NFL 2019 INTERNATIONAL LONDON GAME 2 -- CAROLINA PANTHERS vs TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

This Sunday is the second of the four NFL London games and sees Carolina Panthers play against fellow NFC South rivals Tampa Bay Buccaneers this game will also be at the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium (Below) and then there are two further games at Wembley to enjoy. Time to look at the second International game which is again being played at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Sunday 13th October and kick off will be at 2:30pm which is a bit early but possibly this is going to be on TV here in the UK. 

The new stadium still on the old site of White Hart Lane has a capacity of 62,062, making it one of the largest stadiums in the English Premier League and the largest club stadium in London. It has been designed with the NFL in mind and will be host for at least 10 years with the likelihood of a UK Franchise in the future. 

Sunday 13th October
Carolina Panthers vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Another sell out crowd is expected for these popular matches and kick off will be at 2:30pm (Uk Time). 

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Current season record 

  Carolina Panthers
    - P5 W3 L2 F129 A107
  Tampa Bay Buccaneers
    - P5 W2 L3 F147 A148

Head Coach - Ron Rivera

Week 6 of the regular season and while both teams are "away" in London technically this is a home fixture for Tampa Bay and a divisional fixture for two sides in the NFC South. Carolina will be led from the sidelines by head coach Ron Rivera and hopefully we would have seen the enigmatic Cam Newton but i hear he's been sidelined with injury so might have to rely on the back up quarterback (and less flamboyant) Kyle Allen. The Panthers played Jacksonville Jaguars last weekend and won 34-27 thus arriving into London with a record of W3-L2. With Cam Newton sidelined the key players to watch on the Panthers roster include Christian McCaffrey at running back and in their defence is ex Buccaneer Gerald McCoy who should be giving quarterbacks plenty of worry this season. 

Head Coach - Bruce Arians

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers  are led by head coach Bruce Arians and Quarterback Jameis Winston and will need to be on top of their game here in London having lost last weekend against New Orleans Saints 31-24. I expect an open game, and hopefully it'll be full of exciting high scoring plays. Key players to watch for the Buccaneers (other than the QB) include wide receiver Mike Evans and in defence it's Lavonte David.

Both teams will then have a bye week [week 7] to recover from their travels as is common following these matches.

Previous visits to London?
Carolina Panthers (NFC South) have not been involved in a London International games yet so this will be a new venture for them all but one I'm sure they'll enjoy. Their opponents Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been to London twice before but on the losing side each time the first in 2009 against New England [35-7] and again in 2011 losing at Wembley against Chicago Bears [24-18].

It will be a full house and the crowd will be roaring both teams home. Expect the stadium to be full of shirts of ALL NFL teams (they'll be a few Tottenham Hotspur fans around too I suspect). We will aim to keep a brief summary of each quarter as the game progresses, should be a great start to this series of UK fixtures which will surely grow until we have our own regular season NFL franchise. Also ensure you catch all the build up and highlights of matches played earlier on their regular Saturday night NFL Show with Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora joining in the fun this season - have a great day all. 

I'm going for a Carolina Panthers win and over 44 points in the match, also backing the over 23 points score at half time too. 👍😀

1st Quarter;
We about to kick off for the second London game and it's kicker Joey Slye to get us underway for the Panthers and the Buccaneers will receive the ball first from their own 25yd line. The opening play by the Buccs is a disaster as Jameis Winston throws an interception to James Bradberry and the Panthers are ready to pounce. Kyle Allen cannot get the passes complete though and they have to settle for a 49yd field goal from Joey Slye to open the scoring this afternoon. Both sides struggle to find completed passes and it's a bit of a punt fest early, Winston gets sacked again and the defence are in control so far, now Carolina get another chance while there is plenty of time for this to settle down and we are only half way through the opening quarter. At last a touchdown, from Carolina, a 12 play drive over 84yds and ends with a  Christian McCaffrey 1yd run to take it home and that extends the Panthers lead to 10-0 (extra point is good).
2nd Quarter;
Tampa Bay start the second quarter with the football and only takes them three plays to get themselves on the scoreboard, Ronald Jones going into the end zone and it's 10-7 now after Matt Gay secures the extra point. Tampa Bay get another drive going from their own 15yd line but the 5th sack of the opening half sees Jameis Winston downed once again and is then intercepted by Carolina corner back Javien Elliott giving the Panthers excellent field position on the Tampa 36yd line. Kyle Allen begins to find his range and completed passes to DJ Moore and then Christian McCaffrey who takes it home 25yds for his second touchdown of the game (which also secures my HT score bet, thank you). Still got over seven minutes to go in the half. Tampa Bay had a chance to score again but more sacks and fumbles, one recovered, one lost, meant they hand the ball back again and the time slowly runs out for this half with Carolina leading by ten points.

