Expert Steve Mullington gives his daily racing tips, including a NAP, NB and a Longshot. Scroll down now to find out horse racing tips Friday 8th July at Newmarket and York...
Today's NAP (Best Bet)
2.25 Newmarket – Queen Olly
The David Loughnane-trained Queen Olly was unable to follow up on her impressive debut at York but ran a creditable race in defeat in the Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The filly was purchased for €300,000 at Goffs Orby by Alex Elliott/Ben McElroy for Amo Racing and her breeding is pretty special too, being a No Nay Never out of a Galileo mare.
Her first two runs will stand her in good stead for a really good crack at this 6f Group 2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes and I can see her dominating proceedings from the moment these fillies jump from the stalls.
Forecast punters may want to side with the course and distance winner Lazoo under Frankie Dettori.
Today's NB (Next Best)
2.40 York – Gale Force Maya
The Michael Dods-trained Gale Force Maya was a winner for this column one month ago at York and there is every reason to believe that she can follow up again here on the Knavesmire.
Six-year-old Maya is probably one of the best mares Dods currently has in training and she never lets her connections down whenever she races at any of the Yorkshire racecourses.
Those of you placing your horse racing online bets with us on Friday may want to consider taking our early price of 12/1 for Gale Force Maya, as she is sure to be a popular pick come race time.
Today's Longshot
3.00 Newmarket – Sam Cooke
A well fancied 11/2 shot in the Royal Ascot betting of 2021, Sam Cooke never made it to the Royal meeting this season and has been a little slow in coming to hand thus far this term. He was however the big Sky Bet Handicap winner at York last season and a reproduction of that form would make his current 14/1 quote look very silly. Dangers: Contact and HMS President.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
Steven is a sports and horse racing enthusiast and is a member of the Horseracing Writers and Photographers Association (HWPA) in the United Kingdom.
He is a regular visitor to Paris Longchamp for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and a lifelong fan of the Aintree Grand National, a subject he writes about 52 weeks of the year. Last year he reached the impressive milestone of attending the last 30 renewals of the Grand National.
Steven graduated from the University Of Lancaster in 1996 with a B.A (Hons) in Urban Policy & Race Relations (major) with Contemporary Religions & Belief Systems (minor) and still wonders if any of these help him find the winners?
He writes for a number of websites and online publications and you can sometimes hear him at the weekend discussing racing on a number of local radio stations.
Matt Parkinson has been around the England team for a long time
Parkinson got his first Test chance against New Zealand this summer
England must give the Lancashire wrist spinner further opportunities
Matt Parkinson has spent a lot of time carrying the drinks for England over the last couple of years.
The Lancashire leg spinner was given his first Test cap as a concussion replacement for Jack Leach earlier this summer.
The England Test team has been in the spotlight. In the window where there is limited debate about Premier League winner betting, cricket takes centre stage.
The Bazball era under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes has resulted in four straight wins, all chasing hefty fourth innings totals. England are drawing sell out crowds for fifth days, and smashing records along the way.
This is a far cry from the one win in 17 under Joe Root and Chris Silverwood. It’s a fresh, revolutionary attitude to the longest format.
This new era of the men’s Test team has got off to a barnstorming beginning, and it’s bound to continue against South Africa later this summer.
What follows is a winter dominated by white-ball cricket with another T20 World Cup. There are a couple of Tests in New Zealand in early 2023, and potentially a red-ball series in Pakistan, though the dates are yet to be confirmed.
As such, the spin bowling attack is not going to be under scrutiny in the near future, particularly with Jack Leach performing well.
That should not stop McCullum and Stokes reintroducing Parkinson against South Africa or when they face the Kiwis next year.
A leggie who gives it a rip is the aggressive style of cricket befitting of Bazball. Parkinson may need to bowl quicker in Tests, but his best chance of developing is to play under the freedom of this new regime.
It will not be long before England are again required to play two spinners, and it’s vital that Parkinson is given ample opportunity to settle into the international game before being thrown into the cauldron in Asia.
England are a long way from being betting favourites for the World Test Championship. If they are to reach those dizzy heights, though, spin is going to be crucial.
As well as Leach has bowled this summer, the Parkinson avenue is worth exploration. The mystery of leg spin could prove invaluable when playing abroad.
Stokes has taken to being England cricket captain better than even the most optimistic could have hoped. His management of Leach has been spot on, and it’s clear this is an environment where players feel comfortable.
