Monday, March 28, 2011
Sports World |
- Jockey Bookings provide insight in to leading 2011 Grand National fancies
- Are terraces the way forward?
- Yankees set final pitching rotation as season is set to begin
- Coyle looking for taste of the continent
| Jockey Bookings provide insight in to leading 2011 Grand National fancies Posted: 28 Mar 2011 07:25 AM PDT With the 2011 Grand National less than two weeks away, many of the leading jockeys are being booked to ride in World famous race and as they do, the picture of who are the most fancied horses becomes a little more clear and the mounts of the leading jockeys will always influence where the money goes as it provides a useful indicator on the chances of the various runners. With the news that jockey Ruby Walsh will partner The Midnight Club for trainer Willie Mullins in the Aintree Grand National, the market once again shortened the price on the horse which is now as short as 8/1 and is the clear favourite. Mullins who still has a good few in the race will not have services of his number two jockey, Paul Townend. The decision means that Harry Skelton will get the ride on Niche Market for Paul Nicholls thus reuniting with the horse that he steered to success in the Irish Grand National two years ago at Fairyhouse. It is hard to gauge how Nicholls feels about Walsh's decision, but he remains upbeat about the chances of the horse, confirming that Niche Market was in great shape at home. He has also attracted antepost support and has been backed in to around the 16/1 mark. Nicholls of course has several entries still left in the race, with his What A Friend, recent fourth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup attracting the most attention as far as the antepost market for the race is concerned. He will be well in at the weights at Aintree and will Daryl Jacob on board as he did at Cheltenham and is currently around the 10/1 mark to win the race. Of the remaining Nicholls entries, The Tother One at 33/1 is a solid jumper, but has not shown good enough form to win a race like this. It is highly likely that he will be ridden by amateur, Ryan Mahon, who rode him in the Hennessey Gold Cup last November where he finished in a creditable fourth behind Diamond Harry. A place is a distinct possibility. Ornais, currently a 100/1 shot to win the race has just had a couple of spins in hunter chases where he ran well both times without winning. Before that he won the Paddy Power Graduation Chase at Cheltenham on soft ground by 8 lengths from the hot odds on favourite, Battlecry and none other than Niche Market. If Mahon does not ride The Tother One then it is likely Nicholls will book him to partner Ornais, a horse he knows very well. Other known bookings include Sam Waley-Cohen (winning jockey in the 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup) who will partner his father's horse, Oscar Time, for trainer Martin Lynch. Oscar Time is not without his supporters either after finishing fifth behind The Midnight Club in last month's Grade Two, Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse. It would be a remarkable feat should Waley-Cohen win this having already claimed the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Long Run. Jason Maguire will partner Ballabriggs another big fancy for the race who is trained by Donald McCain, Peter Buchanan will ride Silver By Nature for Lucinda Russell, winner of the recent Grand National Trial at Haydock Park. Timmy Murphy meanwhile is likely to partner 2008 winner Comply Or Die in what will probably be the horse's last attempt to win the race. Quinz from the Philip Hobbs stable will have his usual jockey, Richard Johnson on board, while it is almost certain that champion jockey, Tony McCoy will once again ride Don't Push It in a bid to land the Grand National odds for for a second successive year Despite taking a week off, following a fall last weekend, Barry Geraghty believes he will be fit for the well in time for the race but as yet he has no ride booked. Nicky Henderson does not have an entry which means his star jockey is without a ride.  |
| Posted: 28 Mar 2011 06:59 AM PDT The Premier League has taken a long leap away from fans in recent years as mega money and corporate boxes have taken over from the sort of traditional fan-led arrangements that had previously seen football take a fairly dire turn, driving away from the game children and families in the process. However, with safety in modern stadiums having since taken priority, and with players, fans, and the Premier League all in agreement that there can never be a repeat of the tragic scenes so often associated with terraces, there are still calls to be heard for terraces to be reinstated in Premier League grounds, where fans already stand for large periods of the game and where this kind of behaviour at the moment leads to families and children forced out of these seating areas despite the fact that they are only "unofficial" standing areas and anyone in the Betfair Loyalty program will have noticed this. These calls have so far been rejected, but it may soon be the case that the likes of Manchester United feel so distanced from their fans that they are forced to take notice of the German teams that have successfully integrated terraced areas into their new modern stadiums, with no greater levels of danger than those that exist in seating areas. So, it would seem that the Premier League is under a fair deal of pressure to show that they still care about the average fan, who seems to have been forgotten about as the money has rolled in over the past few years, and if you're a Betfair VIP this may be worth keeping an eye on. That said, with the Premier League already rejecting any talk of terraces, it looks like it will take a real fans movement for clubs to start to accept that a return to terraces is not going to end in disaster and would actually increase attendance and reduce overall costs for fans coming to games each week.  |
