Who is winning the battle to be champion jockey between Oisin Murphy and William Buick?

At the start of the final week before the champion jockey is crowned on Champions Day at Ascot, Murphy looked to have his third title all but sown up, six wins clear. Buick then lost three rides through withdrawals at Wolverhampton on Monday, but he’s hit back as the two have gone head-to-head in the past two days, Buick having 3 winners to Murphy’s 1 at Leicester on Monday, and 2 to Murphy’s 0 yesterday at Nottingham.

Murphy Jockey Performance (settled at 0)

The pressure is on the champion jockey, with his lead down to 2, and it seemed to tell yesterday at Nottingham, where Murphy not only didn’t have any winners, he didn’t have any horse in the top 3 over the whole meeting, with a pair of 5^th places as close as he got. Sellers of Murphy’s Jockey Performance, set at 42-45, won 42 times their bet.

Was there any football action yesterday?

There were World Cup qualifiers in the CONCACAF area, with USA’s 2-1 defeat of Costa Rica the pick of the games. This American side was much-changed from the XI that went down 1-0 in Panama at the weekend, and despite going behind to an early goal, USA took a big step towards a top 3 finish and a place in the World Cup with a comeback win. USA are 2^nd in the CONCACAF qualifying group, three points behind leaders Mexico, and three points clear of Panama in 4^th.

1^st Match Goal (settled at 2)

This game started with a bang, with Keysher Fuller scoring in the 2^nd minute after a bad clearance by USA keep Zack Steffen. Sellers of the 1^st Match Goal spread, set at 37-40, made 35 times their money as USA conceded their quickest goal in 23 years.

Who won the IPL play-off between KKR and Delhi Capitals?

Despite Delhi topping the regular season table, Kolkata Knight Riders came into this win or bust semi-final as the form team, and so it proved as they withstood a late wobble to claim their 7^th win in 9 games since the season switched to the UAE, and a place in Friday’s final against Chennai Super Kings. Delhi posted a below par 135-5, a score KKR always looked like chasing down, until a huge wobble saw them lose six wickets for seven runs, going from 123-1 to 130-7. Having needed 13 from 25 balls, KKR now needed six off the final two balls, but there was no panic from Rahul Tripathi who, facing a hat-trick ball from Ravi Ashwin, despatched the spinner into the stands to secure KKR’s final spot.

Multi-Wides (settled at 36)

With bowlers on both sides straining every sinew and pushing every edge to try and stem the flow of runs, there were plenty of buyers in our Total Wides markets, and they were well rewarded. There was 13 total Wides, winning buyers 4.8 times their bet (7.5-8.2), while Multi-Wides buyers (14-18), which multiplies the two teams’ wides together, won 18 times their bet.

Is Ronnie O’Sullivan still ‘bored’ at the Northern Ireland Open?

Ronnie may not be loving the atmosphere in Northern Ireland, but he seems to be playing as well as ever in a tournament he’s finished 2^nd in for each of the past three years. The world number 3 moved into the last 16 with another dominant win, beating Alfie Burden 4-1.

Highest Match Break (settled at 127)

Buyers of the Highest Match Break spread, set at 103.5-106.5 will feel like they got a bit lucky to bank 20.5 times their stake. If the buyers were backing Ronnie to knock in a big break, they got out of jail when Burden hit a 127 in the 4^th frame to get off the mark. To be fair to buyers, if they were relying just on Ronnie they could have bought High Ronnie O’Sullivan Break at 101-104 (they would have lost 34 times their stake) so including Burden by betting the Match Break market instead proved a shrewd move. The really shrewd would have bought High Burden Break (52-55) and won 72 times their bet!

Are there any Brits still in the Indian Wells tennis tournament?

British number 1 Dan Evans is out, as is three-time Major winner Andy Murray, but Cameron Norrie is still in, enjoying his best ever run at a Masters 1000 tournament. The British number 2 could actually usurp Evans as number 1 if he wins his last quarter-final match, ironically against Evans’s conqueror, Diego Schwartzman. Norrie beat American Tommy Paul 6-4 4-6 6-2 yesterday to make the last 8. Norrie made the final of the San Diego open at the weekend, though he lost to Norwegian Casper Ruud, the man Schwartzman beat yesterday.

Total Points (settled at 197)

Norrie was big favourite to beat Paul yesterday, but as we pointed out in yesterday’s blog, Paul was playing some of his best tennis, and this turned into a real test. The American had beaten 4^th seed Andrey Rublev in the previous round, and he showed some of that form in pushing Norrie to three sets. In the end, the British number 2 was too strong in the deciding set, but the length of the match ensured buyers of Total Points (149-154) made a tidy profit, 43 times their stake.