Sky Dogs

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.