I’m going to tip you the winner in the first open race on the card the puppy race at 7.54.

The greyhound that catches my eye here is Loughside Jack for local trainer Darren Whitton. This greyhound has won his last four races working his way up from A5 to A3 but his latest run really impressed me when he won a puppy race at Henlow last Thursday leading from traps to line by six lengths in 27.78! This dog will get us off to a winning start!

My next fancy doesn’t run until 9.48 but hopefully it will be worth the wait! I like the chances of Blackrose Boss. This race is weaker than the last two he has contested, being runner up twice behind Doctor Robert and Yahoo Jamie. I think this dog can make all from trap five.

The following race over 550 meters looks a great race on paper with the well-known Ballymac William, Aero Majestic and Blackrose Bullet contesting it. I am keen on Mark Wallis’s Aero Majestic as he has won his last two races and has got course and distance form and I expect him to come out on top in this one off open race.

Big Bet

Loughside Jack 7.54 Henlow

Adrian Lewis threw away another winning lead and had to settle for a draw against Barney. Phil Taylor threw a nine darter in overturning a 4-1 deficit against Kevin Painter. Gary Anderson’s poor form continued but with the help of the vocal Aberdeen crowd and the fact Andy Hamilton couldn’t hit a double managed a much needed win. Aussie Simon Whitlock tried to throw away a 7-0 lead but in the end the start James Wade gave him proved a bridge too far.

Week 3 kicks off with the Aussie taking on Kevin Painter. Painter looked really good in the opening exchanges against Taylor last week and took out two ton-plus finishes on the way to a 4-1 lead. But Taylor’s relentless power scoring (and a nine dart finish) ground the Artist down and he ended up on the wrong end of an 8-5 scoreline. That was a good performance from Painter but he will again have his work cut out as Whitlock was ruthless in dismantling James Wade. The Aussie opened up a 7-0 lead on the back of some clinical finishing and, although his game lost a bit of momentum, it was an extremely tall for the Englishman to come back. To his credit he did win four legs on the bounce but the Aussie had done enough and won 8-4. Although this game could be closer it may come down to finishing ability and I would definitely fancy the Wizard on that (50% checkout last week) and take him to win around 8-5.

The second match of the evening sees Gary Anderson take on Andy Hamilton. Both players enjoyed contrasting fortunes last week with the Scot woefully out of form and his famed high scoring nowhere to be seen. He struggled to find the lipstick too often and looked more pub league than premier league. The Hammer on the other hand enjoyed a great Premier League debut, dismantling world number three James Wade with ruthless efficiency on the way to an 8-5 victory. I firmly believe that Andy Hamilton is about to claim his place amongst the elite players in the world and become a regular face on our tv screens in all the big tournaments. His showing in the World Championship and last week’s effort are testament to his class and he fears nobody. All that aside I cannot see Anderson performing as badly again. Sure to have worked on his game I think he will run out the winner in a close encounter.

Third on stage is the greatest arrowsmith of all time, Phil Taylor. This should be a no contest against Kevin Painter after Taylor’s astonishing come-from-behind draw against Adrian Lewis. Amazingly Taylor could have lost that match with an average in excess of 110 but it is testament to the man’s will to win that he could give a double world champion a five leg start and still gain a draw. Painter on the other hand scraped home 8-6 against, as already mentioned, a totally out of form Anderson. If Painter had been anywhere near his best he would surely have, and expected to, win by a much more comfortable advantage. Taylor to win heavily.

The final match of the evening sees Australian Simon Whitlock tee it up with Englishman James Wade. If I hadn’t watched darts for the last six months I would probably predict a Wade win but these players fortunes have gone in opposite directions. The Wizard, for the most part, is the most consistent player on the circuit, with heavy scoring and the ability to take out big scores. Wade only seems to ‘turn up’ occasionally and it is a guessing game I’m not prepared to play when trying to find the winner of this showdown. The Aussie for me all the way.

Glenn’s Big Bets (bal -26.19pts)

10pts A.Lewis to beat R.van Barneveld @ 5/6
7pts G.Anderson to beat A.Hamilton @ 8/11
3pts each P.Taylor to beat K.Painter 8-2 @ 7/1 & 8-3 @ 11/2
6pts S.Whitlock to beat J.Wade @ 20/21

Big Bet Already Advised

4pts R.van Barneveld to finish bottom of Premier League @ 7/2

Football

As ever the Champions League is very intriguing. On paper there really do look like two “bankers”. Can I bring myself to bet Madrid and Bayern away in a double at 2.33… not quite. I shall be looking elsewhere for a bit of value.

