DENMAN ON THE DRIFT AFTER FALL

• CHELTENHAM 2010 COUNTDOWN - 25 DAYS TO GO
Local layers were offering odds of even money on Saturday for the Paul Nicholls-trained hot duo of Denman and Master Minded to win.
I myself stay well clear of these ‘bookie specials’. As I keep telling punters through this column, they know more than us when it comes to punting and don’t offer these for nothing.
Denman, as we now know, travelled and jumped like a dream until four out and then it all went wrong and he unshipped new pilot Tony McCoy at the third-last.
Master Minded then put in a breathtaking display of jumping, only to blunder badly at the last. But he was still eased down by Ruby Walsh at the line.
Sean Grahams reacted by pushing Denman out to 3/1 in the Gold Cup and shortening favourite Kauto Star to 4/5, while Master Minded was cut to 4/5 from 6/4 after his win with the same firm.
Irish raider Cooldine was trimmed to 10/1 for the Gold Cup by Paddy Power, while Tricky Trickster is generally 33s following his Aon Chase win.
Get Me Out Of Here was also trimmed for the Supreme Novices Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival after running out an easy winner of the totesport Trophy at the weekend.
Jonjo O'Neill's unbeaten horse travelled very easily throughout before surviving a bad jump at the last to run out an easy enough winner and gets a 10/1 price from Sean Grahams.
Diamond Harry was another horse that was cut and he is now 5/1 for the RSA Chase with Grahams after a workmanlike performance in his Cheltenham Festival prep at Newbury where he beat Bensalem.
Long Run was also cut to 5/1 for the RSA Ch
Zaynar has drifted after his Kelso defeat and is as big as 7/1 for the Champion Hurdle.

On to the weekend action and more Festival prep races to look forward to at Ascot on Saturday.
We start with the Grade 2 Sodexo Prestige Reynoldstown Novices Chase and we could see RSA Chase favourite Punchestowns on show. He didn’t impress me all that much a few weeks back so we are taking the improving TAZBAR to shake up the RSA betting with a shock win.
Another few horses to watch at Ascot on Saturday, and the Paul Nicholls-trained Besahabar will take some stopping in the Betfair Handicap Hurdle while Albertas Run could run a big race in the Betfair Ascot Chase.
Over at Haydock watch out for COE in the Blue Square Gold Cup Chase.

Punter cashes in on Denman mishap

Punter Ciaran O’Neill had reason to smile on Saturday after bravely opposing the mighty Denman on Saturday.
Canny punter Ciaran placed a £4 treble on Saturday and took TRICKY TRICKSTER at early odds of 12/1 to get his treble off and running and turn it into a £52 double.
That became a £364 straight win after GET ME OUT OF HERE won the totesport Trophy a half a hour later and the sweat was on.
He had to wait until the last race on the Newbury card, and boy was it worth waiting for.
Ruby Walsh booted home on Irish export Al Ferof in the bumper at odds of 11/4 to secure a £1,365 Saturday pay-day for Ciaran – a really fine piece of punting by the Twinbrook punter.

Man City leave Roddy’s punter gutted after draw

Your heart goes out to the punter in the Roddy’s on Saturday night who was waiting on MAN CITY to beat Stoke at home in the last leg of a £30 seven-timer.
His nerves were jangling and he endured a torrid 90 minutes only to be outdone by a City team who frankly didn’t look up for the game.
First he was up when City took the lead through Wright-Phillips, then he was down when Stoke got an equaliser after Shay ‘Superglue Feet’ Given was caught out by another Delap long throw. Our punter had a fair whack riding on City, but he could have laid it off on Stoke (+1) at 6/4, so no matter what happened in the game he was on a winner. But not all punters are as ‘safe’ as I would be.

Soccer Selections
Absolutely gutting for the PG last weekend as Dundee Utd scored a 94th minute winner to thwart our XXX.
One blogger picked up over £200 on the double but was left gutted after that late goal at St Mirren beat him out of £2,450 after he had staked a £100 bet which consisted of 3 x £20 doubles and a £40 treble.
These late goals have a knack of balancing out over the season and hopefully the next few late ones will be for us instead of against us, and meantime we aim to put some shekels in the pocket as Cheltenham approaches.

fivehit

We start with the odds-on Fivehit this week and start at Upton Park in the big relegation battle where WEST HAM (4/5) take on fellow strugglers Hull.
I expect to see the Hammers’ firepower seal the three points in this one and hopefully kick-start the Fivehit.
Into League One for the next two selections and COLCHESTER (8/13) are hard to beat at home and are taken to scoop all points at home to lowly Oldham.
SWINDON (4/6) are in great form at the minute and can cement their play-off place with maximum points at home to Carlisle.
Accrington Stanley (10/11) are difficult to beat at their own gaff and they can take all points against managerless Bradford.
We end the odds-on bet in the SPL and we have gone for a KILMARNOCK win (5/6) at home to struggling St Mirren.

xxx

On to the draw treble and we start with the big match of the weekend at Goodison Park at Saturday lunchtime where second-placed Man Utd visit Everton, who have hit a wee bit of form at present and will test the champions at the weekend.
It’s tight at the top and Utd would clearly prefer all points as they chase Chelsea, but it will be tough on Merseyside and a draw looks the stand-out bet at 5/2. We go to the SPL for our next two Xs and Fir Park sees the visit of third-placed Hibs to take on a rejuvenated MOTHERWELL side and this one looks another tough one to call and the draw looks the easy way out at 11/5.
ABERDEEN have bounced back to form and claimed a point at home to Celtic last week and we’re banking on the Dons to grab another point at basement club FalkIRk and get over the shock of that Raith defeat on Tuesday night
Remember the perm, doubles and a treble.

quad

On to the weekend Quad and we start with our knocker bet of the weekend. The quad starts on FRIDAY night folks when we have opted for high-flying BURY (11/10) to take all points at Gigg Lane against Shrewsbury.
INVERNESS (1/1) whalloped Raith 4-0 at their gaff last week and can grab another three points at the expense of Queen of the South.
MILWALL (6/5) are very much the form team in League One and can stay in the play-off frame with a win at lowly Wycombe.
Hopefully three winners in the bag going into the 5.30 kick-off and we are taking a PORTSMOUTH (13/8) win at Fratton Park where Stoke are the visitors.
Pompey are a hard team to beat at home and I think that they can grab three vital points here.

goalrush

We finish with the Goalrush bet and suggest you take both teams to score in the following games. Portsmouth v Stoke, Blackpool v Reading, Derby v Swansea, Peterboro v Sheffield Utd and making the five-timer up is QPR v Doncaster.