Saturday Bets of the Day: All our free sports tips for Saturday including horse racing, football, snooker, boxing and UFC
Racing, FA Cup and Scottish football, World Championship snooker, boxing and UFC are all covered in Sporting Life's free Saturday best bets.
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RACING
Andrew Balding can land his second Stewards’ Cup success courtesy Stone of Destiny, who was really unlucky not to go very close off a 5lb higher mark in the same race last season.
He’s always had a touch of class, finishing fourth in the Commonwealth Cup as a three-year-old, and he’s absolutely made for these big-field handicaps, despite a rare blip last time when he completely fluffed the start.
He was drawn right out in stall 27 last year but appears perfectly positioned in 10 this time around with plenty of pace either side of him middle-to-low and he can come with a rattling run under Silvestre De Sousa.
George Baker has quickly got career-best runs out of new recruit May Remain and the thriving sprinter looks a bet in the Stewards’ Cup consolation race at Goodwood on Saturday.
The son of Mayson has been around the block and Baker is his fourth different trainer, but he’s not been out of the frame in four runs for his new handler and posted a career-best effort when winning at Sandown last time out.
He did that cosily and only went up 3lb, so he still looks feasibly-treated off 80 back at a track he excelled at as a two-year-old (he was first, second and fifth at Goodwood in three runs as a juvenile, the fifth place coming in the Molecomb).
His five-furlong pace will come in handy on Saturday but he stays six furlongs well. Cieren Fallon, who has got to know him on his last three runs, takes off 3lb and he’s got options from his middle draw in stall nine, so there’s plenty in this in-form sprinter’s favour.
We end Glorious Goodwood with a very competitive apprentice handicap which can go the way of Roger Fell’s northern raider Anythingtoday.
He shaped well for a long way in the John Smith’s Cup at York last time, travelling strongly and looking a danger to all before his run flattened out inside the final two furlongs.
Down slightly in trip and on a sharper track here, he’ll be seen in a better light and he was dropped a pound for the last run meaning he slots into this 0-95 under top weight.
As well as the drop in class he has a handy draw and Angus Villiers is good value for his five pounds claim.
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FOOTBALL
George Pitts - FA Cup Final - Arsenal v Chelsea
In Arsenal's 38 Premier League games this season both teams scored in 23 (61%) of those - only Tottenham had more with 25. Meanwhile Chelsea are close behind on 22 (58%).
With this being both sides' last chance of silverware, barring a Chelsea miracle in Munich next week, both must go for it and this could play into the hands of underdogs Arsenal, as it did against City.
Graham Ruthven - Scottish Premiership preview
The field to finish as the ‘best of the rest’ in Scotland hasn’t been this open for a long time. Celtic and Rangers seem certain to have the top two positions sewn up, but beyond that anything could happen.
This is what makes Hibernian to finish third at 11/4 such an attractive price, with Jack Ross’ side well-placed to build on the relative success of the second half of last season. Hibs’ recruitment over the summer has been impressive, with Kevin Nisbet joining from Dunfermline Athletic on the back of a season which saw him score 18 times in the second tier.
Alex Gogic will give the Leith side some defensive presence in the centre of the pitch while Drey will offer drive and forward thrust out wide. Of all the teams besides the big two, Hibs look the best balanced.
SNOOKER
Richard Mann - World Championship: David Gilbert v Kurt Maflin
A fantastic breakbuilder when on song, David Gilbert effortless scoring paved the way for his dream World Championship run last year and I'd expect more of the same this time around, particularly if the pockets are as generous as they looked in Friday's matches.
Up against Gilbert is the hugely talented Kurt Maflin who, like his opponent, is at his best when playing an attacking game and relying on his potting and breakbuilding.
Maflin impressed in qualifying and I'd expect him and Gilbert to put on a show in this one.
BOXING
Bellotti is always dangerous with his heavy artillery, but Gill has all the tools to disarm him. 'The Thrill' has lovely feet and moves well, while dishing out sharp and accurate punches from a varied arsenal, and is fancied to repeatedly make his opponent pay and rack up the points here.
Bellotti has lost two narrow split decisions in his last four outings and another scorecard loss could be on the horizon here, with the skilful Gill unlikely to want to engage too much at close quarters and he rates a solid bet at 11/10 to get the nod from the judges.
UFC
Kieran Cobley - UFC Vegas 5 - Main card
Edmen Shahbazyan, a top prospect in the middleweight division, takes on gate keeper Derek Brunson in the main event of the evening
Shahbazyan is undefeated and has marked himself out to be one of the deadliest strikers in the division, with nine knockout wins in 11 pro outings.
Brunson has had issues with high level strikers in the past when he has been unable to utilise his wrestling background to take them to the floor. If Shahbazyan can keep the fight standing (he has a takedown defence percentage of 75%) he should have the advantage.
Willian Dean - UFC Vegas 5 - Prelims
In Ed Herman and Gerald Meerschaert combined 84 career bouts, 68 have ended inside the distance.
They both have weaknesses that provide a path to victory for the other. Herman has struggled with takedown defence in his career, leading to six submission losses on his record. GM3 remains one of the UFC’s most opportunistic submission artists, getting the tap 23 times in his career.
Meerschaert is returning on short notice. Having suffered a 74-second knockout loss in his last bout in early June, there are questions to be asked over how quickly he is returning to competition.
Saturday’s card also takes place at the UFC Apex, which is notorious for its smaller cage size. The smaller cage means that fights are statistically more likely to finish before the final bell, as there is less room to manoeuvre.
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