Category Archives: Sports

Gelding’s hoties for Caulfield and Randwick for 6 September 2014

Mar 13 2011 021Spring is in the air and the Gelding’s attention is divided tomorrow between Moonee Valley and Randwick. Last week’s reasonable return would have been much better except for the questionable ride by the jockey aboard Boban. Instead of saluting, as it should have, it was a sure thing beaten by one and a half lengths. The Gelding awarded that one an s-hit ride!

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Moonee Valley

Race 1 Horse 7 – Count Encosta
Race 2 Horse 1 – Text’N’Hurlry
Race 4 Horse 4 – Wrotham Heath
Race 5 Horse 1 – Lankan Rupee (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 7 Horse 9 – Star Rolling (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Randwick

Race 3 Horse 1 – Earthquake (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 4 Horse 2 – Washington Heights
Race 5 Horse 7 – Entirely Platinum
Race 6 Horse 1 – Sessions

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Friday musing – NAB Rising Star, Zach Merrett, AFL…..

Chris Barwin HillsI was interested to see the outcome of the NAB Rising Star this week as I thought the young Essendon player Zach Merrett could fare well given his excellent debut season. I was a little surprised to see he did not secure a vote and it got me thinking about the award and how it probably favours teams further down the table.

Of the eight finalists, five had nominees, two from Sydney, two from Essendon and one each from Fremantle, North Melbourne and Port Adelaide. Meaning Geelong, Hawthorn & Richmond did not provide a nominee. The top two vote winners were from Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs, with third coming from North Melbourne. Brisbane also had the fourth placegetter.

Young players are more likely to get games and more game time with teams further down the ladder and this probably works in their favour.

Incidentally, Zach Merrett’s stats were similar to Marcus Bontempelli and his player rating was higher than him and yet he could not get a vote. Perhaps he needed a few highlights! Disappointing.

Have a great weekend and go Bombers!

Gelding’s hot selections for today’s Caulfield races

IMG00123-20101219-1210The Gelding’s attention returns to his home track at Caulfield today after a win and several near misses with last week’s selections. The ladies at the Tennis club were unlucky with the second selection with a questionable ride by the jockey severely affecting the horse’s chances.

That being said, there is plenty of value in today’s selections.

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Caulfield

Race 3 Horse 8 – Henwood
Race 5 Horse 15 – Vain Queen
Race 7 Horse 3 – Gregers (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 8 Horse 2 – Boban (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 9 Horse 10 – Marksmanship

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Friday musing – AFL, final eight, Arsenal, Champions League…..

Chris Barwin HillsWell with one round of the AFL season to go there is still a great deal of interest in the final positions in the final eight.

Should the results go as expected it will be a battle between Adelaide and West Coast on percentage for the final position, but Richmond have their fate in their own hands so it is the position you want to be in from a Richmond point of view. If the game was in Melbourne I would give them a genuine chance, but being in Sydney I think I will have to favour the home team. That being said, the Swans will know the equation necessary to hold top spot as Hawthorn play Collingwood tonight and a big win by Hawthorn and a loss to Sydney could see the Swans lose top spot.

Looking to the other games, Geelong should beat Brisbane at home, but if you cast your mind back to the corresponding game last year Brisbane lost by a kick in controversial circumstances. Geelong have won a lot of games this year by small margins and have not played out four quarters many times and if they lose and Fremantle win, Geelong could drop to fourth. Fremantle need to win to at least hold fourth spot as a loss to Port Adelaide will see Port take fourth spot.

North Melbourne looks to be the only team that cannot go up or down, they are a game and 16% below Port and a game and 10% ahead of Essendon, so they look like retaining sixth position with a home final. Essendon need to beat Carlton to retain seventh position to play North in Melbourne, or run the risk that a loss to Carlton and a win by Richmond could see them head interstate to play Freo or Port.

It is a great last round as so many positions could change, but I am predicting the status quo and games going with the favourites, so that will leave Adelaide and West Coast to fight out eighth position on percentage. My tip is Adelaide to just get there and play a home final against Port in the first week of the finals.

Also great to see the Gunners make it through to the Champions League again. They have drawn a reasonable group and should at least get through to the next round.

Have a great weekend!

Gelding’s red hotties for Moonee Valley on 23 August 2014

42After a reasonable few weeks, the Gelding’s attention turns to Moonee Valley tomorrow and he is confident of another good return, especially for the ladies at the tennis club!

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Moonee Valley

Race 3 Horse 5 Under the Louvre
Race 5 Horse 3 – Girl Guide (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 6 Horse 2 – Orujo
Race 8 Horse 10 – Shamal Wind (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 9 Horse 2 – Foundry

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Friday musing – AFL, final eight, Richmond FC, Essendon FC…..

