We have a winner!!! Jez Gee takes the €/£100 free bet for correctly guessing Looking Out For Number One

Rightio then, this is the big one. I think this particular Katchphrase is especially tough so I’m offering a €/£100 free bet to whoever gets it right. All squares will be revealed by 2.30pm-ish and if people are struggling then, I’ll start giving clues to make sure we get a winner well before the Gold Cup…you can use the free bet on whatever you want of course but I figured this is what the masses would prefer. Good luck and good guessing.

Some simple rules to give everyone a chance.
1. No matter which saying you think the image actually portrays, it’s our answer you have to match.
2. Only one guess per person per square revealed, until the entire image is revealed and then it’s a free-for-all.
3. Complaining that the image is too vague, unrelated, badly made, artistically without merit, will be ignored.
4. You need to have a Paddy Power account to get the free bet.
5. The interpretation, bending, amending and ignoring of all rules is entirely at my discretion and if you don’t like it, don’t play.

A quick note: Please make sure to use the same email address you have registered with your Paddy Power account when you’re giving your answer here.

Posted in Cheltenham 2010, Cheltenham Katchphrase, Competitions, Horse Racing Tips, Sportsbook | 464 Comments »

We have a winner: Rik takes down the free bet with Spanning The Ages. Congratulations.

Welcome one and all. It’s the final day of Cheltenham and there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s been a bit of a shocker for the punter, so far. Things might turn around today but whatever happens I’ll be attempting to bring a little entertainment and some much needed free bets to your day.

There’s a €/£50 free bet on offer for Game 1, all you have to do is say what you see and hope your answer matches up with ours. On top of this there’s another €/£50 free bet for my favourite answer/comment of the day. Plus, if enough people are playing, I may run a particular tough Katchphrase game for a €/£100 free bet. Good luck with this one.

Some simple rules to give everyone a chance.
1. No matter which saying you think the image actually portrays, it’s our answer you have to match.
2. Only one guess per person per square revealed, until the entire image is revealed and then it’s a free-for-all.
3. Complaining that the image is too vague, unrelated, badly made, artistically without merit, will be ignored.
4. You need to have a Paddy Power account to get the free bet.
5. The interpretation, bending, amending and ignoring of all rules is entirely at my discretion and if you don’t like it, don’t play.

A quick note: Please make sure to use the same email address you have registered with your Paddy Power account when you’re giving your answer here.

Posted in Cheltenham 2010, Cheltenham Katchphrase, Competitions, Sportsbook | 320 Comments »

Winner!!! Darren takes it for correctly guessing Against The Odds. Congratulations.
The only stand-outs in running for the funny bonus, and there were very few, have all received free bets already so I’m making an executive decision and carrying it over to tomorrow, where the best non-winning answer will get a €/£50 free bet and a bag of goodies (whatever I can steal off marketing….so it may be less goodies and more just stuff). There will be a winner tomorrow regardless.

Okay then, here’s the last one of the day. I’m saving the especially difficult one for tomorrow so make sure you get a good night’s sleep. Say what you see and as always there’s €/£50 free bet for whoever gets the right answer. The bonus €/£25 for making me laugh is still there to be won. Good luck.

Some simple rules to give everyone a chance.
1. No matter which saying you think the image actually portrays, it’s our answer you have to match.
2. Only one guess per person per square revealed, until the entire image is revealed and then it’s a free-for-all.
3. Complaining that the image is too vague, unrelated, badly made, artistically without merit, will be ignored.
4. You need to have a Paddy Power account to get the free bet.
5. The interpretation, bending, amending and ignoring of all rules is entirely at my discretion and if you don’t like it, don’t play.

A quick note: Please make sure to use the same email address you have registered with your Paddy Power account when you’re giving your answer here.

Posted in Cheltenham 2010, Cheltenham Katchphrase, Competitions, Sportsbook | 262 Comments »

It’s Ladies Day at the Festival and I’m not sure what that means other than Channel 4 spending far too long on montages of women who got up at about 3am and broke out the welding iron to work on their costume for the day - probably soundtracked by a Florence and the Machine ditty.
 
We’re at the halfway point of the Festival and a change in fortune is long overdue. That change may not happen, but I’ll be bitching and moaning about it and of course keeping you up to date with the major and less than major happenings at the Cotswolds.
 
Hell Of A Horse Total: 1
Sightings Of Paddy Enjoying Corporate Hospitality At Cheltenham: 0
Fashion montages featuring a Florence and the Machine song: 3
 
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5.38pm: And with the sight of naked John McCririck running around the Cheltenham parade ring with a picture of the Queen covering his privates shouting “I’m Prince Harry’s real dad. I’m Prince Charles’ real dad. I AM THE MONARCHY!!” we bring the curtain down on our coverage of Day 3 of the Festival. Seriously, someone should really check out those treason laws - that sort of carry on just isn’t appropriate.
Maybe he’ll be feeling a little less republican tomorrow when we’ll also find out if Kauto is better than Denman, if Nicky Henderson took up that offer on an enema and perhaps most importantly, if Ivan has any photos of those wenches.
Adios. God save my Best Of Queen album.
 
