In my previous post I raised some doubts about AP McCoy’s price. I therefore thought it a good time to get some selections on board.

* 2 pts win Lewis Hamilton 7/1 generally available (simultaneous 2pts lay to win F1 title at around 1.38 on Betfair)

Lewis Hamilton won SPOTY last year and if he wins the F1 title again this year, becoming the first British driver to retain it, then he should go close to winning again. He looks to have the beating of Rory McIlroy for one judging on last year’s voting. I’m not sure he will win it but his odds should hopefully shorten at some point over the summer if he builds up a lead in the championship. For example, by May last year he was 7/4 favourite for SPOTY.

At the moment he is heavily odds on to win the F1 title so this means we can lay off our stake in that competition with minimal downside with a good chance of a greater upside if he contracts a fair bit in the SPOTY market.

* 1 pt win Katarina Johnson Thompson 16/1 BetVictor, 14/1 elsewhere

This summer should hopefully see an intriguing battle between old SPOTY favourite, Jessica Ennis, and the young pretender Johnson Thompson. It remains to be seen how quickly Ennis will return to form following having a baby last year, and with Johnson Thompson in fine form with a good chance of heptathlon gold in the Beijing World Athletics Championships in August, I think it is worth backing her for SPOTY at this stage.

* 1 pt win Mo Farah 50/1 Betvictor, 33/1 elsewhere

I seem to have backed Mo for SPOTY every year for as long as I can remember without success. He has though traded at short prices on a couple of occasions, and I think there is a good chance he can trade a lot shorter than the current 50/1. Following his slightly disappointing display in last year’s London Marathon, Mo has got himself back in good form, breaking the European half-marathon record recently, and should be favourite to win at least one of the 5,000m or 10,000m in Beijing.