Macca

After the footy season there's the NFL, MLB till late Oct, the NHL & NBA as well as the various soccer competitions. Also Rugby internationals. As previously stated, I don't mind the NBA as a betting sport as the good teams generally win at home against lesser opposition but to get some decent odds you've got to go half time/ full time or go-to-whoa (lead at the end of every quarter) The NFL is also a reasonable option ... again, half time/full time or margins with a 10 point buffer. Or you can take the line which is the popular option. Soccer & Ice Hockey are tricky but I like the 12 point margins in rugby union. I reckon the new thread could be quite popular as this one is ... this thread gets a lot of views - over 32,000 now which is a good number. Good luck launching it Wadda ... I'll be there to support!

I agree ... it's unlikely but you never know. I know way more people who are into sports betting rather than the horses. We'll want to keep the sports multi going - especially if we get an early collect! The transparency of our picks will build a want to get it right just like it does in the best-bets and to a lesser extent, the trifecta combo. So are you thinking a 6 pick yeah? What if there's 4 of us or more? BM has flagged his interest in sports betting and then there's the 3 of us that are in. I'm happy to just have the 1 pick if it works out we've got too many. As for the thread name 'Monkey Business' ... it's got my vote Wadda. Perfectly apt in many ways. Luck plays a big part in sports multi's ... there are always upset results that you don't see coming but a lot of the picks are for the favoured team in a 2 horse race. Pardon the pun! I'm genuinely excited for the idea and concept.

Ha ha ... the Marx bros also starred in a film called 'Horse Feathers' The sports multi might intrude on our best bets & trifecta combo if we do it here. Where as on a separate thread it stands alone. And I reckon we can fine tune a sports multi where we can give ourselves a decent chance at a collect. If that happens we'll want to keep it going. But if the sports multi idea stays here that's ok as well. I'm all in on the idea and I reckon it can work Wadda but I'm just a bit concerned about too much going on in the one thread. We can't rule out having others joining in on a different concept like sports betting ... and some of those others may not have any interest in horse racing.

In other news ... Crownbet/William Hill soon to be known as EasyBet will have free access to the Sky Racing channels. Sky cover NSW & QLD racing and the racing from overseas.

A Line in the Sand? Line Dancing? haha

I would probably just do 2 Saturday baseball games (AEST) if we have 2 tips. And as previously discussed I reckon we need a separate thread for the sports betting ... a clever thread title would be better than 'sports betting' as a title as well Wadda. We don't want to draw undue attention. I just reckon we'll want to keep up the joint sports multi once we hit the spring and this thread is better suited if it's predominantly about the thoroughbreds.

You go with whatever feels best Wadda ... I'm happy to just play along. If you want 2 different tips then I may end up going with 2 baseball tips. I usually get most right in a baseball multi but only ever seem to get a collect if I plumb for 3 picks only. Just to clarify ... the baseball odds don't appear until late arvo on the day prior to the games being played (AEST) In other words, a Saturday 9am game's odds won't appear until about 5pm on the Friday and a Sunday 9am game's odds won't appear until about 5pm on a Saturday. That's why I suggested that we have all our tips in by Friday evening. In that case my baseball tip or tips would be for the Saturday game or games (AEST)

I'm no good at footy or NRL & the Super Rugby season is over so I'll nominate a baseball game that will be played Saturday or Sunday AEST. The baseball odds aren't up until late in the arvo on the day prior so it might be a bit of a tight squeeze getting on. The dividend is usually in the $2 - $3 range. If we get all our tips in by Friday night we should be ok. I'm no good at soccer as well although I did get a 7 leg soccer multi up a few years ago that paid quite well ... no luck since though. NBA in the summer is my preference as well.

