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Aussie
Rules
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Centrebet Capers
INTERNATIONAL RULES Australia go into Friday night's match against Ireland at the MCG with a 10 point buffer with a huge home crowd and on their own turf, we can't see any reason why they won't beat the Irish again. Last week's game in Perth saw plenty of betting action, but it was all small. I suppose it's always hard to work out who will be best suited to the hybrid game, and that would be the reason that the largest bet was only $2000, and that was on Ireland with 7½ points start. When the Irish raced to a 14 point lead at quarter time, it looked a matter of 'how far', but as the game progressed, the Australians' ball handling skills of the round ball improved vastly, which saw them hit the lead and win. The 10 point win may have been a bit flattering as they scored an 'own goal', which gave them a six point boost. Taking that into consideration, and that the Aussies have a 10 point start in the series anyway, we have opened the betting similar to what it was last week, with the Aussies favourites at $1.45 and Ireland at $2.70. The handicap is 6.5, and there have been two early bets totaling $3000 for the Irish receiving the start. CRICKET Last week we posed the question whether or not our Indian cricket punters would back Australia when the played India on Sunday. The answer was an emphatic 'yes'! Australia went into the game at $1.63 after several big wagers, including $USD15, 000 had been struck at slightly better odds, all coming from India. It was a really strange betting game as any Australian punter that had a bet on the game took the $2.25 India, including a bet of $8000 from Sydney. These punters must have been thinking the same way we were, and that was that the Aussies would struggle with a brittle bowling attack, but our Indian punters just love backing Australia! This time however, we were right and they were wrong, and that doesn't happen often. The Indians, led by Tendulkar and Laxman, smashed our bowling attack to the tune of 283 runs, and while Australia looked likely to get the required runs, chasing a massive total at night is always a big ask, and they fell short by 37 runs. Yesterday (Wed), the Indians buttered up and backed Australia again, this time against New Zealand. The $1.50 was taken by a bet of $20,000, and another $20,000 was accepted at $1.48. Once again, our cricket followers from this country have been taking the $2.60 for New Zealand, which does seemed extremely good value considering the fine record the Kiwi's have had against Australia over the past few years. This time though the Indians were right, with New Zealand bowled out for 97 runs which Australia made in a canter, losing only two wickets along the way. The fourth game of the series has India due to play Australia again on Saturday, in Mumbai, and under lights. There is no reason at all why India won't win again, and we fully expect that the big money from the sub-continent to roll in for Australia again. On the local front, favourite backers got off to the ultimate start on the opening round of ING Cup matches when all three favourites won. The biggest win, and our biggest loss, was when Western Australia defeated South Australia by 99 runs on Friday at the WACA. We opened WA at $1.75 after SA had beaten them in the Pura Cup match, but punters disregarded that form and backed WA into $1.60. Some of the bigger bets included $3000 at $1.75 and $6000 at $1.60, while one cricket follower from Sydney took WA, Qld and NSW all to win in a treble, for a return of $11,400 from an outlay of $3000. There are another three ING Cup, and one Pura Cup matches on this week. Queensland host the Vic's on Friday in a one day game, and their Pura Cup clash begins on Sunday. Punters are prepared to bet against the young Victorian side in both matches, with bets of $3000 and $2500 for Qld to win the ING Cup match at $1.40, and an early bet of $7000 for the Bulls to get the points in the Pura Cup match at 1.33. RACING The wet weather couldn't have come at a worse time for those who supported Lonhro in Saturday's Cox Plate, and there is little doubt that the shifting Moonee Valley surface probably contributed to his downfall, but all honours must go to the winner, Fields of Omagh. With rain tipped, Lonhro touched $1.65 on Saturday morning, but eventually started at $1.55 under a barrage of support. Three separate $10,000 bets came on the day of the race, and many bets around the $5000 mark. Clangalang ($4000 at $5.25) was expected to be the one to beat when the rain came, but the winner did have admirers, including a bet of $1000 at $16, and another $500 wager at the same price. While this Cox Plate may not go down in the annals of racing as the best ever, it was a terrific performance from a horse who has suffered so many injuries, and had only had a couple of runs this time in. Now the focus is firmly entrenched on the Melbourne Cup, and a couple of slashing runs from the weekend have seen a market reshuffle. Mamool still holds onto favourtism at $6.50, but apart from a nation-wide push three weeks ago when at $9, there hasn't been a lot of interest in Mamool. Mummify is also at $6.50, but he is another who punters have temporarily shied away from. Bart Cummings is a name synonymous with the Cup, and following Frightening's win in the Moonee Valley