Macca

Got a good collect in R8 ... 4 bets with 3 returns. The last 2 money back Might stick to the quinellas up there. Boxing 4 or even 5 is like an each way bet Purton or Moreira were involved in quinellas in 5 of the last 6 races. That might be the clue I've been looking for The first 4 races are often C5 or C4 races and are therefore the equivalent of BM58 or BM64 affairs. I stay away until R7 normally

I was on Ulysses but Zing looked home for you there ... at least with Sportsbet you get the bonus bet back

Same here ... had a place multi going but I've had a good day today (unlike last week!) Gone down the quinella path at Sha Tin this evening ... got a couple of roughies going (in each race) for the value

Couldn't get clear running room ... really unlucky. Held up for more than a furlong in the straight but that's racing Jamie Kah wins again on Prophet's Thumb ... another treble for the elite hoop

Overs!! Good on ya Gorg and I took on board what you said about Streets of Avalon (what a warrior horse Streets is!) Got the quinella twice so a handy collect ... I work on the principle that if you get enough reasonable collects you'll end up in front Come on 'Sword of Mercy'!

If Sir Dragonet is scratched then Crosshaven could come into about 2.80 or 3.00 But I'd be on Imaging at about 4.50 (?) if I went for a win bet. Might Box 4 in a trifecta including a couple of value runners (Blazejowski & Sovereign Award?)

The first Group 1 of the season tomorrow with the CF Orr Stakes to be run. Will Sir Dragonet run? Trainers Maher & Eustice are going to walk the track tomorrow morning looking for a bit of give in the track but the surface might be a Good3 by R8 anyway. At a guess I don't believe it will run but I hope it does The Blue Diamond Preludes will also be run whilst up at Randwick there are a couple of Black-type races as well as 2 high-stakes Inglis 2yo & 3yo events ($2Million & $1Million) Caulfield Card - Odds, Form & Full Fields Randwick Card - Odds, Form & Full Fields And they race at Sha Tin tomorrow as well (Saturday's once a month up there) - the meeting continues until 8.45pm so the 'Get-Out Stakes' x 5 is in operation! Comprehensive Form Guide (HKJC Website) Form Guide (Racenet.Com) Expert Video Preview (Each Race) - Excellent Site Odds & Fluctuations (Available 2 or 3 days Prior to Raceday) All The Tips - Available 9pm The Day Before Raceday (Tom Biddington & RacingPost - Best)

Yeah we've got some issues alright All the more reason to be playing more Test matches to sort it all out I see CA offered to play the Tests against South Africa here in Australia but that was rejected. And South Africa are peeved that we aren't touring Not sure we had much choice with the stronger strain of Covid seemingly out of control in South Africa. Not exactly safe no matter what measures were going to be undertaken. One player gets the dreaded disease and that would be the end of it. Surely a financial outcome could have been reached if the Tests were played elsewhere (?) Anyway, I'll be taking up a stronger interest in the Shield now as well as watching England play in 11 Test matches (9 against India) ? CA might find a way to pencil in 2 or 3 Test matches from August onwards though. They must know that the players need to play at Test level on a regular basis

Yeah I prefer to go early with my best bet Gorg. Wednesday evening is form night! Probably going to continue with the value/each-way type (brings the place multi into play) but with an emphasis on class And Probabeel is just that ... classy But if I really like a short-priced favourite, I'll go down that path. For instance, if the Caulfield Track has a bit of give in it on Saturday then Sir Dragonet in the Orr Stakes would attract a lot of big wagers and could start at a very short price And just on the racing up in Hong Kong - the locals are very big on quinellas. It's their favoured way of punting. When in Rome? I'm assuming they are percentage punters because there are often 4 or 5 genuine chances to win in most of the races (and that includes any of the horses that Purton or Moreira are on!) I've generally done ok with exactas up there but I'm switching to quinellas (at HK)

Best Bet (Saturday) Caulfield R7 No.1 Probabeel 5.00/1.80

Excellent summary t_u On top of all that our team is far from settled with issues with the batting (mainly) but should we be rotating the quick bowlers? I'm happy with Paine retaining the captaincy but the team itself is a work in progress. White ball cricket & the Shield (which doesn't start until October) is our preparation with the Ashes on the line (?) Edit: The Test players will now be able to play in this year's Sheffield Shield so that adds a bit. Still, it's not the top level

The other main issue coming as a consequence of the cancelled South Africa tour is the small amount of Test cricket the team will have played in the last 12 months and in the next 12 months Before the India Tests we hadn't played a Test since early January 2020 (NZ) and aside from the 4 Tests against India we may not be playing another Test until Nov 2021 (Ashes) That's 4 Tests played over a near 2 year period. Covid aside, surely the Board can get the team playing some meaningful red ball cricket There is a fair bit of white ball cricket scheduled this year but for Test cricket fanatics, the cupboard is bare

