Great weekend of punting ahead

Cheltenham 2010 - 18 days to go

Alaivan boosted his Triumph Hurdle claims with an effortless success in the Winning Fair Juvenile Hurdle at Fairyhouse on Saturday, easing up at the finish.
He had traded as big as 10/1 with Sean Grahams after he was beaten by Carlito Brigante when he was last seen at Leopardstown over Christmas, and will need to turn that form round at the festival.
Trainer Edward O’Grady had this to say after Saturday’s race: “Alaivan disappointed us at Christmas but was obviously beaten by a very good horse.
“However, I think today's win, and his debut win, were better performances than his Christmas run and his jumping has improved too.”
On Tuesday, Carlito Brigante’s trainer Gordon Elliott hit back, saying that he would not swap his horse for anything and that they beat Alaivan fair and square that day.
Trainer Alan King has a cracking record in this race and believes Mille Chief is one of the best juveniles he has trained as he prepares the youngster for Saturday's racingpost.com Adonis Juvenile Novices Hurdle at Kempton before taking on the Irish trained duo at the festival.
I think if Millie Chief wins well at the weekend he will be the one to beat on Friday, March 12.
Sean Grahams have pushed Zaynar out to 7/1 from 4/1 for the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle after the five-year-old suffered a shock defeat in the Morebattle Hurdle at Kelso last Thursday afternoon.
Nicky Henderson has urged punters to ignore the run and thinks his charge will be a big player on the opening day of the festival. I tend to agree with the trainer on this one and will be taking some of that 7/1 price.
On to the weekend action and we have two big races with the Tote Eider at Newcastle and the Racing Post Chase at Kempton.
FISTRAL BEACH will take some stopping at Kempton and can follow up on his course win last time out.
At Newcastle we have the gruelling four-mile Tote Eider and the Ferdy Murphy trained Galant Nuit looks a big player in this after his cosy success at Cheltenham last time out.

Doncaster disaster for our Kev
Belfast Media Group printers’ assistant and no-nonsense aging ATN defender Kevin McCabe was left gutted at the weekend after Doncaster let him down.
Unlucky Kevin placed a £5 SEVEN-TIMER (right) at the weekend and grabbed SIX winners with WEST HAM 4/5, SPURS 1/1, BLACKPOOL 6/5, SWANSEA 9/5, CHARLTON 8/15 and MORECAMBE 6/4 all doing the business for our inky punter. He was cruelly undone by Doncaster, though, who were beaten 2-1 by out-of-form QPR and Kevin was left pondering what could have been after missing out on a £1,275.12 pay-out.
A Lenadoon punter had better luck on Saturday with his £20 treble on first goalscorers.
He took Didier Drogba at 5/2 to open the scoring at Wolves and that £20 bet became a cracking double when Nicklas Bendtner grabbed the first for Arsenal aginst Sunderland at 4/1. The sweat was on, but still no cigar. He had to wait till the Sunday but it was well worth it as he had £350 riding on Spurs hitman Jermaine Defoe, who grabbed the first at Wigan to net the lucky punter £1,750 – what a cracking bet!
A local punter was left fuming on Monday, and this after picking up a winning football bet from Ladbrokes. He felt short-changed after the firm cut the price of Glentoran from 4/5 to 8/13 without notifying the customer when he was placing his bet. Surely that’s not much to ask. More communication is badly needed in this area – it’s the second time it’s happened to this rightly indignant punter inside a month.

SUPER SUNDAY TO THROW UP SHOCKS?

THE PG and its loyal band of readers and followers were left gutted yet again last weekend when another late goal thwarted our Fivehit.
A fortnight ago St Mirren conceded a 95th minute to beat our XXX. Then last week they scored a late equaliser at Kilmarnock to beat us out of a 17-1 Fivehit and to leave us a wee bit gutted once more.



But... we have dusted ourselves down and here’s hoping we can deliver this weekend, for what a super Sunday of footie we have to look forward to.
We start with the Carling Cup Final and I can already hear the moans and groans of Man Utd supporters who think I have it in for their beloved team.
I keep saying we like a wee bit of value here at the Guide and looking at the prices for the Wembley showpiece Aston Villa look big at 7/2 to win in 90 minutes.
Man Utd in recent games have been slack at the back and have conceded a lot of goals – this very pacy Villa team will cause that defence a lot of problems.
By the time this game kicks off it will all be over at Ibrox where Rangers and Celtic meet, and it’s quite simple for Tony Mowbray’s team – lose this and the title dream is dead in the water.
Celtic are seven points adrift and know nothing more than a win is needed. We think they can get it on Sunday and the 2/1 looks a solid bet.
Super Sunday Bets:
Double: Celtic 2/1, Aston Villa 7/2.
First Goalscorers: Robbie Keane 11/2, Gabriel Agbonlahor 13/2.
CARLING CUP Get-out stakes: Both teams to win on penalties at 9/1.

xxx
On to the the draw treble this week and we start at Filbert Street where second-placed NOTTINGHAM FOREST pay a visit to take on LEICESTER who are tough to beat on their own turf.
We think Billy Davies’ team will be happy with a point in this one, and so will we – it’s the first X down this week.
Promotion-chasing COLCHESTER travel to play-off-seeking BRISTOL ROVERS on Saturday and we think both teams will come away with a point in this one.
ACCRINGTON STANLEY have had an absolutely wonderful season and find themselves on the brink off the play-offs. We are taking them to continue that good form and gain another point at Torquay.

quad
On to the quad and we start with our weekend knocker. BOLTON (1/1) need to bounce back from that Blackburn defeat and we think they will at home to Wolves.
BIRMINGHAM (1/1) are hard to beat at home and we are taking them for three points on Saturday against struggling Wigan.
BURY (5/4) are the form team in League Two and we are banking on them taking all points at Barnet.
Making the quad up this week is the team who are due to do us a favour, ST MIRREN (11/10), who have been a thorn in the PG side in the last fortnight. They are taken to prevail at home to Hamilton.

fivehit
On to the odds-on Fivehit and READING (4/5) need points on the board and three beckon at home to Sheffield Wednesday, while WEST BROM (8/13) look too strong for Derby.
BRIGHTON (10/11) are playing good stuff and can take all points at home to Exeter while CARLISLE (5/6) look a good bet at home to Gillingham.
Making the Fivehit up are SOUTHAMPTON (4/6) who should bank all points against Walsall.

lastly the Friday NAG and we have went for Bon Accord to overturn hotpot Baby Run in the last and stick Here's Johnny in got the f/c

Good Luck!