Events / David Croft / 30 November 2007 / Leave a comment

The BBC's David Croft talks us through the Sports Personality of the Year betting

This week I've been recording the annual Sports Personality of the Year Awards programme for BBC London 94.9, a hugely enjoyable few days I must say and although I can't spill the beans as to who has won before Sunday 2nd December, all 15 winners were particularly deserving of their award.

The show goes out a week before the main Sports Personality of the Year on BBC 1, a show that some of my Formula 1 commentary may just feature in. Throughout 2007 there has been only one candidate it seems, such has been the success of Lewis Hamilton. The 22 year old from Stevenage has re-written the rulebooks on how a rookie should approach his first season in the sport and although he missed out on winning the world title, the BBC Award should be a shoe in surely, shouldn't it? Well I'm not so sure he's as much of a shoe in as he was back in May or June when he won his first race. Maybe there's been a bit of Lewis Hamilton overkill in the media and that we may see the backlash on Sunday 9th December. I hope not, he deserves the award as bar one piece of poor judgement in China this year, Lewis has excelled in difficult and challenging circumstance.

At the moment though Betfair punters agree that Lewis should emerge as the winner, the Mclaren driver is currently trading at [1.37] leaving no value whatsoever. Luckily though there is a market with Betfair for the Sports Personality winner without Lewis and here there are some standout bets to be made. Joe Calzaghe, who for instance will have his promoter Frank Warren shouting from the rooftops that he deserves the accolade, which of course after his win against Mikkel Kessler and record of 44 wins from 44 fights, he does. Warren's column in the Sun may help his man to plenty of votes so the price of [4.2] is tempting. Ricky Hatton at [2.2] is the favourite, due of course to his mega fight against Floyd Mayweather the night before, but in backing Hatton you run the risk that he may lose the fight, if he does I can't see him coming close to the top 3, let alone lifting the gong. Personally I think Hatton will come out on top in Vegas, I know he's stepping up in weight and the last time he did that he struggled, but his camp say he's in tip top condition and he has had the benefit of more preparation time than he did against Louis Collazo. So I'm already thinking that backing Ricky at [3.05] with Betfair to beat Mayweather could pay for a very nice Christmas.

Anyway back to the Sports Personality of the Year and a handy tip for punters, never count out the housewife's favourite when it comes to the voting. Remember last year and Darren Clarke? Wasn't he a hot favourite for the trophy and then on the night up pops Zara Philips to take it. Well in 2007 you can replace Zara with Paula Radcliffe who's currently trading at [5.5] in the market without Lewis Hamilton. It's not inconceivable that Paula could attract a large amount of votes once the pictures of her Super Mum New York marathon triumph are beamed across the country

Elsewhere Justin Rose, Golf's order of merit winner is available at [65] with Betfair without Lewis, he may sneak into the Sports Personality Top 3 after a fabulous year and you can back him at [15.5] with Betfair to do just that. I fully expect Justin to carry on in 2008 where he left off in 2007, he's a tremendous talent and his order of merit victory might lift some of the pressure off his shoulders in the future. He's trading with Betfair at [36] for the 2008 Masters, now there's a bet!

One more sportsman worth a mention for a Top 3 finish is Frankie Dettori. After 14 attempts he finally landed the Epsom Derby in 2007 giving Authorized a brilliant ride and his price of [8.2] for the TV Top 3 is worth considering.

I'm looking forward to the show, not just because of my commentary on it, but for me it's always been a highlight of the year. Even though the BBC doesn't have the sports rights they used to enjoy, this celebration of the great and good of the sporting world is something worth preserving. For Lewis Hamilton hopefully it will be a night to celebrate, after all when he moves to Switzerland next year he won't be eligible for the award, so this could be his once chance, and in a year when the main sports of football, cricket and rugby failed to turn up a worthy winner, Formula 1 should take the plaudits.

To read more about the SPOTY award go to:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/sports_personality_of_the_year/default.stm

Tags: boxing betting, Lewis Hamilton, Ricky Hatton betting, Sports Personality of the Year betting