Daily tips for October 2

Racing for October 2

Horse racing: Ballarat (Vic), Canterbury (NSW), Eagle Farm (Qld), Bordertown (SA), Belmont (WA). Harness racing: Redcliffe (Qld), Bendigo (Vic). Greyhound racing: The Meadows (Vic), Angle Park (SA), The Gardens (NSW), Bendigo (Vic), Richmond (NSW), Albion Park (Qld), Cranbourne (Vic), Rockhampton (Qld), Ballarat (Vic), Bulli (NSW), Cannington (WA).

The Chris Waller mare #6 Wind Bender looks ideally placed for successive wins at Canterbury Park (good 3) this afternoon when she lines up in the Casino Prince @ Vinery Benchmark 75 Handicap over 1900 metres (race 3). The four-year-old is backing up quickly after a soft win at this track and trip seven days ago, and will be very hard to beat, shedding 2.5kg in weight. Jockey Tommy Berry, who takes the ride again today, was untroubled in orchestrating the win last week. He settled back in sixth spot, peeled four-wide rounding the turn and motored right over the top of them. The beauty of that run was that Wind Bender looked to have much more in the tank. It was her second run over the 1900m, and her second win at the trip. It was also her fourth run at this track where she's now returned two wins and two minor placings.

Suggested bet: Canterbury R3 #6 Wind Bender WIN (two units) 1st ($2.10)

Other tips

Canterbury R4 #5 Forget (E/W 1x3) 3rd ($1.50)

Canterbury R5 #1 Living On A Prayer (win) LOSE (2nd)

Canterbury R6 #3 Guarana (E/W) LOSE (U/P)

Ballarat R4 #5 Up The Ladder (E/W) 2nd ($3.60)
Ballarat R5 #10 Senor Juez (E/W 1x2) LOSE (U/P)

Ballarat R6 #7 Nicastro (E/W) 2nd ($2.80)

Eagle Farm R6 #1 Platinum Mint (E/W 1x4) 3rd ($1.50)

Eagle Farm R7 #9 Hopfgarten (E/W 1x3) 2nd ($1.50)

Bordertown R4 #2 Zirconi Aspen (E/W 1x2) ABANDONED

Bordertown R5 #8 Dashing Pedrille ABANDONED

Harness racing tip: Bendigo: R5 #6 Tombstone Eden (win) 1st ($2.10)
Greyhound racing tip: Bulli R7 #8 Cawbourne Power win) 1st ($1.80)

MLB for October 2

NL Wild-card Game: Cincinnati Reds (90-72) @ Pittsburgh Pirates (94-68), PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA, Wednesday, October 2, 10.05am

Clint Hurdle isn't satisfied after leading Pittsburgh to a 94-68 record and its first playoff berth in 21 years. It's why he doesn't view Tuesday night's wild-card game against Cincinnati as the culmination of three years of progress. He wants the Pirates to win a sixth World Series. Hurdle’s Pirates host the Cincinnati Reds in the National League wild-card game here. Pittsburgh secured home-field advantage by sweeping a three-game series in Cincinnati and the winner of this one-game round meets the St. Louis Cardinals in the divisional round. The Reds are in the playoffs for the third time in four seasons but staggered down the stretch with five consecutive losses to match a season-worst skid.

Cincinnati planned to start Mat Latos but scratched him due to elbow soreness and will instead go with Johnny Cueto (5-2, 2.82 ERA), who has a stellar 8-2 mark with a 1.91 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in 13 career starts at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. Cueto has excelled in two starts since returning from an injury and has allowed one earned run and eight hits in 12 innings. He blanked the Pirates on one hit over eight innings on May 31 and then went on the disabled list for the second of three times this season. Cueto is 13-4 with a 2.37 ERA in 21 career starts against Pittsburgh. Cincinnati 2B Brandon Phillips (shin) expects to play after being hurt while fouling a ball off his leg on Saturday.