Cup, Cummings fans have come out of the woodwork and are now taking $11 for Frightening to win. Last week, $67 was available, and we did lay one bet of $500 each way. The Lee Freedman trained Tumeric was another that met with support late last week, along with Legible. A Victorian backed both at $51 with a bet of $1000 each way, and we laid Tumeric again at $41 for the same bet, all of this happening after he ran third in the Geelong Cup. Zagalia is now into $9 after running a 'bottler' in the Cox Plate, and is really the only horse in the market that we haven't seen any big backing for. She will be suited on the bigger Flemington track, and there isn't any reason at all why she can't win the Cup. As yet, we haven't seen a stream of bets for any of the other international horses, but we will! Normally in the 24 hours preceding the race, our English racing enthusiasts start backing the European horses, but the fact that there hasn't been a deluge for any of them like years gone by seems to suggest that maybe they don't have the class of others from previous years either. On paper, it is a very even race, but seeing as to how everybody will have an opinion (and hopefully a bet) on which horse will win, then we may as well throw our hat into the ring as well. This year, it will be a win to New Zealand, with Distinctly Secret atoning for a string of bad luck in these big races. Naturally with any 'tip', it is done with all care and no responsibility, so good luck on Tuesday! FOOTBALL Fulham's defeat of English Premier League title favourites Manchester United - arguably the biggest upset in England's top flight since Queens Park Rangers striker Dennis Bailey scored an unforgettable hat-trick for the Super Hoops in their away victory over the Red Devils on New Year's Day in 1992 - caused indigestion to more than just those persons consuming prawn sandwiches in Old Trafford's corporate boxes. If you are looking for a favour from a bookmaker friend of yours, now is the ideal time to ask for assistance because, if our books are any guide as to the gambling industry's verdict on Saturday's Old Trafford scoreline, every betting agency holds Chris Coleman's Cottagers in the highest possible regard as a result of their surprise success. United's X-rated horror show turned the Theatre of Dreams into the Arena of Nightmares for our punters, especially those for whom Sir Alex Ferguson's charges were bankers in their weekend accumulators, as Fulham became the first visiting team to exit Old Trafford with three Premier League points since Bolton 13 months ago. Over AUD$300,000 worth of bets bit the dust when Mike Riley blew the final whistle, including a AUD$24,000 single just before kick off and a considerable number of wagers placed during the interval, at which point the game was all square. Our in-running odds fluctuated enormously during the match. Lee Clark's third-minute opener for the Cottagers resulted in a major price change ($11 to $4.50) and Fulham's odds contracted to $3 before Diego Forlan's equaliser in first-half injury time. Coleman's outfit began the second period at $11 but shortened to $1.85 when man of the match Steed Malbranque drove the ball past Tim Howard and still were available at $1.80 immediately prior to Junichi Inamoto's killer third goal 11 minutes from the end. Only two of last weekend's Premier League results favoured our punters - Chelsea's defeat of Manchester City and Newcastle's triumph over Portsmouth - even though half of the round's ten favourites justified their market positions with victories. Betting on the third batch of Champions League group fixtures proved much more profitable for them, though, with Ajax ($1.85 to $1.80), Chelsea ($2.10), Porto ($3.85 to $3.70) and Stuttgart ($1.55 to $1.44) featuring in such a large number of accumulators that it is safe to assume that there was a worldwide gamble on these four sides. As ever, Manchester United ($1.90) attracted support in a major UEFA club competition match and, unlike three days later, they did not let down the bettors among their fan club with victory in the Ibrox leg of Battle of Britain between the English and Scottish champions. United ($6) remain our second favourites to win this season's Champions League final in Gelsenkirchen but, according to our revised betting market, Spain ($2.75) is the trophy's most likely destination, thanks largely to Real Madrid's extraordinary squad. GOLF Who's the hottest golfer on tour at the moment? No prizes for guessing Vijay Singh who proved he is still on song with a comprehensive victory at the Funai Classic at the Walt Disney Resort. Singh has now finished in the top 10 at eight of his last nine starts, heads the PGA tour money list by some $250,000US over Tiger Woods and now is ranked second on World rankings. Not bad for a player who has self confessed periods of the yips with his long stick. Singh isn't the only player who's hot at the moment as one of our Australian clients backed him to win over $70,000. Take into account he backed Verplank, who finished in a tie for second, to win over $50,000 and you have one hot punter. This week Centrebet hopes to recoup some of the damage at the Chrysler Classic in Florida where we see the return on Ernie Els to the tour. Els commenced the season winning the first two events and is hoping to emulate that feat by winning the final two, including next weeks Tour Championship, and regain his second placed