Daily tips for June 26

Racing for June 26

Horse racing: Sandown Hillside (Vic), Canterbury (NSW), Eagle Farm (Qld), Morphettville (SA), Belmont (WA). Harness racing: Bathurst (NSW), Redcliffe (Qld), Cobram (Vic), Bendigo (Vic). Greyhound racing: The Meadows (Vic), Angle Park (SA), Richmond (NSW), Shepparton (Vic), Albion Park (Qld), Dapto (NSW), Warrnambool (Vic), Rockhampton (Qld), Ballarat (Vic), Cannington (WA).

An early start for our best of the day, which comes up in the opening race at Sportingbet Park where they’ll be racing on the Hillside track and a heavy (8) today. Out of Peter Moody’s Caulfield HQ and ridden by Luke Nolen, #5 Il Diamante won her first start on heavy going two weeks ago at Cranbourne by an impressive 3.5 lengths. This 2yo fillies scamper over 1000m at set weights doesn’t look much harder. Scratchings bring her into barrier 7, from where she’ll get a good look at the field.

Suggested bet: Sandown R1 #5 Il Diamante WIN (two units) LOSE (2nd)

Other tips

Sandown R3 #4 Twin Soul (E/W) LOSE (U/P)
Sandown R5 #1 Lonhruge (E/W) 1st ($6.20/$2.50)

Sandown R6 #1 Legcut (E/W) 1st ($8.30/$2.70)Sandown R7 #14 Walloon Region (E/W 1x4) LOSE (2nd)

Sandown R8 #2 Loot 'N' Run (E/W) 2nd ($2.10)

Canterbury R1 #1 Benedire (win) LOSE (U/P)

Eagle Farm R7 #1 Amalfi Dreams (win) LOSE (U/P)

Morphettville R3 #7 Edriguez (win) 1st ($1.40)

Morphettville R5 #1 Big Pond (E/W) LOSE (U/P)

Harness racing tip: Bendigo R5 #1 Lord Liam (E/W) LOSE (U/P)

Greyhound racing tip: Dapto R7 #3 Exhaustible (E/W) LOSE (U/P)

State of Origin game II for June 26

Queensland v NSW, Suncorp Stadium, Wednesday, June 26, 8pm

If Billy Slater or Josh Dugan score a TRY, Centrebet will refund your first bet on any market up to $100 (this refund was paid out in Game 1)

Has there ever been a more eventful few weeks between Origin games than what we’ve witnessed since the series opener on June 5? It all began with that punch landed by Paul Gallen on Nate Myles that had the rugby league world talking and has quickly led to swift and harsh action being taken from now onwards on anyone that decides to use their fists in the future. Injuries to Blues duo Jarryd Hayne and Robbie Farah had coach Laurie Daley scratching around for replacements while the pair raced the clock to be fit for Game Two. Farah succeeded, Hayne didn’t. NSW prop James Tamou then found himself banned from the return clash after being caught drink-driving in Townsville, while the redemption of Hayne’s replacement Josh Dugan quickly lost its lustre after he and Blake Ferguson decided to celebrate at a Cronulla bar the night before the Blues went into camp. Ferguson’s subsequent actions made him the second man banned from taking part at Suncorp. So much for the perfect preparation they enjoyed before taking a 1-0 series lead.

Meanwhile, in Queensland, all the discussion has centred around whether or not the Maroons would stay loyal to the 17 that took the park in Sydney after they were largely dominated by the big NSW pack. In that respect, they have sprung somewhat of a surprise for Game Two with prop David Shillington and back-rower Ashley Harrison dumped for rookies Josh Papalii and Daly Cherry-Evans. If anything, that makes them even smaller for this game, with Broncos prop Ben Hannant a shock omission after coming through last Monday’s NRL return unscathed. That’s not to suggest the two newcomers won’t get the job done. Queensland coach Mal Meninga has been weighing up the perfect time to blood Cherry-Evans for more than 12 months now and believes the time has come, while Papalii has been exceptional for Canberra in 2013 and will provide plenty of aggressive impact.

