Elitloppet 2018 preview

Worth giving a plug to blog protege Luke Humphries (@WorldRacingLuke), who is now scoring some paid work in the media. The Elitloppet is one of the premier races on the world trotting calendar, and with globalisation, it's now receiving dedicated coverage in Australia.

Luke's comprehensive preview of #Elitloppet18 can be found here.

If you fancy yourself as a bit of a writer and would like to follow in the footsteps of several guest writers on the blog who have gone onto paid work/regular employment, drop me a line. There's always a feature race somewhere worth previewing to the outside world!

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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, ...

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

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It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

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Sport is made for betting

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