-1.5 is the safer option but the amount of legs is the key. I've tried 5 or 6 legs but that's probably 1 or 2 legs too many. 3 legs is the smart play but we get greedy don't we DZ! Golden rule is getting on the superior home team with a strong pitching advantage against the weaker away team. MLB.com always has the pitching match-ups available. And Ladbrokes offers the odds boost and then it's all systems go. In the summer I prefer the NBA with the Half time/Full time option or Q/Q/Q/Q (go to whoa) ... but it's just the odd bet with me. I've won a few big collects in the past but never 7k!

Not the exact score Wadda ... picking a bracket with a 10 point buffer (31-40) The scorelines were - Cronulla 32 Manly 33 & Penrith 40 Canberra 31. So my mate picked all 4 teams to finish with a score in the 31-40 bracket. In other words a 4 x 31-40 score brackets for both teams in 2 NRL matches. He didn't even have to pick the winners either - just nominate the right 4 brackets. Seems simple & easy in hindsight but what are the chances? As for the team multi until the Spring kicks in, I'm in. Do we look for some value because I like the -1.5 or -2.5 line in certain baseball matches?

I'm doing baseball multi's this week so my mate has inspired me! Inspiration all round DZ haha I think it was 34-1 in one leg and 41-1 in the other leg. Obviously he was banking on close, high scoring games in both legs and up it came. Amazing. As for Chautauqua, I've come to terms with the happenings ... I was listening to the trial live on RSN and I just knew he wouldn't jump. They might bring in the horse-whisperer from the States but if he never races again, so be it. The horse belted out a fabulous record and will retire as a champion of the turf. Let's face it, they retire gun 3YO's on a constant basis and the grey flash is now an 8 year old.

Had a mate win 7k from a 2 pick multi on the NRL on Sunday. He had to pick the right score for each of the 4 teams with a 10 point buffer (all 31-40) and nailed it with a $5 bet at odds of 1394-1. He's done similar once before with an Ice Hockey multi Can ya believe it! Well he did send me a snapshot of the winning ticket. Just incredible!

Following the overseas racing a lot more closely this year has made me realise just how much of an advantage the overseas trainers/connections have over their Aussie counterparts DZ. There are truckloads of European horses bred to stay (esp in the UK & Ireland) and when you look at our racing we really concentrate on breeding sprinters & milers. Thus, a large loophole has been created. The amount of lucrative staying races held in Europe is immense compared to what is on offer here. And that loophole is even bigger for the overseas 3YO stayers - they get a big pull in the weights due to the entry conditions of the Cups. And because of the relaxing of the quarantine conditions (2 weeks overseas & 2 weeks here) it's any wonder that we're now going to see an increase of overseas runners. The horses are effectively spelled whilst in quarantine. It doesn't bother me personally as I'm more attracted to betting on WFA or SW races over the 1200m - 2000m anyway. I'm also a great believer in growing the sport so the more overseas horses, the better, as far as I'm concerned.

That's what we have to deal with ... think I'm right in saying that for a 4 year stretch from 2011 we were drawn to play 29 home games out of 44 against interstate opposition. Facing that reality we've had to sell off games to the NT ... $800k per game is reasonable compensation though, all the same. But give us 5 or 6 home games against Essendon, Richmond, Collingwood, Geelong, Hawthorn & Carlton every season and we have no such dilemma. Sure, today was an easy kill but we've effectively lost money from the game. Multiply that by 6 and we've got a real issue. So we sell games to balance things up.

Yep ... but the first quarter was ultra-impressive ET. We blew them away like a good side should. After that, it was all academic. We were a little wasteful at times but most of the teams have that trait these days. Except perhaps Richmond when they are on song. The next 3 weeks are the games that we can all look forward to. In fact, every game from here on in will be a test. We'll find out soon enough what we're made of.

Not the club that is for sure .. we might pick up 100k as per the arrangement with the MCC Trust but that would be it. There is a reason why we sell off games to the NT for $800k per game. The AFL gift us up to 7 home games per season against interstate teams so the selling off of games becomes mandatory. You've got to balance the books.

