Macca

2 from 2 today thanks to your tip getting up with Deprive. Well done DZ and the horse was way too good for that lot. Got the exacta with 'After All That' flashing home for 2nd. Hands and heels for the final furlong too. A progressive horse that looks the goods

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that Gorg. So much to remember! In any event, you are still playing for the 2 seed and that is all important. It might mean either playing at Chicago or hosting the Bears at your house (in week 2)

Wasn't it ever DZ - very impressive! And Bowman rode the horse a treat. Not sure what they do with the Alizee now before the Autumn campaign. Maybe the 'Carrington Stakes' over the 1400m at Randwick towards the end of January? There's not much else going on apart from the Magic Millions in mid January.

Apart from anything else the Rams have to win to ensure the securing of the 2 seed. It's hard to see the Saints slipping up against Carolina especially with Cam Newton not playing so the 1 seed is almost certainly out of reach. But you never know. And divisional games are often close so you can't take the game against the Niners lightly at all. I'm tipping we're going to see some sort of drama!

As we discussed earlier in the year Dappa, the whole Wentz/Foles/Pederson/Team & team success/chemistry thing going on at the Eagles is highly unusual. The thing about Foles is that he is a big occasion player who is otherwise often quite average - and that's the red-herring that is hard to evaluate & quantify. Could it be that Foles is always going to be a good player with Pederson as the head coach? If so, what to do? And I reckon that the Eagles can do ok during the playoffs if you do make it ... but I reckon it's so wide open that any of the wild-card teams could do ok. For instance; Seattle & the Chargers are not to be underestimated. Both games (Eagles @ Washington & Niners @ Rams) are to played in the late afternoon Gorg. And the Rams will probably be assuming that the Bears win so they have to go all-out at least until the game is safe. But divisional games can often throw up close tussles so both games could be close anyway. Who knows?

You'll need the Bears to win obviously as well as take care of business against Washington. If you do beat Washington then it could be assumed that the Bears go all out against the Vikes in search of the 2 seed just in case the Rams slip up. There again, the Bears could pull a few of their starters at half time or earlier if it looks like the Rams are going to win their game against the Niners. If you just miss it will be a big case of 'What if' ... and this great chemistry that happens with the team, Foles & Pederson will still be hovering about. For others reading this post, here are the playoff standings in the NFC

Best Bet Randwick Race 6 No.1 Alizee $2.40

Yeah, fair enough Wadda and welcome back. I am like that with footy most years ... I switch off almost immediately after the GF and then tune back in for the 1st game of the season proper. I take a mild interest in the draft and the practice games but only if there are any standout stories. Hogan leaving kept me interested but as soon as the trade was done, that was it. I am the same with the NFL, Rugby League and a few other sports. I need a break from those sports. By contrast, the Horses, cricket, soccer and a few other sports can get my interest at any time of the year ... the Horses is almost every Saturday but the only races I really want to watch are the Group races from here in Oz or from overseas. And sometimes that might only be 1 or 2 feature races. But the interest remains. For instance: The summer carnival of racing from Queensland culminates with the Magic Millions meeting on the 12th of January ... and 2 weeks after that we get the Blue Diamond prelude's at Caulfield. So there's no escape for me! ?

The Asian Cup kicks off in just over a week and here's the schedule (below) for Australia. The Socceroos play on Sunday 6th Jan (10.00pm), Friday 11th Jan (10.00pm) & Wednesday 16th Jan (12.30am) at the Group stage and we should be able to advance out of Group B without too much trouble. There are 6 Groups but a total of 16 teams advance from the Group stage to the round of 16 matches. The UAE will host the tournament and upon checking the average temperature for the coming week, I was pleasantly surprised to see the maximum temperature being about 26° on most days. 'VAR' is to be used at the tournament as well. Here's the Wiki link to the tournament n.b. The times listed below are local times. Add 7 hours for AEDT.

What on Earth has happened to Man City? 3 PL losses out of their last 4 with Liverpool scooting clear and City have been passed by Spurs as well. Liverpool don't look like losing points and have still only conceded 7 goals for the entire season. The Title is now the Reds to lose. Just had a quick look at Liverpool's fixture and their next 6 PL games are vs Gunners, @ Man City, @ Wolves, @ Brighton, vs Palace, vs Leicester. Obviously the next 2 are all important but if they can beat Arsenal and then get a point at City they'll be well on their way to securing the Title.

The Queensland Summer carnival is the focus this weekend with a total of 6 Listed or Group races but there's also a decent race at Randwick as well as a number of competitive races at the Valley. I picked out these 4 as the standouts and all 4 are reasonable betting races. Doomben - Vo Rogue Plate Doomben - The Buffering Doomben - Bernborough Hcp Randwick - Christmas Stakes

Always nice to be in that spot DZ ... might do a couple of 3pick's myself in the EPL seeing as I'm a bit of an advocate of that sort of multi. There's a number of good free scoring teams playing at home against lesser opposition and you'd reckon Man City & Chelsea will bounce back strong.

