Saturday's Bets of the Day including horse racing, football, darts cricket

Matt Brocklebank

King’s Advice – 8.30 Kempton

Mark Johnston has his string well forward for the time of year and sends three live chances to Kempton on Saturday evening.

Dame Freya Stark will be off the mark before long and looks a leading player in division two of the fillies’ novice event, while Cardsharp will surely take all the beating in the conditions race over seven furlongs.

The best bet, though, appears to be KING’S ADVICE in the closing 32Red.com Handicap as he goes in search of a second win for the in-form yard.

The chestnut son of Frankel bolted up by three lengths on his Johnston bow over the same 1m4f distance at Lingfield at the start of the month and the manner of that success suggests a subsequent 6lb rise won’t be enough to stop him.

Twice a winner in Germany for former connections, the lightly-raced five-year-old has started out on these shores well ahead of the British assessor based on his taking triumph and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him scale much greater heights at the year goes on.

For now, he’s not to be missed and rates banker material in the very last race of the day.

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Ben Linfoot

Valdez – 3.50 Newbury

It’s just over a year now since Valdez returned from a long absence and though he is winless in five goes since his return he has been improving significantly on his last few starts.

Indeed, he looks primed to strike and Alan King looks to have found him a nice opportunity in the Doom Bar Handicap Chase at Newbury (3.50) on Saturday.

It certainly looks a slightly easier task than the one he had last time at the same track where he was a good third behind San Benedeto in a competitive handicap despite being hampered by a loose horse two from home.

Up just 1lb from that run, he’s handicapped to win and, fitness-wise, he should be spot on for this assignment after his last few runs.

Simon Holt

Stone Of Destiny - 3.45 Lingfield

In the Betway Casino Handicap at Lingfield, Stone Of Destiny could prove just too classy for his rivals.

Andrew Balding's useful sprinter, who finished fourth in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot last June, was an unlucky loser in Doha last time having earlier chased home the smart Kachy and subsequent winner Gorgeous Noora in Listed company on this course (6f).

Nothing could get to the flying Kachy that day but the form looks pretty solid and there may be just enough early pace here courtesy of Doctor Sardonicus, Verne Castle and possibly Gracious John, for Stone Of Destiny to pick them up in the closing stages back over five furlongs.

James Doyle's mount remains quite lightly-raced and will surely be back in Listed/Group races before too long.

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George Pitts

Matt Doherty to score first for Republic of Ireland

Mick McCarthy is back as Republic of Ireland boss and his first game in charge sees them get Euro 2020 qualifying underway in Gibraltar, who sit 194th in FIFA's world rankings.

Scotland may have been expected to cruise to victory in Kazakhstan on Thursday and it will be the same for Ireland here, but they should do it fairly comfortably.

Matt Doherty looks to be the pick of the goalscorer options with double-figure prices about him scoring first worth taking.

The Wolves man may be a right-back by trade, but McCarthy has hinted that injuries may force him to push Doherty into right midfield. He has been an unlikely star for Wolves this season, scoring six and assisting eight in all competitions, averaging over a shot per game.

With less in the way of responsibilities, he can take advantage of a suspect Gibraltar defence on his sixth Republic of Ireland appearance.

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Tom Carnduff

Bright Enobakhare to score anytime for Coventry

Coventry will be hopeful that Bright Enobakhare continues his own good form when they host Oxford on Saturday.

The on-loan Wolves forward has scored four goals in his last seven games since the switch in January, which includes the second and decisive goal in last week's win over Peterborough, and is worth backing to strike once more.

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Chris Hammer

Rob Cross to win the European Darts Open, Dimitri van den Bergh e.w and Jeffrey de Zwaan e.w

Rob Cross is looking like the 'form horse' despite not having won a title since last August and surely if he keeps up his current standard of play then a maiden European Tour triumph is on the cards this weekend.

Voltage has actually only reached two European finals, losing both to van Gerwen during his dream 2017 debut season and only managed to go as far as the semi-finals once last year.

But 2018, as we all appreciate, was a tough learning curve for Cross and now he's beginning to look much more like the force we expected to him to become.

Dimitri van den Bergh clearly revels in the stage environment and it wasn't that long ago when millions witnessed his true star potential when hitting a nine-dart finish at the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts, where he reached the quarter-finals.

The European Tour is the ideal stage for Van den Bergh to break his PDC title duck in the senior ranks and he'll certainly be sensing this as a great opportunity to reach at least the semis.

There's no secret surrounding De Zwaan's talents and he'll have no qualms facing Gurney having thrashed him 6-1 during one of his decent outings on the Pro Tour this season.

Hopefully he comes through that and meets van den Bergh, guaranteeing a quarter-finalist who'd I'd be fancying the chances of against Wright or the other likely option in Simon Whitlock.

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Richard Mann

Shardul Thakur top Chennai Super Kings bowler

Thakur was one of the surprise packages of last year's IPL, his bustling pace and impressive seam movement seeing him finish the season as the leading wicket-taker for the Super Kings with 16 scalps and he returns for the 2019 edition in excellent form.

Five wickets in his last two T20 domestic outings - 2/21 and 3/15 - suggests his bowling is in good working order and he looks worth siding with at 18/5 to make a strong start on Saturday.

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