Basel have shown that they’re not afraid to take on the big boys by putting United to the sword on their home turf. Yes United were poor in this year’s Champions league and they paid the ultimate price for underestimating Basel. I think Basel are good enough to nick a draw at home but will be put to the sword in Germany. The Germans have been unspectacular away from home recently and so can’t be backed at such a short price. Big bet on the draw @ 3/1.

Today my Chelsea housemates really fear the worst. They’ve thrown in some terrible performances recently. However, you just don’t know what you’re going to get with Chelsea which means you stay away from all 3 match outcomes. I shall be having a big bet on over 2.5 for a bit of value @ 5/4. Chelsea have a leaky defence and Napoli are the second top scorers in Serie A. Napoli are also prone to conceding their fair share so there could be a few goals tonight.

In tonight’s other match I shall have a little interest on under 2.5 goals @ 11/10. Temperatures will be -10 and I can’t see the Spaniards running riot. They’ll be happy to take a 1 nill advantage back to the slightly warmer Bernebeu. In the other match both teams are struggling domestically and Inter could be a bit of value at 11/4 but I’ll be steering clear!

Arrers

Lewis, Lewis, Lewis. Why do you do this to me? He really is blowing hot and cold and it’s only a matter of time before he steam rolls someone! My fellow darts correspondent Glenn also fancied Lewis massively last week. However, Hamilton won’t be that man and should put up a reasonable fight. I’ll be having a big bet on Lewis to win 8-5 @ 7/1 and 8-4 @ 6/1.

Two of the other matches should be formalities. Whitlock should do the business against Painter @ 8/15 as should Taylor at 4/11. Barney has been a man reborn taking out (much to my distaste) 126 on the bull to snatch a draw with Lewis. However Taylor is back to his best after the amazing scenes of a 5 darter. Therefore have a treble on Lewis, Whitlock and Taylor at just shy of 23/10.

Olympic Watch

Not much to report here, only that I shall be keeping a keen eye on the Badminton, Boxing and Beach Volleyball as I managed to get tickets for these events. Watch out for some market moves! Haha.

Enjoy and hopefully we have a better week than last!

Alex’s Big Bets

3pts Basel vs Bayern Draw @ 3/1
3pts Under 2.5 Goals Moscow vs Madrid @ 11/10
2pts Over 2.5 Goals Napoli vs Chelsea @ 5/4
1pt Lewis 8-5 @ 7/1
1pt Lewis 8-4 @ 6/1
2pts Treble Whitlock, Taylor & Lewis

10pts = max bet

Matchplay is always a hard format to predict and can throw up some unusual results, as wins for Jeff Magget and Kevin Sutherland in this event prove. More recently though the real cream has risen to the top and that is what I expect to happen again this week. For the top European players who have just completed the ‘Desert Swing’ part of the tour they now find themselves in the US playing another ‘desert’ course. Mmm…

The format of the event lends itself to trying to pick the winner of each ‘bracket’ to get a semi-final slot and I am tipping four players this week; unfortunately two of them are in the same bracket. I am sticking with them however hopefully guaranteeing one player in the semis.

Glenn’s Big Bets: Steve Stricker
Current Odds 40/1

The two players in question are German Martin Kaymer, runner-up in this last year and American Steve Stricker. Since winning this in 2001 Stricker has not enjoyed much success. Having had a massive dip in form for a few years he has come back to be one of the best players in the world. Twice a winner of the ‘comeback player of the year’ award across the water he started this season with a victory in Hawaii and competed well there the second week. He has taken a break since that event and comes here fresher than any other player and I predict a big week for the Wisconsin man.

Glenn’s Big Bets: Steve Stricker
Current Odds 25/1

Kaymer has also seen an upturn in his fortunes the last few weeks and will be looking to go one better than last year’s runner-up spot when he was outgunned by a red hot Luke Donald. The German showed an obvious liking for the Arizona course last year and has good desert form on the European tour having won the Abu Dhabi Championship on three occasions.

