Bit of a Jackson Browne day today:

Results

A poor day for blog racing yesterday. A blank day in fact.

Murray beat Robredo this morning in Shenzhen to earn his first title since winning Wimbledon last year. Incredibly he saved five match points in the second set tiebreak. Plays Beijing next which is a much tougher proposition. On paper he would need to beat Cilic, Djokovic and Nadal to win the title.

With the Shenzhen victory he moves up to no. 10 in the 'race' to London. He could yet make the required top eight if he does well in his next two tournaments. He has no points to defend having been out of action during this time last year.

On the other hand if he ends the year with just the Shenzhen tournament win it will mean a very good payout for the Murray performance blog bets!

Sent from my iPad

Saturday racing

A big day at headquarters with the Cambridgeshire. Not going to get too involved here just a token bet on the champion jockey's mount Quick Wit. Could be well handicapped and is a huge price.

15:50N 1pt win Quick Wit @ 40/1 Bet365 (BOG)

Elsewhere the six/five furlong handicaps at Haydock look interesting. Some of the Ayr "Cup" horses do battle again. In the 15:35 our Bronze Cup winner Expose carries a penalty and is short enough. I'm going to give another chance to Cruise Tothelimit, who I also backed in the Bronze Cup. The latter was a massive drifter that day so maybe something was not quite right. Certainly he ran poorly having been on a hat trick.

15:35H 1.5pt win Cruise Tothelimit @ 25/1 William Hill (BOG)
15:35H 1pt win Run With Pride @ 8/1 Betfred (BOG)

In the other race, on a big golf day when all we have on Radio 5 is the whispering ubiquitous Claire Balding, I have backed:

16:10H 1.5pts win Ballesteros @ 10/1 Paddy Power (BOG)
16:10H 0.5pt win Algar Lad @ 16/1 Coral (BOG)

Total stakes 5.5 points.

Good luck today if you get involved...

Standing ovation in the sitting room

There was a standing ovation for local favourites Grey Wolf when they played "The Sitting Room" tonight. Ludlow's "quirky little secret" was hosting a relaunch party following refurbishment. Band members Ben Walsh, Jim Allen and Martin Thomas delighted the capacity crowd (perhaps 40 people  - it's an intimate venue after all!) with their unique brand of acoustic folk:

Mugray alert

Looks like he could win his first title of the year - in Shenzhen. Now an odds-on chance after Ferrer was beaten today. Not a big concern though with the ante-post bets on the Scot.

In fact if he wins one tournament and no more this year it would be the best result for the blog....

Boo

"Do you ever get the feeling that you're living someone else's life?

And all the time you thought that you were happy and didn't think twice

The winter that we spent together got so cold I thought we'd die

And the dress you wore at Easter that made me cry

I'll meet you at the world's end

Two saints walking arm in arm

I'll meet you at the world's end

Two saints walking arm in arm

Young again


The smoke from burning bridges has been stinging in our eyes for years

So all the time we never knew there is no better place


I'll meet you at the world's end

Two saints walking arm in arm

I'll meet you at the world's end

Two saints walking arm in arm

Young again...."

Boo Hewerdine: "World's End"

 

Wuhan Open

How ironic that the only player in the world's top 17 not engaged in this week's tournament is Li Na. The Chinese player of course announced her retirement in the the last few days. Wuhan is her home town. 

A tremendous event and covered live by the excellent BT Sport. I watched an impressive Caroline Garcia take down A-Rad over three long sets this morning. This followed a long match against Venus. Both matches were completed with third set tie-breaks showing how well Caroline was able to hold her nerve. The question now is has the 20-year-old got anything left? Maybe she has and perhaps Mugray's prediction that she will hit the top of the women's game will come true in 2015? 

The other 20-year-old (there is only eight days between her and the aforementioned French woman) who I believe is a tremendous prospect is the statuesque six-foot Muguruza. The Spaniard reached the semis of the Tokyo Open last week and will have to be at her very best in her next match as she is Halep's first opponent here. The two have never met but perhaps the underdog can catch the world number two cold? 

Anyway two very speculative bets on the event as follows:

0.5pts ew Garcia @ 40/1 Paddy Power (1/2 odds 1,2)

0.5pts ew Muguruza @ 33/1 Paddy Power (1/2 odds 1,2)

Two points staked. 

Ayr Festival

Just like old times (when I had the time and motivation to offer a daily racing service) with some very good profits up at Ayr. Winners of the Bronze and Silver Cups landed but only third place in the big one. Nice 25 point profit though across the two days.

