Sky Dogs

After an abysmal run of form on the horses, which culminated in backing a winner which was then disqualified when the jockey weighed in wrong, I took a short break from the punting but am now back to get the blog going, on the dogs at least.

The Coral sponsored Sussex Cup is the main event tonight, with live coverage on Sky Sports 2.

Speed Figs

T5 - Ballymac Under 97
T6 - Droopys Carvalo 96
T1 - Commander Chief 84+
T3 - Spears Tarquynn 72+
T4 - Lenson Earl 64+
T2 - General Cargo 62

Ballymac Under and Droopys Carvalo are well clear of the field on the speed figures and look to have the race between them on the numbers at least. There has been an unusual amount of scrimmaging for Hove in this event and Commander Chief, Spears Tarquynn and Lenson Earl are all capable of improving on what they have shown so far with a clear run.

Skydogs Tissue

Using the speed figures along with some tinkering for the draw and the likely shape of the race I've come up with the 'tissue' below -

7/4 Droopys Carvalho, 9/4 Ballymac Under, 13/2 Commander Chief, 12/1 Spears Tarquynn, 18/1 General Cargo, 20/1 Lenson Earl

The race looks between Droopys Carvalho and Ballymac Under with a preference for the well drawn Carvalho in trap 6. Unfortunately the bookies see it the same way going 7/5 and 7/4 respectively. If there is any value it lies with Laurence Tuffin's strong running Commander Chief at the generally available 8/1.

Overall the bookies look to have the outright market about right so instead I'm going to look to the 'specials' for a bit of value and it comes in the shape of the aforementioned Commander. Corals have put him in a matchbet with General Cargo and I priced this up myself with Commander Chief at 2/5 and General Cargo at 9/4. Corals however, for some reason, can barely split the pair going 4/5 and 10/11 respectively. Now, I don't like to bet odds on but 4/5 about at 2/5 chance is big value in my book and looks well worth taking.

Best of luck if you play.

The Skybet Gymcrack final at Hall Green is the big race live on Sky Sports 3 tonight. A £10,000 four bend event for puppies it is contested by some potentially top class hounds but having had my fingers burnt betting on the youngsters before I won't be wading in this time. I do however think a couple of dogs elsewhere on the card are worth a second look.

In the marathon (21.25) Steve Race's Head Iton Jordan is approaching the twilight of her career but has a tremendous wins to runs ratio over these extreme distances. The 2/1 offered by Totesport, Sporting Bet and Corals looks well worth taking.

A slightly more speculative punt is Selecta Moon in the 20.35. Chris Allsopp's bitch needs all of this 670 metre trip and she will be staying on at the death. The 6/1 with Corals, VC Bet and Skybet is big enough to take a chance that she gets a clear enough passage to deliver her challenge in time.

Well done to trainer Tony Collett and owner Len Ponder for collecting the big race up at Sunderland last night with Lenson Express. Praise must also go to William Hills for putting up some excellent prizemoney. I'm lead to believe it was a cracking nights racing but unfortunately I haven't seen it for myself as the girlfriend forgot to Sky plus it ... doh!!!

From a punting point of view it was a good night with Express top rated on the speed figures and a value price at 3/1. The recommended buy on the spreads of Bower Keane also paid off with Kelly Macari's dog coming home second.

Also winners for the blog were Westmead Lord (rec. at 9/4) and Lochbo Meg (rec. at 4/1).

As well as enjoying a punt on the dogs I like a bet on the horses and most big sporting events, providing the all important 'value' is available.

With this in mind I may be starting another blog (or transferring this one) along the lines of Johnny Moyles' new punting blog. Johnny already has an excellent greyhound blog which you can view here and his new manaboutdogblog makes entertaining reading.

As a starter there are a couple of horses running this evening which make each way appeal. They are Politeia in the 20:30 at Nottingham and Best One in the 21:10 at Doncaster. Both horses are in good order and have favourable draws. If you plan to follow me in make sure that at least 16 runners go to post to take advantage of the four places paid on each way bets.

The William Hill Classic is the centrepiece of an excellent nights racing live from Sunderland on Sky Sports Xtra tonight.

Speed Figs

T1 - Lenson Express 100
T3 - Me Buddy 88
T4 - Bower Keane 86
T2 - Droopys Sheehy 85+
T5 - Kilkenny Lonjack 79
T6 - Droopys Wells 68

Tony Collett's Derby finalist, Lenson Express, heads the figures after recording a smart 26.77 (calc.) in the semi's. Me Buddy is the hot favourite but he has a bit to find on the numbers and is closely followed by Bower Keane and Manchester Puppy Cup winner Droopys Sheehy.

Skydogs Tissue

Based on the speed figures and with a little tinkering for the effects of the draw and the likely outcome of the early pace battles I've come up with the 'tissue' below -

7/4 Lenson Express, 9/2 Me Buddy, 11/2 Droopys Sheehy, 6/1 Bower Keane, 10/1 Kilkenny Lonjack, 11/1 Droopys Wells

Plenty of value options in this race due to my disagreement with the bookies over the chances of Me Buddy who is a short as 11/8 with the layers. There is no doubt he's an exciting prospect and if he bolts out of the traps as he is capable of doing he will take some catching but 6/4 is way too short for me.

Lenson Express is freely available at 3/1 which is decent value though he will probably have to do it the hard way and come from behind.

I can't rule out Elaine Parker's Droopys Sheehy but 5/1 with the bookies is about the right price.

One other dog that catches the eye is locally trained hound Bower Keane. This son of promising young sire Boherduff Light is not ideally boxed in trap four but he does have the 'early' to avoid Kilkenny Lonjack and Droopys Wells on his outer. Skybet, Hills and Bet365 all go 10/1 which is very tempting but even better value could be a buy on the spreads for which he gets a quote of 6-8 on the 50-25-10 market from Bet HiLo.

Elsewhere on the card there are a few dogs who look a bit of a value on the early prices. 2007 Derby winner Westmead Lord goes in the 19:40 and the 9/4 with Bet365, Boylesports and Hills looks big. Target Harry (5/1 Hills) can go well in the sprint at 20:30 and Lochbo Meg is interesting in the Tetleys Oaks (21:05) at 4/1 with Totesport.

The William Hill Classic continues at Sunderland on Saturday night with three semi-finals.

Ante-post favourite Tyrur Kieran was knocked over in his heat and there was as usual plenty of scrimmaging at the North East track. Charlie Lister's Kryptonite, recommended here at 8/1, is the new favourite at a best priced 7/2.

Semi Final Draw -

SATURDAY JULY 5

FIRST SEMI

1 KRYPTONITE
2 APACHE DAWN
3 LENSON EARL
4 ME BUDDY
5 NINJA JAMIE
6 DROOPYS WELLS (W)

SECOND SEMI

1 LENSON EXPRESS
2 DROOPYS SHEEHY
3 WESTMEAD LORD (W)
4 DROOPYS CARVALHO (W)
5 TOOSEY BLUE (W)
6 LETHAL FREDDIE (W)

THIRD SEMI

1 SEANIS LAD
2 BLINDIN BELL
3 SEANIS STRIKE
4 DEANRIDGE CASPER (M)
5 KILKENNY LON JACK (W)
6 BOWER KEANE (W)

The latest betting is available here.