Formbook: horse racing and sports blog

Sporting Index took a pasting when they predicted the Irish would only triumph by a margin of four to seven points over the English. No wonder then that Eddie O’Sullivan’s unit are once again up to second on the Outright Index. They’re priced at 41-44 with England drifting away on 19-22. Sporting Index have Bernard Laporte’s troops nailed on as favourites at 53-56. The index offers 60 points to the winner, 40 to second place, 20 to third, 10 to fourth place, five for fifth and 0 for sixth. Brian Ashton saw his side stutter along against Italy so how will they fare against the French at Twickenham? France welcomes back scrum-half Yachvili, and his kicking has caused major problems for the English since the 2003 World Cup. It’s interesting to see what Sporting Index predict on the France Kicking Metres market for the tournament. This is a prediction on the aggregate distance of all successful kicks at goal (including drop goals). They’re priced at 825-845 and have a so far of 476 metres from the three games they’ve played. With Vickery, Wilkinson and Farrell missing, will France be able to match Ireland’s 30 point margin of victory? Sporting Index reckons it won’t be as brutal for the home fans and have France to win by a margin of seven to ten points. Ireland should be unchanged when they visit Murrayfield. Sporting Index has them to win by 14 to 17 points. Expect that market to see plenty of buyers!

The Caribbean adventure is upon us and Sporting Index will be looking out for those punting on the Total Wides market. In 1999, only 280 were predicted and the end total of 979 had the cricket traders well and truly stumped. This time around, Sporting Index reckons there’ll be between 760 and 800 wides. With smaller stadiums, punters are already jumping on the news that sixes will be easy to come by with so many big-hitters on show. Sporting Index predicts that between 340 to 365 sixes will be struck in all 51 games. Australia are the favourites although no Brett Lee and wayward one day form going into the tournament has cast a few doubts on whether they can repeat the heroics of 1999 and 2003. They’re priced at 67-71 on the 100 point Outright Index, closely followed by the in-form South African’s on 57-61. India with their rich batting line up are surprisingly only fifth favourites according to Sporting Index, priced at 44-48. They smashed 300 in their warm-up match so punters could go high on their tournament total runs spread of 1950-2100 with the likes of Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dhoni in their ranks. England are buzzing following their CB Series triumph but are only joint sixth on the index at 42-46. With KP back in the team, is that spread slightly on the low side? What of the home team?  Sporting Index prices up the Windies to reach the semi-finals and they’ll no doubt look to Lara to dig them out of a hole. He’s predicted to rack up between 295 and 320 runs in his last World Cup by Sporting Index.

You have to go back to February 1990 for Tottenham’s last win at the Bridge. Sporting Index reckons their waiting will have to continue and predict Chelsea to win this by a 1.1-1.3 goal margin. However, Spurs did win 2-1 when they met in November at the Lane, and their last two visits have been close run affairs. Having scored 14 goals in their last four games, Sporting Index predict Spurs to score 0.7-0.9 goals. Their style will no doubt make it an open game and Sporting Index predict 2.6-2.8 total goals. So who will contribute to that total? Sporting Index have looked at the form men with Drogba finding the net in six of his last eight fixtures. His goal minutes spread is priced at 23-26 minutes which could stir up interest amongst the punters. Berbatov has scored in his last three away games and Sporting Index quote his goal minutes at 7-10 minutes. Last season’s Premiership fixture saw an injury time winner which would’ve given huge relief to buyers on the total goal minutes market. Sporting Index are quoting a spread of 130-140 minutes this time around.

No win in 10 Premiership matches and now up against your arch nemesis at home. If defeat against Charlton was the dagger to the heart, Sporting Index reckon Spurs will twist it good and proper with victory at Upton Park. They’re predicted to win this by a margin of 0.3-0.5 goals. But wait, this is a derby and West Ham have taken three points off Spurs in six of the last eight home matches. Could they breathe life into their relegation battle? Battling for everything will be the order of the day from the home fans given their pitiful surrender at the Valley, so bookings could be an interesting market. There were seven yellow cards when the Hammers lost 1-0 at the Lane in October and punters could expect another heated encounter. With only one goal in their last four Premiership matches, can Curbishley’s strikers find their shooting boots? Harewood and Cole have four league goals between them all season, but what a stage to open your goalscoring account for Tevez. Sporting Index price his goal minutes spread at 9-12 minutes. Berbatov was brilliant at home against Bolton and has scored on his last two away games. Keep an eye on him with his goal minutes spread priced at 15-18 minutes with Sporting Index.

Monday 26th Plumpton 2:50 Wingman 1st 5/2 a good win for the Moore team.Tuesday 27th Catterick 3:10 Aviation made a hash of the 9th and never fully recovered to finish 8th. No Nap on Wednesday 28th. Thursday 1st March a poor 3rd for Nemetan 2/1 Taunton 2:50.