Sports betting roundup

[bennythedip2]

A look at how the latest sports news has affected the major betting markets, including Goodwood's Sussex Stakes.

Horse Racing

The big breaking news on Monday was Gleneagles not being among the declarations for the Qatar Sussex Stakes with Solow heading a final field of eight.

Solow immediately became odds-on favourite across the board while other leading contenders Night Of Thunder (5/1), Belardo (8/1) and Arod (8/1) were all cut.

The decision to miss Goodwood with Gleneagles was a surprise despite his preference for faster ground, with conditions likely to dry ahead of Wednesday's clash. The 2000 Guineas winner had been odds-on generally for the Sussex Stakes.

Solow is now a best price of 4/6 to follow-up his Queen Anne Stakes victory, with his nearest challenger in the betting Night Of Thunder who could only manage fifth behind Freddie Head's charge at the Royal meeting.

A bigger threat could well be Arod, who is a best of 10/1 at Paddy Power. He's been rejuvenated since being dropped back in trip to a mile and was an impressive winner of the Summer Mile at Ascot last time.

Golf

England's Danny Willett bagged top prize at the Omega European Masters and has moved up into second place in the Race To Dubai standings on the European Tour.

It was a second victory of the campaign for the man from Sheffield and he is a 25/1 chance to be the next maiden European winner of a major.

He said after lifting the trophy at Crans Montana: "The season has been very, very good.

"Two wins and good performances in majors and World Golf Championships is more than I could’ve hoped for really. But I’ve worked really hard so it’s nice to get the rewards for it."

Football

England are 4/11 to win their 2018 World Cup qualifying group following Saturday's draw and as short as 1/6 to qualify

Scotland, who will join England in Group F, are much bigger at 8/1 to top the standings and 4/1 to progress. Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta make up the group.

Wales, who were the top seeds in Group D, are 15/8 to win their group and 6/5 to qualify for the tournament in 2018 while Republic Of Ireland, who will face the Welsh, are 3/1 to qualify and Northern Ireland can be backed at 10/1.

Sky Bet offer 100/1 that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all qualify.

Formula One

Sebastian Vettel came home first at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday and he has been the main mover in the betting for this season's Drivers' Championship.

The Ferrari man has been slashed to 14/1 as he now trails leader Lewis Hamilton by just 42 points in the standings.

Hamilton, who finished sixth in Hungary, remains the hot favourite at 1/5 with the same firm but his odds have been eased from 1/6 while his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg is 9/2 after he only managed eighth spot.

Cycling

Chris Froome is the 7/2 joint-favourite to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award for 2015 after sealing his second Tour de France victory in three years.

Lewis Hamilton (7/2) and AP McCoy (11/2) are the other leading players in the betting but some shrewd bets could be on Katarina Johnson Thompson at 9/1 as she looks to win a world athletics gold medal this summer.

Rugby Union

This year's Rugby Championship is already a two-horse race in the betting with New Zealand and Australia dominating after the latest set of fixtures.

The duo are unbeaten and on nine points with the All Blacks getting the better of South Africa 27-20 in Johannesburg while the Wallabies beat Argentina 34-9 in Mendoza.

It means the outcome all comes down to next weekend in Sydney when Australia have home advantage over New Zealand with the hosts general 13/8 chances to be crowned champions and the visitors hot favourites at 4/9 with a number of firms.

Rugby League

Leeds are around 9/4 to win the Super League Grand Final after topping the table at the end of the regular season and ahead of the new-look Super 8's stage.

On Sunday the Rhinos claimed a 36-22 victory over Catalans to seal top spot while second-placed St Helens and third-placed Wigan are also vying for favouritism. Third-placed Wigan are 5/2 while St Helens, who finished a place higher than the Warriors, are 11/4.

The best of the rest are Huddersfield, who can be backed at 8/1.