Right Said Fred: Talking betting with Betfred boss Fred Done

I admit I'm not the biggest Grand Prix fan...until now! This year’s competition is far from the procession with our man Lewis Hamilton forever dominating affairs.

This time culminating on Sunday at Abu Dhabi he’s got an enthralling battle on his hands with him going head to head in a winner takes all race with Max Verstappen.

To win the Driver's Championship for a record eighth time Betfred have Hamilton at 2/5 favourite.

The Dutch pretender for the crown Verstappen, who is level on points going into the grand finale, is meanwhile 7/4 for the Championship.

What has got me on tenterhooks for Sunday's showdown has been the intense rivalry of not just the two drivers but the construction top brass too.

Hamilton is,  despite his increasingly high profile,  still only third favourite at 20/1 with Betfred for the 2021 BBC Sports Personality of the Year - an honour that will be decided by public vote on December 19.

If money talks the winner of the top individual  honour in sport will be Britain's new tennis ace Emma Raducanu who is odds on favourite with us.

Turning to football - and you don't have to be the brain of Britain to think the Premier League title will be going to City, Liverpool or Chelsea.

All three are at home this weekend with the Blues playing Wolves and Chelsea hosting Leeds.

But the big one is Steven Gerrard's return to Anfield as Aston Villa manager. He'll be given a rapturous reception from the Kopp that is absolutely guaranteed.

Betfred have City 8/13 favourites for the title with Liverpool moving to second favourites at 11/4 - and Chelsea defeated at fast improving West Ham have drifted to 9/2. 

My team United, who remember were 5/1 in August, are now 80/1 to do the virtual impossible and win the title....but we can console ourselves by finishing fourth. At the bottom of the Premier League title it is building up to be battle royal with Norwich and Watford at 2/9 and 4/5 for the drop with Newcastle and Burnley also still struggling to avoid the trap door.

City despite the shock defeat at RB Leizig remain 3/1 favourites at Betfred to win the Champions League outright for the first time in their history ahead of Bayern Munich (7/2), Liverpool (11/2) while my  newlook United are a tempting 16/1.

Congratulations to IT worker Jonathan Oldfield who had an extra spring in his step as he went on his usual afternoon hike on Saturday.

He wasn’t thinking so much about the miles ahead of him, for the horse racing commentary he was listening to was what brought him the most joy.

Before stepping out, Jonathan, 55, spent five minutes picking four horses at Fairyhouse, Newbury and Doncaster – namely Dunvegan, Kapcorse, Earlofthecostwolds and Ingleby Hollow.

He had a £1.50 each-way Lucky 15 and a £2.50 each-way accumulator on those four horses, who all finished first past the post to land him a £39,519 windfall.

The father-of-three, who lives in Birmingham, says he’s still “surfing the wave”.

He went on: “I very often go on a good long walk near where we live in Warwickshire on a Saturday afternoon. I was in the middle of nowhere listening to the results come in on my headphones and it was absolutely freezing.

“The first horse, Dunvegan, scraped home, and then Kapcorse won easily, so I was feeling quite happy at that point. When the other two eventually came home, I knew I’d won a fair amount, but not exactly how much.

“I was meeting my wife in the pub later in the afternoon, after she’d been to the gym, and I couldn’t wait to tell her. She didn’t believe me, so I sent her screenshots of my phone.

“I’ve won before, but only three or four thousand pounds – this is completely off the scale!

“I tried to book a Michelin star restaurant by way of celebration, but everywhere was fully booked so we ended up going to the local steakhouse.

“What am I going to do with the money? Well, we’re getting a new kitchen that’s going to cost £16,000, and we’ll be having a great Christmas. With all the Covid restrictions, we’re going to put having a good holiday on hold for a while. "

Jonathan is obviously a canny customer, picking my pocket twice with different bets on the same horses.

I’m told he does most of the cooking, so I know where to come for a nice meal in his brand new kitchen next time I’m next in the Midlands.

Finally a regular customer from Glasgow has taken me to the cleaners with a remarkable double double on the horses.

 The 63-year-old had two bets – a 10p Lucky 63 and £4 on the Scoop6 – on six horses who all finished first past the post on Saturday, winning him a whopping £69,129.

Amazingly, it’s not the first time he’s managed the double, having won the Scoop6 and his regular Lucky 63 bet five years ago, picking up a total of £62,000 on that occasion.

This time he went for Sea Sessions, Protektorat, Snow Leopardess and Tamar Bridge at Aintree, together with Highland Hunter and Samarrive at Sandown.

The lucky winner said: “It probably took me about an hour to make my selections having gone through the papers which I get at 6.30am on a Saturday.

“I went for Highland Hunter because, although he was fifth in his last race, I thought he was the best horse this time. With Sammarive, he was seventh last time out but had won the previous two. Regarding Protektorat, I just thought he was different class – and although Snow Leopardess had been injured and has had a foal, she had been in good form.

He added: “I go into my local Betfred shop regularly. Whenever I go on holiday, in Blackpool or wherever, I always look out for a Betfred shop and absolutely love the Best Odds Guaranteed promotion.”

The taxi driver plans to buy himself a share in another racehorse with his winnings – but first and foremost he’s planning a big treat for his ill friend.

“A friend of mine has got a crumbling spine caused by all his hard work in a warehouse,” he said.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and now with this win we can go to Vegas as soon as possible. We’re sure to have a great time.

“I bought a share in a racehorse called Compton River last time I won, and we had some successes. But he’s retired now, so it’ll be nice to be back in the Owners .

This regular customer has done brilliantly well – not once but twice!

It’s quite remarkable that he’s won a double-double, and I’m humbled that he’s showing such a heart of gold by taking his mate for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Las Vegas, where hopefully his luck will hold.