Daily tips for May 23

Racing for May 23

Horse racing: Ballarat (Vic), Hawkesbury (NSW), Rockhampton (Qld), Pinjarra (WA)

Harness racing: Gold Coast (Qld), Geelong (Vic), Tamworth (NSW), Penrith (NSW), Echuca (Vic), Northam (WA)

Greyhound racing: Warragul (Vic), Grafton (NSW), Geelong (Vic), Maitland (NSW), Albion Park (Qld), Sandown Park (Vic), Angle Park (SA), Dapto (NSW), Hobart (Tas), Mandurah (WA)

The highlight of today’s racing program is tonight’s Sandown Cup, the world’s richest greyhound race for stayers, which also be the final time we’ll see the WA superstar Miata on the track (we’ll preview the meeting later today).

In the meantime, there are four thoroughbred meetings scheduled today including an eight-race card at Hawkesbury on a slow (6). Race 4 is the Ainsworth CG&E Maiden Plate over 1300m where #3 Bon Temps looks well positioned to break through at his sixth start. The 3yo gelding resumed well at Kembla Grange and was beaten by less than a length.

The winkers go on for the first time, and despite drawing awkwardly in barrier nine he did push forward last start from a similar draw and is likely to do the same today. The son of Flying Spur has now placed in four of his five career runs and showed ability in metropolitan company last preparation. This Peter Snowden-trained charge rates strongly here while Christian Reith, who has been riding well, goes back on board. 

• Eddie McGuire and Thursday nights went hand-in-hand for many years thanks to The Footy Show, but tonight the only black and white he'll be watching will come from box #2 as he co-hosts festivities with Jaimee Rogers on Sandown Cup night.

Many of Australia's champion dogs have qualified for the world's richest greyhound race for stayers including defending champion Irma Bale, triple Group 1 winner Destini Fireball and, making her final start, Australia's highest stakes earner Miata. However, we love the look of Tassie bitch #1 Bell Haven. She's been competitive in this class over the past two months including a win over Irma Bale two starts. With five placings in six starts from the red box, she also looks well suited from the inside and is the value runner at $6.50.

Our best of the night comes up in race 7 where the Stan Ralph trained #7 Roy Galo looks ideally drawn in the black as he eyes back-to-back wins at Sandown Park. The $2.60 fixed price quote looks outstanding value. Our other tip of the night comes in up in race 4 where #1 Iona Seven looks to get a clear run from the inside and should be very tough to beat.

Suggested bet: Hawkesbury R4 #3 Bon Temps WIN (two units) LOSE (2nd)

Other tips

Hawkesbury R2 #6 Prettyfamous (win) 1st ($2.10)

Hawkesbury R3 #4 Intimate Moment (E/W) 2nd ($1.30)

Ballarat R4 #5 Design for Life (win) LOSE (3rd)

Ballarat R5 #1 No Song No Supper (E/W) LOSE (U/P)

Rockhampton R6 #1 Ten Seconds (win) 1st ($3.60)

Rockhampton R7 #1 Flinders Sea (E/W) LOSE (U/P)

Harness racing tip: Geelong R5 #1 Glenferrie College (win) 1st ($1.40)

Greyhound racing tip: Dapto R8 #4 Pearl Irene (win) 1st ($2.00)

MLB for May 23

Seattle Mariners (20-26) @ Los Angeles Angels (18-27), Angel Stadium of Anaheim, CA, Thursday, May 23, 9.35am

The Los Angeles Angels have a chance to record their longest winning streak of 2013 and extend the Seattle Mariners’ worst skid of the season. Since falling a season-worst 12 games below .500 with a loss to the Chicago White Sox on Friday, Los Angeles (18-27) has reeled off three straight wins to match its longest streak of the season. The Angels are batting .340 with 10.0 runs per game during their current run after pounding out 15 hits in Tuesday’s 12-0 victory. Mike Trout’s solo homer in the eighth inning capped off the sixth cycle in team history, and first since Chone Figgins in 2006.

