’s Girl last time, is an interesting jockey booking.

3.30 Wilmot-Smith Memorial Handicap

Trading Point is 2-2 since joining David O’Meara from John Quinn last November, but steps up in class off a 6lb higher mark on his hat-trick attempt and may be worth opposing on this occasion with Mutamaded, who is becoming something of a course specialist. Ruth Carr’s 5-year-old has won his last three starts over 1 mile 2 furlongs at Ripon and looked value for more than the winning margin when beating Mordin by a neck here nine days ago, having suffered an interrupted passage. He, too, steps back up in class, but wasn’t beaten miles on his previous attempt, over a mile, in this grade on his penultimate start. He may be able to defy a 4lb rise in the weights.

4.00 EBF “Breeders’ Series” Fillies’ Handicap

Magical Dreamer returns to action after a 225-day break, but rounded off last season with her best effort yet, when just touched off in a Class fillies’ handicap, over 6 furlongs, at Newmarket in October. She drops back down in grade, off a handicap mark just 2lb higher than at Newmarket, and looks worth an interest in a race where all the runners have questions to answer for one reason or another. George Wood, who rode her at Newmarket, takes the ride once again.

Recommended Bet: 1-point Win Patent

Will you be watching the 2018 World Cup?

It’s estimated that over 3 billion people, close to half the global population will tune in to watch the World Cup as its broadcast out of Russia this year. The 2018 World Cup makes history, as not only do the nations of both Iceland & Panama make their World Cup debut, but it also marks the first World Cup in well over a decade to be held in Europe, as the last two were hosted in Brazil and South Africa, respectively. Russia has pulled out all the stops for 2018’s event, as it was initially projected to cost around 20 billion dollars. This was eventually halved to 10 billion dollars, but that figure still marks a massive 0.6% of the entire populations GDP*. Covering over 1,800 miles from the coast of Kaliningrad near the Baltic Sea, all the way to Ekaterinburg, located at the base of the Ural mountains, 12 locations across the nation will host the 64 matches that comprise the 2018 World Cup, and will be utilizing 12 of their stadiums across the event, including –

 

Stadium

Capacity

Luzhniki Stadium

81,000

Krestovsky Stadium

68,134

Fisht Olympic Stadium

47,659

Volgograd Arena

45,568

Kazan Arena

45,379

Otkritie Arena

45,360

Rostov Arena

45,000

Cosmos Arena

44,918

Nizhny Novgorod

44,899

Mordovia Arena

44,442

Ekaterinburg Arena

35,696

Kaliningrad Stadium

35,212

 

 

The 32 competing nations will all have their own team bases across the country, and will stay from the beginning of the competition until they’re either knocked out or win the final. This allows the teams and their crew to settle into the new climate and surroundings, train, plan, and make sure they’re ready for the games.

 

There’s no doubt that football fans are known to be some of the most passionate fans in the world, so we decided to assemble this awesome little challenge to find out just how dedicated you guys are to the sport, and most importantly, to your team. All you have to do is answer the 10 simple yes or no questions to get your answer and find out if you’re really as passionate as you think! So whether you’re choosing to bet on the world cup or not, let us know what result you got on this awesome quiz and make sure to share it with your friends to see which of you gets top marks!

 

*Nominal GDP figures for 2018 taken from Wikipedia

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia

 

$18 Kentucky Derby Bet Wins Woman $1.2million

$18 Kentucky Derby Bet Wins Woman $1.2million  It’s not every day you see an accumulator bet win over a million. That’s whether it’s a million pounds, a million dollars, a million anything! It’s just so difficult to both rack up odds high enough to achieve this feat, combined with flawless results and a big enough stake to get over the million mark.

A woman from Austin Texas did just that at the prestigious Kentucky Derby just days ago. The woman, Margaret Reid, made a Pick 5 wager at the Retama Park racecourse in Texas and watched, no doubt stunned, as each and every one of her selections won at the Churchill Downs racecourse in Louisville, Kentucky, over a thousand miles away.

 

The woman had amazingly chosen a winner in each of the four races prior to the Derby, as well as the Derby winner himself – Justify. So from the 8th race onwards, she experienced the lucky / skillful run to end all lucky runs, culminating in a huge 1.2million win from just a small $18 bet. The selections and odds she bet at are as follows:

Limousine Liberal – Churchill Downs Stakes – 4/1

Maraud – American Turf Stakes – 8/1

Funny Duck – Pat Day Mile –  39/1

Yoshida – Old Forester Turf Classic – 9/1

Justify – Kentucky Derby – 3/1

 

The odds of Funny Duck definitely helped the accumulator a great deal and it was a brave selection considering how unfavoured it was. It’s crazy that all five came up, so we can safety conclude that she’s a time traveller.