| Yankees set final pitching rotation as season is set to begin Posted: 28 Mar 2011 04:41 AM PDT For all those March Madness Betting fans of the New York Yankees, you can rest easy, the team has announced their full five-man starting pitching rotation. With the 2011 MLB season ready to start and March Madness odds becoming more significant, the Yankees put all competition to rest by giving the final two spots to Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia. Both entered camp as favourites to secure the final two spots in the Yankees' rotation and now they are officially the 4th and 5th starters respectively. Nova earned his spot as he posted a 1.80 ERA in five outings this spring while showing that he can pitch with confidence and improved numbers from last season. The final spot was up for grabs right until the very end. Bartolo Colon did his best to try and shake things up by putting up a 2.40 ERA to Garcia's 5.93 mark. But in the end it came down to what has each pitcher done most recently in regular season action. The 34-year-old Garcia threw 157 innings and won 12 games for the White Sox last season, which is certainly much better than Colon, who last pitched in July 2009. Nova and Garcia now complete a five-man rotation that already has CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and A.J. Burnett. Now that the pitching is set the team can focus on the season ahead. The Yankees did not have a lot of work to do to prepare as they returned eight of their nine regulars with Russell Martin being the only new face. He will take over behind the plate as Jorge Posada has been moved to designated hitter. The bullpen is going to be a strong point for the Yankees this season as Rafael Soriano will be added to the late inning mix. He will be inserted as the setup man for closer Mariano Rivera. Wondering what will happen to Colon after such a strong spring? He will pitch out of the bullpen which will make the pitching staff even deeper and offer more options for Girardi. Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson will provide right-handed depth, while left-handers Pedro Feliciano and Boone Logan will do the same on the other side of the mound. The Yankees had no problem scoring runs last season, leading the Majors in runs scored. Now with their five-man unit set for starting pitching, a deep bullpen and one of the scariest closers in history, the Yankees will be one of the favourites to win it all this season.  |
| Coyle looking for taste of the continent Posted: 28 Mar 2011 07:05 AM PDT With the season entering its run-in stage, Bolton could well be heading for a European place come the end of the campaign. Owen Coyle is on the cusp of bringing Europa League football to the Reebok Stadium after just over a year at the helm. The Trotters will head to Wembley next month to take on Stoke in their FA Cup semi-final, with the way the league is panning out it would mean the winner of the tie would be rewarded with a Europa League place. While both sides have an extremely strong case as to why they deserve the spot in Europa next season, Owen Coyle will be confident of handling the battle out on the pitch. Bolton's fortunes have rocketed since Coyle took over from Gary Megson last year, and they are still in with a chance of achieving their target through their league placing and those wondering how to use Betfair will realise this. The Scottish manager has admitted he has given the prospect of European football a thought, while also making it clear he is keen to test himself on the stage. "As a manager you want to push yourselves to the maximum and your players to the maximum and try to get that bit better. Something like European football should be cherished," he said. The battle is on the Bolton manager to keep his squad focused on their remaining league matches while keeping the FA Cup thoughts to one side. With the tight nature of the Premiership this season there are a host of clubs still chasing the top seven places. After such an impressive campaign so far, Coyle won't want to drift away at this stage and anyone after a bit of Betfair help should bear this in mind. A season in European football would certainly make the club more attractive to potential new signings in the summer, not to mention the players already at the club currently still weighing up their options. There is so much that Bolton can achieve under this exciting young manager and European football would certainly be the next positive step in the journey.  |
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