Young leggies must be utilised correctly, and Stokes has shown the nous to suggest he can do so with Parkinson.
Yet to turn 26, the Bolton-born wrist spinner is still a work in progress, but his domestic numbers (a First Class bowling average under 25) illustrate what a talent England have on their hands.
Calls for Parkinson have been common from cricket commentators over the last couple of years. Where the past regime was cautious by default, wary of leaking runs which often come with leg spin, Bazball is focused on taking 20 wickets.
Parkinson can help Stokes’ England do that on flatter pitches, which will be crucial when there is less lateral movement for the quicks.
Leach is the man in possession and deservedly so. England shouldn’t forget about Parkinson over the coming months, though.
He will have a big role to play in the future of this team, and Stokes’ recent performances with the ball make playing two spinners a far more realistic prospect.
Sam is a sports tipster, specialising in the Premier League and Champions League.
He covers most sports, including cricket and Formula One. Sam particularly enjoys those on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean – notably MLB and NBA.
Watching, writing and talking about sports betting takes up most of his time, whether that is for a day out at T20 Finals Day or a long night of basketball.
Having been writing for several years, Sam has been working with 888Sport since 2016, contributing multiple articles per week to the blog.
Gareth Southgate has led England to the last four of consecutive major tournaments
Poor results in the Nations League have seen some suggest Southgate should be replaced
Read below for why the former Aston Villa defender is still the man to lead England long-term
Fabio Capello and Sam Allardyce are the only England managers with a better winning percentage than Gareth Southgate. Alf Ramsey is the only England manager to reach a major final other than Southgate.
Only Ramsey and Southgate have taken England to the last four of two major competitions.
Southgate might not have the reputation of the managers at the top of Premier League outright odds but that shouldn’t detract from what he has achieved with England.
He took the job following a scandal, and has taken England to their greatest highs since 1966.
This has been achieved not with a readymade squad of world-beating talent, but with a group which has developed and evolved under Southgate’s stewardship.
He has been unafraid to give chances to young players, and has generally been rewarded for such decisions.
The team which lost on penalties to Italy last summer was different from the one that fell to Croatia three years before. There will be tweaks before England kick off their World Cup campaign against Iran this winter, too.
Southgate has been blessed with a talented cohort, led by the incomparable Harry Kane, yet he has also made tough decisions when required.
Most notably, Southgate has completely changed the atmosphere around the England team, freeing them from the crippling pressure of tournaments past.
Where club rivalries boiled over to international duty in previous generations, Southgate has cultivated a team spirit unlike any other England manager in the 21st century.
While he was not perfect in the heart-breaking losses to Italy and Croatia (two matches England had a live betting advantage in), there is no guarantee they would have got that far under another manager.
The change which has taken place under Southgate cannot be overstated.
It is no coincidence he is getting public backing from his players even after an historic loss to Hungary. Southgate has instilled belief and enjoyment in playing for England.
While the football isn’t always box office, the complaints are bound to wane if England are once again in the final four this winter.
There will be endless discourse over the England XI for the first World Cup match, but it’s worth remembering that winning in the international game isn’t about entertainment.
Pragmatism wins out more often than not, largely due to the limited time managers have to work with their players.
🗣️ "I believe Gareth is the right man!"
Trevor Steven admits Gareth Southgate has had "moments in key games" but is sticking by the England manager. 🏴 pic.twitter.com/KUs0NKDjxC
Southgate’s brand of football has taken England closer to silverware than since Bobby Moore lifted the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1966.
The Three Lions are among the favourites in Qatar. Knockout football is difficult to predict, but when you look ahead to the World Cup, it quickly becomes clear that England will be favoured against most opponents.
Any suggestion that Southgate should be replaced before the World Cup is laughable.
Even if England disappoint in Qatar, however, they should not be in a rush to make a managerial change. Southgate has earned the benefit of the doubt – his impact on the England team goes far beyond the pure results.
Poor performances in the Nations League should be forgotten about at the end of a gruelling season.
Take a wider view of what Southgate has achieved and it’s abundantly clear he’s still the man for England long-term. This team should only keep getting better with so many core players still improving.
Sam is a sports tipster, specialising in the Premier League and Champions League.
He covers most sports, including cricket and Formula One. Sam particularly enjoys those on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean – notably MLB and NBA.
