Back in the game!

OK a solid start +5.45pts from yesterday (Footie +4.24 Racing +1.21). A few more speculative bets for tomorrow on the football>

0.5pts Newcastle/Stoke HT/FT @50/1 (VCbet): Stoke are actually slightly under-rated by the bookies in the bettting even based on the revised spread lines there is very little between these 2 teams and so anything above 3/1 is value in the match odds. Given Stoke's tendancy to concede early goals and lay siege to the opposition in the second half it could pay to side with this long-shot bet. David John on Sporting Life has highlighted this tendancy but I think he is missing some value by siding with the Newcastle/Draw option rather than having faith in Stoke to repeat the trick they did against Villa last week. Given that this result is currently trading on Betfair at 40/1 we are happy to get involved.

0.75pts Stoke @17/5 (VCbet): As mentioned above the very biggest Stoke should be would be 3/1 so we'll have a little nibble at the 17/5 on offer.


2pts Mikhail Glinka @10.0 (Betfair) 4.10 Ascot: The favourite in this race is very good comfortably beating the useful Holberg the last time out and going under by 2Ls to Melbourne Cup contender Sans Frontiers in the race before. However the second fav is nothing much to write home about with some pretty average performances in listed and group 3 races. The pick of which is being comfortably held by the fav 2 runs back. Mikhail Glinka is an ex- O'Brien horse with class written all over him but just not quite at the level of Cape Blanco and Jan Vermeer. He should have won a group 3 in Leopardstown first time out but was undone by a very muddling early pace. He then got his head in front in a 2m G3 before being sold as surplus to requirments at Ballydoyle and the next he was seen was being shipped half way around the world to compete in the Russian Derby in Moscow where he flopped. The form might not be eye-catching but his turn of foot is. This is a Group 1 horse running in a G3 as a stepping stone to greater things in my opinion.If can can get back near his best he can account for a pretty good G3 horse in Laaheb and even if he isn't I still think he will beat most of the rest of these.