Glenn’s Big Bets: Rory McIlroy
Current Odds 12/1

Rory McIlroy is deserved favourite and looks sure to go well as I see him progressing past the first two rounds with the minimum of fuss. Things will get a bit trickier there but the Northern Irishman is in tremendous form and it will be a brave man who bets against him making at least the semi-finals.

Glenn’s Big Bets: Thomas Bjorn
Current Odds 80/1

My fourth pick this week is Thomas Bjorn. Although he has no real record in this event the Dane is still in the form of his life. Since winning last year’s Desert Classic he has won a further two times on tour and appears on the leaderboard with amazing regularity. If in the same mood he will be hard to beat albeit most probably as underdog in each of his matches.

Having run it two years ago, I was overly confident that I’d be fine this time round. On my second training run I successfully ran 7.5 miles without too much trouble. This, in retrospect, was not a blessing but more a curse, as I decided that the half marathon would be no bother. Having committed to not drinking and not eating bread for 6 weeks before the run, I can safely say that did not happen. I don’t think Mo Farah will have a big roast and a couple of pints two days before his Olympic final.

Anyway, back to the race. As I said the first 10 miles were fairly easy and I was feeling good, but suddenly at about 10.5 miles the tank emptied. I have never ever wanted to give up so much in my life. How I didn’t walk between 11 and 13 miles I will never know. I am immensely proud that I kept going, because I proved I could do it and if I had walked that would have been the end. In my depths of pain I found a clue though. Pouring water over my face helped for about eight strides, so I must have done it fifteen times in the last two miles – ironic really that I was running for an African charity ‘Water Aid’ and that was the biggest waste of water ever!

I must say though that the biggest disappointment was the organisers’ inability to measure the course correctly. All four people I know who have GPS watches made it 13.49 miles. I think this is massively disrespectful to all the runners. It affects everyone, whether you’re a pro trying to break a PB, an amateur like the boss man Ben who thought he was 4 minutes off his target time, or someone like me who was just dead and could have done without running an extra half mile.

All in all though, a fantastic experience and a great sense of achievement. Special mention must go to Pat and Dan Dennis, who are absolute animals and the boss man Ben who ran a great time (for 13.1 miles NOT 13.49) and will kill the full marathon in April… good luck Ben!

Whilst not the strongest in a finish (always an over-rated attribute in my book; I much prefer a judge of pace than a strong finisher) some of his rides from the front were pure master classes and I’ll go through a few now (as well as some good hold up ones to prove he wasn’t a one trick pony).

Fareer in the 2009 Royal Hunt Cup

http://www.racingpost.com/horses/result_home.sd?race_id=484443&r_date=2009-06-18&popup=yes#results_top_tabs=re_&results_bottom_tabs=ANALYSIS

Drawn 18 of the 30 runners, Sir Richard brings his mount stands to middle side of the Ascot track and is second last in the group two furlongs out. Sir Richard weaves a very shrewd passage through the traffic and under a power packed finish he drives Fareer to hit the front strides from the line and win by a head.

Arcano in the 2009 Prix Morny

http://www.racingpost.com/horses/result_home.sd?race_id=490016&r_date=2009-08-23&popup=yes#results_top_tabs=re_&results_bottom_tabs=ANALYSIS

With just the five runners, Arcano is stone last 2 out and comes under pressure. Hills never gives up and galvanises his mount to run on past the four runners including two subsequent Guineas winners to win on the line.

Akmal in the 2010 Henry II Stakes

http://www.racingpost.com/horses/result_home.sd?race_id=506327&r_date=2010-05-27&popup=yes#results_top_tabs=re_&results_bottom_tabs=ANALYSIS

Classic Hills. Sir Richard bags the lead under the big white faced one and leads the field a merry dance by varying the pace for the full two miles round the Esher circuit and repelling all challengers to win by 1 ½ lengths. He did exactly the same on the horse on several occasions in 2009. They were a match made in heaven!

Fareer in the 2010 Hambleton Handicap

http://www.racingpost.com/horses/result_home.sd?race_id=504999&r_date=2010-05-13&popup=yes#results_top_tabs=re_&results_bottom_tabs=ANALYSIS

After bagging the Royal Hunt Cup on Fareer under hold up tactics the year before, Sir Richard made full use of stall four at front-runners York and changed the tactics to make all on the Ed Dunlop gelding. Another Hills classic, he sent Fareer to the front and set a sedate pace before kicking on and nicking a length or two in the straight to prevail by a head with the challengers getting there all too late!

