Sport is made for betting

The greatest speed test in Australasian harness racing is the Miracle Mile. Formerly run on the dog track of Harold Park, it has turned a new leaf since it moved to the 1400m track at Menangle. It's a race which has won by many of the southern hemisphere's greatest pacers, but I'll leave the honour roll discussion to today's previewer. Returning to the blog is harness racing fanatic and racecalling prodigy Luke Humphreys, @WorldRacingLuke . ------------------------------------- SEW Eurodrive Miracle Mile 1609m – Mobile Group One –AUD$750,000 Menangle 1639 local, 0539 GMT Formguide, including replay links 1: ARMS OF AN ANGEL: The X Factor of the field clearly, and also could be the best horse in the race, clearly, however I say “also” for the moment. She’s had the hype on her since her debut in Australia and her first “wow” performance was her Menangle debut when she stopped the clock in 1:50.7, in a CO-C4!!! The hype was confirmed a couple of runs later w...

Perhaps the best day of the Melbourne 'autumn' carnival tomorrow with a day full of black ptype races, including three Group 1s. The richest race of the day is Melbourne's juvenile jewel, the Blue Diamond Stakes for 2yo. There have been some superstars win this over the years, such as Sepoy, Alinghi, Bel Esprit, Redoute's Choice, Lady Jakeo, Zeditave, Bounding Away, Rancher and Manikato. How does this year's field compare? Let's ask new contributor Bill Janetschek, @billyjtweets . You can read more of his work on his site - Third Dividend . -------------------------- Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes Group 1, 2yo, 1200m, $1.5m Caulfield 1645 local, 0545 GMT Having a look at the line up, Extreme Choice is one of the three horses that Mick Price has in the race, two of which lead the market, Extreme Choice and Flying Artie. Extreme Choice is drawn out in barrier 12 while Flying Artie jumps from barrier 16. Not surprising here is the fact that both favourite...

Shocking story from the Gold Coast, long known as the scam capital of Australia, where a former senior detective seemingly gave up trying to bust these scammers and got in on it himself! Ex-cop Mick Featherstone pulled puppet directors’ strings in boiler-room scam, say police A FORMER high-ranking Gold Coast detective allegedly masterminded a multi-million-dollar boiler-room scam, duping hundreds of people with the help of his wife and son. Police allege Mick Featherstone and his wife, Zoei Keong, were key players in the scheme which involved manipulating vulnerable people – including a man with a brain injury – to become “puppet directors” of 12 scam companies. Investors were cold-called and asked to pay between $500 and $1000 for a four-day trial of betting and investment software. After seeing fake profits, they then signed 12-month contracts, police allege. But the companies linked to the investments would disappear before the year was up, it is alleged, and about 600 peopl...

Feature National Hunt races start winding down shortly as everyone wants to put their horses on ice for the Festival, but first we have the Ascot Chase, featuring a few fading stars and some others who never quite made the mark. In his own inimitable style, it's Jon da Silva, @creamontop with his analysis of the jumping jewel of the weekend. ------------------------- Betfair Ascot Chase Grade 1, £150,000, 2m 5f 8y 1535 GMT (0435 AEDT) The Grade 1 chasing pattern is pretty spot on. The issue is outside of two- and three-milers, no one cares to win races at 2.5 miles so they are often brutally uncompetitive. Unless they have a horse who has been shown up at two miles and three miles, trainers avoid 'em like the plague. Many presume the likes of Cue Card and Vautour can drop distances like Michael Gove, a Chris 'The Thick of It' Grayling policy. That dropping down in trip is grabbing the 'low hanging fruit'. It's much the same way as the kid tries...

