Friday, March 9, 2012

Sports World

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Free Money at Ladbrokes for first day of Cheltenham Posted: 09 Mar 2012 08:35 AM PST It's that time of year again when the nation's eyes turn to Cheltenham as the cream of National Hunt racing come together from all corners of the globe to test their mettle. There's nowhere quite like Cheltenham and the 2012 Festival promises to be very special indeed. To mark the event, Ladbrokes have dug deep and come up with a sensational offer for new and existing customers. New customers with Ladbrokes will qualify for a free £50 bet on the first day of the Festival, Tuesday 13th March, while all existing customers also get a free £5 bet for day one. And there are a lot of interesting prospects for that first day. A new Ladbrokes customer weighing the possibilities of, for example, Midnight Game in the opening race, the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, could find him or herself a free £400 to the good if Willie Mullins's five-year-old can land the spoils at 8/1. But the race is something of a lottery as history has shown and if you're having a free bet, why not make it a real punt on Venetia Williams's 50/1 Brick Red, for example, or any of the four 100/1 shots currently available with Ladbrokes? You've nothing to lose. Of course, the feature race on the first day is always the Champion Hurdle. This year, all eyes are on reigning champion Hurricane Fly, who is on top of his game after landing the Irish Champion Hurdle in January. This is another Willie Mullins-trained hurdler, but he isn't offering much value for punters feeling lucky with their free money at about 4/6. And he'll have to beat 11 rivals if he's to repeat last year's hugely impressive win. So free bet first time Ladbrokes punters may be hoping Overturn can live up to his name by toppling the current champion. Currently 25/1, Donald McCain's eight-year-old has an excellent each-way fighting chance. Others to consider include the 2010 winner Binocular (4/1 second favourite), who didn't run last year, and last year's Triumph Hurdle winner Zarkandar (5/1). The Paul Nicholls-trained Zarkandar has won his only start this season, the Betfair Hurdle, in quite some style and may be the likeliest challenger to Hurricane Fly here. It's certainly a big opening day for Willie Mullins, who also runs Quevega - bidding for her fourth win on the bounce in the Mares' Hurdle. And it could be an even bigger day for Ladbrokes' tills to be emptied if thousands of £50 free bet UK gamblers are shrewd in their Cheltenham day one choices. Free bets must be placed on any Cheltenham race on Tuesday 13th March 2012.  The Free Bet will expire after the 5.15pm race. More information on the Ladbrokes day one at Cheltenham offer can be found here on the Ladbrokes Website

Cheltenham Winners – Short Lived Glory Posted: 09 Mar 2012 01:47 AM PST Cheltenham glory is something to be aspired to but it can also be a brutal and stamina sapping exercise which takes plenty out of the winners and quite often that physical peak that they are brought to for the Festival can never be attained again. There have been some high-profile examples of this, horses that you thought would have the world at their feet but subsequent victories have been beyond them. We kick-off our list with Golden Cygnet who recorded and emphatic success in the 1978 Supreme Novices' Hurdle, in fact his time was quicker than the subsequent Champion Hurdle winner (Monksfield) later that same afternoon. Much was expected of Golden Cygnet; unfortunately he never got a chance to prove those claims that he would have been one of the greatest hurdlers of his generation. After Cheltenham he only ran twice more and it was in the second of those that he was fatally killed in the Scottish Champion Hurdle, when taking a heavy fall. Fans of Cheltenham betting will have been deeply upset. Monsignor was similarly hailed as a new hurdling great; he had landed a surprise win in the 1999 Champion Bumper at the Festival and went through the subsequent season unbeaten over hurdles, even beating eventual Gold Cup winner Best mate in the process. That victory came at a price however as he suffered an injury and from that leg problems developed that meant that despite a few false dawns he never saw the racecourse again and all we were left to remember him by was that 1999 Festival Bumper win. Those placing Cheltenham 2012 bets need to bear this in mind. Royal Gait the 1992 Champion Hurdle winner was unusual in the most part as he was owned by Sheikh Mohammed, he was disqualified in controversial circumstances from his win in the 1988 Gold Cup and after that he was off the course for nearly three years with leg problems. Nursedback to health by Newmarket trainer James Fanshawe he went into the 1992 hurdling championship with just three runs over timber, two of which he had won. Despite the inexperience and physical problems he scored in a driving finish but was seen only once more as he died after crossing the line when finishing fourth at Leopardstown in his very next race. Of all the runners that we looked at the fall of grace of Cooldine is one of the most dramatic; he looked a future chasing star when winning the 2009 RSA Chase by 16 lengths in very easy fashion. But since that day and it was a gruelling one it has been all downhill for Cooldine who is without a victory in 11 subsequent races and his latest race saw him finish a very one-paced fourth of five runners at Clonmel. Just four reasons for treading carefully when the latest "superstar" pops up at the Cheltenham Festival this year.

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