Watching, writing and talking about sports betting takes up most of his time, whether that is for a day out at T20 Finals Day or a long night of basketball.
Having been writing for several years, Sam has been working with 888Sport since 2016, contributing multiple articles per week to the blog.
Heung-Min Son missed out on the 2021-22 Team of the Season despite winning the Golden Boot
The Tottenham star has been one of the league’s most consistent performers in recent years
Is Son the most underrated player of the Premier League era?
Heung-Min Son, Claude Makelele, Andy Cole, Denis Irwin, Michael Carrick.
A lot of Premier League players have been deemed underrated over the years, but this quintet might have been the subject of that descriptor more than any other players.
Perhaps players featuring for teams at the forefront of Premier League odds outright should be disqualified from such discussions – how underrated can you really be in Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea or Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United?
Equally, a case can be made that those players are oft overshadowed by more famous, often flashier, peers. Son falls into that category.
He gets plenty of plaudits, but the attention is naturally focused on Harry Kane at Tottenham.
When it comes to wider discussions about the Premier League’s elite, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah were talked up more than the South Korean.
Son is a three-time Player of the Month in the Premier League, and was named to the Team of the Season in 2020-21.
He had the rare feat of winning the Golden Boot and not making the Team of the Season in 2021-22. It’s not like Son is forgotten about, but there is still a case that he’s underrated.
The tandem of Kane and Son is as dangerous as any in Premier League history.
They are favoured in sports betting to make the top four next term, and that hope is as dependent on Son as anyone, even after the signings of Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski.
The former Leverkusen forward has 40 goals and 17 assists over the last two Premier League seasons.
Mane had 27 and nine over that period. Raheem Sterling had 23 and 12. Salah is at 45 and 18. Son’s production is only a notch behind Salah, and that’s without taking penalties.
Their inconsistency over the last few years has detracted from Son’s reliability. He’s on top of his game, a lethal, two-footed finisher and perfect accomplice to Kane in the final third.
There is subjectivity in being underrated, but Son being overlooked for Team of the Season gives us something more quantifiable to go on.
Son was objectively better than Mane and Cristiano Ronaldo last season, yet both made the Team of the Season ahead of him.
Son Heung-min scored more non-penalty goals than any other player during the 2021/22 Premier League season and he has NOT been included in the PFA Team of the Year.
How often is he included in discussions about the best forwards in the world? It’s not frequent enough that his name comes up, that’s for sure.
Son is unquestionably underrated. An absence of silverware at Tottenham, and playing for a country which isn’t exactly at the centre of World Cup predictions, contributes to that status.
He is yet to enjoy the glories of Mane or Salah, nor does he play with the highlight-generating flair of peak Eden Hazard or Riyad Mahrez.
The numbers speak for themselves, but it’s not just statistics with Son. His impact on Tottenham is obvious.
A lot of players haven’t got the admiration they deserve in the Premier League era, but the gap between Son’s performance and the praise he receives might the greatest of all.
Sam is a sports tipster, specialising in the Premier League and Champions League.
He covers most sports, including cricket and Formula One. Sam particularly enjoys those on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean – notably MLB and NBA.
Watching, writing and talking about sports betting takes up most of his time, whether that is for a day out at T20 Finals Day or a long night of basketball.
Having been writing for several years, Sam has been working with 888Sport since 2016, contributing multiple articles per week to the blog.
It’s really quite difficult to pin your favourite racehorse down to just one when you’ve watched the sport of horse racing for nigh on 40 years, but that esteemed accolade for me has to go to the Yorkshire sprint handicapper, Chaplins Club.
Trained by the late David Chapman (Ruth Carr’s grandfather for those of you born this side of the millennium), in North Yorkshire, Chaplins Club was a prolific winner in the 1980’s.
As tough as they come, Chaplins Club clocked up a total of 24 victories, including winning nine handicaps in a season twice, in both 1985 and 1988.
To a 13-year-old boy, brought up on a diet of watching my father and grandfather betting on Chapman’s other horses such as Soba and Glencroft, Chaplins Club was an absolute hero of a horse to me and he raced with such regularity too, unlike many horses today.
In fact, in 1988 alone, Chaplins Club ran a total 27 times and enjoyed a particularly fruitful summer. In a 19-day period between July and August, he won seven races, including the Tote Sprint Trophy Handicap at Ayr.