H/T Score;   Carolina Panthers  17 -- 7  Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

3rd Quarter;
Defences remain on top in the early plays of the second half and successive punts so far. Carolina have the ball now on their own 32yd line, Kyle Allen starts that drive with a 30yd pass to Curtis Samuel and they are into the Tampa Bay half, Christian McCaffrey gets his usual run too but it's a key call on 4th and 1 but the Panthers elect to take the 46yd field goal and they go to 20-7. And in a matter of moments the Panthers go up 27-7 after Curtis Samuel runs in a touchdown following an interception from the Buccs after the latest kick off, the game is quickly running away from them now and the lead grows to twenty points. Tampa stall on their next drive and have to take a 54yd field goal from Matt Gay to bring it to 27-10, getting closer to my over 44 target too which is nice still been a fairly scrappy game but if Tampa Bay can get the next score could be an interesting final quarter.
4th Quarter;
But the Panthers have other ideas and take the ball down the field into the final quarter and another Touchdown score from Curtis Samuel (13yd pass) extends the lead to 34-10 looks like it's game over now, or is it, Jameis Winston connects with running back Dare Ogunbowale for 21 yards then Mike Evans for another 9 which sets up a Cameron Brate touchdown from 10yds and the 2pt conversion attempt is good too and it's 34-18 with twelve minutes still left on the clock. Another mistake and fumble by the Buccaneers allows Carolina kicker Joey Slye to score another field goal and there's just been too many errors today. Time for another big drive though and it doesn't take up a lot of time either the Buccaneers Dare Ugunbowale skips a missed tackle to run it in right up the middle for another Touchdown. They go for two again and Jameis Winston runs it in! 37-26 about 3 mins left. Carolina's next possession ends with them punting away and Tampa try again, sadly it's not to be as they are intercepted again and the clock is not going to have a lot left should they get the ball back again. As the 2 minute warning sounds here in London it's almost time for the Sunday night games to get underway back over the pond in the USA, hopefully they've been watching this and will fancy a trip over to the UK soon.

F/T Score;    Carolina Panthers  37 -- 26  Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Attendance:   60,087
Another big attendance for the London games and this will prove the decision to extend the International Series across the pond to be the correct one. I expect Wembley to be nearly full too for the final pair of games here in London.

The next game in London @Wembley will be on Sunday 27th October between Cincinnati Bengals vs Los Angeles Rams this match will be shown LIVE on BBC TV.

KEMPTON PARK RACES 2019 -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #24 9th October

Coming down to the final few months of this annual theme, was hopeful of a more productive second half to the year but we struggling a little. Still time though till end 2019.

Here we are into October and as my friends continue with their Halloween preparations I am just trying to find my winter gear as the weather has taken a sudden downturn. Shame to witness the equine superstar ENABLE get beaten by Waldgeist in the Arc at Longchamp over the weekend, away from the horse racing the Rugby World Cup continues in the mornings where I have enjoyed most of the games especially seeing England making it through to the next stages with their final group game against France next weekend still to go. AFC Wimbledon finally found their goal scoring boots and won for the first time in 12 games beating Rochdale 3-2 at home last Saturday, we will have another chance to register a rare win this coming Saturday when they travel to fellow relegation candidates Southend United. 

Has been a very up and down year overall not just with the racing though the last month was encouraging so with the Autumn and Winter months to come we will continue to focus on the all weather horse racing now while the lights still shine brightly here at Kempton Park throughout this year. We are hopeful of better season than we experienced last year but it's just some fun and excitement to mix up the week we have found it hard and are more than a little behind to SP though it's something I will keep persevering with through to the end of the year. 

