Stan Hey: 6-5 Against

Play-off please

The ending of the World Cup, average though it was, will have left many punters taking a sabbatical over the next few days.

The relentless opportunities to bet on a big sporting event, televised at a social time, with a sense of collective excitement, don't come along too often. Now we are in a lull, with bits-and-bobs of sport, so the search for a decent bet may prove onerous.

Any money that's about will probably go on the last two days of the Open at St Andrews, with the market being re-framed this morning to take account of the cut. Our "Brits-krieg" is doing OK but the bookies will be hoping for a torturous play-off like last year's between Tom Watson and Stewart Cink to swell their betting-in-running markets. The volatile weather may yet be the key.

Indeed betting shop punters could feel they've been time-warped into winter this afternoon when Market Rasen stages a big jumps race, the totesport.com Summer Plate. Welsh trainer Peter Bowen has a formidable record in the race, so his course and distance winner Valley Ride is of interest. Trainer form also applies to Newbury's main race, the 25 runner Weatherby's Super Sprint, which has been regularly snaffled by Richard Hannon over the years. His Norfolk Stakes runner-up Reckless Reward should make the frame.

Both races feature in today's Scoop 6, where £175, 582 and £221,917 sit in the win and bonus funds this morning, pending further investments. A single winner could bag as much as the Open champion without getting off the couch.