Macca

How about this absolute classic ...

Yep ... summed it up perfectly Wadda. Over about a period of 8-9 years I have had 5 x 4 figure collects but each win has it's own story ... with one of them I had to lay-off to the tune of a decent amount of dosh but it insured a healthy collect. I couldn't lose once I had layed-off. With another I just needed a Colts win at home in the NFL as a final leg in a multi against lousy opposition with Andrew Luck fit and firing for Indianapolis. I was very confident of victory so I didn't feel the need to lay-off. It was a calculated risk but it paid off. Of late, the NFL has been really hard to figure out in terms of standout picks at the line - that's the last 2 or 3 years at least. Might be different this year.

Don't even give it a moment's thought DZ ... we all know how things can go in a 2-horse race (no pun intended) Small outlay = no great loss.

Long time ago now Wadda from when that collect happened, but the circumstances were that back then I kept getting 7 of 8 or 6 of 7 in multi's so my mate's advice was entirely logical. And it worked. A bottle of Jack his way eventuated - it was the least I could do! The transparency of this thread reminded me of that moment so 'going-again' makes sense considering the small outlay. I had a decent 3 figure collect with the help of this thread last weekend and all it cost me was the price of a cup of coffee. Not skiting either - that is neither here nor there, more-so passing on the many ways to maximise one's chances.

Here are some of the big clashes to look out for this weekend. Likely winners in dark italics. Sat 4.30am Bayern Munich vs Hoffenheim Sat 9.30pm Wolves vs Manchester City (SBS) Sun 12.00am Arsenal vs West Ham Sun 2.00am Juventus vs Lazio Sun 2.30am Liverpool vs Brighton Sun 4.30am Napoli vs AC Milan Sun 6.15am Real Valladolid vs Barcelona Mon 1.00am Newcastle vs Chelsea Mon 2.00am Borussia Dortmund vs FC Leipzig Mon 6.15am Girona vs Real Madrid Tues 5.00am Manchester United vs Tottenham (draw) EPL Table ...

All our tips are around the $2 mark which is notable but all the tips have a margin or goal factor apart from the win only pick with Penrith (who are struggling a tad!) But that's ok ... we can reload. I did that once and won a good amount. The same mate who won 7k a few weeks ago recommended once that I reload on the rest of my tips after bombing out with my first pick ... did that and won a decent 4 figure amount. So it's pick the eyes out of it or reload ... and/or add on a few others to suit. I've had my best results with overnight events. Wake up and win - there's nothing better!

Scott who? In other news ... click on this link to view the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes run at York on Wednesday. A crack field of 8 were engaged in the race - the 'Creme de la Creme' of Europe in a 2000m classic. 2 or 3 of the runners may end up in Australia this Spring although we know that Benbatl is definitely coming for the Cox Plate. Also, for those new to this thread, we have another thread going where we pick out our weekend sporting specials ... click here for a gander

We probably should collate the shorties on the racing thread and then post them up here. If we deem them worthwhile as add-ons of course. I just figured this time up that the 3 were quite obvious.

A few short priced favouriites from the horses to consider as add-ons. Works better on this thread. Not necessarily my picks but the punters like them especially ... Moonee Valley R3 No.5 Multaja 1.75 Moonee Valley R7 No.5 Brutal 2.00 Rosehill R7 No.9 Avilius 2.00

Italian League - Serie A I take too many things for granted Wadda but I can promise you I won't be putting up any games from the Iceland league no matter where they might play the games! Although apparently Íþróttabandalag (IBV for short) Vestmannaeyja are worth following. They didn't have any letters left over in the alphabet for a suitable nickname. I do occasionally partake in the Brazilian & Argentina leagues though ... there are some quite famous clubs over there that can deliver wins at home with a good goal spread. But I'll be more likely to pick games out of the EPL, Serie A (Italian). La Liga (Spain) or the Bundesliga (Germany) ... the big successful clubs more so. The trouble with baseball is the time contraints but the NBA games are often up 2 or 3 days beforehand when that league starts up.

2 Best Bets for the weekend ... shouldn't have too much trouble finding these 2. At some sites there's a bit of scrolling involved but thems the breaks. Saturday 9.30pm Manchester City Win & More Than 2.5 Goals in the Match $1.75 @ Wolves Sunday 2.00am Juventus Win & More Than 2.5 Goals in the Match $2.00 vs Lazio Sunday 2.00am

Here's the replay of Avilius winning 3 weeks ago (you'll have to log on to view) It might be being set for the Epsom Hcp which is run on GF Day (when we win our 13th flag)

Ha! I'm forever getting those 2 courses mixed up Wadda - same deal for Ascot & Belmont in the West. I'm all-in on trifecta's at the weekend ... can't find a standout winner at the Valley in 9 races! Even the Get-on crew were struggling. The fields are strong though so finding the 2-5-5 & 3-5-5 combinations was quite an easy exercise. Rosehill is much the same for the majority of races. Some strong fields there as well. Should be a really good days racing at both venues.

Best Bet ... Rosehill Race 2 No.4 Impavido $5.50 I like its chances in this small field. Going for an early collect and Ron Dufficy from Sky Racing has it on top as well. Tim Clark on board and he's in decent form.

