Aycliffe’s top tipster shares his two top tips of the day, as he takes on the bookmakers…
Racing
2.40, Newbury
CROSS THE FLAGS. £10 WITH Ladbrokes pays you £70.
Form duo AP McCoy saddles for trainer Jonjo O’Neill as Cross The Flags aims to keep up her impressive record which has seen her finish in the top-four in each of her last six outing, two from the last three which have resulted in victory. The five-year-old mare goes 6lb lighter than her February victory which saw her cream the field by six lengths at Ffos Las. Cue to Cue looks the best of the rest but The Champ is a stayer and over 2m5f, we can’t see anyone beating him to the winning post.
Football
5.15pm, Saturday
STOKE to win at home to Manchester City. £10 with Ladbrokes pays £60.
Whatever happens on Saturday evening in this game, there will be no better value than opting for a home win, with Ladbrokes offering a huge 5/1 that Stoke beat second-place City. Granted, City are buoyed by their midweek comeback against Chelsea which saw them close the gap on rivals United to a point, and only a draw here is required to take them back to the summit of the table but City’s form on the road has not matched their seamless home record, and since the turn of the year Roberto Mancini’s men have lost three of their five away games in the league, and have crashed out of three other competitions to leave just the Premier League remaining as their hope of glory. Stoke by contrast sit 11th, and have beaten both Spurs and Liverpool at the Britannia, and held leaders United and Chelsea to draws, proving no team gets an easy trip to the noisiest ground in the country, least of all the Premier League’s finest!