Tazeez in the 2010 Darley Stakes

http://www.racingpost.com/horses/result_home.sd?race_id=514877&r_date=2010-10-15&popup=yes#results_top_tabs=re_&results_bottom_tabs=ANALYSIS

Sensing the German horse Lettty had gone off too quick towards the far side of the Rowley Mile, Hills set his own pace and formed his own group towards the stands side. Two furlongs out, the German runner had dropped away and Hills took things up on Tazeez and galvanised Tazeez up the hill to beat off all challengers to win by a length. Certainly couldn’t argue about his strength in a finish in this race!

For the sake of balance and to prove that all people are human, I will put up a poor Richard Hills ride for you.

Etlaala in the 2006 Lennox Stakes: http://www.racingpost.com/horses/result_home.sd?race_id=413386&r_date=2006-08-01&popup=yes#results_top_tabs=re_&results_bottom_tabs=ANALYSIS

Typical Goodwood unlucky story, trapped on the rail, switched wide, got going far too late and some pour souls had taken 16/1! However, I’ll forgive him this for his exploits on Tazeez, Akmal and Fareer plus plenty of other lesser races at the likes of Nottingham where Mr Hills had his wicked way with his colleagues from the front!

Happy Retirement Richard – you’ll be sorely missed from one corner of the Star Sports office!

Chelsea’s lunchtime kick off on Saturday v Birmingham seemed a bit of a non-event punting wise, but a couple of them latched onto Chelsea at the prohibitive odds of 3-10. Despite it being a busy Saturday there was celebration in the office when Birmingham took a one goal lead; alas as usual in FA cup ties it seems these things never last long as Chelsea were almost instantly awarded a penalty. For us Mata’s effort was saved and, though Danny Sturridge levelled up in the 2nd half, Birmingham held on to give us a cracking start to the weekend.

The usual 3pm kick offs, which are getting rarer it seems, saw an Asian handicap bet on Blackpool +1.5 goals v Everton. Quick goals usually go against us, but Drenthe’s goal within the 1st minute got us off to a flyer and the hard to pronounce South American scored after 6 minutes to get us in front. Blackpool fans in the office (there’s two of them) despite quietly willing the Seasiders on from under the table, couldn’t get their team back into it and it was 2-0 to us on the football.

The evening fixture saw the Jekyll and Hyde team of the Premier League (Arsenal) travel to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland. Despite their midweek mauling in Milan a few punters wanted to side with the Gunners and we saw support for them on the Asian’s -0.25 goals. This must go down as one of Arsenal’s worst performances of the season as they went down 2-0. Arsenal look such a one-man team these days – if RvP goes in the summer what will happen to them?
This season’s competition seems a little bit boring. Chelsea in the final anyone?? Seeing today’s draw when Chelsea were drawn out at home (assuming they overcome Birmingham in the replay) you almost knew they were going to draw Leicester. If only I could pick every 4-1 winner as easily as that! Also it seems that yet again this year’s final in to be played on a Premier League Saturday, I think a fair indication of where the power lies. Oh for the old magic of the cup!

The weekend’s racing was also quite busy, especially on a manic Saturday, where plenty of Cheltenham pointers were on offer. Ascots Reynoldstown Chase saw a sustained gamble on Silviniaco Conti. Early morning 6/4 was soon 11/8 and when one of the major firms decided to hedge bets with us, you somehow knew the horse was going to go through the floor. We were filled in with further big bets at 11/10 and Evens and ended up with a six figure liability for Paul Nicholls’ novice in weakness for its chief market rival Bobs Worth. However, for once an act of god came our way as Alan King’s Invictus upset the applecart.

Later in the afternoon another Alan King inmate did us fewer favours when the unbeaten Balder Success kept up that 100% record when strolling to a facile victory.

Over at Wincanton, Grandouet was scheduled to put his Champion hurdle aspirations on the line in the Kingwell, but a small setback allowed the forgotten former Champion in Binocular to strut his stuff. All the support here came for his main market rival and course specialist Celestial Halo, but the old Champ showed all his ability to comfortably beat his rival.

