It’s great to see the top three spots in the Premier League occupied by Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs which must be a worry for Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs. However in my opinion the best and most skilful player in England does not play for any of those clubs but for a particular club that always seems to be punching below their weight.
The club in question is Newcastle and the player is Hatem Ben Arfa who I tip to become the most sought after player in Europe now that Bale has gone to Real. It would not surprise me to see a fierce bidding war between Man City, Chelsea and Barcelona come January.
Well that’s tip number one and number two is a biography by Geordie Grieg on the life of Lucien Freud one of the great British artists of the 20th Century.
Lucien was the brother of Clement and grandson of Sigmund and the book in question Breakfast With Lucien tells the story of his most colourful life and love of gambling.
In the fifties and sixties Lucien became the most compulsive of gamblers with a philosophy of if you bet, you must risk everything. It transpired at one time he borrowed over half a million from the notorious Kray brothers to fund his habit.
One of Luciens best friends was Victor Chandler who said of him he had a fear of being poor and by gambling he could play with his biggest fear. In 1983 he was banned from every race course in the country as a bad debtor but undeterred he used disguises to enter meetings.
Lucien was a superb portrait painter and to pay off debts he would paint portraits of bookies as a practical way of paying them off.
Ironically the biggest winner was a bookie called Alfie McLean who cancelled all his debts for a series of pictures. Alfie became the most unlikely owner of 25 paintings that would in time be worth millions of pounds.
So if want a good read go get the book.
Mind you if Lucien was still alive he could do a lot worse than join a Betfan tipping service. While on the subject of crazy gamblers a friend of mine runs a tipping service and recently was giving a two week free trial during which he tipped up winners at 28/1,12/1 and two at 10/1 plus a few shorter ones. Now there were about 100 people on the trial which showed super profits but the incredible thing is over 50 of those guys never signed up for the full service. Why you might well ask? My view is they’re just like Lucien mad gamblers who drift from one tipster to another thinking everything must win.
Okay the 3rd tip of the day is Howies Hottie which goes in the 8.15 Kempton in the shape of Supernova Heights. This is a 7 furlong handicap and our selection is trained by Brian Meehan and we have Richard Hughes in the plate.
The filly had very good early season form and then went off the boil. She has been given a break and freshened up and a reproduction of early form would put her right in the mix.
8.15 Kempton – Supernova Heights – 14/1 Each Way (bet365)
Many people ask me how the hell can I find big price winners? Well it’s simple in as much if you back horses that either won or were close up last time out the bookies are going to shorten them so as I have said time and time again we have to read between the lines and find horses that had valid excuses for running badly in the past and lets hope Supernova Heights is one of those. The only negative is we only have 7 runners so the race is only going to pay on two places for each way purposes.
EYECATCHERS
Another cracking eyecatcher in Sir Reginald winning at 10/1
Sir Reginald trainer R.Fahey – Super win for Bankers Bonus and my eyecatchers at Doncaster but that was over 6 furlongs could still be well handicapped and a step up to 7 furlongs would also suit.
Bertiewhittle trainer D.Barron – 2nd to Sir Reginald but drawn on the wrong side so in the circumstances it was a very good run.
Amralah trainer M.Channon – A good 2nd over 10 furlongs last week. I’m not certain if it was the trip or the soft ground that beat him. This is a class performer who could still be listed class so watch out for him.
Rumiging trainer M.Halford – 4th in a big sprint in Ireland last week coming from way off the pace. A step up in trip looks the logical answer.
Back next Wednesday have a good week and be lucky.
Howard Davis.
Bankers Bonus
http://go.betfan.com/1000/15
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