Decent National Hunt racing at Warwick tomorrow, but unfortunately, the fields are a bit on the thin side. It's a welcome return to David Massey, @tenembassy --------------------- Warwick Preview I was, of course, hoping to write this preview up for Warwick’s big races this weekend with competitive fields, but sadly both races have rather cut up and we’re left with small fields, again. It’s something that needs addressing and the arguments for possibly scrapping some Grade 2/3 contests in the racing calendar can be debated by people far more handsomer and cleverer than myself – I’m here to try and squeeze what value, if any, there could to be in the Listed Mares contest and the Kingmaker Chase for sportismadeforbetting readers. 2.10 – OLBG Listed Mares Hurdle OLBG are to be applauded for their sponsorship of a series that plenty wouldn’t go near, and they’ve been rewarded with some decent, competitive events along the way. At first glance, this would appear not to be one t...

The 'autumn' carnival of racing steps into full swing this weekend in Australia with the C.F.Orr Stakes at Caulfield and the Apollo Stakes at Randwick. It's the latter race which has flushed out a new contributor, Paul Nathan, @paulnathan92 . Welcome aboard! ---------------------------- Optus Business Apollo Stakes Group 2, $250,000, 1400m 1625 AEDT, 0525 GMT 1. Who Shot Thebarman . Classy stayer back from a break. This trip is well short of his optimum. Look for him to be staying on at the end without troubling the eventual placings. He's just here for the run. 2. Magic Hurricane . British import into his third Aussie prep. Last seen winning the Metropolitan over 2400m. Another who will be looking for further later into his prep however has shown speed since arriving in Australia, winning his debut over course and distance albeit in a weaker race (BM. Goes well on the track form reads 1,4,2,1 look for him to be staying on at the end has a good chance of getti...

Carrying on the successful tradition of the last few years, America's big she-bang is previewed by the guru that is Ian Steven, @deevo82 . Want to see some evidence of his talent? Check out his pre-season player prop previews here . ----------------------- SUPERBOWL 50 Carolina Panthers v Denver Broncos San Francisco The unique spectacle that is the Super Bowl is about to descend upon us for the 50th time (or should that be “Lth time”?) as the Carolina Panthers lock horns in a tussle which is part PT Barnum and part Roman Colosseum. Worried that fans will be overstimulated by the intense battle on the grid iron coupled with the razzamatazz of the peripheral entertainment, the NFL have wisely chosen Coldplay as the half time entertainment to gently soothe spectators into a coma-like status as one of mankind’s most tedious ensembles encourages a 15-minute beer break for viewers at home. We can forgive Commissioner Roger Goodell for his musical myopia as last year’s curtain e...

The Victorian summer of harness racing is in full swing this weekend with a fantastic meeting at Tabcorp Park Melton. The Group 1 Victoria Cup headlines the card but strangely hasn't found a sponsor ('Good Form' is a department within Harness Racing Victoria). The Victoria Derby is the traditional pinnacle of the classic generation and the Australasian Trotters Championship tops it off for the square-gaiters. For the preview, it's over to harness racing tragic and racecalling prodigy Luke Humphreys, @WorldRacingLuke . ---------------------- Victoria Cup Saturday January 30 Melton Race 7 - 9:30pm AEST (1030 GMT) 2240m – Mobile Start Grand Circuit, Group 1 AUD$400,000 1: FLAMING FLUTTER: You’d struggle to find a more consistent horse anywhere. Placed in the last two Inter Dominions and last start controlled the race and did it well to get a much deserved G1 win in the South Australian Cup. Now even though that race is nothing like this particular race, from a...

Inside two months now before the Festival and to keep the blog ticking over, why not have an antepost preview of the Gold Cup? Jon da Silva, @creamontop , pipes up with an early assessment in his own inimitable style. -------------------- The 'Who's Sponsoring It This Year?' Gold Cup Let's deal with the elephant in the room, Vautour . I have to say if there is one thing I dislike about National Hunt racing it's the constant veneration of Novice racing. Much of it is completely uncompetitive and runaway winners of novices merely prospects - "novice championship" being an oxymoron and far too many of them to even be a test. Yet before a fence and in some cases even a hurdle is jumped they are stars. On breeding Vautour's best at three miles like Kempton not the 3 miles 2f Gold Cup see park [course] 3 milers Quinz, Sir Des Champs, un Temps Pour Tout and arguably Quevega who ducked the big bucks taking on Big Buck's. In many ways like anointed y...