Let us move onward with this our twenty fourth Wednesday night of 2019, and will continue to focus on the handicap contests for each Wednesday evening meeting though we will also occasionally include a feature listed or conditions event too if there is one available. Keeping records of our endeavours to a 1 point level stake at SP, naturally we will personally be looking to get better odds than this but for the purpose of these results here we simply record SP returns only. Following our last meeting the deficit is currently on -34.23 points to SP returns overall. We continue to battle hard to reduce this and thankfully there is still plenty of time to get this back on track. 

Throughout the year we will keep up with our occasional lay opportunities of anticipated short priced favourites too. Naturally we will keep these results separately from the handicap figures we have been fairly successful with our selections so far and last time got another pair of favourite selection beaten which means we are now 28/39 (71%+) we will continue with this through 2019.

This Wednesday will be meeting number twenty four for the 2019 AW season and we are expecting an eight race card tonight as the opening novice event has been divided and we have FOUR handicap races to review which should keep us plenty busy enough. The action which will now commence at 16:35 with the first division of the seven furlong novice contest for 2yo's and our first handicap will be off at 18:10 tonight's card ends around about 20:10 with our final handicap contest for the sprinters over six furlongs.

Here's a link to this Wednesday's race card; RACECARD

Going and Weather -- The going on the polytrack surface is described as 'standard to slow' and the current weather forecast for this Wednesday is for a lot of cloudy weather with a chill in the air so wrap up warm now that Autumn is upon us the best we expect the temperature to reach is around 15C by the time the meeting gets underway.

Here are our handicap selections for tonight;

18:10 -- 1m 2f 219y Handicap.
A field of 14 runners chasing a win prize of just under £6500, looking at those drawn in the low numbered stalls steers me towards FINAL ROCK [10th 14/1] from Sir Mark Prescott who has struggled a little of marks in the 80s so has been dropped a little and this track might be more to his liking. Along with GERANIUM [5th 6/1] this 4yo filly has won twice and been runner up twice in last four starts, could still make them all go and at 10/1 looks a fair price with the no 1 draw.

19:10 -- 7f Handicap.

Thirteen to consider for this class 3 event, nearly all have some sort of course/distance form and are headed by INTUITIVE a 3yo gelding for James Tate, won last time at Chelmsford but now 10lb higher so probably opposable in this field. Oisin Murphy rides GENTLE LOOK [11th 11/2] for Godolphin and trained by S Bin Suroor might be the answer at a course the jockey runs well at. At a bigger price we could play the place market with TURN N TWIRL [3rd 12/1] a winner here two runs back and the 3yo filly might be worth a second look.

19:40 -- 7f Handicap.

Another 7f handicap event, headed by DELILAH PARK [2nd 13/2] a dual winner here this year and should run well even with top weight. INDIAN VICEROY [6th 9/1] with Oisin Murphy on board is another versatile type likely to run another big race around here and support should be noted.

20:10 -- 6f Handicap.

We end tonight with a 6f sprint, and a field of twelve declared, headed by GARTH ROCKETT who like many in this has a chance but we are going in with the pair of MAD ENDEAVOUR [5th 14/1] and DANDILION [4th 17/2] for our friend Thore Hammer Hansen. This 6yo (the horse not the jockey) has won and been placed off higher marks and with the claimers 5lb allowance should be bang there with a good ride.

Staked -- 8 points.

Returns -- 0.0 points.

Results will appear here later during Wednesday evening. This season we are sadly down by -34.23 points to SP returns. Now only three more months of the season to go and we will end up with an additional meeting here for the King George Chase on Boxing Day. No joy tonight, some places, no wins, gutted. Down -42.23 now.

LAYS -- 28/39. Another pair of successful lay bets last time around and will see if we can find one or two short priced selections to post here if we have any for tonight. Sometimes laying favourites fails, like tonight when two won, oh well. 28/41 now.

Tonight's Lays;

17:10 -- Higher Kingdom [7f 2yo Novice stakes]. Won 8/11f
18:40 -- Enjazaat [6f Conditions stakes]. Won 7/4 2f

Our twenty fifth meeting for this year will be held on Wednesday 16th October so hope to see you then and throughout the rest of 2019 too.

