This is one of my favourite markets, having landed big priced winners in the last few years (Drogba 40/1, Anelka 66/1). I was going to wait another week or so before getting involved however I've been keeping my eye on a few players in the warm up friendly internationals and have decided to get involved. One of those players is Marouane Chamakh. I don't know how to pronounce his name but he's scored tonight in his home debut for Arsenal against Milan. He's come on a free from Bordeaux but the big Morocco international could be just what Arsenal has been looking for upfront and we know the club scores lots of goals these days.

It can take weeks for players to adjust to the Premiership but the fact that he's notched one against class opposition tonight is encouraging.

He's 33/1 with Paddy Power and VC so I've had 2pts each way at 33/1 (1/4 1,2,3,4) on Chamakh.

We look to be in a good position here. The current standings and latest best prices are as follows:

Paul Hanagan 111 wins 4/6
Ryan Moore 98 wins 6/4
Richard Hughes 98 wins16/1

Richard Hughes rode three winners yesterday including two at Goodwood to almost certainly land our bet on him to be the top jockey at the meeting. You may recall Richard took a week's holiday/suspension the week before Goodwood and during that time Ryan Moore rode a handful of winners for Hannon which RH would have ridden had he been available. RH has outscored RLM at Goodwood 7-3 so far and rode at Newmarket last night to pick up another winner (whereas RLM didn't ride in the evening). RH has now drawn level with RLM and I think he's value to finish in front of him in November. RLM is suspended for two days - 5/6 August.

RLM is 6/4 to win the championship, RH is 16/1 with PP and Bet365. Obviously we will win a substantial sum with our bets at 40/1 if Paul Hanagan can keep his lead. In addition we've already had 5pts on Hughes at 14/1. I've had a further 5pts on Hughes this morning at 16/1 with Paddy P as I think if Paul is to be caught then it's more likely to be by RH than RLM.

We've already opened our portfolio with a small bet on Kvitova in the ladies' event. Now the American hard court warm-up tournaments are under way they should offer us some clues to the final grand slam of the year. I've just had 1pt each way Marion Bartoli at 150/1. This price is available with Betfred and Stan James as I write. She is the defending champion at the Stanford tournament taking place this week. She is playing well too and as I write is a set and a break up against Aza despite the latter having held a 3-0 HTH going into the match.

Bartoli is not the most stylish of players. In fact whereas most top players make the game look easy she does the opposite and somehow makes it look an impossibly difficult sport. Nonetheless, win or lose against Aza (20/1 for US Open), 150/1 is a bit of value.

Goodwood starts on Tuesday and all being well I will be at Galway races that day enjoying a second day's racing. Richard Hughes has some very attractive mounts and is a strong contender for Goodwood Top Jockey. I've had five points at 2/1 with Stan James that he will be. Canford Cliffs should win the Sussex Stakes on Wednesday (and Richard should also win the previous race on King Torus or Major Art). Hannon has been having loads of winners so stable confidence is high.

My big punting events of the summer - French Open, Wimbledon and the World Cup - have helped me achieve over 300pts profit on blog bets so far this year. So now it's time for a bookmaker financed racing trip to Galway. I've been to Galway several times in the last decade but have not been to the summer racing festival since 1995. I'm looking forward to it.

Anyone who has read any of my Ireland track visit reports will know that my betting strategy concerns trading value prices on-course on the Irish tote. Galway of course has a very strong market so trading discrepancies are likely to be minimal compared to Ireland's smaller meetings. But it should be a good craic nonetheless.

As a consequence there will be reduced blog recommendations over the next ten days or so.