We were quite happy to see the line move out to six, which offers much greater value than the 5.5 on offer at most books. NSW goes into this game on the back of a fantastic showing in Origin I, and we expect their dominance, particularly in the middle third, to continue here. The scoreboard flattered Queensland in Origin I, with NSW making crucial errors in attack when they were dominating large parts of the game. Any team that contains Slater, Cronk, Thurston, Inglis, Hodges and Smith and is playing at home is always going to be hard to beat, but based on what we witnessed last year and the improvement in the NSW team, it’s hard to justify the gap in the market. I would normally allow 2.5 points for the home team advantage and given that this is an Origin and NSW have only won one penalty count in the last nine games at Suncorp, you could make a case that the proper line should be 4.5. That’s still a good price for us. – Additional reporting with thanks to Ben Blaschke, NRL.com

Suggested bet: NSW +6 (three units @ $1.91) LOSE, NSW WIN (one unit @ $2.85) LOSE (26-6)

MLB for June 26

Texas Rangers (44-32, 22-17 away) @ New York Yankees (41-34, 22-16 home), Yankee Stadium, New York, NY, Wednesday, June 26, 9.10am

Yu Darvish (7-3, 2.84 ERA) will vie for his first victory in nearly six weeks when the Texas Rangers open a three-game series against the host New York Yankees. The major-league leader in strikeouts fanned 10 batters in his lone career outing against the Yankees on April 24. Darvish, who last won on May 16, was originally slated to pitch on Sunday against St Louis, but saw his start pushed back to make room for Martin Perez. The young fireballer yielded five runs on six hits in as many innings to take the loss against Oakland in his last turn. Darvish has pitched well on the road, winning three of four decisions while brandishing a 0.76 WHIP and limiting the opposition to a .155 batting average. The Rangers are just 1-5 in Darvish’ past six starts while the ‘under’ is 7-0 in his past seven starts against AL rivals.

Darvish will be opposed by Japanese countryman Hiroki Kuroda (7-5, 2.78), who recorded his first victory since May 17 when he blanked his former team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in his last trip to the mound. That victory was just the fourth in 12 games for the Yankees, who have mustered three runs or fewer in seven of those contests. Texas enjoyed a well-deserved day off after going 20 without one – capped by a fifth straight victory with a 2-1 triumph over St. Louis on Sunday. Prior to defeating the Dodgers, Kuroda posted an 0-3 mark in his previous five starts despite permitting just 14 runs. The 38-year-old is just 1-2 in his career versus Texas, despite striking out 16 batters and registering a 2.57 ERA. Kuroda is 5-2 with a 2.08 ERA at Yankee Stadium this season. The Yankees are 5-1 in Kuroda’s last six home starts and have won 15 of their last 20 home games versus the Rangers.

Suggested bet: Yankees WIN (1.5 units @ $2.10) WIN, game total -7.5 (2.5 units @ $1.91) WIN (3-4)

Other tips

IL: Twins @ Marlins WIN $1.79 WIN (2-4)

IL: Rockies @ Red Sox +9.5 $1.87 WIN (4-11)

IL: Mets @ White Sox WIN $1.60 WIN (4-5)

IL: Braves @ Royals WIN $1.92 LOSE (4-3)

IL: Cardinals @ Astros +9 $2.00 WIN (13-5)

IL: Pirates WIN $1.91 WIN @ Mariners -7 $1.87 LOSE (9-4)

AL: Angels @ Tigers WIN $1.76 LOSE (14-8)

AL: Blue Jays @ Rays WIN $1.75 WIN (1-5)

NL: Giants @ Dodgers WIN $1.78 WIN (5-6)

NL: Phillies WIN $2.10 @ Padres WIN (6-2)

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