Sport is made for betting

We've all seen a few weird or niche promotions designed to bring a few extra people to the track, but this has to take the cake. From the Korean Racing Association......

The best race in the world this weekend undoubtedly takes place at Deauville in France. The premier milers in Europe, and probably the world apart from Wise Dan, go to post this afternoon at 1445 BST. Special thanks to Martin Pennington, @quevega , and the GallopsLive website for allowing me to use their excellent preview. --------------------- Sunday’s feature in France is the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois ( 2.45pm ), here is Martin Pennington’s horse by horse guide to the big race: 1. Aljamaheer – Sheikh Hamdan’s number one contender and the mount of his retained jockey in the UK Paul Hanagan. This Roger Varian trained son of Dubawi scored in a Group 2 event over this trip at Ascot last time out and though he’s consistently in the frame they have generally come in weaker races than this and a minor placing looks the best he can hope for. 2. Burwaaz – The second of Sheikh Hamdan’s runners and the pacemaker for Aljamaheer. Ed Dunlop’s charge ran well in handica...

The final major of the year takes place at Oak Hill Country Club, Rochester, New York. The PGA invites many of its members (PGA club professionals) to the tournament so there will be plenty of names amongst the tee times that you'll have never heard of. Lara Pocock, @lara_pocock , runs an eye over those you might have heard of... -------------------------- PGA Preview So here we are again, the fourth and final Major of the year and yet again the headlines all feature whether Tiger Woods can FINALLY break his Major curse and gain his 15th title. Woods won his last Major in 2008 when taking the US Open and he appeared unlucky in last month's Open Championship on a course ideally suited to him. See more on my thoughts on Tiger below. This week we look to Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester. The course is short, with thin fairways and the rough we saw at Muirfield last month is sparse, replaced by short, spongy grass that will suck in the ball. This therefore caters to the a...

After a glorious week at Goodwood and Galway, the spotlight heads abroad with one of the rare feature handicaps in the US - the Whitney. Held at the picturesque Saratoga racecourse in upstate New York, this race has drawn a quality field yet again. Jon da Silva, @creamontop chimes in with the preview. ------------------------- Whitney International Handicap Dirt 9 Furlongs - 2245 BST This race has nothing to do with with Whitney Houston although the horses will be on drugs. Amazingly without a grinning Kate Doll Americans have not yet got around to taking long held race names and replacing them with celebrities and reality show types. Last week the 3 year olds Palace Malice and especially Verrazano knocked on the Breeder's Cup Classic door. The latter seeing out nine furlongs on a dead track for a 129 TF rating and 116 Beyer (I am told this is like a 133 TF or one more than Novellist!). This week some of the best older horses bring it. Racing Post ratings have these eight ...

Bookies have been taking a hammering at Goodwood this week but Saturday's betting feature, the Stewards' Cup, gives them a decent chance at getting something back. Tough race, close to double figures the field on Betfair at the moment. Stepping up with the preview is Stephen Boardman, @ste_b85 . You can read more of his work on his site, TheRacingGuru . --------------------------- Stewards' Cup HOOF IT One of the best winners of this in modern times when taking it two years ago from just 1lbs lower. Had his troubles since and it'd be a huge training effort to have him primed to win today; Fallon back in the saddle though. YORK GLORY Took the Wokingham in June and comes here for what would be a special double. Up 9lbs today but has entries in Group races later in the year, suggesting he should handle that. Has to be respected once again for Ryan/Spencer. HAWKEYETHENOO A brilliant horse for connections over the years and is generally to the fore in these big ha...

Feature race of the day at Goodwood, at least in terms of pattern classifications, is the weight-for-age cavalry charge down the undulating straight. Casting an eye over the crack field is blog regular Jon da Silva, @creamontop . ---------------------- Betfred King George Stakes Now this is a race that could use a name change. Seriously if I said what do you fancy in the King George people would say whatever the Germans are sending or whatever that Henderson fella is preparing. This though is a five furlong race with a downhill section.... Whoosh... Goodwood specialist track maybe but hardly narrows this down with seven course winners. Racing Post standard is 57 seconds so quick but not Epsom 54.9. Only two carry penalties for Group wins, Spirit Quartz and Kingsgate Native. Incidentally if you want a dictionary definition of mercurial, Kingsgate Native is the answer. Kingsgate Native Hard to tell what he has left but did win at this level this year and won this in 09. Most of ...

Day four of Glorious Goodwood, day five of Galway... how's that punting bank going? Friday's card on the South Downs is a cracker with plenty of black type racing and classy handicaps. First preview of the day goes to Stephen Keene, @untilnextyear , with his look at the Betfred Mile. ---------------------- The Betfred Mile The Betfred Mile, formerly the Golden Mile, has to be one of the most intriguing betting heats of the week. There is nothing like a big handicap to get your head around and there are a number of clues and angles to explore in this particular race. There are some strong trends, some potentially very well-handicapped horses and a fair few question marks. Working your way through a race like this is a bit like tackling a cryptic crossword – it is sure to get the old brain cells going, is sure to be frustrating at times, and is sure to be an incredibly satisfying experience if you get things right. By the same token, it might be like a cryptic crossword in th...

Ah, the Galway Festival.... Will it rain? Yes. Will Dermot Weld clean up? Yes. Will there be a gazillion pints of Guinness consumed? Undoubtedly. One of the highlights of the seven-day Galway Festival is the Galway Hurdle. Casting an eye over the field is blog regular Lara Pocock, @lara_pocock . --------------------- Galway Hurdle The Galway Festival does seem to be never ending but Thursday's card looks to be a good one, with a full field of 20 horses set to line up for the two-mile Galway Hurdle, worth €156,000 to the winner. The currently ground at Galway is perfect for summer jumping and was rated good on Wednesday afternoon prior to the day's racing. Last year's race was won by the Michael Winters-trained Rebel Fitz, with previous winners including the popular Donald McCain-trained Overturn. Top weight on Thursday has been allocated to the Gordon Elliott-trained Cause Of Causes , who is one of three runners for the Calpranny-based trainer. Irish Champion Train...

Glorious Goodwood is a magnificent festival but the highlight of this week is undoubtedly the Sussex Stakes. Traditionally the race where the three year olds take on the older division of star milers for the first time, and what a clash we have in store today. Declan Meagher, @declanmeagher76 , casts a discerning eye over this year's classy field. You can read more of his work on his site, LearnBetWin . ----------------------- Qipco Sussex Stakes – 3.05 Goodwood The Sussex Stakes rarely gets a double figure fields these days and its the same story tomorrow with just seven set to go to post. It’s still a pretty decent race though and provides us with the third meeting between Dawn Approach and Toronado, with the score 2-0 to the former. Dawn Approach is clearly a high class colt. His short head defeat of Toronado in the St James Palace Stakes was his fourth Group 1 victory. What he doesn’t appear to be is a superstar though. Yes he has plenty of guts and battles well, but ...