Painter Man’s victory on the same card (anyone recall the Boney M song of the same name?) gave us a bit of a kick, but was better than the runner up Kilcrea Asia whom we managed to lay each way for good money at 20/1.

However, just as the weekend began it ended on a good note as we saw a really big bet for Spurs at 1/3 away at Stevenage in the lunchtime FA cup tie. The league one side showing all their defensive mettle to hold on for a goalless draw and making sure we had a decent week.

Be lucky and I’ll keep you up with all the action next Sunday.

The primary use of the phone is to have pretend calls on, in which you buy and sell your competitors’ companies in an instant, or recite GG quotes whilst walking around the office in a rage. It has another good use however, in that you can point the pointy end of it, like it’s a bayonet, at unruly staff in order to get their attention.

If you are a capitalist and you take your working life even half seriously, you own a Gordon Gekko phone. End of.

Ben x

The future Mrs Collier, Turkish Ayfer, found an advert on the internet and thought it would be a good idea if she entered. Luckily for me she’s a very good cook (and washer up) and thought it would be a good fun experience, so she got to work. But however, during a busy day at the office she was sending me texts and mentioned they needed fellas, and would I be interested?

You know how it goes, I didnt really pay much attention and just said Yes Darling, and before I knew it the producer was calling me wanting to know what I was going to cook!

It’s being run by a popular Turkish TV company called ATV; they broadcast at home and all over mainland Europe but the only way UK residents can watch would be on the internet, real time. Its filmed in Covent Garden, Sofra restaurent.

My heat was a bit of a nightmare to be honest; as soon as we started the camera was on me hacking away at some celeriac and I managed to get most of it on the floor! That kind of set the tone and made me a nervous wreck – it was like being given 4 matches and asked to make a square, using 3 of them and thinking something was wrong but not being able to think what to do and how to make it right!

Fortunately, or unfortuantely, the competition in the heat wasn’t that great. Some burnt offerings (not easy to cook in a restaurent kitchen) and sugar instead of salt being used made me winner by default, although the judges did give me some very nice comments.

Hopefully I’ll come on for the experience and be a little more composed for the 1/4 finals, filmed on Sat 3rd March,

Wish me Luck … Please!!

The highlights for me will be the 3 televised Premiership games this weekend. First of which is the west country derby at “the Rec” between Bath and Gloucester. Lucky me as I will be braving the elements, for what is forecast to be a cold and wet Saturday afternoon, in the crowd and enjoying the action from the Novia Stand. Gloucester’s visit to Bath sees the return of Jim Hamilton and Scott Lawson from International duty and are the only changes to the cherry and whites side that beat Northampton last time out. This Derby usually doesn’t need any extra incentive but the fact that Bryan Redpath’s men are only 4 points clear of their west country rivals in the Aviva Premiership table, means there’s a lot riding on the game with both clubs striving for an automatic Heineken Cup qualification place.

Bath’s team also only sees two changes from the side that secured a bonus point in their victory over Newcastle last weekend. Stuart Hooper Returns to the engine room, in place of Dave Attwood who is still suffering from a groin strain picked up last weekend and Nathan Carr is starting off at loosehead.

Whatever Pans out on Saturday afternoon at the Rec we are sure of a fantastic game whether sitting at home watching on tv or shivering in the stands. Big bets for me on the match would be Bath -3 on the handicap and also will be having a look tomorrow at the total points market as this maybe worth a play on the unders.

The televised game on Sunday sees Saracens hosting Leicester at Vicarage Road. Mark McCall makes just two changes to his line-up with Schalk Brits and Neil de Kock starting the game after making a return from injury as replacements against Wasps last weekend. Samoa international prop Logoviii Mulipola is given his first start in Aviva Premiership Rugby for Leicester Tigers in this Sunday’s trip to Saracens. The 24-year-old tighthead is brought in due to the absence of internationals Dan Cole and Martin Castrogiovanni, and a one-week ban for Julian White. Mulipola has made four appearances for the club this season, including starting the LV= Cup win over Harlequins, but makes his first league start at Vicarage Road this weekend. This should also prove to be a very close game but I should think Saracens will squeak this game and have taken a little bit of the Saracens -3 that is available with some of our competitors.