Sport is made for betting

In case you hadn't had enough T20 cricket with the World T20 tournament in Bangladesh, it's IPL time again. The first couple of weeks will be played in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, then back to India for the remaining month. It's a tiring event of cricket fans and traders alike, so it's handy to have some base knowledge to begin with. Thrashing out a preview is the sharpest cricket punter in Ireland, Stephen Maher, @GamblerFalls . (I'm not sure that's a particularly big compliment, but he'd rank pretty highly amongst cricket punters elsewhere too!). The original article can be found here on his blog . ----------------------- Indian Premier League 2014 The circus has arrived for 2014 and just think 47 days from Wednesday cricket traders will be able to leave their house again, although there might be an English domestic game on that day so I wouldn’t bet on it. Anyway, its sure to be as mental as ever and I’m sure lots of shit will happen throughout the tourna...

As the National Hunt season rolls to a close for another year, it goes out with several big finales Cheltenham, Aintree, Ayr and finally Punchestown. It's Scotland's turn to get into the action this weekend with the running of the Scottish Grand National at Ayr. Sharing his wisdom on the marathon of the north is regular contributor Chris Day, @chrisday100 . ------------------------ The Scottish National When I look at the field for Saturday’s big race, the Scottish National, I am reminded that the majority of the big staying races of the season have been won by fresh horses who, in the most part have been under rated and over priced against some who’ve been plodding round five or six times in heavy ground trying to find some form. No surprises then that this will be my angle for the weekend. Tidal Bay tops the weights and could conceivably travel on the bridle into the straight against these, such is his class edge and I admit to chucking 20 quid at the 20-1 available ...

The first week of The Championships takes place at Royal Randwick on Saturday, and congratulations to the Australian Turf Club/Racing NSW for generating such a high quality day over a very short run-up. 2015 and 2016 will be the years it really should start to see international influence. I hang it on Sydneysiders regularly, so credit where credit is due... The Doncaster has always been a fantastic race, while an honour roll including greats such as More Joyous, Haradasun, Sunline, Super Impose, Emancipation, Gunsynd and Tobin Bronze, while at the same time, the beauty of a handicap allowing the likes of Racing To Win, Grand Armee, Sprint By, Skating and Lawman win on the way to far greater ratings. This year it is worth three million dollars and what a cracker of a race it is! Taking the reins for this preview is frequent contributor Kieran Fitzgerald, @kjob85 . ----------------------- Doncaster Mile – 1600m $3M Group 1 Open Handicap At time of publication, the track was rated ...

It wouldn't be the Aintree Grand National Festival without a race in honour of Red Rum. Kieran Kenneally, @kierankenneally runs through the card. ------------------ Red Rum Handicap Chase Whenever I look at races at Aintree the first thing I look for is a fresh horse or one that might have been laid out for a race. In the Silver Cross Red Rum Handicap Arnaud ticks all the boxes! Arnaud hasn't raced for 68 days and this exuberant jumper brings excellent form into the race. Second to Valdez last time out, the winner that day has since gone on to run an excellent close up 5th in the Arkle at Cheltenham to give the form a mighty boost. Arnaud has also beaten Rebel Fitz over fences and that horse has won six races since that defeat including a Grade 3 Chase. Those two pieces of form give Arnaud an outstanding chance back in handicap company and this young chaser still has plenty of improvement left in him. Claret Cloak was a good third in the Grand Annual and along with S...

The three-day Grand National Festival gets underway tomorrow with a mix of high quality small fields and lower quality large fields, with no middle ground. The richest race of the day is the Grade 1 Aintree Hurdle, sponsored by the magnificent Doom Bar ale from Sharp's Brewery in Cornwall #mmmbeer! Unfortunately they were bought out by that multinational brewer known for pumping out tasteless crap, Molson Coors, three years ago. May they never be allowed to tinker with one of the finest drops you'll ever taste. Anyhow, back to the racing. Can anyone beat The New One after all and sundry thought he was robbed in the Champion Hurdle? Let's read what blog regular Jon da Silva, @CreamOnTop , has to say about it... ---------------------- Aintree Hurdle The New One 4/9 The New One (TNO) was unlucky to an extent at Cheltenham and is the best horse in this race. Indeed prior to Cheltenham I rated him clear of My Tent, The Fly, Jezki, Annie Get Your Gun, Un Der Trois and Unc...