During that amazing winning spell Chaplins Club recorded two victories in the space of 24 hours TWICE, at Redcar and Doncaster on July 26th and 27th, then did the same at Ayr and Pontefract on August 2nd and 3rd.
If that wasn’t enough, he also recorded back-to-back victories at Haydock Park, my local track on September 30th and October 1st. What a hero!
1988 was quite some season and I vividly recall being allowed to put some minimal each-way bets on Chaplins Club out of my pocket money each time he ran, placed with either my Dad or Granddad.
Those are always great memories to have from your informative years and probably one of the main triggers as to why I got involved in horse racing.
Chaplins Club was owned by Peter Savill, who later went on to be the Chairman of the British Horseracing Board (BHA) and was ridden for almost all of his racing career by the Yorkshire ace – Kevin Darley.
It was more than fitting that Chaplins Club won on his 160th and final start, as a twelve-year-old, in a seven furlong selling handicap, at Redcar in 1992.
Rated just 45, but still ridden by Darley, he rallied under pressure to lead close home and won by three-quarters of length at odds of 12/1 in the betting.
Chaplins Club came to the end of his career in the July of 1992 and in the September of that year I went off to University.
David Chapman’s horse had filled my teenage years with lots of euphoric highs and nothing could ever trump those special moments when the newscaster would read out his name as being the winner of his race on those hourly racing bulletins broadcast by BBC Radio 2.
That is what we poor punters had to do before the days of being able to place horse race bets online.
Ahhh, I can still hear it now. Spoken in beautiful Queen’s English “And the result of the 3.45 at Pontefract is... first, Chaplins Club 33/1”. Get in!
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
Steven is a sports and horse racing enthusiast and is a member of the Horseracing Writers and Photographers Association (HWPA) in the United Kingdom.
He is a regular visitor to Paris Longchamp for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and a lifelong fan of the Aintree Grand National, a subject he writes about 52 weeks of the year. Last year he reached the impressive milestone of attending the last 30 renewals of the Grand National.
Steven graduated from the University Of Lancaster in 1996 with a B.A (Hons) in Urban Policy & Race Relations (major) with Contemporary Religions & Belief Systems (minor) and still wonders if any of these help him find the winners?
He writes for a number of websites and online publications and you can sometimes hear him at the weekend discussing racing on a number of local radio stations.
WHEN I was growing up in the 1970’s, the world of football was totally different to the slick polished product that supporters enjoy nowadays.
Looking back, some of the aspects of our national game were extremely primitive indeed. Here are a few examples…
MUDDY PITCHES
Modern day football pitch technology means that playing surfaces are always in pristine condition. But 50 years ago, clubs like Derby County, Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United used to ply their trade on absolute mud heaps.
I recall that teams were happy to play in all conditions and the players used to get on with it. Those quagmire pitches invariably added to the matchday excitement with defenders wildly sliding through puddles to win the ball.
Even if there was heavy snow, supporters would gather at the stadium early on a Saturday morning to sweep the pitch markings clear.
Then a distinctive orange football would be deployed to make sure everyone could see what was happening on the snowbound surface.
From my own experience, QPR’s Loftus Road headquarters had the worst pitch of the lot. This was because it had originally been a waste ground for many years before being used for football for the first time in 1904.
So a layer of clay around four feet thick had been dumped on the land with household refuse, thistles and other weeds accumulating on top of it!
The clay had come from excavations during the construction of the Central Line underground railway from Shepherd’s Bush to Bank. Therefore it was always going to be problematic for that site to become a decent football pitch.
HEAVY TACKLES
Contemporary football has almost become a non-contact sport. Any hint of foul play results in a yellow or red card.
But when I was a lad, tackles flew in from all angles with the studs flying. In fact, challenges that became known as ‘reducers’ were commonplace and escaped punishment by referees.
These saw big centre-halves cynically booting their opponents in the back of the leg during the opening minutes of a match.
The idea was to make attacking players feel worried or nervous about their wellbeing for the rest of the game.
MAGIC SPONGE
In the current era of health and safety, football injuries are taken very seriously. And quite rightly so.
As soon as a footballer needs treatment, the game is stopped and two physios sprint on to the pitch with a club doctor. They all carry fully equipped medical bags. Then there are qualified first aid attendants standing by with a stretcher.
But in the 1970’s, there were no football physios or doctors. All we had was what was called the ‘trainer’.
This was perhaps an ex-player who had been kept on by the club after retirement.