The Pirates opted for left-hander Francisco Liriano (pictured, 16-8, 3.02), who struggled against the Reds this season with a 0-3 record and 3.70 ERA in four starts. Pittsburgh standout Andrew McCutchen (.317 average, 21 homers, 84 RBIs and 27 steals) had an MVP-calibre campaign while Cincinnati star Joey Votto (.306 average, 24 homers, 73 RBIs) set a franchise record by reaching base 316 times. Liriano has been fantastic at home, sporting an 8-1 mark and 1.47 ERA in 11 outings. Though he set a career best for victories, he struggled in September with a 1-2 record and 5.14 ERA in five starts. Liriano had a sharp outing against Cincinnati on September 20 when he gave up two runs and three hits in eight innings while receiving a ND. His home form is enough for me to go with the Pirates here.

Suggested bets: Pirates WIN (two units @ $1.74) WIN, game total -6.5 (one unit @ $1.87) LOSE (2-6)

NHL for October 2

It’s opening night for the 2013-14 National Hockey League (NHL) season, and a full season at that after last year’s player strike.

The release of the regular-season schedule included the debut of the four new division names for the realigned NHL. The League went to a realigned format for geographic purposes and has decided to stick with geographic names for the four new divisions. Three of the four names are carryovers from the old six-division alignment, but the League added a new name to the mix. The four division names are Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central and Pacific. The Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions make up the Eastern Conference and each division has eight teams. The Central and Pacific divisions make up the Western Conference and have seven teams in each division.

The Atlantic Division teams are Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Red Wings have moved from the Western Conference to the Eastern. The Metropolitan Division includes the three New York-area teams (New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils) along with the Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets, who are joining the Red Wings in the move east.

The new Central Division in the Western Conference includes the reigning cup holder Chicago Blackhawks (pictured), St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets, who are moving from the Eastern Conference to the Western. The new Pacific Division includes the Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, Phoenix Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. The 2013-14 schedule ensures that all 30 teams play in all 30 arenas at least once during the season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs will still consist of 16 teams, eight from each conference, but it will be division-based and a wild-card system has been added.

Daily tips (no best of the day, leans listed below)

Toronto Maple Leafs WIN $2.00 @ Montreal Canadiens WIN (4-3)

Washington Capitals @ Chicago Blackhawks -5.5 $1.80 LOSE (4-6)

Winnipeg Jets @ Edmonton Oilers WIN $1.77 LOSE (5-4)

Football (UCL matchday 2) for October 2

Check out how Mario Balotelli helped AC Milan pinch a point in Amsterdam from a desperately unlucky Ajax this morning!

Group G: Zenit St Petersburg v Austria Wien, Petrovsky Stadium, St Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, October 2, 2am

After losing their opening match of the Champions League group stage Zenit St Petersburg will be eager to pick up their first win when they host Austria Vienna. Zenit go into this match as warm favourites. They have some excellent players for this level of football. Andrei Arshavin (pictured) is back in Zenit colours and he’ll be looking to have more of an impact on the game than he had towards the end of his spell at Arsenal. Zenit had a tough match against Spartak Moscow last weekend but they should still have more than enough in their star-studded squad to take care of business in this match. Besides having lost just one of their last 23 home games in European competition, the Russian side approach the fixture with six wins from their past seven matches and on a run of free-scoring form. 

Vienna also lost their opening game, against Porto, so they too will be looking for their opening points in the group phase. They lost on Sunday so they don’t go into this match with much confidence and will be without Marko Stankovic, Daniel Royer, Alexander Grunwald and Alexander Gorgon who are all injured. Vienna have only have 18 fit players to take into this game with them so this could be a bit of a struggle for the visitors. Having been dumped out of the Austrian Cup on Tuesday by third-tier SC Karlsdorf, Austria's poor form continued as they created little against the Bundesliga's bottom side before conceding from a goalmouth scramble. Vienna reached the Champions League main draw through the qualification rounds. In he third stage, Vienna beat a poor Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia and were lucky to escape with the tie on home territory.

Suggested bet: Zenit St Petersburg Only to Score (two units @ $1.99) LOSE (0-0)

Other tips

FC Basel v Schalke 04 WIN $3.00 WIN (0-1)

Steaua Bucharest v Chelsea +2.5 $1.95 WIN (0-4)

Arsenal v Napoli DNB $2.80 LOSE (2-0)

Borussia Dortmund (by 2+) $1.72 v Olympique Marseille WIN (3-0)

Porto v Atlético Madrid WIN $2.55 WIN (1-2)

Ajax v AC Milan DRAW $3.30 WIN (1-1)

Celtic v Barcelona +2.5 $1.74 LOSE (0-1)

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