Top 5 Bets on Thursday's Racing, Football, NFL & More

Are the World Cup qualifiers still going on?

The South American World Cup qualifiers continue this evening – or very early tomorrow morning – and Brazil v Uruguay looks the pick of the bunch. Brazil did have a perfect record going into this break. They rescued it in Venezuela, coming back from 1-0 down at half-time to win 3-1, but couldn’t find a way past Colombia at the weekend in a goalless draw. They’re still six points clear of Argentina at the top in a group where the top 4 go to the World Cup and the 5^th place team go into a play-off. Uruguay, who still feature Suarez and Cavani as their front two, have had a bad couple of games, losing 3-0 in Argentina and also playing out a goalless draw with Colombia. They’re in 4^th and face a real battle to make Qatar.

Bookings 53-57

There’s been plenty of buying in the various Bookings markets as punters hope that this could be a bad tempered affair with plenty of meaty challenges thrown in. Uruguay have always had the reputation for getting stuck in, to put it politely, especially against good opposition, but with spreads already set high, is there an opportunity for the brave to back against a flurry of cards and sell here? There’s definitely an opportunity, whether it’s one that will be profitable may be another thing.

Where are Oisin Murphy and William Buick battling it out for the title of champion jockey today?

Murphy takes his two-winner lead in the champion jockey race to Chelmsford tonight, where he’ll go head-to-bead with in-form challenger William Buick. There are 7 races on tonight’s card, starting at 5.00 and finishing at 8.30.

Buick Jockey Performance 60-64

After the past couple of days, when William Buick has pegged back Oisin Murphy’s lead in the race to be champion jockey to just two, it’s easy to see why punters have been looking to back him in tonight’s meeting at Chelmsford. Buick has 7 rides to Murphy’s 6 ,which plays a part in his spread of 60-64 being higher than Murphy’s 41-44. Looking at their rides, Murphy is on the shorter priced horse in the opener while Buick is on the second favourite in the race Murphy missed next, though with a 4/7 favourite in the field that might not matter. Buick rides 5/4 favourite Ramadhaan in the 6.30 and both challengers will have hopes of beating 3/1 favourite Billy Mill, given they’re on the next two in the market, both around 9/2. Buick is on the 4/9 favourite in the 7.30, but Murphy has the better horse in the penultimate race, Dubai Icon challenging for favouritism. In the last race of the evening Buick looks to have the best chance, his 9/2 second favourite Aiguillette much more fancied than Murphy’s 12/1 shot Grandstand.

Who will win tonight’s NFL Thursday Night Football between Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

Like a fine wine, Tom Brady seems to get better and better with age. Tonight the Philadelphia Eagles have the task of trying to stop the best quarter-back in NFL history, a week after he had his first 400+ yard, 5TD, no turnover game of his career. The Buccs are tied with Dallas for most touchdowns scored per game so far this season at 4.2, and it’s difficult to see Philly coming up with the right answers on defence.

TD Yardage 106-116

As ever when Tom Brady plays, the buyers are out in force in our touchdown markets. It’s not hard to see what, he is the GOAT and is still playing as well as ever. But the fact some punters will buy whatever the spread means it may start off high already. Philly concede 2 TD a game and Tampa Bay score 4.2 so the stats do point to plenty of scoring tonight. Will Brady lead his team to 5-1 or will the Eagles get back to 3-3 for the season?

What’s happening tonight in the Northern Ireland snooker?

World champion Mark Selby is in action at 8pm, facing Dave Gilbert for a place in the quarter-finals. Selby made short work of Newcastle’s Gary Wilson last night, but it could have been so different in his previous game with Cao Yupeng, who missed the final black in the final frame to hand the victory to the world number 1.

Multi-Frames 6.5-7.5

In these best of 7 matches, it’s very easy for one player to get on a roll and knock off the 4 frames needed before his opponent has had time to draw breath This market multiplies the total frames together, and given there’s only a maximum of 7 played, the make-up will either be 0 (if the result is 4-0), 4 (if it’s 4-1), 8 (if it’s 4-2) or 12 (if it’s 4-3). Punters buying are predicting a close game where both players will win at least two frames, whereas sellers are predicting a whitewash or a defeat where the loser only wins a solitary frame.

When does Cameron Norrie play his next game at Indian Wells?

Norrie is first on court 1 this evening at 7pm, hoping his best ever run at an ATP 1000 event continues. If he wins tonight he should take over as British number 1 after an impressive season that has gone somewhat under the radar. He plays Diego Schwartzman, the man who knocked out current British number 1 Dan Evans in round three. Schwartzman beat Casper Ruud in the last round, the Norwegian who thrashed Norrie in the final of the San Diego Open on Sunday, so Norrie is really up against it if he wants to make the semi-finals.

Supremacy Schwartzman/Norrie 0-3

While the patriots will be hoping Norrie’s run continues, the realists have been backing Schwartzman to win tonight. The Argentine made short work of Casper Ruud in the last round, beating him in straight sets, and Ruud was far too good for Norrie in last weekend’s San Diego Open final. However, Norrie did beat Schwartzman in the 1^st round of last year’s US Open and has been going from strength to strength this week. The extra motivation of becoming British number 1 will be driving him to succeed tonight and move into the final 4.