What happened in yesterday’s racing?

Kevin Stott was the star of the show in yesterday’s meeting at Pontefract, and anyone following the Danish-born former Spurs triallist would have made a tidy sum buying his performance markets. Stott won the second race of the afternoon, the 2.14, on 2/1 favourite Aleezdancer, the 3.14 on 3/1 shot Wynford and had a 25/1 second in the next race on Follow Your Heart. At Wolverhampton it wasn’t a night for backing favourites – only one won – but there were plenty of other ways to make some money.

Kevin Stott Jockey Performance (settled at 60)

With only 4 runners at Pontefract, including 25/1 and 33/1 chances, Stott’s spread was set at 22-24 in the Jockey Performance market, which awards 25 points for a win, 10 for second and 5 for third. Buyers at 24 were freerolling once he guided Aleezdancer home and it was all profit as Wynford won and Follow Your Heart was a surprise second. Buyers banked 36 times their bet as Stott put on an excellent show.

Wolverhampton Multi-Mules (settled at 389)

This market is made-up by multiplying the racecard number of the winning horse in each race by that of the second placed horse, then adding up the totals. Before the evening meeting got underway, the Multi-Mules spread was set at 206-226, meaning buyers had made 163 times their money when the last race finished. Overs always looked good once the first race saw horse number 11 (Brazen Akoya) beat horse number 10 (Jusumi) to add 110 to the Multi-Mules total.

Who won the big Monday Night Football NFL match?

After a delay for lightning lasting 35 minutes, it was the LA Chargers who proved too much for the previously unbeaten Las Vegas Raiders, inflicting their first defeat 28-14. In a clash between the Raiders highly rated offense, and LA’s frugal defence, it was the hosts who held off a Raiders comeback to prevail. The Chargers were 21-0 up at half-time, and while Vegas got back to within one touchdown, they never got closer. Both sides now have 3-1 records.

Austin Ekeler Performance (settled at 195)

Chargers running back Austin Ekeler rushed 15 times for a career high 117 yards, including one touchdown, while he also had a touchdown catch as well. Buyers of his Performance (123-135) made a profit of 60 times their bet, buyers of his TD Minutes (29-32) made 53 times their bet, and buyers of his Super Mega Minutes (46-61) made 79 times their bet.

What was the controversy at the World Grand Prix darts about?

What an evening of darts in Leicester last night as the first round drew to a close. Not only were the big names falling like flies, Michael van Gerwen, arguably the biggest name of the lot, was accused of stamping his feet when his opponent, fellow Dutchman Danny Noppert, was on a double! TV pictures seemed to exonerate MVG from any wrongdoing, but they couldn’t stop him getting knocked out by Noppert. Follow former world champs Peter Wright and Gary Anderson also departed, leaving Grand Slam of Darts winner Jose de Sousa as the only seed left in the bottom half of the draw.

Spreadex Bankers (settled at 50)

We said in yesterday’s blog that we’d seen some sellers in this market (set at 81-85), and they were proved correct, winning 31 times their bet. The Spreadex Bankers market awarded 25 points per victory for each of four players – Jonny Clayton, Wright, Van Gerwen and De Sousa – plus a 25 point bonus if they all won, but on an evening of shocks, selling was the right move. As well as Van Gerwen going down to Noppert in that bad tempered affair, Wright lost in straight sets to Rob Cross. De Sousa was an easy winner against an out of sorts Glen Durrant while Clayton, the current Premier League champion, lost only one leg on the way to victory against Callan Rydz.

What happened in the IPL game between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings?

With only 10 days until the IPL final, the push for the play-offs is hotting up. Set 137 to win, Dehli chased down their target with two balls to spare to push Chennai down to second place and take over at the top of the table. The top two teams get two chances to secure a place in the final, but Chennai always looked 15 runs short of par on this pitch despite Ambati Rayudu’s 55. Shikhar Dhawan top scored for Delhi with 39.

Multi-Wides (settled at 70)

In what could well be a preview of the IPL final, the pressure was on in this game, and for the bowlers it showed. Pushing to get their lines right, bowlers on both sides tried a bit too hard and were called for wides. We’d seen some buying in this market as punters predicted some waywardness as bowlers looked to push their edge, and they were well rewarded. The spread for Multi-Wides (made up of Delhi wides multiplied by Chennai wides) was 14-18 at the start of the game, meaning buyers banked 52 times their bet.