Bad derby

Casual to conquer Derby

Punting
Michael Duffy

YOU would think that after only two career runs, for Casual Conquest to go and win this Saturday’s Derby he’d have to be a super horse. Of course he may well be, but he certainly won’t need to be this weekend. This looks as bad a Derby as there’s been for years with the former Jessica Harrington-trained Curtain Call at the top of the betting because a) he stays, and b) he likes a cut in the ground. Casual Conquest’s inexperience is potentially his biggest drawback but he’s the only contender with the x-factor and they rarely want for knowledge when they come from Dermot Weld’s Rosewell House. His Famous Name came within inches of winning the French Derby last Sunday and the Moyglare Stud-owned Casual Conquest can take the Epsom Derby on Saturday - and in the process take for Weld one of the few big races he has never won.
Recommended: Casual Conquest 7/2 (Epsom Derby, Saturday). Already recommended: Cape Amber 12/1 (Epsom Oaks, Friday).
soccer
THE European Championships kick off this weekend and it’s a competition that looks very punter friendly. All of the big teams except for Germany should be taken on and it’s Germany Group B partners, Croatia, who look great value at 14/1 to win the tournament outright. True, they’ll miss the finishing of Arsenal’s Eduardo, but they are still a team capable of beating any other. The only downside is that they are grouped with pre-tournament favourites Germany, a move which means that if both teams qualify from the group they could meet again in the semi-final, but not the final. Germany are worth a small interest at 4/1 outright, but at 13/5 - and bearing in mind the fact that Germany are traditional slow burners - Croatia look a bet to win the group.
Recommended: Croatia 14/1 (Euro 2008 outright), Croatia 13/5 (to win Group B), Germany 4/1 (Euro 2008 outright).

GAELIC GAMES
OF all the GAA population who are this summer ‘waiting in the long grass’, Cork’s hurlers must have the most All-Ireland medals. Gerald McCarthy’s Cork have been preparing nice and quietly in the background while all of the talk has been about Kilkenny, Galway and Tipp.
There’s a theory that none of the big guns want to win Munster this year but that is complete hogwash. Land the provincial title and under the new structure you find yourself within two games of a Liam McCarthy Cup. For a team with as many miles on the clock as Cork, such a scenario is the perfect one. They know they have the beating of Clare so just need to put ‘new guns’ Tipperary to the sword at the weekend. Home advantage here is crucial (Tipp have a terrible record in Pairc Ui Chaoimh) and Cork’s superior forward division should make it tell. It’s a game that has the bookmakers divided - some cannot even decide on who should be favourites!
Westmeath may have beaten Longford in the first round of the Leinster championship but Tomas O Flaharta will know that a performance like that won’t suffice against Offaly in Tullamore on Saturday evening. That said their defence is top notch, Martin Flanagan is playing the football of his life at midfield and Dessie Dolan will strip a lot fitter this weekend. The teams in the lower divisions of the league have been doing well (Fermanagh, Wexford and Wicklow) but home advantage might not be enough for Offaly to make a real impact. Westmeath make plenty of appeal at 4/6 to win the match in 70 minutes, but let’s get greedy and take odds-against on them defying a two-point handicap.
Recommended: Cork 11/10 (v Tipperary, Sunday). Westmeath -2 (v Offaly, Saturday).