Rugby, Football and Racing

Just back from a quick tour of Scandinavia where they are less bullish on their international teams than we are here. The Danes are just happy they got more medals at the Olympics than the Swedes! Not too much other than football in the papers today but there are a couple of ideas out there...

7.05 Lanelli HT-FT bt Dragons 3/4 (LOST -2.00 - Llanelli won the game but had to come from behind at half-time unfortunately)
I fancy the Welsh challenge to be strong in the Magners League this year and the two forerunners for me will be Cardiff and Llanelli. Llanelli signalled their intent at the weekend with a 16-9 victory at Ulster, while the Dragons lost 12-6 at home to Glasgow. Neither game was one for the purists, but I see both teams faring the same tonight, especially with the Scarlets at home, and they will want to stamp their authority early. So ignore the 4/9 to win the game and pick up a bit more wiht the 3/4 on them to win both at half-time and full-time.

7.15 Sweden v Hungary No Goalscorer 7/1 (LOST -3.00 - final score 2-1 to Sweden. A dull game until Sweden took the lead in the second half)
7.45 Albania, Portugal and Spain Treble 5/4 (LOST -4.00 - easy wins for Albania 3-0 and Spain 4-0, and Portugal were 1-0 up after 80 mins and 2-1 up after 85, but somehow conspired to lose 3-2!)
My Swedish friends tell me they were very impressed with Albania on Saturday when they had the better of a 0-0 with the Swedes, while Malta were taken apart 4-0 by Portugal. My other Scandinavian friends in Copenhagen say their national side is really struggling these days and saw no reason for optimism in a dull 0-0 with Hungary on Saturday. Given Sweden and Denmark drew 0-0 in European Championship qualifying this time last year and the Swedes have only scored 6 goals in their last 10 games, I can see a Hungary side who have scored 1 goal away from home in their last 5 games, getting another point in a no-scoring affair in Stockholm and 7/1 no goalscorer seems good value.
In the same group Albania's performance should be enough to overcome the group's whipping boys Malta, and Portugal should have plenty to beat Denmark in Lisbon, even without Christiano Ronaldo. Just to make a 5/4 price I've thrown in European Champions Spain to beat Armenia.

9.20 Kempton Dancing Dik e/w 11/2 (4th -5.00 - A blanket finish and our selection was only a length behind the leader but unfortunately 4th and just out the places)
Amanda Perrett's gelding came second here on his only previous run on the all-weather, and is running off a rating 4lbs lower today. Last time out on turf he was beaten 2lengths, being headed in the final furlong so the drop back to 11f from 12f may be the difference tonight, but he should be on the premises whatever happens.