This is my first attempt at blogging so please bear with me…………here goes -

What a nail biter we had at Celtic Manor on Monday.  I couldn’t see it being so close after the near clean sweep on Sunday in the rain delayed four balls and foursomes – I was so glad that Monty had the foresight to place G Mac as our anchor in the singles!! 

 G Mac showed his true class and produced the goods when it really mattered.  Although the Europeans were clear favourites at the start of the week, the Americans looked good value in running (at 200/1) and I backed them for a small sum of £10 – I successfully laid the bet just after Ricky Fowler holed his fourth birdie in a row (at 20/1) getting my £10 back.  In the end my heart was cheering for Europe but my wallet was screaming for Hunter Mahan to overturn the deficit so I could scoop £1700!! 

Anyway that was last week and we must look forward to what opportunities we are blessed with this weekend……… we have European Championship Qualification Football & The Heineken Cup begins and sees SIX English sides in action!! 

For the football CZECH REPUBLIC at home to Scotland (8/11) and the REPUBLIC OF IRELAND should see off a much weakened Russian side at (7/4) they should start us off nicely with £47.50 from a £10 stake.

After perusing the Ante Post market nothing really stands out as good value – apart from the ridiculous 80/1 that London Irish are priced up at!  Pool 3 is the ‘Group of Death’ with Jonny Wilkinson’s Toulon, Munster & the Ospreys all featuring.  The Exiles are a 9/1 shot to win the group but I feel they have enough quality to push further and I rate them as a good priced outsider for the trophy.  My pick for the Heineken Cup is Northampton – last years only English Quarter Finalists are good value at 16/1 and should be backed.

Other picks that might tempt you are Alessana Tuilagi for top try scorer at 40/1 – Leicester’s Pool 5 doesn’t look to be too strong and he scores a lot of points for them.  Yannick Jauzion the Toulouse Centre is an even bigger 50/1 and both can backed e/w for ¼ the odds to 4 places!!  Again my choice will be Northampton’s Chris Ashton who is priced at 16/1.

Ascot is the pick of this weekends race meets – with some great racing in store.

The two stand out races are the 3.05 Bengough Stakes (Group 3) and the 3.40 Ladbrokes.com Stakes (Heritage Handicap).  BEWITCHED under Johnnie Murtagh looks a fair price at 10/1 but my first selection is TAAJUB, who has performed well in all starts this season – finishing in the first two in all!  He is available at 8/1 and I think he will end his run of three 2^nd places.

THE FONZ ran well at Ascot last time for Sir Michael Stoute and will be in the top three in the betting by the off (around 3/1) in the 3.40.   Pausanias is 6/1 for Richard Hannon in the 4.15 and makes up a nice e/w Patent.

Sunday sees The Singapore Grand Prix – with Lewis Hamilton pressing really hard for points.  I can see him ending up the same as his last two races - over-cooking it and crashing out!  I’ll be backing my favoured driver, the current title leader Mark Webber to stretch his advantage and claim the chequered flag – he is a very appealing 4/1 with VC.