Stan Hey: 6-5 Against

There's no doubt where most punters' attention will be focused today: not on football, boxing or rugby but on the Tote Scoop6. After several Saturdays when the main pot and its bonus fund have not been won, the pools could swell towards £5m before the action starts. The bet has become bigger than events around it.

Here's a reminder of how it works. You must find the winners of six nominated races – four at Lingfield, one at Haydock and Huntingdon – and you then win the bonus by picking the winner of a selected race next Saturday. The £2 stake buys one pick in each race. The trick is to increase your chances while limiting the cost. Two picks per race becomes 64 bets, costing £128. Two picks in four races, plus two singles is £32.

Load your bet at the front and end – you don't want to fall at the first, nor come to the last with one runner. Entry forms are in most bookies. As I've never got past the second leg, read my racing colleagues for tips. But if there's a white space here next week . . .

Away from mega-bets, the event that appeals is the golf World Cup at Mission Hills in China. Twenty-eight countries are represented by two-man teams, playing over four days. England pair Ross Fisher with Ian Poulter, while Sweden field their best, Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson. They are joint-favourites at 4-1. I'm punting the Irish, Graeme McDowell and Paul McGinley; £10 win at 10-1, Paddy Power.

*Barbers Shop finished second in the Paddy Power Gold Cup, so well done if, unlike me, you backed it each-way. Stan ran much as I would over 2m 4f, but Numide, the Greatwood Hurdle winner at 5-1, put us in profit.