Here are the 6 Stakes races to be run on Saturday to keep an eye out for ... Wadda's best bet 'Performer' is running around in the feature race at Rosehill (Race 5) whilst we'll get to look at Avilius, Brutal & Multaja in the other bigger events. And there are a good field of sprinters assembled in the Carlyon Cup @ Moonee Valley. But the import from the UK Avilius is my big watch in the Premier's Cup (Rosehill Race 7) ... too short for a best bet but could be an inclusion in a running double, multi or treble. Exceptionally impressive first time up last start. Went whoosho and it was done. Moonee Valley Race 3 3YO Fillies Plate 1200m Moonee Valley Race 7 McKenzie Stakes 1200m Listed Moonee Valley Race 8 Carlyon Cup 1000m Listed Rosehill Race 5 San Domenico Stakes 1100m Group 3 Rosehill Race 6 Ming Dynasty Quality 1400m Group 3 Rosehill Race 7 Premier' Cup 1900m Group 3

Yeah layz tunein is great ... the best 11 bucks a month you'll ever spend if you're a fan of overseas sports ... especially the American sports because of the time zones. 1 simple click or 2 and you're straight to the game. All 4 USA sports convert well to live audio but it must be said that I'm an audio bloke. I sometimes prefer it to visual.

To be honest the only clear standout divisional winner looks to be the Patriots (again) In every other division there are at least 2 teams with claims. In some cases 3 genuine chances. Who wins the AFC South? All 4 teams are capable of having winning seasons if their QB's stay healthy.

There's a number of others who we can prompt up as we get closer to the start of the season ... JV7, T_U, DeeSpencer, Cards13, Dee Zephyr, Wadda We Sing, Strafford, Go the Biff, Clintosaurus (last year's winner) and a few others. The weekend before the first weekend of games works best for the tipping comp as it's fresh and people can post up their tips straight away if they wish to partake. No good going too early. I'll post up the honour roll, the rules and the upcoming week 1 games with the lines at the same time. Bonus weeks last year were weeks 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 & 17 and we probably need that many again to maintain interest. As we all know any point gained is to be treasured! In the meantime we could post up our tips for Divisional winners, MVP, SB Champs et al as we've done in the past. That's always tricky but a bit of fun.

The tipping comp might attract a few more here ... a dozen regular contributors would be ideal but we've probably had well over 20 different contributors over the length of the thread. I'm not big on fantasy sports but I know plenty who are so your idea is well worth persevering with Dappa. Once the practice games are done I'll try and post up the game highlights of last years playoffs. In the meantime, here's a treat - you may have seen the mic'd up version of the Super Bowl but if not, enjoy! To view the clip you'll have to go via youtube but don't forget to full-screen it.

September is now going to be chock-full of sports where we've multiple interests. Fantastic. Demons, Racing, Rugby League finals, Baseball playoffs later on in the month and of course the NFL starts as well. Speaking of which ... Your Chicago Bears are playing Wadda's & my Green Bay Packers at Lambeau in the first week of the NFL regular season (Monday Sept 10th) The biggest and oldest rivalry in American Football. Hopefully we'll see both of you gentlemen on the NFL thread ... at least for the tipping comp.

Well DZ I thought I'd hold off whilst we got the Best Sports bet off and running on the other thread. Just having to find 2 picks works quite well doesn't it? We'll probably have it down pat in no time. So I did have my eye on the Memsie Stakes on the 1st of Sept as that race looks like attracting a top-notch field. There are 3 or 4 other decent races on that weekend so it doesn't have to be the Memsie. Here are the early odds ...

I have still got visions of Performer veering off the track and in the process throwing Hughie Bowman off. Scary moment that was. And Performer was the early favourite for the Slipper from memory. There's a slight lull this week with only 5 Group or Listed races out of the Rosehill & Moonee Valley meetings but the rest of the program's at each venue are still quite solid. Still, the 5 Stakes races have a number of well performed familiar horses engaged.

Wow! Impressive copy & paste there DZ ... I believe I mentioned the match-up against Sandbar for Santos last week back but there's some decent opposition apart from Sandbar. Performer, Plague Stone & Dio D'ora round out at least 5 genuine chances in the race. The 1100m might suit Santos the best though. Small field but could well be a good betting race with so many chances.

I'm a huge fan of the Thursday night games ... either listening to the game live on tunein or try and avoid the scores and watch the game 'as live' on a Friday evening either before the footy or straight after. Once the footy is done it's pure NFL on a Friday night. We get our mini-fix of NFL before it all happens on a Monday. The full schedule of the week 16 games falls on Christmas eve this year and we even get a game on Christmas day as well (AEDT) - Denver @ Oakland. The Raiders will be an interesting team to watch with Gruden in charge. Similar for New Years eve here for all the week 17 games (again, AEDT) The other 2 Thanksgiving games (Nov 22) is the early game (Chicago @ Detroit) followed by the late game (Washington @ Dallas) The Falcons @ Saints is the evening game on Thanksgiving.

@Dappa Dan Foles & Wentz both at practice and in full training. Splitting the snaps in 11 on 11 drills. Not sure the 3rd QB Sudfeld is going to get a look in, in the season proper. In other news Adrian Peterson could end up at Washington, Deshaun Watson is back as the QB at Houston & Jameis Winston looks to have taken a step up for the Bucs.