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 It’s Sunday July the 3rd 2011 and Brent Graham wakes from a deep slumber
Dear Diary,
The first Saturday in July is always the biggest betting day on the calendar for me and yesterday was no exception. I got off to a lazy start before settling down to watch the opening Super Rugby semifinal. I had a fair sized bet on the Reds winning by 6 or more points and I was worried at half time with just a point separating the sides. Their class and fresh legs began to tell in the final forty though and they trotted up to win by 15 ensuring a good start to the punting day.
It was time to leave for our annual Durban July bash with family and friends and as usual I was nervous we would struggle to set the DSTV up at the venue. My technical prowess did the trick though and the build up to the big race began. I decided to brass the favourite Igugu and structured my bets around Bravura the second favourite taking swingers with the likes of Pierre Jourdan and Galileos Destiny. In a thrilling finish they crossed the line in that order but the real bonus was Igugu running unplaced and Black Wing sneaking into fourth to give me a 50% share of the quartet which paid 18k.
I was a few beers down and a good few rand up by this stage and attention was to shift to the Stormers v Crusaders match in Cape Town. My long term money has always been on the Crusaders and I was desperate for them to win this one. First though the opening stage of the Tour de France was concluding and we flicked over just in time to see my 40/1 Green Jersey pick Matt Goss edge Gilbert on the difficult finish.
Back to the Stormers game and with bets down we gathered in front of the TV while the wives braaied the boerie rolls and burgers and the kids ran wild. It was a cracking match with the lead changing on numerous occasions but the Crusaders class told and if they can beat the Reds in Brisbane next week I will be in the money!
Overall a great day made all the sweeter by results going my way although for some reason I keep hearing Trish’s voice saying “the coffees getting cold”!
This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 30th of June 2011.
Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Thursday night from 22h00 – 22h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet and to get on his free weekly e-mail list just send a message to brent@goodforthegame.co.za titled “Best Bets”.
You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/brentgraham or get on his mailing list by dropping him a line at brent@goodforthegame.co.za
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