HANA pool party tonight at Mountaineer Park

The Horseplayers Association of North America are staging another of their Pool Parties tonight. The idea of this concept is to promote specific races so their members and racing fans who want to see a better deal for punters can show the weight of their money. Let's face it, a boycott is never going to work, there are too many punters who will bet on anything.

Tonight's race is Mountaineer Park Race 2, which runs at around 00.25 UK time. Use UK bookmakers who bet directly into the pools so your bets will count - for free formsheets, visit here

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Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also,

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

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lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

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Sport is made for betting

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