Betting Preview – Thursday 18th December 2014

The 2015 World Darts championship gets underway at the Ally Pally in London while the Dubai Open starts in the early hours and four race meetings take place across the UK.

HORSE RACING
There are four meetings in the UK on Thursday – they are:

Southwell (12:30pm, Flat)
Towcester (12:40pm, National Hunt)
Exeter (12:50pm, National Hunt)
Kempton (4:15pm, Flat)

They also race at Meydan in the UAE from 3:20pm, the Vaal in South Africa from 10:10am and Deauville in France from 11:00am.

FOOTBALL
There are four matches live on TV on Thursday from Italy and Spain – they are:

Italian Serie A – Cagliari v Juventus (6:00pm kick-off, live on BT Sport 1)
Spanish Copa del Rey, Fourth Round, Second-Leg – Atletico Madrid v Hospitalet (7:00pm kick-off, live on Sky Sports 5)
Italian Serie A – Napoli v Parma (8:00pm kick-off, live on BT Sport 1)
Spanish Copa del Rey, Fourth Round, Second-Leg – Malaga v Deportivo La Coruna (9:00pm kick-off, live on Sky Sports 5)

CRICKET
Action from the Big Bash takes place on Thursday as the Adelaide Strikers take on the Melbourne Stars (live on Sky Sports 1 from 8:00am) at the Adelaide Oval. Staying in Australia, where the second day of the Second Test between Australia and India continues at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (live on Sky Sports 2 from 6:00am). Elsewhere, the second day of the opening Test between South Africa and the West Indies continues in Centurion (live on Sky Sports 2 from 8:25am).

DARTS
The World Darts Championship gets underway at the Alexandra Palace in London on Thursday 9live on Sky 2 & Sky Sports 3 from 7:00pm) – the opening matches on Thursday are:

PDC World Championship – John Part v Keegan Brown (7:00pm)
PDC World Championship – Jelle Klaasen v Christian Kist (9:00pm)
PDC World Championship – Michael van Gerwen v John Cullen (10:00pm)

GOLF
The 2015 Dubai Open gets underway in the early hours of Thursday morning at 3:05am Irish-time with Tommy Fleetwood the outright favourite for success in the UAE.

GREYHOUNDS
There are seven BAGS cards on Thursday – they are:

Sunderland (11:03am)
Sheffield (11:11am)
Romford (2:08pm)
Crayford (2:18pm)
Sittingbourne (6:28pm)
Monmore (6:33pm)
Newcastle (6:39pm)
They also race at Hove (7:31pm) and Henlow (7:39pm) on Racing Post Greyhound TV.