Daily tips for October 9

Racing for October 9

Horse racing: Mornington (Vic), Warwick Farm (NSW), Doomben (Qld), Balaklava (SA), Belmont (WA). Harness racing: Bathurst (NSW), Bendigo (Vic), Redcliffe (Qld). Greyhound racing: The Meadows (Vic), Angle Park (SA), Bendigo (Vic), Richmond (NSW), Albion Park (Qld), Rockhampton (Qld), Cranbourne (Vic), Ballarat (Vic), Bulli (NSW), Cannington (WA).

It will be warm and windy for today’s eight-race card at Mornington, with the mercury set to top 30C for the first time in Melbourne post-winter. Runners will have a nice tailwind as they head for home on this unusually shaped track. Race 5 is the Craft Markets Australia 0-70 Handicap over 2030m where Mick Kent’s promising stayer #8 McNulty is seeking a second successive win. The 4yo gelding broke through for his first win last time out over 1733m at Sale. His career-best run came behind Hippopus in the Listed VRC St Leger on ANZAC Day over 2800m before a sixth in the Group 1 South Australia Derby. He’s working nicely through his grades and should have plenty of time to settle under Vlad Duric who is back aboard today. He rode McNulty in the St Leger and the Derby. There may well be something more lucrative for McNulty later in the spring.

Suggested bet: Mornington R5 #8 McNulty E/W 1x3 (two units) 3rd ($1.90)

Other tips

Mornington R1 #11 Saker (E/W) LOSE (4th)

Mornington R6 #2 Heyday (E/W 1x4) 2nd ($1.30)

Mornington R8 #3 Blanket Bay (E/W) 2nd ($3.00)

Warwick Farm R1 #6 Magical Lady (E/W 1x2) 2nd ($2.80)

Warwick Farm R3 #6 Grand Prix (E/W) LOSE (U/P)

Warwick Farm R6 #7 Hey Hey Renee (E/W 1x2) 3rd ($1.90)

Warwick Farm R7 #4 Barachello (E/W 1x3) 3rd ($1.50)

Doomben R3 #3 Bushy (win) LOSE (U/P)

Balaklava R3 #9 Stack The Truck (E/W) LOSE (4th)

Balaklava R5 #10 Dashing Pedrille (win) 1st ($2.60)

Harness racing tip: Bendigo R1 #4 Chevals Racer
Greyhound racing tip: Bulli R5 #1 Highly Respected

NHL for October 9

Minnesota Wild (0-0-2) @ Nashville Predators (0-2-0), Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN, Wednesday, October 9, 10.05am

Ryan Suter (pictured) has played in seven Nashville Predators home openers in his career while establishing himself as one of the NHL’s top defencemen, but he almost certainly won’t be celebrated in the eighth. Suter makes his second visit to Nashville while looking to help the Minnesota Wild avoid dropping their first three games for the first time. Suter departed Nashville after seven seasons to sign a 13-year contract with Minnesota in July 2012. His loss was noticeable in 2013 for the Predators, who finished near the bottom of the Western Conference while Suter helped the Wild reach the post-season. Suter has made one return to Nashville, and it’s likely he’ll receive the same reception this time. Suter will try to focus this time on helping the Wild (0-0-2) bounce back from a pair of tough defeats. They allowed the tying score with less than eight minutes left in the third period and fell 3-2 in a shootout to Los Angeles on Friday, then gave up a goal with 4.9 seconds remaining in overtime of a 4-3 loss to Anaheim on Sunday.

Nashville, which selected defenceman Seth Jones with the fourth overall pick in the draft essentially to replace Suter, hasn’t had much to get excited about so far. The Predators are on the verge of dropping their first three games for the first time since 2006, falling 4-2 to St. Louis on Friday and 3-1 to Colorado the following night. Paul Gaustad scored the lone goal on Friday, as Nashville was unable to get much going offensively. Defenceman Roman Josi left the contest with an upper-body injury after taking what appeared to be an illegal hit, and his status for this contest is uncertain. Minnesota center Charlie Coyle will miss 3-4 weeks with a sprained knee. Jason Zucker, who played 20 games last season, was called up from the AHL to take Coyle’s place. Niklas Backstrom, 2-1-1 with a 1.42 goals-against average in his last four against the Predators, likely will be in net opposing Pekka Rinne, 6-2-1 with a 1.65 GAA in his last nine against Minnesota. This might be the Predators’ home opener, but I have to go with the Wild in a low scoring affair.

