Sideline Sports Talk

The Cheltenham Festival Top Jockey is considered to be the jockey that clocks up the most wins over the four days of the festival and the one who stands head and shoulders over the rest of the field is Ruby Walsh.

Ruby Walsh rode seven horses to victory in 2009 which is an all time record. The most wins previously claimed were five and this was achieved by Barry Geraghty in 2003 and by Jamie Osborne in 1992.

Ruby Walsh has also been the Cheltenham Festival Top Jockey on three previous occasions, in 2004, 2006 and 2008 which is another record.

Ruby Walsh was born in County Kildare, Ireland in 1979. He was born into a horse racing family and his father was a champion amateur jockey. By the time he was 18 years old he was winning races and when he was 21 he won the Grand National on Papillon, a horse that his father had trained. In the same year he won the Irish Grand national on another of his father’s horses and has gone on improving in both form and strength.

His current tally of wins is over 1,400 which include the twenty four wins he has achieved at the Cheltenham Festival.

Walsh is tipped to be the top jockey in 2010 in the Cheltenham Festival Betting markets, though he is lucky to be competing at all. Riding at Taunton his mount failed to take a fence instead crashing through it. For a few moments it looked as if Walsh had sustained a serious injury but it turned out that he was just bruised. Soon he was back riding another horse and went on to win his final race of the day on the Paul Nichols trained King’s Legacy.

This year at Cheltenham he will ride horses for two trainers; Paul Nichols and Willie Mullins. He is odds on favourite to again be the Cheltenham Festival Top Jockey.

If you’ve ever dreamed of living the life of a world class footballer, the bwin.com are offering you the chance to realise that very dream. They’re giving one lucky individual the chance to sign for Italian giants, AC Milan, and spent a day experiencing just what its like to live the life of a superstar footballer. You’ll emulate the likes of David Beckham, Andrea Pirlo, and Gennaro Gattuso, and it all begins by answering questions set by the local media in your very own press conference. >From here, you’ll be taken to collect a personalised Milan shirt, complete with your name on the back and the hallowed red and black stripes on the front. Now, things will really start to get into world class professional mode, when you climb aboard the team bus en route to the training ground. Here you’ll be met by the likes of Ronaldinho, and Fillipo Inzaghi, before taking to the field and practicing free-kicks with Beckham and co. Who knows, you may even impress the manager with some silky skills, or tidy footwork!

This really is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and the prize also includes flights to and from Milan, and luxury accommodation for you and a friend to enjoy – let’s face it, you’ll be living the life of a millionaire footballer! So, how do you enter? Well it’s all very simple, basically, just visit www.enter-the-game.com and dream up your ideal Milan debut, so this could be scoring the winner in the local derby, or slotting home a penalty in the last minute of the European Cup, or even delivering a delightful cross for Inzaghi to hammer away to win Milan the league! Whatever it may be, be creative! After this, simply place an online sports bet on who you think will finish as the team’s top goalscorer come the end of the season in March. And then you’re done. You could be a short time away from rubbing shoulders with some of the greatest footballers of this generation, and it’s all courtesy of bwin.com!

Anyone who knows anything about football knows that English football boasts some of the most talented players in the world, bar none. As a matter of fact, whether this is a good omen or not, English football has attracted investors outside of England for some time now. Rich club owners come from Russia, the U.S. and even the Middle East due to the popularity of the game and the talent pool England has to offer.

The Premier League has seen English clubs in the finals as of late including Manchester United as the winner in 2008 as well the same club has entered as a finalist in the 2009 season only to be beat by the formidable Barcelona FC club. Football is arguably the most popular sport worldwide and the English Premier League football clubs tend to rank highly among the semi-finalists.

There are teams that sometime scrape by due to knockout games but England is either there in the finals (as of late) or are certainly there to make the competition nervous. Some will argue that English clubs aren’t as fancy-footed or create the most exciting goals but every team in Europe knows that when an English club enters the foray, they will have to earn every goal in order to win the Champions League. At the risk of sounding biased but it’s not uncommon to see an English club at least in the sem-finals if not the finals.

Since English Premier League football attracts some of the richest owners in the world it’s no wonder certain teams can produce the winning records they do. With money behind a club they can pay for the best players in the world and even though there is criticism of player salaries, at the end of the day it’s the passion of each player to help their team to victory that determines the fate of any club, English or otherwise.

If you’re a sports fan and like betting then you most likely have a system when it comes to winning at sports betting. Even the most unlucky of sports betters can have a lucky streak if they know their team and the competition inside and out as well as understand the odds. No team can win forever so it’s a matter of hedging your bets in favour of the best team of the event, or at least the team you think has the best chance of winning. Afterall, we’re here to win money and if you think your team is on a losing streak then you’re better off betting against the team you feel could win, or vice versa.

The beauty of winning at sports betting is that it doesn’t require you to make a carl lewis paced sprint to your local betting agent in order to get your bet in on time. Long live the internet! As long as you are confident you got a grip on who’s going to win you can bet online during your lunch break at work, assuming your office allows you to visit betting sites (hello proxies!).

True sports betting fanatics can bet on a variety of sports including football, horse racing, basketball, tennis, boxing, heck….even UFC Betting! Also, one of the benefits of a betting website is they often have forums that can either give you insight into betting procedures or can sometimes throw you off your game. But, you are a sports fan right? So, no need to see what others are saying…or is there?

