Busy week-end

Terrific last couple of days with African Story and Musir winning the plaudits in Meydan and Djokovic reaching the Australian Open Final as recommended.

The EPL leaves the stage to the FA Cup this week-end, with a Liverpool v/s Man Utd as the highlight match. Cup matches rarely have anything to do with EPL form so it is pointless for me to try to find teams that will go through. I will rather focus on La Liga where Real and Barcelona go back to battle for the title after their epic Cup showdown. With eyes closed, the recommendation is on Real to overcome last-place Zaragoza. It will be a matter of how many goals the Los Blancos will score against a club that looks destined for relegation.

Barcelona have an arguably more difficult match against Villareal, who are the disappointing team of the league. This is a team that was contending in the Champions League not long ago and who now find themselves fighting for survival in the top flight. The Catalans cannot afford to lose any points in this match and provided they do not suffer from the absences of Iniesta and Sanchez, they should get the Win in the end. They are recommended as a Win as well.

In Serie A, I like draw-no-bets for AC Milan, Inter and Palermo as they are playing inferior opposition.
In La Ligue 1, Lyon looks a safe draw-no-bet against Dijon.

South African racing has a big Saturday with no less than 3 Group 1's and 1 Group 2 up for grabs. The main race is the J&B Met in which superstar filly Igugu is the big favourite. The main question is whether she has fully recovered from the throat infection that had affected her, and the subsequent tough quarantine to which she had been subjected. If she's back to her best, she'll win. Throat infections can destroy a career; the one that comes to mind is Discreet Cat's in the DWC. The horse never came back to his best again. Although Igugu's problem does not look as serious as that of the former Godolphin star, it will still be interesting if that could have had any effect on her. I think as odds-against, she's worth the punt as a Win as she is better than anything in the field by far. With those risks in mind, the recommendation is for her to Win.

Win: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Igugu

Draw-no-bet: Milan, Inter, Palermo, Lyon