The Longines Thoroughbred Awards are out for the 2020 year Listed below are the top 10 horses (n.b. 'Golden Sixty' was born in Australia so we get to claim him!) Addeybb we'd be familiar with after winning 2 Middle Distance G1's in Sydney last Autumn. Both Arcadia Queen & Verry Elleegant were rated in the 40's but it was great to see Bivouac, Classique Legend & Nature Strip make the top 10 Ghaiyyath & Authentic finished 1 & 2 and you can click on the highlighted events to watch the replays of their G1 triumphs ... both horses were quite dominant fully recognised for their greatness Ghaiyyath G1 Coronation Cup G1 Coral-Eclipse Stakes G1 Juddmonte International Authentic G1 Kentucky Derby G1 Haskell Invitational G1 Breeders Classic Frankie Dettori took out the Jockeys award (scroll down further) ... no Moreira in the top 10? J-Mac & Zac Purton got into the top 10 and rightly so

Here's a few websites pertaining to the racing up in Hong Kong (I'll try and post up these links late on Saturday's) HK Comprehensive Form Guide (HKJC Website) HK Form Guide (Racenet) HK Expert Video Preview (Each Race) - Excellent Site (Same Presenters as the Raceday Crew on Racing.com TV Channel) HK Odds & Fluctuations (Available 3 or 4 days prior) HK All The Tips - Available 9pm The Day Before Raceday (Tom Biddington & RacingPost - Best)

Overs @ 4 40 in a small field? It's been running excellent times for its class including 1:09.66 in its last start win at Caulfield. That's good going for a BM70 ... might be worth following up on. 1:08.99 today carrying 58.5kg Queen Annabel looked the only real threat pre race and that was 16-1 Zac just got me a winner in R3 at HK but just missed in R4 (bonus bet back though)

The form at Sha Tin is miles better to understand and decipher than any Sunday meetings in Oz (in a general sense) Plus, the really good jockeys & trainers are operating in HK as well. Jockeys like Karis Teetan, Jerry Chau & Vincent Ho get lots of winners whilst Size & Fownes as well as a few other trainers are prominent as well But Moreira & Purton dominate and a number of their mounts offer up value as well I generally bet in Sydney & Melbourne on a Saturday and usually HK on a Sunday The rest of it is a total mystery in my view so I steer clear (unless I get a tip) James Jordan at Morphettville is a top tipster so a few races there on a Saturday as well (the value runners)

Following Purton & Moreira (primarily) at Sha Tin today ... hoping for a few collects! They are both on a number of the best horses anyway Laddies are offering double winnings for races 5 & 6 as well as the Sportsbet offer you mentioned for races 1 thru 4 I use all that plus apply booster odds whenever applicable

Yes with Ole Kirk & Standout scratched the deductions kick in. Flit is still good value in my view ... 6.50 available at Laddies You got anything? I figured we may as well kick things off re the best bets with the good horses starting to return

Best Bet (Saturday) Randwick R7 No.6 Flit 8.50/2.30 Included in a place multi could be the go with Flit but the 4yo Mare races well fresh and likes the soft conditions

Back at Caulfield & Rosehill this Saturday with a number of the Autumn carnival horses returning (as well as Behemeth & Kemelpasa in the Durbridge Stakes @ Morphettville - R6) The 2yo's feature again in both the main venues but the eyes will also be on The Expressway St. (R7 Randwick) & The Manfred St. (R5 Caulfield) The good news for punters is that there is no standout favourite in either race. Small fields in both races but there's some value there if you can find the winner (or winners!) Caulfield - Full Fields, Odds & Form Rosehill - Full Fields, Odds & Form

Maybe 4 years would work better for the clubs (re draftees) but with a few caveats involved pertaining to earnings etc Malthouse stated a number of years ago that each draftee costs the clubs at least $200k per year all-up when factoring in the FD spend It's probably more like $250k these days (Covid aside) and that's a lot of money to spend on a spec pick (aren't they all spec picks?) A big gamble So swapping picks for absolute proven talent is way less of a gamble. Not every time of course as there are gems to be found throughout every draft. Swapping 2nd rounders for has worked out ok for us (in a general sense) But there are pitfalls and we fell into a giant pit when we went youth-crazy way back when ... at the same time we were trying to get rid of our experienced players (another mistake) as well as embarking on a 'Let's position ourselves well in the draft' crusade without any real thought as to a guaranteed beneficial end result

All that really matters with trades & drafting (or any sort of recruiting really) is the overall end result e.g. Max Gawn pick 34 in 2009 draft is a fantastic result I won't list those at the other end of the scale rjay ... haven't got the time!

Yeah we did but in the end we used the Hogan pick that we got from Freo into May As previously stated, 'in the end' we turned Scully into May

In terms of how our club fared re Scully its a case of of 'All's well that ends well' ... in the end we turned Scully into May (in a roundabout way) and Steven might have 4 very productive years ahead of him as a premier backman We originally turned the Scully compo pick into Hogan and aside from when Jesse was injured, he was easily our leading forward But from an overall perspective a lot turned to pus back then (especially those horrid 2012 & 2013 seasons) And 2014 was tough going not knowing if we were going to drag ourselves out of the mud Nightmarish times As for GWS ... company store, company money. Not many 'really' care

The book title? The 3 Flags of Richmond (How Jordan McMahon Changed the Course of History) And it shouldn't be forgotten that Richmond were also tanking that day ... they and their supporters desperately wanted Scully