This weekend, we’re looking to continue our good run of GAA first goalscorer tips and having a few flutters on horse racing, rugby and Premier League football.
By Conor Heneghan and William Nestor
Weekend patent
The main event at Newton Abbot on Saturday is the Lord Mildmay Memorial Handicap Chase (Listed)Â (Class 1) at 3.15pm and Ruby Walsh will be doing all he can to get into the winning groove after a lengthy spell on the sidelines through injury.
Walsh has been easing himself back into racing during the past week and he’ll be gunning for glory aboard CLASSIC SWAIN for his English boss Paul Nicholls.
This looks a highly competitive chase and a case can be made for numerous runners, but we’re siding with Ruby’s mount due to the manner of his recent chasing double win at this favoured track of his.
Classic Swain to land his first win in high class company at about 9/2.
The first of the All-Ireland football semi-finals takes place in Croke Park this weekend and it promises to be a cracking affair between the favourites to land the Sam Maguire, Cork and the Dubs, who have surprised everyone with their transformation since conceding five goals against Meath in the Leinster semi-final.
Given the nature of Dublin’s victory over Tyrone and the fact that they’ll have the majority of a packed Croke Park cheering them on, it’s hard to back against them, but we reckon the Rebels will have the last laugh and edge an extremely tight affair.
Cork to win by 1-3 points can be backed at 13/5.
Read our preview of the All-Ireland semi-final here and read JOE’s take on the main battles to look out for here.
This weekend, Manchester United return to Craven Cottage to take on Fulham, a ground where they have lost their last two league fixtures by a combined score of 5-0. It’s fair to say that last year’s 3-0 reverse had something to do with the fact that Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher and Ritchie de Laet all played in the United back four, but in any case, United have always found Fulham to be something of a bogey team.
Sir Alex Ferguson wouldn’t exactly be flavour of the month with Mark Hughes given what went on after the Manchester derby at Old Trafford last season, so he will have no problem getting his men up for this one.
Take Fulham to pull off a shock and beat United at 5/1.
Read JOE’s weekend Premier League preview here.
A €3 patent (total outlay €21) on the above bets will return just short of €625
Break the Bookie
Although we, the JOE punditry team, haven’t exactly covered ourselves in glory with our Daily Double tips of late, we are secretly (not anymore I suppose) proud of the fact that our picks for the first goalscorer in both of the All-Ireland hurling semi-finals, Eddie Brennan and Lar Corbett, came up trumps.
We’re going to look to continue our rich vein of form in that regard and plump for Eoghan O’Gara to be the first to raise a green flag on Sunday. O’Gara has scored three goals in his last two games and has developed into a real threat alongside Bernard Brogan in the Dublin full-forward line. Where Brogan is often happy to take a point when close to goal, O’Gara is dead eyed and goes straight for the onion basket every time.
We think, at 6/1, that he’s good value to produce the goods again on Sunday.
The all-conquering New Zealand rugby side need only a point from this weekend’s clash against South Africa to claim the 2010 Tri-Nations title. Graham Henry seems like a man in a hurry and has promised that, even with the title all but sewn-up, he won’t be taking anything for granted and will be sending out all the big guns against the Springboks.
All of the All Blacks’ wins so far have been comfortable and, having shown already with a 21-point victory over the Wallabies in Melbourne that home advantage matters little, we’re backing them to take the honours at Soccer City in Johannesburg on Saturday afternoon.
We like the look of an 11-15 point New Zealand win at 7/1.
For our last punt of the weekend, we’re tipping Chelsea to turn on the style once again against a Wigan side that were beyond hopeless last time out against Blackpool. The Latics defied the odds last season when defeating the Blues at the DW Stadium, but we can’t see a repeat this time around, especially considering the form shown by the likes of Drogba, Malouda and Lampard against West Brom. Ancelotti’s men have it in them to rack up a big score again and push Roberto Martinez even closer to the exit door.
Chelsea to win 5-0 is available at 20/1.
A tenner on those three babies will earn you €11,760, almost enough to buy a struggling football club these days.
