Weekend first thoughts

OK a disaster on the Europa league last week has pushed us into the unusually territory of being loss making with a loss of -2.65pts to date. Due to moving continent I missed out on a few previews but to be honest the Carling Cup is one of my least favorite competitions for betting on so the conclusion would probably have been no bet anyway.

On to this weekend.

Rip Van Winkle 2pts(QEII) 5/6 Paddy Power: I haven't really had the opportunity to see much in the way of flat racing this season, but one of my stars of last season was Rip Van Winkle and I always had him pegged as a classic winner this year. A niggling foot injury for the first have of the season and the emergence of a superstar in the form of Sea the Stars has confined him to a solitary group win this season. However he does seem to be improving now that his injury is behind him and I expect that he should have enough to account for Delegator. I'm nearly tempted to put up an O'Brien 1-2 with Mastercraftsman edging out Delegator for 2nd. But I'll settle for 2pts win with Rip

Aston Villa 1pt (v Blackburn) 7/5 Paddy Power: Villa seem to be getting their act together now with 6 wins on the trot in all competitions. They are not the team they were last season but play with the right mentality under O'Neill and should be good enough to extend their run against a pretty average Blackburn team.