Hi all,

just a quick post to remind people that the SPOTY shortlist is revealed today. Should be interesting.

My initial thoughts are that each of the 10 nominees (for there are 10 of them) should come down in pricea bit. But having said that the market is behaving a little strangely at the moment. There is a lot of jockeying for position and Darren Clarke's odds are the pivot. People who have strong portfolios on some of the outsiders seem to be buying into Darren Clarke's odds so that they can equalise their profits, which is making him an even stronger favourite than he was a week ago.

Amazing really, that having announced last week that he wouldn't feel happy receiving the award, and suggested Calzaghe should get the award, his odds promptly came down from about 1.6 to 1.4.

I can't call this one.

Will the sentimentalism of the UK public force D.C, who in his own words is uncomfortable about receiving the award to do so. Maybe. Or equally likely, one of the outsiders may win the vote on the day, in which case it could be one of several nominees, with Joe Calzaghe, Andrew Murray, and Beth Tweddle being my dark horses (an OK, Zara the equestrian). Maybe even David will be in the list of 10, scuppering the Sun's 'leak' of the 10 nominees. It really has turned into a reality TV market, and as such, anything goes. I suspect much will depend on the BBC edited clips on the night of the 10th. Interestingly, the BBC clips so far feature D.C. at the end of their sequence. This may point to a D.C. win, or maybe not. I wish someone from the beeb would tell me, as my charity fund needs a boost!

all the best,

FT

p.s., Jenson Button is a darker than dark horse currently at 1000 to 1, but included in the BBC preview clips. I very much doubt he will win, but maybe a place. He did win a grand prix this year and also appeared on Top Gear and talked about his sex life (he assured J. Clarkson that JB gets more of it (sex that is) than JC. Not enough to win the award, but maybe enough for a place.