Win our last 3 and we finish 2nd with a double chance and 2 home finals ... today was almost a distraction. We've come a long way. Motivation can work in many different ways but every player would be acutely aware of the above equation. But of course it's one week at a time so we simply need to take care of the first part of the equation next Sunday. I'm backing the team to do so.

Was thinking the same thing Wadda ... our record post late April started plummeting. Much prefer having my hard-earned on proven Group performers (or suchlike) but I've purposely looked for some value runners backed up by the form experts in the off-season. With dividends around the $4 - $5 mark we only need 1 winner to make a profit (if we back them all to win) Even including any of the tips in a 2 - 5 - 5 trifecta only costs $10 for 45% of the dividend (if you like another horse in a best-bet race) Races like the Missile Stakes are different - we're more inclined to use our own knowledge & judgement in trying to find the winner in such a race.

Turns out I was miles off the mark @Wadda We Sing Last season's best bet record ... 82: 28 - 16 - 6 Best Bet Record (2018/19) ... 3: 1 - 1 - 1

I haven't kept track Wadda but at a guess I reckon we might have ended up at 65: 30 - 11 - 7 If I ever get the time I'll get the exact configuration of numbers but those figures wouldn't be far off the mark ... we started off all guns blazing then kept getting 1 winner only and occasionally 2 winners with the odd placing here and there. My strategy is to back each horse for the win or at least include any of our picks in a trifecta ... for instance, today I had my biggest wager on 'Streets of Avalon', another small wager on 'Smartedge' and included Kementari in a trifecta. As well as multi them up with another small wager. All up, I doubled my total outlay with our best bets with only the 1 winner out of the 4 total bets. I should have got the trifecta in the Kementari race but used a somewhat poor strategy. Anyway, I'll try and make a habit of posting up our win & trifecta records along with a few replays and videos on a Monday or a Tuesday. Along with of course the link to the Australian Group & Listed Races The Spring Carnival really swings into gear quite early these days ... In 2 weeks time (Aug 18th) we'll see a total of 10 Group races across Randwick & Caulfield where Winx is the star attraction in her own event - The Group 1 Winx Stakes (formerly the Warwick Stakes) The race is now worth $500k.

Smartedge flew home and finished 3rd ... all our 3 picks could have easily saluted. Best Bet strike rate (new season) 3: 1-1-1

Well done on your multi Wadda ... I broke even very early on but only had 1 more collect with bets already laid on. Got a number of winners from the experts tips (Gator, Hutchy, JJ & Brad Davidson) but no trifecta's. But I had a feeling things were going to go that way. And after re-viewing the Missile Stakes a few times I reckon Kementari was a good thing beaten. In any event it won't have lost any of its admirers. I've gone again with Self Sense in a multi with a couple of Rugby League line bets ... there's talk of taking Self Sense to the UK for the lucrative jumps season in early 2019 and why not? ... the horse is in great form over the flat or the jumps. The Grand National Hurdle is on at 2.20pm tomorrow Anyway, for those who haven't seen the race, here's the replay of the Missile Stakes ...

Pierata had the ideal run with Kementari held up a tad ... there's not a lot between the 2 although Kementari would probably turn the tables next time. I wouldn't say it was a good thing beaten although that argument does have merit. They might both get a run in the Everest with 3 spots up for grabs ... by my reckoning they ran in the low 01:08's so the time was slick enough. Lanciato ran an eye-catching run. The 1400m & 1600m Group 1's in the Spring are something to look forward to with these 2 along with Shoals, Alizee, Santa Ana Lane et al competing.

Looked the winner a fair way from home ... had a bit on at $4.80 so playing with house money for the rest of the afternoon. A BM70 seemed unders for Streets of Avalon. Well placed by the connections. Fingers crossed for Smartedge & Kementari

Spin won but the jockey had to go to work on the horse. The 3rd race at the Valley has some likely types running around and is probably the best race on the card ... I've avoided the race as there are probably 6 or 7 genuine chances ?