His unsophisticated duties included making sure the squad were fit by sending them running up and down massive hills in pre-season. He also had to deal with injuries on a matchday.
I can still picture some of the trainers now. They often had pot bellies, bandy legs and rudimentary comb-over hairstyles.
So a player would go down injured and the old trainer would come wobbling on to the pitch very slowly.
All he would carry with him was a grey metal bucket full of freezing cold water with a soggy yellow sponge floating around in it. This was known as the ‘magic sponge’… as it could reputedly cure all known football ailments.
What I miss most in football:
Muddy pitches Strong tackles Special trains A to Z half-time scoreboards Saturday evening newspapers Clubcall
In effect, the trainer would ask the player what part of his anatomy was injured, take the magic sponge and slap this icy water on to the relevant section of the body.
Then the trainer would utter those immortal words…
“There you go son. Get on with the game!”
The player would quickly jump up to his feet and resume his involvement in the match as he simply didn’t want to be accosted by that obnoxious chilly water ever again.
However, if there was a major problem that the magic sponge couldn’t rectify – such as concussion or a broken leg – the afflicted footballer would be carried off the pitch by a couple of his team mates and unceremoniously dumped on the sidelines so that play could continue.
That scenario is most certainly not allowed these days and badly injured players cannot be moved without expert supervision.
Therefore football matches – particularly at Non-League level – are frequently abandoned due to significant injury whilst an ambulance is called to attend.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
Expert Steve Mullington gives his daily racing tips, including a NAP, NB and a Longshot. Scroll down now to find out horse racing tips Thursday 7th July at Newmarket...
Today's NAP (Best Bet)
1.50 Newmarket – Masekela
Masekela was runner-up in the Listed Feilden Stakes on reappearance and then showed improved form for the step up to 1m4f in the Derby, outrunning his huge odds.
He immediately looked one for the Bahrain Trophy on the back of that performance and duly takes his place in the line up today.
Andrew Balding’s youngster is once again partnered by Andrea Atzeni and supporters of the El Kabier-gelding should get a decent price in our horse racing online bets market if they punt early enough on the day.
Today's NB (Next Best)
2.25 Newmarket – Persian Force
Richard Hannon’s Persian Force has an outstanding chance of emulating his sire Mehmas by putting his narrow Royal Ascot defeat in the Coventry Stakes to bed and capturing this Group 2 July Stakes.
The Amo Racing owned-two year was beaten for the first time at the Royal meeting when finishing runner-up to Bradsell, but that form still looks very strong.
A reproduction of his debut run at Doncaster up Newmarket’s July Course incline would see him very hard to peg back under ace jockey Rossa Ryan.
Of the others Little Big Bear has to be on any sports betting shortlist for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore.
Today's Longshot
3.00 Newmarket – Anadora
The three-year-old filly Anadora has been in fine fettle for the Kevin Ryan stable so far this season and can make her presence felt in this six furlong Heritage Handicap.
Already a winner and a runner-up on the other Newmarket course, Anadora finished towards the rear of the field last time out at Ayr but she was only a handful of lengths away from the overall winner.
Shane Grey takes the ride and at 16/1 in our betting market, she looks like great each-way value off her handicap mark of 8st 6lbs.
Dangers: Khanjar and Samburu.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
Steven is a sports and horse racing enthusiast and is a member of the Horseracing Writers and Photographers Association (HWPA) in the United Kingdom.
He is a regular visitor to Paris Longchamp for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and a lifelong fan of the Aintree Grand National, a subject he writes about 52 weeks of the year. Last year he reached the impressive milestone of attending the last 30 renewals of the Grand National.
Steven graduated from the University Of Lancaster in 1996 with a B.A (Hons) in Urban Policy & Race Relations (major) with Contemporary Religions & Belief Systems (minor) and still wonders if any of these help him find the winners?
He writes for a number of websites and online publications and you can sometimes hear him at the weekend discussing racing on a number of local radio stations.
Lewis Hamilton will have to wait until 2023 at the earliest if he hopes to win an eighth world title
After winning eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships, Mercedes are winless through 10 races in 2022
Should the Silver Arrows star retire at the end of the season?
The 2021 Formula One season ended in immense frustration for Mercedes. The 2022 campaign has provoked similar emotions amid porpoising issues and a severe lack of pace in comparison to Ferrari and Red Bull.