Well done DZ ... good odds! Radio only for the races today but as luck would have it I snagged the trifecta in the last race at Randwick after thinking I'd missed after the race caller called 'Crafty Tycoon' as 3rd ... checked the results online and saw that Professor Marx got 3rd - Winner! I love those sort of wins - back in the day I might have thrown away the tote ticket! In other news 'Alizee' makes a return to racing in the Christmas Classic at Randwick on Saturday. I'll post up the links to that race and a few of the other feature races on Saturday later on or tomorrow. In the meantime, there's a decent betting race on at Gosford on Friday that might be worth a look-see ... 'Belle of the Turf Stakes' (Group 3) - 'Aloisia' is running in the race and looks well placed ?

The truth is that we are all the same at any age. We act on our basic instincts. The 'Me' generation can include anyone of any age. The selfish gene can afflict anyone, anytime. Millennials = Baby Boomers and anyone else in between. We forget what we were like when we were young - or perhaps we go into denial as we age. Oldies pointing the finger at the young is hypocritical.

Paging @JV7 @Dr. Gonzo @DeeSpencer @layzie @Dappa Dan @Clintosaurus @Go the Biff @Dee Zephyr @Gorgoroth @titan_uranus @DemonDave All to play for in the final week in the tipping comp. Remembering that 3 points are up for grabs so in theory, we are all in contention to either win outright, or to share the award with 1 or 2 others. Risks almost certainly have to be taken by those not leading but the week doesn't offer up too many potential road winners with only a couple of standouts. But as we've seen previously, the road winners are often there so good luck to all. Leaderboard in the Comp 6 - JV7, Dr. Gonzo, DeeSpencer, layzie 5 - Dappa Dan, Clintosaurus 4 - Go the Biff, Dee Zephyr, Gorgoroth, Macca 3 - titan_uranus, DemonDave

Leaderboard in the Comp 6 - JV7*, Dr. Gonzo, DeeSpencer, layzie 5 - Dappa Dan, Clintosaurus 4 - Go the Biff, Dee Zephyr, Gorgoroth, Macca 3 - titan_uranus, Demon Dave *JV7 will advance to 7 points if the Broncos are successful tomorrow. Week 17 Games n.b. I will post up the lines on Wednesday.

Have a great Xmas yourself DZ I must say I felt a lot more confident with just the 3 picks ... thought we'd get af least 2 of the 3 up and that might be a good pointer moving forward. The 3 pick offers up greater opportunities for more collects. And the combined odds on a 3 pick can end up being around 15 - 1 or thereabouts. Just a thought.

Did the same and just noticed the Feyenoord scoreline ... ugh! Anyway, we went close and the collects will happen.

News from Hong Kong ... Australian horse 'Dark Dream' (under new ownership) just won a C2 race in impressive fashion at Sha Tin by 4.5 lengths and is now probably going to be favourite for the HK Derby. Dark Dream won the Group 1 Queensland Derby back in June. n.b. The Derby in HK is for 4 year old's and is worth a cool $2Million to the winner - smart purchase by the looks of it. Definitely one to follow.

The Ravens looked good and played well ... defense travels hey! We might be having one of those seasons where any of the playoff teams can advance a long way in the playoffs. Nothing should surprise as we keep seeing games being decided by picks, turnovers, fumbles and errors. Chargers put in an average one but they've been up for the contest for what seems like an age. They'll bounce back you'd reckon.

My tips - Vikings, Rams, Bears Paging @titan_uranus @DeeSpencer @Dr. Gonzo

Titans victory today now means that the Ravens need to win today otherwise they'll need help in week 17. Big ask at the Chargers but they can do it.

Good luck with all that DZ ... been there myself but it's been a while now. Re-learning how to sleep in 1 or 2 hour allotments is quite a challenge! You'll manage. As for the Galaxy Star race, I've taken out a F4 as I normally do in Perth. It might have an off-day but I'd be surprised if that did happen. With Material Man out the only real danger is Gatting although 1 of the tipsters has picked Perfect Jewel.

4 picks in so far - managed to snag 47-1 (boosted) so good luck if you're playing. Be a handy xmas collect if it gets up. Need Juve to get it done tonight first off. Italian Serie A Sunday 6.30am $2.10 Juventus Win & +2.5 Goals Match Score vs Roma Portugal Primeiri Liga Monday 4.30am $2.65 Benfica Win & +2.5 Goals Match Score vs SC Braga  Dutch Eredevisie Monday at 00:30 ADO Den Haag v Feyenoord Feyenord Win/Over 2.5 goals $2.10 EPL Monday at 03:00 Everton v Spurs Spurs win/Over 2.5 goals $3.30

Winner! Had it on top in a multiple trifecta but just missed with Gwenneth pipping Saint Valorem. Otherwise, had quite a good day on the punt. So a 1st & 2nd with the 2 picks today so that'll improve the strike rate DZ.