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issue 17 posted at 11.00am on 16 Mar 2007...

So how many winners have you had so far this week? Been sleeping on a pillow full of £20 notes each night? I'm sure you know that Cheltenham has been pretty good for the bookies, but it is not necessarily true with us in the world of spread betting as you always have the option to oppose (sell) any horse in any race.

Another major sporting event kicked off this week and thanks to all of you out there who entered our Cricket World Cup ‘Wideboyz’ competition, you are all now in with a chance to win some great prizes in what is going to be a very exciting competition - bet you've never cheered a wide this much before!

Yours in sport

PS – Keep getting your good and bad trades in to us and a £50 football supremacy bet could be yours. Email us at themole@sportingindex.com

Last weekend saw some of the biggest club derby meetings in Europe take place and there was none more exciting than Barcelona v Real Madrid at the Camp Nou. Billed as the poorest classico in years between two sides on the brink of a depression it was instead the best with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi pulling all the strings for Barcelona. One client bought Messi’s Goal Minutes at 12 for a cool £20. Three times Barca came from behind as the Argentinean was out of this world scoring a hat-trick in the 11th, 28th, and the 90th minutes to give himself a total make-up of 129 and the client a £2,340 profit.

‘All hail a new breed of England rugby heroes!' Have England finally unearthed some real young talent that can live up to their promise? One client sold French supremacy in the match at 8 for £500 and watched as a shaky England were driven home by the dynamic Strettle, Rees and Geraghty. Everything looked rosy for England in the second half as they went onto dominate the game scoring two second half tries for a 26-18 victory. This meant that supremacy finished up at -8 and left the client needing a chariot to carry home his £8,000 winnings.

No one needs to repeat the fact that this year's Cheltenham has caused a few, shall we say, shocks with some big priced horses coming home first. You have to feel sorry for one client who sold the Starting Prices on day one at 70 for £5 (the total of all the starting prices of the winners on the day). From race one it didn’t look good as the 2-1 fav Amaretto Rose was beaten into third as the 40-1 Ebaziyan took the Supreme Novices Hurdle. This was followed by the 50-1 Joe’s Edge winning the fourth race and escalating the SP’s make-up to 116.50, leaving the poor punter nursing a £232.50 loss.

Heartbreak in Cheshire last week as Mr. G will explain…..”I bought Robbie Keane’s Goal Minutes for Spurs in their first leg game against SC Braga. And after about 15 minutes, Keane was badly fouled and was shown to be limping, the commentator said he would probably have to come off. So before he could be subbed I decided to sell his Goal Minutes in-running for £3 @14 to try and give me a quick profit. Unfortunately Keane recovered and he went on to score two goals in the game including one in the last minute. With a final make up of 147, instead of winning £199.50 I lost £199.50, ouch! That will teach me to listen to commentators and to also try and buy some 'easy money' on the spreads!"

Six Nations The organisers are licking their lips as we approach the final round of matches. With three nations still vying for the crown, we are set for a dramatic climax this weekend. France may look to be in the driving seat with a home tie against the Scots, but some people obviously don’t think so. Les Bleus are down 2 points to 52-54 on our Six Nations Outright Index.

Formula One Kicks off this weekend and punters seem to have been keeping their ear close to the tarmac. Jenson Button, after complaining about the lack of pace during his pre-season Honda tests is down 3 points to 7-9 on our F1 Championship Index.

McLaren seem to be bursting with ambition this season. Not only have they captured the services of the defending drivers’ champ, Fernando Alonso, but they’ve also got Lewis Hamilton, the new British sensation. The Woking based team are up a point to 25-28 on our Constructors Championship Index

FA Cup A word of warning if you don’t already know, both FA Cup quarter-final replays are taking place this Monday night, Man Utd v Middlesbrough and Tottenham v Chelsea. Utd may not have booked their place in the semis just yet, but they are the new favs to lift the trophy at Wembley (or wherever it takes place). Fergie’s flock are up 9 points to 73-76 on our FA Cup Outright Index.

European Football What were you doing when you were 19? Eating a pizza while playing a computer game? Lionel Messi wasn’t last Saturday, he was scoring a hat-trick in front of almost 100,000 people in one of the biggest club games in the world. Real Madrid may have let Barca off the hook, but it’s not all bad, the Galacticos are up 3 points to 24-27 on our Primera Liga Championship Index following the epic 3-3 draw.

Super League St Helens seem to have awoken from their early season slumber. Daniel Anderson’s side ran out cosy 48-12 winners against Warrington at the Halliwell Jones last Friday and they are up 9 points to 88-91 on our Super League Outright Index.

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