Mercedes have not been at the back of the midfield like the Scuderia endured in recent years, yet they have been comfortably third-fastest on the grid.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have generally unable to get near Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in qualifying. They have required fortune to get near the podium.
Hamilton delivered his best drive of the season at Silverstone, but the celebrations for a third place finish illustrate where their expectations are right now.
Mercedes and Hamilton are a non-factor when looking at race winner odds in Formula 1 betting. The seven-time world champion is facing his first season without a win.
Massive changes to the regulations often alter the dynamic at the top of the sport.
Mercedes still have decent raw pace if they can combat porpoising, but there is a considerable risk that the gap between themselves and the top two is not going to be closed significantly even by next season.
Hamilton will be 38 years old at the start of the 2023 campaign. He already has the most wins, poles, podiums and laps led in the sport’s long history.
How much desire is there to persevere without the chance to win an eighth title? Does Hamilton want to race through 2023 and maybe longer as no more than a betting outsider for podiums?
The demands of the F1 calendar are only getting greater. Hamilton is a fearsome competitor, and his drive at the British Grand Prix did not reflect a man ready to wave goodbye to the sport, even 15 years after his rookie campaign.
Yet, where others live for racing, Hamilton has other projects, other hobbies that must become more appealing when race wins are almost off the table.
Of course, there is no rush for a retirement decision.
Hamilton will always be able to go out on his terms – there’s no need to make a call on 2023 until the end of this season. Maybe Mercedes can close the gap, elevating their chances of title contention next year.
There is also the minor subplot of Russell outdriving Hamilton thus far this season. Perhaps this is just the younger of the British F1 drivers adapting to the car.
Even if it is, it’s a reminder that Hamilton will have a genuinely competitive teammate for the first time since 2016 if the Mercedes can give them a title-winning car.
Hamilton will be battling with the new era of Formula One stars in Russell, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
His performance in the second half of 2021 demonstrated that Hamilton can still be a champion if provided with the right equipment.
The coming weeks will determine whether the Silver Arrows can do that for him in 2023, and that might be what decides if this is the end of the greatest career in Formula 1 history.
Sam is a sports tipster, specialising in the Premier League and Champions League.
He covers most sports, including cricket and Formula One. Sam particularly enjoys those on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean – notably MLB and NBA.
Watching, writing and talking about sports betting takes up most of his time, whether that is for a day out at T20 Finals Day or a long night of basketball.
Having been writing for several years, Sam has been working with 888Sport since 2016, contributing multiple articles per week to the blog.
Steph Curry won his first Finals MVP and fourth ring in 2022
Curry is a two-time MVP and the greatest shooter in league history
There should be no question about his place among the all-time greats
Steph Curry was already a consensus top-15 player in NBA history. Then, he led the 2021-22 Golden State Warriors to his fourth NBA title, playing the best basketball of his career.
Curry produced a playoff run for the ages, with the Dubs overcoming NBA odds to see off the Boston Celtics in six games. The 2014-22 Warriors is one of the most successful NBA teams of all-time.
Curry put the Dubs on his back in 2022, producing two-way excellence throughout, including a majestic Game Four in Boston.
Most had him below Kevin Durant on the list of the greatest players in NBA history, but he has leapfrogged his former teammate with his fourth ring and first Finals MVP.
If Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are the unquestionable top three, Curry is in the next group alongside Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell and Durant.
Jordan, James and Kareem are the only three that are indisputably in front of Curry.
There’s a real debate about the best point guard of all-time between Curry and Johnson, putting him ahead of Robertson. Curry is climbing the career points and assists lists at a pace. He’s already the three-point king.
Away from the raw numbers, though, Curry’s legacy is underlined by leadership and impact.
This Warriors dynasty is built on Curry; his off-ball movement is unlike any other superstar in NBA history, his hustle and activity on defence sets an example for those around him.
That is before it is even mentioned how Curry has bent the dimensions of basketball with his unparalleled range.
This is a franchise which has dominated NBA betting for the best part of a decade. It is, as Steve Kerr said after Game Six, all about Curry.
Even when Durant was potentially the best player on the team, those two titles were built on the foundation of Curry and, to a lesser extent, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Curry is one of the highest earning NBA players ever. He’s earned every cent. There is no controversy in having him ahead of Durant all-time.
The same goes for Robertson. The question, then, for Curry being top 10 is whether he can get ahead of any of the other players listed?
