Betfred Select Stakes @ Nottingham

The Betfred Select Stakes is one of the highlights of the greyhound racing year where six dogs are invited by the Greyhound Writers Association to run a one off race. The Stakes has been ran since 1952 and tonight's renewal at Nottingham, live on Sky Sports, looks to be a cracker. We have two Derby finalists in Fear Zafonic and Farloe Reason, as well as flying youngster Bandicoot Tipoki. The impressive Windy Millar, Cabra Boss and Crown Rover make up the six.

Bandicoot Tipoki (11/4) comes from trap 1 and has been flying recently winning 5 of his last 7 starts, including winning the Steel Cup at Sheffield. However, my worry has to be at the start with Tipoki as he has missed his last few breaks aswell as encountering trouble at the first. Granted he has still went on to win but this is a step up in class and he can't afford to give many of these a length or two at the start. Look out for Tipoki's pace between the first and second bend, very impressive.

Fear Zafonic (5/2), in trap 2, was the Derby favourite throughout but was caught on the line by Kinda Ready in the final. FZ much prefers trap 1 which was shown throughout his Derby campaign and he really struggles to dominate races from trap 2. This coupled with the fact that FZ has only had 4 solo races since May cast major doubts over his claims in my opinion.

Farloe Reason and Windy Millar come from T4 and T5 respectively and it is from these two that I see the winner coming. Readers of this blog, all 3 of you, will remember I tipped Farloe Reason for the Derby and he gave us a great run at 33/1 where he made the final to secure the e/w money. I can see Farloe Reason just getting the best of the early in this battle and I see him holding off Millar at the corner and once he gets in front he is very hard to pass. Farloe and Millar have both carded 30:05 over this trip in recent trials which is faster than both the favourites.

Crown Rover in trap 3 usually prefers a slightly longer trip and should be outpaced early whilst Cabra Boss in 6 is a good dog but has been carding times a good 4 lengths slower than the selection recently and I can't see him finding that tonight.

The rest of the card looks likely to be very enjoyable tonight with a sprinkling of class dogs. Gabba Gabba Hey, who I've tipped unsuccessfully in recent weeks, runs again and I'm giving him another chance as I think he is a classy type who likes to go past dogs on the longer trips. I seem to have picked alot of dogs from T6 so it may be an idea to look at the trap challenge but not sure we'll get a great price. I think I've found a piece of stonking value in the 9:10 race where Swift Blade can be backed at a massive 33/1. This is due to the excellent Wise Thought running but Swift Blade is a strong running type who finishes very strongly and is worth an e/w punt. He's 10/1 on Betfair without the favourite.

Here is my selections for every race live on Sky, with the best price currently available....

7:40 - T6 Droopys Taffy @ 7/4 Betfred
8:00 - T6 Mario Gomez @ 4/5 Betfred
8:15 - T6 Ten Large Down @ 9/4 Various
8:35 - T6 Gabba Gabba Hey @ 9/4 Various
8:50 - T4 Magna Flintoff @ 2/1 SkyBet
9:10 - T4 Swift Blade @ 33/1 SkyBet
9:25 - T3 Midway Skipper @ Evens Betfred
9:45 - T4 Farloe Reason @ 4/1 Various

GL all,

Scott