5.20pm: Orna Madden - a lawyer by trade - shows the determination of a seasoned pro to win the Charity Race on board Prince Picasso. Is it just a coincidence that a lawyer wins on the day we’re trying to get John McCririck stiched up for treason? Yes, but it’s probably worth giving her a call to see if she can make it stick.
 
5.04pm: Right - this is a special race in aid of Cancer Research UK. They’re the ones who those really sad ads on TV that kind of burst you bubble when you’re having an otherwise good day. But at least they’re not loan sharks. Apparently this is the page to go to if you fancy making a donation to this worthy cause (the Cancer Research, not the loan sharks).
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Posted in Cheltenham 2010, Horse Racing Tips, Live blogs, Sportsbook | 4 Comments »

We have a winner!!: Mark takes his second free bet in three days, showing everyone else how this game is played. Either that or he’s cheating somehow. I’ll look in to it. The winning answer is Not Playing With A Full Deck.

Welcome to another day of picture guessing fun. It’s been pretty tough going for punters so far this Cheltenham so let’s see what we can do to hand out a few free bets today. As usual there’s a €/£50 free bet on offer per game as well as a €/£25 free bet for the funniest/cleverest guess of the day. A new square will be revealed every 15 minutes or so, just say what you see and that free bet could be yours. It’s not rocket science.

Good luck everyone.

Some simple rules to give everyone a chance.
1. No matter which saying you think the image actually portrays, it’s our answer you have to match.
2. Only one guess per person per square revealed, until the entire image is revealed and then it’s a free-for-all.
3. Complaining that the image is too vague, unrelated, badly made, artistically without merit, will be ignored.
4. You need to have a Paddy Power account to get the free bet.
5. The interpretation, bending, amending and ignoring of all rules is entirely at my discretion and if you don’t like it, don’t play.

A quick note: Please make sure to use the same email address you have registered with your Paddy Power account when you’re giving your answer here.

Posted in Cheltenham 2010, Cheltenham Katchphrase, Competitions, Sportsbook | 155 Comments »

Game 1 ended a little too quickly so this one is a little trickier. Just say what you think you see and the first one to guess correctly gets a €/£50 free bet. There’s also a daily €/£25 free bet for the funniest incorrect answer and one for the worst answer of the day. Even losers can be winners!!

Some simple rules to give everyone a chance.
1. No matter which saying you think the image actually portrays, it’s our answer you have to match.
2. Only one guess per person per square revealed, until the entire image is revealed and then it’s a free-for-all.
3. Complaining that the image is too vague, unrelated, badly made, artistically without merit, will be ignored.
4. You need to have a Paddy Power account to get the free bet.
5. The interpretation, bending and ignoring of all rules is entirely at my discretion and if you don’t like it, don’t play.

A quick note: Please make sure to use the same email address you have registered with your Paddy Power account when you’re giving your answer here.

We have a winner!!!. Mick takes the free bet with “Playing The Race Card”. Congratulations. Next game will start about 2pm.

Posted in Cheltenham 2010, Cheltenham Katchphrase, Competitions, Sportsbook | 168 Comments »

Today honour the man who brought Christianity to Ireland. And judging by the crowds lining the streets of every town in the country, underage drinking. Of equal/more importance [delete depending on what side of the Irish Sea your heart belongs to] is Day 2 of Cheltenham.
 
It was a disappointing day 1. Of course in terms of the big names flopping, but more crucially in terms of the low number of Hell Of A Horses we got. Likewise, we didn’t see much of Paddy after Dunguib lost out in the Supreme Novices’. He is missing, presumed naked and hungover somewhere in the Cotswold. We’ll keep you up to date with all the major events and a lot more minor events happening throughout the day at Cheltenham.
 
Hell Of A Horse Total: 0
Sightings Of Paddy Enjoying Corporate Hospitality At Cheltenham: 0
Humourous Freudian slips: 1
 
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5.45pm: Well that’s it for Day 2 of Cheltenham. I don’t why it’s taken me twenty minutes to realise that, but it’s just been that sort of a day. Another tough day all round - we didn’t spot Paddy, no-one said Hell Of A Horse and worst of all, John McCririck’s Freudian slip was a false dawn in terms of amusing sex-related slip-ups. come back tomorrow where I’ll be licking my wounds by slagging off anyone I don’t like.