The answer has to be a resounding yes. If it’s aggregate numbers you want, Curry should finish as a top-20 scorer. Getting to 7,000 assists is well within reach.
Of course, the Dubs are again legitimate title contenders in 2023 and beyond – more rings and Finals MVPs are possible.
13 years ago today, Steph Curry was selected by the Warriors with the No. 7 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Curry is at least top five ever in pure impact on the sport. For a player so unique, Curry has even tweaked his game over the last couple of years to meet the demands of the team.
He’s stronger and more durable than earlier in his career, able to play through contact on the way to the basket and playing the best defence of his life.
On his peak brilliance, longevity or legacy, a compelling argument can be made to have Curry over anyone other than Jordan, LeBron and Kareem.
It is a very different kind of dominance to that of Chamberlain, Olajuwon or O’Neal, and his game-to-game influence is genuinely unique, but the whole package is enough to make Curry a lock for the top 10.
Let's be honest - he is closer to the top five than he is to 11th.
Sam is a sports tipster, specialising in the Premier League and Champions League.
He covers most sports, including cricket and Formula One. Sam particularly enjoys those on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean – notably MLB and NBA.
Watching, writing and talking about sports betting takes up most of his time, whether that is for a day out at T20 Finals Day or a long night of basketball.
Having been writing for several years, Sam has been working with 888Sport since 2016, contributing multiple articles per week to the blog.
For two distinctly different yet entirely related reasons, Iga Swiatek’s third-round loss to Aklize Cornet at Wimbledon this summer was greeted with a great deal of shock by the media in attendance. Eyebrows were raised. This wasn’t supposed to be.
The first explanation for the amazement amounts to an obvious point, the 21-year-old Pole being ranked number one in the world to Cornet’s lowly 39.
In this respect it was a straightforward overturning of the tennis odds and an upsetting of the tennis gods that we all-too-rarely witness on centre court. In this respect, the surprise was straightforward too.
But there was something very unique about the reaction to Swiatek’s straight-sets defeat that is telling, even as tennis fans acknowledged that the Warsaw warrior looked jaded on the day and besides is typically stronger on clay.
Because as the young phenom trudged to the changing rooms, graciously applauding the crowd as she went, so ended an astonishing run of victories that stretched all the way back to February, a run that totalled 37 wins.
It was an unbeaten streak that took in six straight titles, including a second French Open triumph to add to her first, attained via spectacular means in 2020.
It was an unbeaten streak that equalled a long-standing record held by Martina Hingis. And here’s why the loss really juddered the senses: it was an unbeaten streak that went on for so long it genuinely felt like Swiatek was never going to lose again.
Naturally enough, such sustained dominance has resulted in the player becoming a firm favourite with the live betting community.
Should she ever drop a set – a seismic event that inevitably leads to her odds widening – savvy observers watch on, backing her whipped forehand deliveries to swiftly return along with footwork that is peerless. And time and again, it does.
It is a sustained dominance that has also left her feared on the circuit and understandably so.
With a complete game based on high-octane accuracy and ruthless execution from a broad range of shots, the emerging superstar has a consistent brilliance that has been described as ‘unstoppable’ in some quarters, a ‘juggernaut’ in others.
All of which begs the question as to how far she can go in the sport and what can she ultimately achieve?
Certainly, Swiatek can expect to retire years from now a fabulously wealthy individual as women’s tennis continues to grow and be financially rewarded to the extent it deserves.
Young female tennis stars in the modern era accrue a small fortune even early into their careers as evidenced by Emma Raducanu’s net worth, a talent who is ranked 11 places behind the generational Pole. In that regard, we can confidently surmise that Swiatek is already set for life.
Yet money is low on her priorities at present, with titles and her legacy to play for and though the player recently compared by John McEnroe to Serena Williams may have ‘only’ won two major tournaments to date, aged just 21 her development ceiling will rise further still; a terrifying prospect for her rivals who are already trailing behind her.
If Iga Swiatek improves on grass, and hones her craft to perfection on clay, there is every cause to suspect that in years to come she might dominate tennis in the same vein as her heroine, in doing so amassing the most grand slams in the sport’s history.
And that would make her the GOAT of tennis, undisputed.
Stephen Tudor is a freelance football writer and sports enthusiast who only knows slightly less about the beautiful game than you do.
A contributor to FourFourTwo and Forbes, he is a Manchester City fan who was taken to Maine Road as a child because his grandad predicted they would one day be good.