Suggested bets: Minnesota WIN (two units @ $1.95) LOSE, game total -5 (two units @ $2.00) PUSH (2-3)

Other tips

Avalanche @ Maple Leafs WIN $1.74 LOSE -6 $1.80 WIN (2-1) 
Coyotes @ Islanders WIN $1.80 WIN -5.5 $1.80 LOSE (1-6)
Panthers @ Flyers WIN $1.64 WIN -5.5 $1.87 WIN (1-2)
Hurricanes @ Penguins -1.5 $2.50 WIN -5.5 $1.95 LOSE (2-5)
Lightning WIN $1.95 WIN @ Sabres -5.5 $1.83 WIN (3-2)
Devils @ Canucks -1.5 $2.65 LOSE -5.5 $1.74 WIN (3-2) 
Rangers @ Sharks WIN $1.62 WIN +5 $1.92 WIN (2-9)

MLB playoffs for October 9

ALDS game 4: Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field, St Petersburg, FL, Wednesday, October 9, 10.35am (Boston leads 2-1)

The Tampa Bay Rays have developed a penchant for thriving in elimination games. They’ll need to come through one more time to give themselves a chance at their second AL championship series appearance. The Rays will look to build on a dramatic win when they host the Boston Red Sox in Game 4 of their AL division series. Facing elimination for the fourth time in a span of nine days, Jose Lobaton’s walkoff solo homer with two outs in the ninth off Koji Uehara led Tampa Bay to a 5-4 victory, trimming Boston’s series edge to 2-1. Uehara hadn’t surrendered a homer since June 30. The Rays produced the rest of their runs on a three-run shot in the fifth by Evan Longoria (the ninth of his post-season career) and an RBI groundout by Delmon Young in the eighth. The over is 6-2 in their last eight games while the Rays are 8-14 against Boston this year and only 4-6 in Florida.

Last week, Tampa Bay won its regular-season finale to force a tiebreaker, which it won against Texas to reach the post-season. The Rays then knocked off Cleveland in the AL wild-card game. Monday will have to be the first of three straight victories, however, for Tampa Bay to become just the fifth AL team in the last 23 to win a division series after falling into a 2-0 hole. The Rays will likely need better pitching from Jeremy Hellickson (12-10, 5.17) than what he showed to end the year. He went 1-7 with a 7.53 ERA over his final 10 starts. Hellickson went 1-0 with a 3.44 ERA in three match-ups against the Boston Red Sox this season. The right-hander allowed three runs (all homers) in four innings during his only career post-season start, a loss to Texas in Game 4 of the 2011 ALDS as the Rays were eliminated from the playoffs.

Jake Peavy (pictured, 12-5, 4.17) will get the ball for the Red Sox for his first playoff start in seven years. He'll try to shake off some post-season demons as he lost both his previous two postseason outings while posting a 12.10 ERA for San Diego. Peavy also endured a somewhat rough stretch to end the year, giving up three or more runs in each of his four September outings. The right-hander also issued 13 walks in those games after recording eight bases-on-balls in his previous 10 starts. He’s gone 3-1 in six starts versus Tampa Bay with a 4.91 ERA. He gave up homers to Longoria, Matt Joyce and Desmond Jennings while posting a 1-0 record in two starts against the Rays this year. Three of his last four road starts went over the total while the Red Sox are 5-5 in his 10 starts for them.

Suggested bets: Game total +7.5 (1.5 units @ $2.00) LOSE, Boston WIN (1.5 units @ $1.90) WIN (3-1)

Other tips

ALDS game 4 (Oakland leads 2-1): Athletics WIN $2.27 LOSE @ Tigers +8 $2.00 WIN (6-8)

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