RIght Said Fred: Talking Betting With Betfred Boss Fred Done

Minella Times will be close to  matching Red Rum’s heroics if Rachael Blackmore gets last year’s winner first past the post in Saturday’s Grand National at Aintree.

Back in 1974 Red Rum shouldered a record 12 stone to win…and this year Minella Times is the top weight at 11 stone 10Ibs.

That will make the going tough for Blackmore, who despite her huge public support is unlikely to start favourite with us seeing plenty on Charlie Longsdon-trained Snow Leopardess.

In fact, the way it’s going is if this working mother should triumph my pockets will be emptied to the tune of more than a million quid.  

My advice if you fancy a flutter on the world’s greatest horse race is get your bet on early for we take more on this single race than a whole day during the Cheltenham Festival – and its all hands to the pumps at our Betfred shops where it is easily our busiest day of the year. 

It’s looking more and more likely that the Premier League title race will go right down to the wire – although this Sunday’s game at the Etihad between City and Liverpool is absolutely pivotal.

The Blues have the much stronger squad. So often when Pep Guardiola makes changes from the bench, the team looks just as strong if not stronger.

You just can’t say that about Liverpool, although Jurgen Klopp’s superstar team does have the elite finishers capable of getting the team over the line even if not performing at their best.

Both go into Sunday’s showdown, which really is a must-watch, on the back of 2-0 victories over relegation-threatened Burnley and Watford as well as Champions League quarter final first leg victories.

I’ve already paid out, before Christmas in fact, on City retaining their crown – to the tune of £750,000 – and the Blues are still odds-on at 4/9 with us to get the job done, while Liverpool can be backed at 13/8.

I’m still not worried… I promise! In fact for what it’s worth I reckon City will win on Sunday 2-0 and will also win 1-0 in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley the following Saturday. Fancy that? Well that would be available with us at 125/1.

Finally, I was delighted to fulfil a request from the family of one of our loyal customers, John Molloy from Coventry who unfortunately passed away recently aged 64, who wanted a Betfred flag to be draped over his coffin.

A binman for 20 years, John also had betting slips and his snooker cue in his coffin at a service attended by 200 people.

The family wanted his send-off to be a celebration of John’s life, and Betfred was part of that which proves to me how our shops are a community asset.