Chris Barwin HillsWell it is getting to the business end of the AFL season with still a few spots up for grabs and the final order still to be decided.

Richmond have come out of nowhere to put pressure on the lower reaches of the final eight, but the final game against the Swans in Sydney may spell the end of an inspired run. Some sides have failed to consolidate their spots and in the case of Collingwood & Gold Coast they have actually relinquished their positions in the eight. In my opinion it has now come down to Essendon, Adelaide and Richmond competing for the last two positions. If Essendon win this week and Adelaide lose to North, then I think the Bombers will be safe. At least there is still some interest coming into the final two rounds.

I must say I did not think Brenton Sanderson did his team any favours by having a whine about having to play Brisbane in Brisbane on a day when it was 24 degrees. Adelaide is not known for it’s freezing winters and 24 degrees is not uncommon come September. I went to the 2001 Grand Final and it got to about 28 degrees that day. If you go back to 1986 or 1987 and the Grand Final was played when it was 32 degrees. By complaining about having to play in those conditions he was making an excuse for his team against Richmond before they had even played! Not a good move in my opinion.

Another issue to come out of the Adelaide -v- Richmond game was the score review system denying Rory Sloane a goal. I have harped on about the SRS before and I think it is unnecessary and we should just rely on the goal umpire who is usually in the best position to judge. It is unusual to have howlers like the Tom Hawkins goal in the 2009 grand final, but the game should just live with the consequences.

Have a great weekend!

Gelding’s hot tips for Caulfield on 16 August 2014

the gelding & othersThe Gelding’s attention is on his home track at Caulfield tomorrow as his bank continues to grow for a real run at the Spring carnival fields. The ladies at the tennis club were happy again last week and no doubt their Christmas function this year will have the good champagne on ice!

As always the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Caulfield

Race 1 Horse 5 – Spirit of Heaven (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 5 Horse 1 – Moment of Change
Race 6 Horse 3 – Royal Snitzel
Race 8 Horse 5 – Lidari
Race 9 Horse 2 – Gregers (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding

Gelding’s red hotties for 9 August 2014

sean & geldingThe Gelding’s attention returns to Flemington this weekend and after a big day last Saturday, he is looking to build a war chest for the Spring carnival.

No doubt the ladies at the tennis club got a windfall return last week if they followed the tips!!

As usual the bets are on an each way and all up basis.

Flemington

Race 2 Horse 3 – Eclair Samba (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 3 Horse 5 – Anfitriona
Race 5 Horse 9 – Marwood
Race 6 Horse 6 – Eximus
Race 7 Horse 1 – Tiger Tees (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)

Good luck and good punting.

The Gelding

Friday musing – AFL, Match Review Panel, Nathan Fyffe…..

Chris Barwin HillsIt has been a busy couple of weeks and I must say sport has probably been a long way from my thoughts.

One of the bigger AFL issues rearing it’s head at the moment is the prospect of Nathan Fyffe getting the most votes in the Brownlow, but being ineligible. I must say he was most unfortunate to be suspended for the incident that was in essence a head clash, but because of the change in rules and because he opted to bump, he was suspended. If the same thing happened last year he would not have been suspended and if the jungle drums are correct, the rule may be clarified next year which may not result in a suspension which would then not preclude a player from winning the Brownlow medal. So we may have the farcical situation where he misses out on the Brownlow on the basis of a rule which existed for one year. How ludicrous would that be!

You think of the other 2 “winners” who missed out on the Brownlow due to suspensions – Corey McKernan and Chris Grant. Both their incidents under the current Match Review Panel system, would probably only result in a reprimand due to lack of force. The AFL has amended rules in the past to allow winners who lost on a count back to be awarded medals and perhaps it is time that McKernan & Grant’s incidents were reviewed in light of current assessments. In McKernan’s case it would not jeopardise the actual winners as James Hird & Michael Voss had the same number of votes as McKernan, but Robert Harvey polled less votes than Grant and that may be an issue.

As an aside, Corey McKernan also missed out on the Rising Star award because of a suspension which was also lacking in force, but let us leave than one alone.

Have a great weekend!

Gelding’s red hot tips for 2 August 2014

gelding teeThe Gelding’s attention is at Moonee Valley tomorrow. After last week’s melt down, he has put the results down to the cold weather and condition of the track. Spoken like a true punter!

As usual the bets are on an all up and each way basis.

Moonee Valley

Race 3 Horse 3 – Backbone (for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 4 Horse 1 – Lord Of the Sky
Race 7 Horse 5 – Under the Louvre
Race 8 Horse 1 – The Cleaner (also for the ladies at the Tennis club)
Race 9 Horse 7 – Jessy Belle

Good luck and good punting!

The Gelding