Safe Voyage appeals at Doncaster, bearing in mind the way in which he finished to land the Ahonoora last summerAs the stalls clang open at Doncaster for another season of Flat racing on turf, punters have to ask themselves once more how they feel about taking odds such as 7-2 in a hot 22-runner handicap. Three of the past 10 winners of the Lincoln have been short-priced runners from Newmarket, so it would be foolhardy to strike a line through the name of Auxerre just because the value has gone.Still, he will need to take a big step forward on the form of his half-length win at Kempton in October and an each-way alternative is my preferred way of tackling...
Rich Ricci now appears to have been working behind the scenes to get a fair deal for the firm’s customersRich Ricci, the former chairman of the defunct internet bookmaker BetBright, said on Friday that he is “delighted that we have found a solution”, which guarantees that all outstanding ante-post bets with the firm will now be honoured by BetVictor.BetBright sold its technology platform to rival firm 888.com in early March for £15m, but its outstanding liabilities on bets already placed with the firm were not included in the deal. While 888.com agreed to honour bets on the Cheltenham Festival in mid-March, it declined to take on ante-post bets on the football season, which were believed to have a potential total...
The champion does not begin his defence as the clear favourite, however. That status falls, albeit very narrowly, to Oisin MurphySilvestre de Sousa was in his civvies the last time he was seen in public on a British track, when he picked up the trophy for winning the Flat jockeys’ championship for the third time at Ascot on Champions Day in mid-October.De Sousa was suspended at the time and left shortly afterwards to take up a contract in Hong Kong that has proved highly successful, with more than 40 winners on the board at a strike-rate of 15% and a Group One victory on Glorious Forever in the Hong Kong Cup in December. It was all going so well, in...
Dream Alliance’s story is coming to the big screen, so who might be the best fit to play his trainer, Philip Hobbs?How thrilling to learn that the story of Dream Alliance is to get the full movie treatment and with actual stars lined up to take roles. Damian Lewis and Toni Collette are to play members of the unlikely ownership syndicate behind the horse who was raised in an allotment on top of a slag heap and won the Welsh National a decade ago. Related: Paul Nicholls primes big guns for Aintree but Frodon earns long break Wednesday's racing tips Continue reading...
What justification can there be for voiding longer-term bets if a company is still solvent and trading in other countries?More bad news arrives for ante-post punters, as we are told that 188Bet is to cease trading in Britain and Ireland and will honour ante-post bets only for events to be completed in the next three months. It appears that Betbright set a precedent when it decided to void ante-post bets in closing down, a decision which the Gambling Commission then legitimised by failing to do anything about it.What makes the voiding hard to stomach in this case is that a statement from 188Bet specifically says that the firm remains solvent. This is good news inasmuch as customers can withdraw their...