PONTEFRACT HORSE RACING SYSTEM -- 2019 SEASON -- MEETING #15 IS OFF !!

PONTEFRACT SEASON 2019.

Welcome to our fifteenth meeting of the season on Monday 7th October. 

1st race 2:00pm, gates open from around midday.   * Inspection at 7am Monday, as a result of this inspection today's meeting has been abandoned due to a waterlogged course. 

It’s the penultimate raceday of the 2019 season at Pontefract and the third of the ‘All About the Racing’ Racedays on Monday 7th October. With just shy of a month left in the 2019 flat calendar, trainers are looking to get their final turf runs into their horses’ campaigns and hopefully finish the season off in style.

On Monday there are seven exciting races on the card which will get underway at 2.00pm. The track holds a 1m2f race for two-year-olds and this is one of the longest races run in the UK for young horses and has been won by horses who have gone on to prove their abundant stamina. William Muir’s tough ‘Just Hubert’ won last year and has won three times this season while Mark Johnston had the first and second in 2017 with his talented stayers 'Austrian School' and 'Making Miracles'. With a stiff finish, Pontefract is one of the more testing courses in Britain and a tough gritty horse is needed. So who will add their name to the role of honour for this year?

The feature race on the card is the £15,000 Leslie Burton (Fisher) Handicap [15:00] which was won last year by Hughie Morrison’s ‘Sod’s Law’ (pictured left). There’s also the penultimate round of the 2019 Pontefract Stayers Championship [15:30] in which there looks like being a grandstand finish as Rubenesque and Forewarning look to continue their battle for supremacy in the title of Ponte’s top stayer in 2019. We also caught glimpse of a future Triumph Hurdle contestant when Nelson River was runner up to Sempre Presto in the 1m4f handicap. The previous year, Cornerstone Lad took the honours so keep an eye out for a few future hurdlers lurking amongst the entries again this season.

ALL of our results for these fixtures are recorded to a level stake at Starting Price (SP), and will also show any forecast results too in the daily results but these do not count for the profit / loss figures. We arrive here on the back of a small loss last time which does mean we are still trailing on -43.24 points to SP as we come into the fifteenth meeting and are now heading towards to final few 'furlongs' of the season. The forecast going is now currently reported as 'Soft, heavy in places' and our weather for Monday afternoon is for a wet day with plenty of rain likely to arrive, the forecast maximum temperature around the 12C mark.

A link to this afternoon's race card can be found here

Here are our selections for the eight races on Monday afternoon, remember it's a very simple selection process using stalls one and two in every race;

To confirm again that today's meeting has been abandoned due to a waterlogged track with further rain expected on Monday. The FINAL meeting will hopefully take place here on 21st October. 

14:00 1m 2f 5y Novice Stakes (2yo).
(1) -- JUSTIFIED.
(2) -- SALAMANCA SCHOOL.

14:30 6f Nursery Handicap (2yo).
(1) -- SPYGATE.
(2) -- STROXX.

15:00 1m 6y Handicap (3yo).
(1) -- CHAIRMANOFTHEBOARD.
(2) -- MODAKHAR.

15:30 2m 2f 2y Handicap.
(1) -- BODACIOUS NAME.
(2) -- SOFT SUMMER RAIN.

16:00 1m 6y Handicap (Div One).
(1) -- VIVE LE DIFFERENCE.
(2) -- SILVER DUST.

16:30 1m 6y Handicap (Div Two).
(1) -- INTERNATIONAL LAW.
(2) -- FRANKSTER.

17:00 1m 4f 5y Handicap (3yo).
(1) -- GRAZEON ROY.
(2) -- LINCOLN TALE.

17:30 1m 6y Maiden.
(1) -- CATHEDRAL STREET.
(2) -- WEMYSS WARE.

Staked -- 16 points.
Returns -- 16 points.

As we reach the conclusion of the 2019 season it's been a sad story of chasing our losses, while the selections are out of our hands with this system we are on a deficit of -43.24 coming into our fifteenth meeting today with just one more meeting to follow this. 

Our last meeting for 2019 here will be held on MONDAY 21st OCTOBER so we really hope you will join us for the finale.