BetUK Blog

Jenson Button insists there is more to come from him and his team after leading home a Brawn GP one-two at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Button led from start to finish, despite two safety car periods, with Rubens Barrichello second in Melbourne.
The result was a remarkable one for Brawn GP, who become the first debut team to finish one-two since 1954, when Juan Manuel Fangio led home Karl Kling for Mercedes in the French Grand Prix.

From a betting perspective it is too early to tell whether Brawn GP are the Real Deal. It is worth waiting to see whether they can maintain this performance in Malaysia next weekend before having a bet on them to win the Constructors Championship, or Button the Drivers Championship. The likes of McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari aren’t just going to disappear into thin air and will do everything they can to get back in the game.

The Lincoln, a 1m handicap at Doncaster, is traditionally the first day of the flat racing season and today’s race should be run at the same furious pace as always. It heralds a fantastic summer of turf racing stretching from the Guineas Festival at Newmarket in May to Epsom for the Derby in June. Then there is Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, the Ebor meeting at York and many others to look forward to.

As far as today’s race (off at 3.55) is concerned the money seems to be heading for Benandonner and Mia’s Boy, available at 14/1 and 16/1 respectively with BetUK. It is worth backing these to get the new season off to a flier.

As for the earlier race, the Spring Mile run at 2.45, it is worth having a small wager on Slugger O’Toole, currently an 11/1 chance with BetUK. There was a big shout for this in the Lincoln, but the horse failed to make the cut, and we believe it must go close in the earlier race.

England meet Slovakia in a friendly at Wembley tomorrow night and what with coach Fabio Capello pledging to use the maximum of six substitutes in preparation for the matches against Ukraine and Kazakhstan we can expect a real stop-start encounter.

Where there might be some value from a betting perspective is in backing young Marek Hamsik to score in the first and last goalscorer markets at 14/1. Given that the 21-year-old is one of the brightest young talents in European football, that seems like good value. The creative midfielder has lit up Serie A with Napoli this season, top scoring for the club with nine goals to attract the interest of Juventus and Inter Milan (with Chelsea also reportedly sniffing around). He has also scored in three of Slovakia’s last seven games and is the midfielder with the best strike rate in the whole of Serie A this term.

Key all-rounder Andrew Flintoff returns to the England team for tomorrow’s third one-day international with West Indies. The 31-year-old has been out of the reckoning since damaging his hip in the third Test in Antigua in mid-March. He flew back to England for treatment but is now fit to play in Barbados with the five-match series locked at 1-1. However, having “Freddie” back in the team might not help England to win tomorrow.

In matches since 2000, England have won 37% of the time with Andrew Flintoff in the side. But without him they have won 44% of their ODIs. Since December 2002 England have only twice managed back-to-back away wins, which suggest the pendulum could swing back in the Windies’ favour in the third ODI. It is worth laying out a few readies at 4/5 on the West Indies to win. See our prices here.

Roger Federer hopes to end a drought of 12 Masters events without a win at this week’s Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. The former world number one has won 14 times at the elite Masters level but not since Cincinnati in August 2007.

“I hope this year I can change that and get on a good roll again,” he said. “I’ve done so well over the last few years I’d like to win a few again.”

Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray will be among Federer’s rivals, while Serena Williams heads the women’s field.

The new F1 season starts in Australia on Sunday and it could be a pretty exciting year. With a load of new rules in place for this season the first few Grand Prix are going to surely show a huge change in the balance of power at the top of the Formula 1 tree. The big rumours are how competitive Brawn GP and Jenson Button will be but to be honest the insiders say that not all of their car is fully compliant and although they might show well in the first Grand Prix in Melbourne the rest of season could be a bit more hand to mouth.

The big noise from the paddock is that BMW’s Kubica and Heidfeld are both right on the money in practice with a car that will be quick, reliable and is suited as well as any to the new changes. As for young Lewis Hamilton, all is apparently not so well at MacLaren with the new supremo feeling the chill in the slip-stream of Ron Dennis’ departure. Having said that, like Alonso in an underperforming Renault, Hamilton is so good that he could probably be competitive in a Daewoo. You can see BetUK’s Australian Grand Prix markets here.

Here at BetUK we believe Liverpool will beat Aston Villa in their Premier League clash today. As Manchester United crashed 2-0 to Fulham yesterday Liverpool could go to just one point behind United if they beat Villa at Anfield today. That is about as motivating a factor as you will find in the Premier League these days.

Aston Villa are the third best away side in the division going on points collected but the key to this success is O’Neill’s counter-attacking strategy. The home side has to come out and attack which leaves enough space for the jet-propelled Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor to exploit – but Liverpool are just too solid defensively for this to be effective at Anfield. Javier Mascherano is always around to help out the back four, and with the Reds having kept eight clean sheets in their last 12 home league games, it’s clear that space is at a premium when visiting sides do make a rare forage into the opposition half.

As a result, we can see Liverpool winning today’s game to nil. We suggest backing Liverpool to win at 9/20 and also side bets on 1-0 and 2-0 to Liverpool, both at 11/2 with BetUK.

Saturday’s clash at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff between Wales and Ireland will decide who wins this year’s RBS Six Nations Championship. According to the IRB world rankings, the two teams are of almost of equal ability, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to believe that this is the case.

Wales were the only northern hemisphere side to beat southern hemisphere opposition in 2008. The collateral form lines also suggest that Wales are still the best team in Europe, too. Their 23-15 victory over England, when looked at in light of England’s subsequent success against France, and the 14-13 defeat to Ireland, makes good reading.

So, given they are equally matched, and that home advantage is usually worth 3-6 points, the best betting value looks to be in backing Wales to win at a price of 4/6 with BetUK.

If you are going to have a bet on the ODI series between England and West Indies that starts tomorrow it could be worth bearing in mind that England have never won a one-day series in six attempts out there. Of their last 18 one-day series away from home (not including minnow opposition) England have won only one of them - against Sri Lanka in 2007.

In their most recent series, England lost 5-0 to India in November. West Indies have beaten Sri Lanka and India in two of their last three home series so the chances are that the West Indies will be too good for England here.

Previous to a 5-0 drubbing against Australia last time out, West Indies had won 11 of their last 12 matches at home. So, from a betting point of view it could pay to lay out some money on West Indies to win the series at  4/5 with BetUK, and also on the 5-0 thrashing at 14/1.

Following today’s latest forfeit stage for the Grand National (on 4 April) Betfair Chase winner Snoopy Loopy heads the 88 runners left in the race on 11st 10lb with Nozic, one of five possible starters for Paul Nicholls, next best on 11st 8lb.

With some at the top of the handicap having been taken out means the weights have risen 5lbs. Following the raising of the weights, favourite My Will is pegged on 11st 1lb, Butler’s Cabin has 10st 10lb and last year’s hero Comply Or Die is on 11st 3lb.

Among the other 17 scratchings are Cheltenham winner Imperial Commander, Garde Champetre, Exotic Dancer, Notre Pere and Madison Du Berlais.

Remember that as a punter it always pays to follow those horses that love a stamina test, and preferably ones rated between 136 and 144, who are set to carry less than 11st. Horses that fit the bill are Rambling Minster, Southern Vic and Kilbeggan Blade, available at 14/1, 18/1 and 28/1 respectively on BetUK.