Welcome to yet another great weekend of sport. We’re looking at hurling, World Cup football and two of the big races of the Flat calendar for our Weekend Fancies.
Weekend Trixie
The annual Flat racing extravaganza of Royal Ascot has been overshadowed by the World Cup but our eye has been taken by the story of Carl O’Callaghan, the Irishman who brings KINSALE KING to Royal Ascot for one of the main events of Saturday’s card, the Golden Jubilee Stakes.
This prize has gone to all corners of the world in the recent past, with Hong Kong-based David Oughton and Australian trainer Paul Perry winning with Cape of Good Hope and Choisir respectively over the past seven years.
O’Callaghan could take this pot back to California with Kinsale King, the five-year-old who lifted one of the big races of the spring series in Dubai, the Golden Shaheen at Meydan. Garrett Gomez was on board on that occasion but for this assignment O’Callaghan has booked the services of Kieren Fallon, and the controversial but brilliant pilot could be just the man to urge King home in front. Kinsale King is 9/1 with Paddy Power.
Kilkenny take their first steps along the road of a possible fifth All-Ireland senior hurling title in a row when they take on Dublin at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon.
The Dubs are a growing force in the small ball game and went down by just six points to the Cats in the Leinster final a year ago. However, they lost five of their seven league games earlier this year and come up against a Kilkenny side which has been stewing in his own vapours since its own disappointing league campaign.
Expect Brian Cody’s champions to hit the ground running with a statement of intent on Sunday. Over the past five years, Kilkenny have won their ten Leinster championship matches by an average of more than 13 points. A WIN OF BETWEEN 13-15 POINTS is 5/1 with Paddy Power and that looks about right.
(For more on Kilkenny, we have an in-depth interview with the Cats’ new captain TJ Reid in our GAA section.)
This may be the first World Cup on African soil but the continent’s representatives have been dreadful in the tournament so far. In eight games played by African sides Siphiwe Tshabalala’s cracker for South Africa in the first game of the tournament remains the only goal they’ve scored from open play, while Ghana’s 1-0 win over Serbia – courtesy of Asamoah Gyan’s penalty – is the only win by an African side. DENMARK have some of the finest fans in the tournament (main picture) but we reckon they’re not too shoddy on the pitch either. They were unlucky against Holland and can do a number on Cameroon on Saturday afternoon. They’re 7/5 in the straight win market.
A straight treble is 143/1. Have  a go at a €5 Trixie (total outlay €20) and you could land a cool €1212
Break the Bookie
This is the part of the week we love – coming up with some semi-realistic long shots in the hope of striking it lucky, or preferably rich, while at the same time putting the livelihood of your bookie in peril.
For the first part of our Break the Bookie selection we’re going to zone in on the Wokingham Handicap, one of the biggest betting heats of the Flat racing season and a highlight of the Royal Ascot card on Saturday afternoon.
PROHIBIT is the one that catches our eye at a tasty 25/1. He was unlucky to be drawn on the wrong side a year ago when he finished fifth in this race. He runs off a two-pound lower mark on Saturday and has no complaints about his box number this time – five of the last ten runnings of this race have been won by horses coming from stall 27 or higher, and Robert Cowell’s gelding will be coming out of number 30 on Saturday afternoon.
All the rugby focus in our cocooned isle has been on the humiliating failings of the Irish side in New Zealand last weekend and their attempts to bounce back with an all-new starting 15 against the Maoris this morning (Friday).
However, there is plenty of other rugby going on and England’s travails in AUSTRALIA are interesting. Martin Johnson’s men enjoyed almost total dominance of the scrum last weekend and still ended up losing by ten points.
With two unproven young guns in Courtney Lawes and Ben Youngs thrown in for their first Test starts in Sydney, they could be lacking a bit of necessary experience in vital areas, while Australia are sure to have worked out some of their scrum conundrums and are able to call on two of the best players in world rugby, playmaking centre Matt Giteau (below) and scrum half Will Genia, after injury.
With so many factors in Australia’s favour, we expect a comfortable home win and we’ll go for a winning margin of 16-20 points at 7/1.
Back to DENMARK-CAMEROON and we’re looking at Paddy Power’s brilliant half-time/full-time correct score double.
The Danes should have the measure of Samuel Eto’o & Co, who looked dispirited and lacking guidance against Japan the other day. They can hit the front before half-time and add another in the second half to coast home. A 1-0 half-time, 2-0 full-time double is 18/1.
Have a tenner on those three and you could be €39,520 richer and posing with a big cardboard cheque come Sunday evening