Seattle pitcher Brandon Maurer (2-5, 5.75 ERA) went 6 1/3 innings in the opener of that series (a 6-0 victory) but he’s 0-2 in three starts since. The right-hander walked a season-high four in Friday's 6-3, 10-inning loss at Cleveland but delivered a solid six-inning performance with three runs allowed. The following day in Los Angeles’ 6-3 victory, Wednesday's starter C.J. Wilson (3-3, 3.72) won for the sixth time in seven decisions against the Mariners with 5 1/3 innings of three-run ball. We suspect the Angels have turned the corner and will win a high-scoring affair here.

Suggested bet: Game total +8.5 (two units @ $1.83) LOSE, Angels -1.5 (two units @ $2.00) WIN (1-7)

Others tips

Rays @ Blue Jays -9 WIN (3-4)
Yankees WIN @ Orioles LOSE (3-6)
Tigers WIN @ Indians WIN (11-7)
Twins @ Braves WIN WIN (3-8)

Reds WIN @ Mets WIN (7-4)
Athletics @ Rangers -10 WIN (1-3)
Dodgers @ Brewers +9 WIN (9-2)
Royals -1.5 @ Astros LOSE (1-3)
Diamondbacks @ Rockies WIN WIN (1-4)

NHL playoffs for May 23

Eastern Conference semi-final, game 4: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Ottawa Senators, Scotiabank Place, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Thursday, May 23, 9.35am

After a win in Game 3, the Ottawa Senators are confident they can tie their series against Pittsburgh. The Penguins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the series before Ottawa won Game 3 in double overtime, but Pittsburgh remains confident and will stick to its strategy in Game 4. Winning one of two on the road allows the Penguins to finish off the Senators on their home ice in Pittsburgh. Even with the road loss in Game 3, Pittsburgh is still a very impressive 20-8 in their last 28 games played on the highway and 39-12 in their last 51 games overall.

Meanwhile, Ottawa is expecting the momentum to carry over from Game 3 in this match-up – especially with the support of their hometown fans rocking Scotiabank Place. However, the Senators are 3-7 in their last 10 played on two day’s rest and 1-5 in their last six versus the Penguins. We’ll stick with the visitors here despite the fervent home support with a small nod to the total going over.

Suggested bet: Penguins WIN (three units @ $1.74) WIN, game total +5.5 (one unit @ $2.10) WIN (7-3)

NBA playoffs for May 23

Eastern Conference final, game 1: Indiana Pacers @ Miami Heat, AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami, FL, Thursday, May 23, 10.10am

For Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem, this marks five East finals appearances in nine years. For LeBron James, it’s a fifth trip to this round in the past seven years, now three straight with Miami after a pair of trips to the East finals with Cleveland. For Ray Allen, it’s a fourth East title-round trip in six years, the first three of those coming with Boston. Experience, it all favours Miami.

For the Pacers, these are uncharted waters. Only one current Pacers player has ever appeared in a conference-final game but nonetheless, the Pacers seem far from bothered by the fact that this stage is a new place for them. Indiana finished 16½ games behind Miami in the regular season, meaning this Conference Finals is the most lopsided in terms of regular-season records since 1987 when the 65-17 Lakers swept the 39-43 SuperSonics.

Indiana took Miami to six games last season, leading the series 2-1 at one point, and left an impact on the Heat with words, actions and play. The series was always physical, and it took some superb efforts by Wade and James for Miami (Chris Bosh missed most of the series) to put the Pacers away. We’re expecting the Heat to put a stamp on this series early, but there’s excellent value on the game total, which we expected to be at least six points higher.

Suggested bet: Heat -7.5 (one unit @ $1.91) LOSE, game total +181.5 (three units @ $1.95) WIN (102-103)

* Prices with thanks to Centrebet, correct at time of publication