BetUK Blog

It’s Royal Ascot week and five glorious days of top class racing action begins at the Berkshire course tomorrow. As usual Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien, who had six winners last year, is sending a large team over from his stables in Ireland. He is very much the ‘handler’ to follow and there are sure to be more winners among the 15-strong team he is sending over. You can get the week off to a flying start by backing an O’Brien horse called Mastercraftsman in the St James’s Palace Stakes (3.45pm) on Tuesday.

Aidan O’Brien has won five of the last nine runnings of this Group 1 contest and we can’t see past can’t see past Mastercraftsman, currently priced at 4/5 with BetUK.

Unbeaten as a 2-year-old, where he won twice in Group 1 company, he stepped up considerably on his 5th in the 2000 Guineas by hosing up in the Irish version. This race has been on the agenda ever since and with quicker conditions no problem, he’s going to be very tough to beat. Delegator, who didn’t handle the ground in Ireland last time, looks the biggest danger but we think the favourite should have his measure.

The World Twenty20 starts here. We are now at the business end of the tournament – or as the ICC like to call it the “Super Eights”. Now the group stages are out of the way, we have a real hold of how the tournament is shaping up.

The remaining eight sides will be split into two groups – Group E and Group F – with the top two going through to the semi-finals. There is a heavy bias though between the groups. Group E is difficult to call meaning the value will lie in the other section. Group E consists of South Africa, the new favourites, India, the holders, England, the hosts, and the unpredictable West Indies.

Group F is a far more relaxed affair. New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Ireland – yes, you read that right – will do battle. In this group we believe Sri Lanka will be the team to follow and we can see them going all the way through to the Final. They play their first Super Eight game tomorrow against Pakistan and at 1.66 we think they are the value to win this match.

David meets Goliath tonight when England play host to Andorra (live on ITV1 at 8.15pm) in their World Cup qualifier and nothing short of a drubbing will do for England coach Fabio Capello. All of Andorra’s last 10 competitive matches against top 20 ranked teams have been lost at full-time with nine of these also being lost at half-time. They have failed to score in eight away encounters and haven’t kept any clean sheets. Seven of these matches have seen four goals or more which doesn’t bode well for Andorra.

For betting purposes we think there might be some value backing the 3-0 and 4-0 scorelines, available at 5/1 and 9/2 respectively with BetUK.

New Zealand meet South Africa on Tuesday in the Twenty20 World Cup and already punters have the dilemma of a dead rubber. Neither team needs to win this match as they are both through to the next round, although there will be much talk from the respective leaders about building “momentum”.

South Africa are hot favourites at 1.50 and have been so impressive that they have usurped India as favourites to lift the trophy. Those of a nervous disposition worry that the Proteas have peaked too early, a ridiculous suggestion given they have played one game proper - and they didn’t leave first gear.

New Zealand could have been worth a nibble at 2.50 but alas the doubts surrounding Vettori mean they should not be backed until it is confirmed that he plays.

These sides have met three times before in Twenty20 with South Africa winning twice. Interestingly, all three games have been won by the side chasing so one betting strategy might be to wait until after the toss and bet on whichever of these teams is due to bat second.

Over the last couple of weeks we have had several players go close to winning the Weekly Sports Pick’em Jackpot, however last week was not one of these weeks, due to the shock defeat of Sweden at the hands of Denmark and no-one expecting the draw between Bulgaria and the Republic of Ireland. Because of these results, five out of the seven fixtures was the maximum of fixtures correctly predicted.

Do you think that you can do better than that? Do you want to get your hands on the jackpot – that stands at an amazing £1,275!? All you have to do is wager a minimum of £25 on your betuk.com account and you can enter! Click here for full details and to view this week’s fixtures.

Best of luck with your predictions!

Although we expect Roger Federer to fulfil his ambition today by winning the French Open at Roland Garros there could be a few surprises along the way. His opponent Robin Soderling has had a terrific tournament, sensationally knocking out world number one Rafa Nadal and claiming the scalps of Fernando Gonzalez, Nikolay Davydenko and David Ferrer too.

Although Federer and Soderling have met nine times before with Federer winning all nine, eight in straight sets, there are reasons to believe that Soderling can take a set today. Bearing in mind that their previous meetings have included seven tiebreaks, that Soderling has already played seven this tournament and Federer five, and at least one tiebreak looks a certainty. 

Soderling has won five out of the six opening sets he has played so far, including the last three against Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko and Gonzalez, while Federer has never had an easy first set and lost three of his last four. So if Soderling is going to take a set off Federer it is more likely to be the first one. We are therefore recommending betting on Soderling to win the first set 7-6 and 6-4, both at 8/1 with BetUK.

Dinara Safina meets compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in the French Open women’s final today and we expect her to come through and win in three sets. She will be looking to follow in the footsteps of her older brother Marat Safin, having matched him by rising to the top of the world rankings - and she’s determined to emulate him as a Grand Slam champion too.

But Kuznetsova will be no pushover. Although Safina leads their head-to-head series 7-4, with the latest win coming in the final at the Rome Premier event a month ago (winning 6-4 6-2), a week earlier it was Kuznetsova who had the upper hand as she was the victorious one during the final of the Stuttgart Premier (winning 6-4 6-3). They are currently 3-3 on clay so it is sure to be close.

This match has all the makings of a classic final. Safina has spent slightly less time on court and has barely been tested in her pursuit of her first Grand Slam title. She has dropped only one set so far at this year’s French Open - in her Quarter final match against Victoria Azarenka.

Back Safina to win at 2/5 and also to win 2-1 at 11/4.

The door is now wide open for Roger Federer to win the one remaining Grand Slam title to have eluded him during his incredible career. With four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal out of the way, along with Novak Djokjovic and Andy Murray, Federer can’t believe his luck at the moment. At the tournament’s outset he was realistically third favourite, and most people agreed his best days were behind him, certainly on clay. Yet here we are, with Federer just two matches away from equalling Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam titles, and completing the career Grand Slam. For many, that would be confirmation that the majestic Swiss is indeed the greatest of all time. At 4/6 he is still great value to win the French title.

Today Aidan O’Brien confirmed that Johnny Murtagh will maintain his partnership with 2,000 Guineas fourth Rip Van Winkle in Saturday’s Investec Derby. The Ballydoyle number one has been on the son of Galileo for all four of his career starts and will not desert the three-year-old in the Epsom Classic.

Murtagh, who as stable jockey, had the pick of all O’Brien’s remaining six runners in the race, said he was delighted with all the horses, it had been a very difficult decision to make but that he had always had a “soft spot” for Rip Van Winkle.

At the moment Rip Van Winkle can be backed with BetUK at 9/2 but is almost certainly going to go off shorter now that Murtagh has made his decision.

Today’s FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Everton (live on ITV at 3pm) should be a low-scoring encounter if the formbook is anything to go by. The two league meetings between the sides this season both ended in 0-0 draws, which gives you a hint of what to expect when the sides meet at Wembley – and Everton’s fantastic run to their first final since 1995 has been built on outstanding defensive strength rather than skill and style in attack.

Their penalty shoot-out win over Manchester United in the semi-finals was achieved after a goalless draw in normal and extra-time and both of their games against Liverpool in the fourth round featured under 2.5 goals. Throw in the fact that seven of Everton’s eight games in the league against Big Four sides have featured under 2.5 goals this season, and backing a low-scoring encounter is clearly the way to go. We therefore recommend backing under 2/2.5 goals at 2.05 on BetUK.