Macca

Australian Group & Listed Races Best Bet Strike Rate 44: 15 - 5 - 8 And here's a few replays from yesterday ...

My tips ... Pats, Vikings, Rams Paging @DemonDave @DeeSpencer

Test Cricket in this Country has an issue with the available talent coming through ... the choices for young people is vast these days so therefore the talent pool is and has been eroded. Future test stars can also be lost to t20 as well as a host of other sports. Specifically with regards to the batting but the reality is that our test batting order hasn't been consistently strong for more than a decade now. We lose a lot. The wickets in Australia are too easy to bat on as well ... learning how to bat on 'roads' isn't exactly a test at any level so when we are faced with spinning or seaming wickets overseas, we often struggle. CA needs to find better pathways for talented sportspeople ... how they can do that is anyone's guess but maybe they can look at how the AFL goes about it. The pathway for future t20 cricketers is a far easier hurdle to overcome so that might have to be the roundabout way of producing Test-quality batsmen looking ahead. One thing is for sure ... the Sheffield Shield is no longer producing a production line of test quality batsmen. And that trend is more than a decade old and counting.

Couple of feature races at Sha Tin later today that might be worth a look. Some familiar names involved with both races. The winner of the Sprint should come from the 3 favoured runners whilst either 'Beauty Generation' or 'Pakistan Star' should win the Mile classic although 'Rise High' may feature with the low weight. Race 7 The Premier Bowl 1200m Group 2 Race 8 Sha Tin Trophy 1600m Group 2

And Royal Ascot pays off late ... Stradivarius, Roaring Lion, Cracksman. You've gotta love a treble. Ripper!

Need to score twice now do Chelsea ... you never know, they might do it.

We're backing Chelsea but we don't mind if Man Utd score! That's the punt for you

I've got Fetch TV which gives me the Optus feed. No problems here. And I reckon I'll just have a go at the F4 in the big Group 1's from here on in ... you've set the standard DZ after today. Way to go!

Well done mate - good on ya! I just had a look at the dividend and even a small percentage is rather decent. No punters lament on my part because at no stage did I entertain putting the winner on top as I already had 4 and had 2 or 3 others as next best. I did have Best Solution for 2nd, 3rd & 4th in the exotics though ... If Homesman wins I would have cleaned right up. Duretto was the horse that boosted up the F4 and it had the form line through Best Solution in that Newmarket Group 2 race run over the same 2400m distance. Interesting that 17 of the 20 runners were either bred overseas or were newly arrived (if we include the 2 emergencies) Ace High, Mighty Boss & Youngstar were the only Australian bred horses in the race. That is quite an eye-opener in all reality DZ. And I am fairly sure that Youngstar is the only Australian bred horse in the first 15 horses in the Melbourne Cup betting. The 'raiders' have basically taken over. Anyway, Come on Chelsea! Goal!

I have re-loaded with the 5 live options @Dee Zephyr @Wadda We Sing Approx 40-1 without the boosted odds. EPL Saturday at 22:30 Chelsea v Man Utd Chelsea win/over 2.5 goals $2.60 Spanish Primera Division Sunday at 03:30 Villarreal v Atletico Madrid Atletico Madrid win $2.20 Sunday 3.00am Serie A (Italian League) $1.67 Juventus Win & +2.5 Goals Match Score vs Genoa Monday 5.30am Serie A (Italian League) $2.30 Inter Milan Win Only vs AC Milan Saturday Midnight Roma v SPAL Roma win and match score over 2.5 $1.85

I was having my worst day for quite some time but got a couple of late collects to save face. I've had a decent month though so can't complain. Might have helped if you'd put forward your Sydney Quaddie Biff - what happened there? ... last week I used a couple of your race selections to get a few collects in the exotics

The British Champion's Series of races from Royal Ascot are on later tonight and the good news is that the event is being shown on the free-to-air channel. 4 Group 1 races over the classic distances and a 2 mile Group 2 race as well are on the card. Stradivarius, Roaring Lion & Cracksman should dominate 3 of the races and all 3 will start very short. Lah Ti Dah & The Tin Man are also worth looking at in the other 2 Group 1's. Full Race Card - Royal Ascot

JJ tips are handy for the exotics ... got 2 decent exacta's from his tips today including 1 in the lucky last. All that effort to barely break even. haha There again, breaking even is like winning in the final analysis. Lesson learnt again ... don't invest too much into the big feature races.

Finally a winner with Mahalangur ... would have much preferred the trifecta in the same race though. Had the placegetters marked but you can't include them all. Paid 6k plus with one of the favoured runners winning

Over to Adelaide for the last 2 ... I'm going with JJ's tips as my picks have been all-at-sea today ?

Best Solution too good ... Homesman was game but there's often a fine line between winning and being an also-ran. Full credit to the winner though as it had to carry top weight, had the wide barrier and it had the Group 1 winning form. Started 4th favourite so it was well supported.

Yeah that straight at Morphettville can be both short & long on occasions! Gytrash just didn't quicken when it should have. Anyway the team has gone 1.5 from 4 today or should we level things off at 2 from 4? ha ha

Looks very similar to the Avilius finish from 2 weeks ago. They dismissed that protest and they should allow for a bit of buffeting over a 2000m race. But who knows DZ?

Good start from the team thanks to @Wadda We Sing Thinkin' Big very impressive. Never in doubt and the horse looks a decent prospect.

Best Bets Caulfield Race 7 No.7 Best of Days $3.50 Win Morphetville Race 6 No.1 Gytrash $2.70 Win Caulfield Race 6 No.1 Thinking Big $3.90 Win Randwick Race 6 No.7 Roosevelt $2.40 Win Combined odds 88-1 Good luck to all!

Best Bets Sunday 3.00am Serie A (Italian League) $1.67 Juventus Win & +2.5 Goals Match Score vs Genoa Monday 5.30am Serie A (Italian League) $2.30 Inter Milan Win Only vs AC Milan

Best Bet Caulfield Race 7 No.7 Best of Days $3.50

Gator's first 4 in each race are under the banner of 'Best Bets' which can be seen here on Racing.com Available online on Wednesday's for the Saturday metropolitan meeting's in Melbourne. James Jordan's Morphettville first 4 tips are usually available around 10am on a Saturday on the same Racing.com website.

I've got the same 4 as you on top Wadda ... usually I'll go with 3 or 5 but the winner should come from those 4. But you never know. As for the imported horses, it is more a process of elimination but I'll probably include a total of 3 from 7 or 8 overall choices - I'm obviously going 'wide' with the exotics. Red Verdon seems to be well supported. Maybe 'Duretto' from the inside gate? The others have similar form but they've all mostly drawn quite wide barriers. Interesting that our 4 choices have all drawn decent gates ... it will be interesting to see the thoughts of DZ, BM, Biff, Clinto & DJ. It's such a great race steeped in history. It's now an international race of course so the eyes of the racing world are now looking. And that's not such a bad thing.

And if they paid all pass interference calls layz we'd have dozens of penalties per game against the defense & offense ... it depend on where the infringement happens. In the middle of the field right under the referee's nose is asking for trouble. Home field or away matters too. I've always acknowledged the obtuse nature of ref calls and take the good with the bad. In the wash-up, Green Bay won a game on the back of some more Rodgers magic whilst the 49ers probably should have put the game away when they had the chance. Packers will need to get a lot better if we're to figure in January. Got the bye this week so the Packers should spend the time doing a thorough review and figure out how to get that much-needed improvement. At Rams in week 8 will be the ultimate test for starters.