Ayr results

2014 results

Ayr Saturday

Well that's more like it! 16/1 Expose obliges for us - albeit with a 10p in £ R4 deduction. So 15.4 points return for the four point outlay.

Going to press up in the Silver and Gold Cups tomorrow:

14:40A 1.5pts win Huntsman's Close @ 12/1 William Hill BOG
14:40A 1pt win Mehdi @ 16/1 William Hill BOG

15:50A 2pts win Blaine @ 12/1 Betfred BOG
15:50A 1pt win Racy @ 33/1 Coral BOG

May have another bet in the morning.

Total 5.5 points staked

Scotland

Well that was disappointing to say the least. Having backed the Yes team to get over 45% they end up on 44.7%.

Going to have a couple of plays in the other Scottish event taking place - Ayr. This was an incredibly successful meeting for me last year but the ground conditions are very different this week. It was soft on this day last year and in fact the word soft appeared in the going description in each of the four years since 2009 (on the Friday). Anyway having a bash at the Bronze Cup today (and potentially the Silver and Gold Cups tomorrow). I may blog Saturday's bets immediately after the Bronze result, but for now I've had:

14:40A 2pts win Cruise Tothelimit @ 14/1 Coral BOG

14:40A 1pt win Expose @ 16/1 William Hill BOG

14:40A 1pt win Rothesay Chancer @ 33/1 888.com

Four points staked.

Sent from my iPad 

Scottish Independence Referendum

I've become bored with the media blanket coverage of tomorrow's vote, particularly now that Gordon Brown appears to be heading up the 'No' campaign. It seems incredible though that the result could be anything other than 'No' given the uncertainties that a 'Yes' decision could produce. (Eg. EU membership, currency, future of banks, share UK debt).

However the polls say it's too close to call with the latest three polls predicting 48% Yes and 52% No. I've therefore played in excess of 45% Yes in the following way:

4pts Yes % vote 45.01% - 50.0% @ 5/4 Betfred 

4pts Yes majority vote @ 5.3 Betfair (approx 4/1 after commission)

At least that should make the next 48 hours interesting!

Eight points staked.

Sent from my iPad 

Premier League TGS

Not got involved on the blog in any football for the 2014/15 UK season. Bought the RP football pull-out and got very bored reading it - putting it to one side after just a few pages.

However have just had a bet on the Prem TGS. Danny Welbeck, who must have got a boost from last night's England match in which he scored twice. I didn't watch the game as I had no financial interest in it, so am just betting blind having seen the result. The top teams: Chelsea, Man City and to a lesser extent MU will have many scoring options. Not the case at Arsenal and you can see DW starting plenty of matches in the Premier League. I have had:

1pt ew Danny Welbeck to win Prem TGS @ 66/1 Boylesports (1/4 odds 1,2,3,4).

Only a small bet so above bookmaker may accommodate you. If not plenty of 50/1 available which is still value IMO.

Sent from my iPad 

US Open wrap

Federer's exit tonight means the end of the blog's interest in the US Open outright markets. Can't make excuses for any of the selections....good value losers most of them.

Fortunately Andy Murray is keeping us very firmly in the black with two (Christmas day 2013) ante-post bets now landed: no grand slam wins in 2014 (10pts @ 5/4) and no grand slam finals played (2pts @ 5/1). We also have potential payouts on one of: zero, one or two ATP tournaments won in 2014 with the current score zero. My guess is he will play a maximum of three more tourneys in 2014: Shanghai, Paris indoor and possibly London - although the latter may have to be as a reserve.

Finally can I just remark on the ludicrous ride given to Highland Acclaim this afternoon. Having dwelt from the stalls, the jockey decided to switch from his low draw position (stall two) right over to tuck in behind the (high) stands' side runners, thus losing acres of ground. When the selection finally got into gear he surged up the rail to finish in fifth place beaten just two heads and two short-heads.I would think David O'Meara was furious.

Ascot

Had a couple of bets in the first race at Ascot today:

13:55A 1.5pts win Highland Acclaim @ 12/1 Betfred BOG
13:55A 1.5pts win Pacific Heights @ 16/1 William Hill BOG

Three points staked.

Interesting developments in the jockeys' championship. It was only three weeks ago I took the widely available 5/2 about Hughes retaining the championship. He's now a best priced 1/5 to do so. What has happened since? Well RH has closed the gap to six (was double figures) but more importantly RLM has a four-day ban looming and has declared to the media that he will probably miss the last couple of weeks of the season owing to international commitments.