They say variety is the spice of life and I'm never afraid to post previews of other sports, so long as there is genuine expertise to read. The London Marathon is just around the corner and Ian from Sportsbettingindex . You can read more from his site via Twitter as well, @SBIdotcom . I'd been saving this until closer to the race (originally posted to SBI subscribers Mar 27) so there's been a bit of price movement. ----------------------- London Marathon preview The last two years of the London Marathon has been kind to me getting decent bets down on both winners - Kipsang @ 7/1 and Kebede @ 8/1 and I remember with fondness hammering the price of Ndereba from 9/1 into 7/2 when winning the World Championships in 2007. My background is mainly in golf betting and in that field bookmakers know who is going to be backed most weeks as based on course and current form the punters pile in to what generally speaking are artificially low prices. The books know who they will lay...

The UK Flat season traditionally opens with the Lincoln meeting, featuring a straight mile handicap, a declared field of 22 and most of them first-up off a winter break. Good luck! Not phased by the challenge is Chris Day, @chrisday100 , and you can read his fine work below. ----------------------- William Hill Lincoln Heritage Handicap (Class 2) £100,000 Straight Mile course Likely Track Condition - Soft For those who love the Jumps, as I do, the next couple of weeks are the culmination of another great season but for those who love the Flat, as I also do, they signal a new start where we look forward to crowning new champions and trying to find the winner of some unfathomable big field handicaps where the draw can be more important than the form of the horses. The Lincoln Handicap kicks off the season on Saturday and the job of the punter in recent seasons has been made even more difficult with the plethora of All Weather form needing to be taken into account against hor...

The Dubai World Cup meeting is always a fantastic card, a championship meeting across different ages, distances and surfaces. To help find a winner, Dubai-based racing writer Trent Masenhelder, @tmase04 , has worked his way through the card and whittled down the chances for us. -------------------------- Dubai World Cup meeting Odds quoted from William Hill, prizemoney in USD. RACE 1 – Kahayla Classic (for Purebred Arabians) Group 1 - $250,000 - 2,000m (All-Weather) Versac PY was second behind Al Mamun Monlau in this race last year and can go one better here. He’s had a good prep and was just nailed by Raaziq last time. Mushrae is the highest rated horse and is right in the mix, while Raaziq rates highly on his last start win. Rabbah De Carrere, Djainka Des Forges and Al Mamun Monlau should be respected, despite wide gates. Tips: 1. Versac PY, 2. Mushrae, 3. Sahib Du Clos Race 2 – Godolphin Mile Group 2 - $1,000,000 - 1,600m (All-Weather) Soft Falling Rain (7/2EF) is back...

Aquatics day at Rosehill tomorrow kicks off with the N E Manion Cup, a Group 3 staying contest over 2400m. Returning to the blog to cover this traditional prelude to the Sydney Cup is regular NSW racing contributor, Colleen Goth, @colleengoth . ----------------------- N E Manion Cup Good Evening Punters I am enjoying the rain falling on the Breadalbane Plain here today but I am hoping the trough that stretches down from Rosehill in Sydney will clear for tomorrow’s racing. The big wet this week means a heavy track for Rosehill Guineas day but the card should bring us some great racing nevertheless. I would like to get punters off to a good start in the first race, the Ambassador Travel N E Manion Cup for the stayers over 2400m. There are only seven horses still in the field following the scratching of Vaquera and I find them a fairly evenly matched bunch of stayers. They have raced each other previously and are seasoned and fit. Race tactics will play an important part in the ou...