I’ll be on the road and without much technology so sadly I’ll miss much of the weekend’s sport. But the action continues in my absence and the Spring Racing Carnival moves into full swing and takes centre stage.
- Horse Racing – Caulfield Cup – On Saturday 18 horses will tackle the 2400 metre long Caulfield Cup, a handicap race and one of Australia’s three premier horse races. This year sees more international entries than normal and one in particular, Japanese colt Bande, is likely to shape the race. Bande, one of two Japanese runners, is likely to set the pace and to try and run the rest off his heels. History shows that this is unlikely but don’t discount it. For many of the overseas runners it is their first race in Australia and this makes judging their pedigree and form difficult. Lucia Valentina, a four year old mare, is the clear favourite. She has the ideal barrier draw, is light on the weights and has winning group one form. But favourites have struggled in recent years and there are plenty of others with winning hopes. Trainer Chris Waller has strength in numbers with no less than four runners. Junoob is perhaps the best of them, and is another with good recent form. The eight year old Dandino returns after running second last year. He will have to overcome the second top weight and the very outside barrier but his connections are extremely confident. Rising Romance has been building towards this race since winning the Australian Oaks in the Autumn and should be right in the finish.
Tips – Rising Romance, Lucia Valentina and Junoob to fill the places.
SUQ – 9 – Caulfield’s day in the spotlight and a fascinating main race to look forward to.
- Football – English Premier League – Round 8 – Manchester City versus Tottenham is probably the biggest match of the round, with many of the big name teams facing lesser opposition. But Chelsea (Crystal Palace), Liverpool (Queens Park Rangers) and Manchester United (West Bromwich Albion) all face tricky road trips. The week after an international break is often a difficult one to predict and an upset or two certainly wouldn’t be a surprise. Southampton has a good opportunity to continue their great start to the season as they host Sunderland.
Tips – Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Newcastle United, Southampton, Liverpool, Swansea and Manchester United to be on the winners list, with Burnley and West Ham United to play out a draw.
SUQ – 7 – No marquee fixtures but still some interesting contests to keep an eye on.
- Football – German Bundesliga – Round 8 – Bayern Munich, predictably, lead the way after seven rounds and have a four point lead at the top. Behind them are a couple of surprise packets in Hoffenheim and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Borussia Dortmund were considered the most likely to challenge Bayern at the start of the year but injuries and poor form mean they are languishing in thirteenth position, 10 points back. They travel to Cologne (fourteenth) in what is a must win fixture. Dortmund will buoyed by the return of a number of stars, including possibly Ikay Gundogan who hasn’t played for 14 months, and this should be enough to get them over the line. Bayern take on cellar dwellers Werder Breman at home and anything other than a large victory would surprise. Mönchengladbach take on Hannover 96 in a tough away game while Hoffenheim will be confident of continuing their good form when they travel to Hamburg on Sunday.
Tips – Bayern, Dortmund, Mönchengladbach, Mainz, Freiburg, Stuttgart, Schalke, Hoffenheim and newly promoted SC Paderborn 07 to enjoy success.
SUQ – 7 – Harder to catch on TV in Australia but if you can then tune in. Usually has more goals than the typically favoured EPL and is of a similar quality – some might even say better.
Sportussion 