Slan leat and raise a glass to St. Paddy if you get the chance.
(more…)

Posted in Cheltenham 2010, Live blogs, Sportsbook | 2 Comments »

We managed to get all 9 squares revealed in Game 1 before Gemma guessed correctly and I fancy our chances of stringing this one out too. Prove me wrong though and a €/£50 free bet is yours!

Some simple rules to give everyone a chance.
1. No matter which saying you think the image actually portrays, it’s our answer you have to match.
2. Only one guess per person per square revealed, until the entire image is revealed and then it’s a free-for-all.
3. Complaining that the image is too vague, unrelated, badly made, artistically without merit, will be ignored.
4. You need to have a Paddy Power account to get the free bet.

A quick note: Please make sure to use the same email address you have registered with your Paddy Power account when you’re giving your answer here.

Result: Peter Rickard got in there first with Down To The Wire…Congratulations, the free bet shall be in your account shortly.

Posted in Cheltenham Katchphrase, Competitions, Sportsbook | 178 Comments »

And the results are in for Day 1 of the Pun v Punter competition. It went down to the wire, but while Nottingham Forest turned our Championship treble into a dead duck with a terrible opening 12 1st half minutes in Preston, Kevin’s was on the other side of it have included Preston in his treble. He has landed a £50 Free Bet for his efforts. Well done Kevin, 1 out of five ain’t bad and it’s significantly better than none out of five.
 
If you fancy being our pundit for Thursday or Friday, see below for details on how to put your name forward.

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We’ve got our match-up for Tuesday’s Pun v Punter competition.

It’s the might of the Paddy Power Pun Department versus Kevin Hughes.
 
Kevin is a charming young man who enjoys reading, thinks David Beckham being injured for the World Cup doesn’t really matter a toss because he was hardly going to play anyway and one day he’d like to bring world peace to all mankind. None of that may be true, but it’s the type of thing they say on quizzes so I thought we’d run with it.
 
The events we’re asking Kevin for tips for are:
1. A 1st Goalscorer bet for the Chelsea v Inter Milan match.
2. A Correct Score bet for the Sevilla v CSKA Moscow match
3. The winner of the Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham
4. A Top Runscorer bet in the Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings IPL match
5. A treble on the Championship matches on Tuesday night
 
The tips we’ve shoehorned into a pun are as follows (see the homepage for the full beauty of the puns):
- Michael Ballack 1st goalscorer @ 12/1
- 2-1 Sevilla @ 7/1
- Freny’s Well to be placed in the Cross Country Chase @ 4/1 (4 places)
- Matthew Hayden to be Chennai Top Runscorer @ 5/2
- Coventry, Reading and Notts Forest all to win @ just under 10/1
 
Kevin’s gone with a selection that sounds far more likely to happen:
- Didier Drogba 1st goalscorer @ 7/2
- 2-0 Sevilla @ 11/2
- L’Ami to win the Cross Country Chase @ 10/3
- Sourav Ganguly to be top Kolkata Runscorer @ 7/2
- Preston, Leicester and Reading @ just over 8/1

If Kevin gets more profit to a £1 stake than us, he’ll e-walk away with a £50 Free Bet.
 
If you just want to show off your tipping skills or warm up for an attempt later in the week, you can leave your tips or comments below. Alternatively, you can try to get in on the action and put your name down for the draw to be Wednesday’s punter by emailing competitions@paddypower.com with the subject line ‘I’m Going To Kick Your Pun Loving Asses‘

Posted in Cheltenham 2010, Cricket, Sportsbook | 1 Comment »

Everyone’s really busy getting ready for Cheltenham, so what better time to launch a vague and complicated competition? In fairness, it’s not that complicated. Regular readers of the paddypower.com homepage will have noticed our quality tipping mixed with pun-work. Well, maybe quality isn’t the right word, but they’re there none the less.
 
It’s called Pun v Pundit and as the name suggest it pits your tipping skills against our pun/tipping skills. We’ll ask for your tips on a selection of events that we’ll be punning up on the homepage. If you end up with a bigger profit to a £1 stake for your tips than our homepage stories manage, you’ll get a £/€50 Free Bet. Simple as.
 
Email competitions@paddypower.com with the subject line ‘I’m Going To Kick Your Pun Loving Asses‘ and we’ll draw one lucky person to play for each day of the Cheltenham Festival.
 
Stuff you need to know:
- We’ll need to use your real name.
- You’ll need to have a paddypower.com account to play.
- We’re going to need your answers before 10am on the day itself.
- Prices will the settled at the price the selection is at 10am on the day.
- It’s our ball and we reserve the right to walk off with it in a strop if things don’t go our way. Not really, but our decision is final.
 
We’re going to pick our first contestant on Monday evening and then we’ll reveal what events we need your tips for.

Posted in Cheltenham 2010, Competitions, Sportsbook | 1 Comment »