World ranking. He will off course meet stiff opposition from Singh and the number four ranked player in the world, Davis Love. Love finished in a tie for fifth last week, one shot away from second place and is hoping to find the form which won him the Players Championship earlier in the season. Other players who will prove difficult to beat include defending champion K.J.Choi, Retief Goosen and Masters winner Mike Weir but it has been Els and Singh who have attracted the most support at $8 and $9 respectively. This course is not overtly long and it is players with the best touch on and around the greens who will prove toughest to beat so expect forward showings from the likes of Brad Faxon and Charles Howell. The European tour provided on of the best finishes on that tour this year and certainly one of the best comebacks when Ricardo Gonzalez came from six shots behind leader Paul Casey to record a one shot victory. Casey stumbled in the final round and could only record a closing par 72 to tie for second with Padraig Harrington, Marten Olander and Australian Nick O'Hern all of whom had their chances but it was Gonzalez with eight birdies in the first twelve holes who grabbed the opportunity and in doing so qualified for this weeks Volvo Masters at Valderrama in Spain. Last year Montgomerie and Langer shared the title after fading light prevented a play-off from determining a winner. Montgomerie is at an attractive price of $41 while Langer failed to qualify but has been two of last weeks runner ups which have attracted the attention of the punting public, Harrington at $9 and Casey at $17 both backed to win over $30,000.In a field which includes the sixty top players on the European tour bar Els, then expect a competitive affair. The Champions tour concluded last week with the Charles Schwab Cup Championship won by Jim Thorpe leading all the way to defeat in form players Tom Watson and Tom Kite and in doing so having his most successful season on the Champions tour so far. The LPGA tour resumes in Korea where Se Ri Pak will defend her title at the CJ Nine Bridges Classic, an event she has won on four occasions. She dominates the betting at $4 however expect Korean born Grace Park and Hee-Won Han to provide the stiffest opposition in an event which includes the leading 12 players from the KLPGA. RUGBY UNION A week is a long time in sport and the Rugby World Cup has been no different. We mentioned last week that the betting to win the William Webb Ellis trophy had heated up from the commencement of the tournament and with results and controversies the betting has ebbed and flowed. With good backing for England after their clinical defeat of South Africa came a new favourite at $2.35 and one bet of £5000. New Zealand remained solid second picks at $2.60 and Australia third picks at $4.65 both with good support, however their ruthless dispatching of Tonga and Namibia respectively last weekend followed by England uninspiring defeat of Samoa and the current enquiry by the IRB regarding having 16 players on the park has seen the betting turn again. New Zealand now favourites at $2.30 from England $2.60 while Australia remain solid at $4.65, the only others in the betting considered a hope being France at $8, South Africa at $31 and Ireland at $51. Game betting has remained solid over the last week with the best betting game being England v South Africa on Saturday the 18th. Betting opened with England $1.16 favs and giving 14½ points start at $1.90, our first wager $10,000 at the points from the UK. Just when we thought the Poms would shorten our first wager for the Springboks came from South Africa, $15,000 at +14½ at $1.92 and a further $4000 at $4.50 to win the game. Our line on this game did not alter as England started $1.20 and South Africa at $4.25 in a betting spree which surpassed the Australia and Argentina, and England and Georgia matches. Prior to the game last night between Georgia and Uruguay there had been thirty-one favourites win in succession but that did not daunt outsider backers as money commenced for Uruguay at $4.25 and at the handicap of 11½ points at $1.90, our first wager being $4,000 from a New Zealand client. By game time Uruguay were $3.50 and receiving 10½ points at $1.90, Georgia unlayable at $1.28. Fair to say that Centrebet went down with the first favourite to be beaten at this years Rugby World Cup. Punters will not be Russian to take the $1.28 Georgia in any future rugby game. MISCELLANEOUS Monday of this week saw a 'changing of the guard' at Centrebet. As reported in the press recently, the Sydney based Sportodds group, headed up by leading race bookmaker Con Kafataris, acquired Centrebet from Jupiters Ltd. Monday was the first day's trading for the new owners, but clients will have noticed very little change. Centrebet will continue on in the same fashion, and there will be some exciting innovations coming over the next few months. Also on a positive note, Centrebet can again start dealing with those citizens in the USA who fancy a bet on sport around the globe. I am sure that many of our American friends will find some of our betting options attractive, including the daily points scorers in the NBA, and an extensive coverage of golf and tennis events. Until next week, good punting. For further information contact Gerard Daffy at Centrebet on 08 89555800 or centrebet@centrebet.com.
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