Racing, Darts and the Masters

It seems a few of you got a bit hot under the collar about my comments about Wenger. I'm not saying he's any better or worse than Ferguson, Mourinho et al, but he is far too predictable. Oh, and he's French, of course - surely at some point soon he'll be going on strike?
And I hope you've all collected on your Derby relegation bets as they may still have a chance of staying up if the arrests of the porn barons at Birmingham leads to them getting demoted for financial irregularities. Derby would then only have to win the last five games and hope Bolton dont get another point!

5.15 Fontwell Midnight Ocean e/w 15/2 (NON RUNNER)
Quite an open handicap this and with 18 runners we get the full 1/4 odds for the first four, and so the one that leaps out is Midnight Ocean. Since going handicapping she has placed both times, with the form of the 2.5 lengths second to Lily tiger being franked by the winner going up 5lbs and winning by 6 lengths next time out. The handicapper has not moved this mare up at all for either that second or the subsequent third, and so I expect her to be in the frame again.

7.35 Wade & Taylor Double 7/5 (WON +3.34 - This looked like falling at the first hurdle as Wadye went 4-0 down, but lifted his average to over 101 and won 8-5. Taylor was never in doubt though after a 12-darter in the first leg. He is on fire!)
A table-toppers double, and last week I wouldn't have included James Wade but with Wayne Mardle's revival halted by John Part last week and Wadey in good form destroying an, admittedly ill, Ady Lewis, I expect Wadey to go better than the draw that started Mardle's recent run and secure his place in the semi-finals.
And doesn't it seem a long time ago that we were doubting the Power after three losses in his first four matches, only for him to whitewash Wayne Mardle and then follow up with an 8-3 victory over Barney. Well its the rematch tonight and since those first 4 matches Taylor has only lost 20 legs in 7 matches. And Raymond has not been fluent this season yet either, evidenced by losses to Mardle and Manley in recent weeks. So he may get closer to Phil than last time, but not close enough.

8.15 Part to beat Lewis 7/5 (LOST +2.34 - This was the Lewis that could beat the best if he turned it in every week, but thats his problem)
Darth Maple has found his World Champion form in the last couple of weeks, beating Mardle and Manley, and going down narrowly to Barney, while Lewis clearly wasn't well when he returned from illness last week. That will certainly have restricted his practice time this week again, even if physically he has fully recovered, and Part will certainly be looking to take advantage and keep himself in the hunt for a semi-final spot, ahead of a tough run-in.

9.00 Manley Draw with Jenkins 9/2 (LOST +1.34 - at 4-4 this was looking good, but as ever Manley never let up and an average of 102.96 was the second best of the whole night)
Peter Manley has been the draw specialist this season with 4 from 10, while Jenkins has shared the points twice too - one of which was with Manley. Both have 8 points currently with Jenkins ahead by 1 leg on leg difference, so there really isn't much between these guys, so take advantage of a decent priced darts bet.

THE MASTERS

Well it really is difficult to look beyond Tiger to win this, and even if you do noone jumps out at you. I liked the chances of Rory Sabbatini and then he went and won the Par 3 competition yesterday, thus ruling him out of my considerations. So we need to look at alternative markets.

Luke Donald Top European e/w 8/1 (1/5 1-2-3-4) (LOST +0.34 - Luke missed the cut by one stroke)
Barring a surprise performance from one of the old timers, but they rarely last four days round Augusta these days, or Ian Poulter finally walking the walk rather than talking the talk, the winner of this only comes from 6 players for me - Harrington, Rose, Donald, Stenson, Garcia, and Casey. And with Sergio's putting its probably only 5. Donald's US education has paid off on the US Tour and with a 3rd on debut and a 10th last year he will be feeling good about Augusta when he stands on the first tee. So far his genuine challenge for a major has been blocked by one poor round. If he can keep that out of his locker, and Tiger has an off week, he can fulfil the promise, but all we need here is to beat the other Europeans. And he has had a second and a third from 5 starts on Tour this year. Pod is the obvious challenger with two top tens and two further top twenty finishes in eight visits to Augusta, but I cant see why he should be half the price of Donald. Justin Rose will take a few people's fancy after just falling short last year and making the cut on all three visits, but he is yet to make a top 10 this year. Stenson is reliable and may get a place in this market, while Sergio has missed the cut twice in the last three years. Paul Casey missed the cut in 2005 but finished 6th and 10th either side of that, so if he starts well he will be a good one to be on, but wait and see. So for me it has to be Donald.

JB Holmes top Debutant e/w 10/1 (1/5 1-2-3-4) (LOST -0.66 - Three solid rounds were let down by a 76 on Day four, when another 72 would have seen us take the place money)
You could be forgiven for never having heard of JB Holmes as he finished last season ranked 208 in the world. However, this season he is already up to 55 having won the FBR Open and ranking 27th in average scoring on the US Tour - helped by an average drive of 307.7 yards, 2nd to Bubba Watson. He then uses this to his advantage and ranks 7th in birdies from greens hit in regulation, and 3rd in going for the green to leave an eagle putt. All very useful qualitities round Augusta, and one I hope stands us in good stead. The alternative for me is Daniel Chopra, who won the Mercedes-Benz Champs, but I'm not sure his driving will hold up, so its JB for me.