Betting

How do you follow up a 15/2 winner? Why, by tipping a 17/2 winner of course. Wednesday’s racing selection Ouzbeck followed Tuesday’s tip Harrison George into the winner’s enclosure, but for the second day in a row we were let down by the football half of the selection.

Thursday’s focus is on racing and darts. At Cheltenham, we’ll be trying for a third successive winning horse by looking to Sound Stage (5/1) in the 2.45. Caroline Keevil’s charge has already won a handicap chase at Prestbury Park, where course form is so vital, and another win in a four-runner Newbury handicap last month confirmed that he could still be on an upward curve.

The tenth round of the Premier League Darts season takes place at the Sheffield arena, where Ronnie Baxter looks the value in his head-to-head with fellow Englishman Mervyn King. The pair lie in joint-second place behind the untouchable Phil Taylor, against whom Baxter came up short last week. Previous back-to-back wins over Simon Whitlock and Raymond van Barneveld showed he is in good form, and given an identical record to King, and the fact that Baxter has already beaten him this season, Paddy Power’s 15/8 looks too big.

JOE’s Daily Double: Sound Stage (5/1, 2.45 at Cheltenham) & Ronnie Baxter (15/8 v Mervyn King, Premier League Darts)