The general rule of the game is to know your sport inside and out and be reaslistic when it comes to betting on a sport that you are familiar with. Your best chances of winning are most likely based on your familiarity with either a sport and/or a team rather than just being a “betting person” and betting on any old sport. If you know nothing about Canadian curling then save your hard earned dosh and bet on a sport you are intimately familiar with.

When it comes to English football clubs there is sentiment that most are in favour of at least 4 players are actually English. This is a good rule because in today’s sport, there are multi-billionaire owners who are more interested winning than in promoting the fact that the winning club is mainly English. See, in American football there aren’t too many clubs (or teams) that hail from outside the U.S. Why? Well, the tradition is most players start off in college football and make a name for themselves in order to be drafted into the NFL (National Football League). In England it’s quite different and even though some players can be recruited as a tender teenager, many are “bought” from other countries or European clubs.

At the end of the day, the main difference is that English football clubs would prefer to see players from their own country. That doesn’t mean if a Spanish player is traded to an English club that they won’t be accepted with open arms but to understand football is to realise that fans absolutely love to back their hometown hero. The World Cup is a classic example of the patriotic fervor a people have toward their team. This is only emboldened even more so when a player from the local community plays for the team of that city and goes on to play at an exceptional level.

English football clubs are in favour of the rule that fosters the home grown player and we think that’s a good rule. People are proud where they come from and in many ways sports personalities that achieve great success are in their own way ambassadors for not only the sport in which they excel but also for their country.

When it comes to betting on horse racing, as with any sport or casino for that matter, you really need to do your homework and rely on your gut instinct. At the end of the day, no one knows who’s going to win. A case in point is the last Grand National winner who had a 1/100 odds of winning and did just that, he won! The first time in Grand National history that a horse and rider with such great odds won. That horse and rider was Mon Mome ridden by Liam Treadwell.

Be wary of snake oil salesmen who will try and sell you horse racing betting strategies as if they have unlocked some holy grail secret. Believe it or not, many people still fall for this “trick” and end up worse off than if they never trusted such a dodgy source in the first place. Once again, you probably have better chances of guessing at a roulette table than the races.

However, the more you study horse racing including your odds of winning as well as pure experience (as painful as that may be for some) the better prepared you’ll be at winning in this game of luck. It’s all too easy to see the guy next to you win successively as if he had some sort of clairvoyent insight into the horses psyches.

Remember, the common phrase when it comes to betting is “gambling is a mugs game”. This does not mean you are a mug, not at all. However, be sure to only bet what you can afford and the more you invest into learning the game the better your chances of winning which ultimately will improve your horse racing betting strategies.

Horse racing is very popular these days and can often be found in many countries. There are different types of horse racing that you can wager your bets against and we’ll touch upon a few. When it comes to placing a bet, be sure to wager what you can afford to lose. We say this time and again but to truly enjoy horse racing, and betting, it’s about the thrill of the race as opposed to the terror of losing the house!

As mentioned, there are many different types of horse racing. One of them is called harness horse racing which consists of a race with a horse, a jockey, and a two-wheeled cart. Although this type of horse racing is less common, there are 2 types: pacing and trotting. Pacing involves the horse running at a faster pace than trotting. Trotting, on the other hand, is more of a even-paced gait which means the right front leg and the left hind leg hit the track around the same time.

Also there is what is known as thoroughbred racing which requires only thoroughbred horses to partake in the event. This is a popular type of horse racing for gamblers and involves either jumping or flat racing. There are different distances involved in flat racing and usually is a test of a horse’s speed whilst jump racing includes steeples where horses and jockey are expected to hurdle over barriers as part of the race, think Grand National.

There are different types of horse racing events that include stakes as well. Stakes in this case refer to the race entry fees and these fees add up to the total amount of awarded when a horse wins.

Horse racing in the U.S. is quite popular and differs in some ways to their European counterpart but despite the many different types of horse racing, there are plenty for you to choose from whether you just like to watch from the sidelines or partake in betting for a winner!

Horse racing is a major event in the UK. Women don their best attire and men are dressed to impress when it comes to attending major races like the Cheltenham or the Grand National, to name a few. If you’re looking for a beginner’s guide to online horse race betting then you’ve come to the right place. Now a days you don’t need to live near the races to get in on the action or to win big at the races.

There are nearly as many horse race betting sites as there are horse races these days and that makes it very convenient for both the seasoned pro or the newbie bettor. The first thing to do of course is sign up at any major, reputable betting site online.

The way it works is you first choose which site, or sites, you’d like to join and then you make a cash deposit before making a bet. The advantage is you can see in real-time which races are due to be run and what the odds are on each horse. When it comes time to bet you want to be sure you have the most up-to-the-minute stats on each horse. Since there is no magic ball involved your best bet will be to study these odds before laying down your hard earned cash.

When it comes to gambling, winning relies heavily on luck however, to improve your odds you’ll want to study your chances of winning. Take a few minutes before each race and evaluate the information readily available. That’s what it’s there for.

Remember, when it comes to a beginners guide to online horse race betting you should only bet what you can afford and if you’re new to the experience then you may end up relying on choosing a horse that “has a nice name” or “is a pretty colour”. This is the wrong strategy. You want to study the odds, hedge your bets against these odds, then bet what you can afford to lose in the event you go bust.

Once you’ve made the bet and are comfortable no matter the outcome it’s time to sit back, enjoy the ride (so to speak) and be prepared to win or lose. Either way, horse race betting can be a fun and exciting experience if done in moderation and done affordably.