The trainer of Dunguib (4/6 fav with totesport for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle) has dismissed the chance of the seven year-old running in the Champion Hurdle at this month’s Cheltenham Festival.

The gelding is unbeaten in his last eight starts, including victory in last month’s Deloitte Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown.

Dunguib, who won the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham last year, had been talked about as potential runner in the Champion Hurdle (10/3 joint favs Go Native and Solwhit) later this month.

But Phillip Fenton has confirmed that connections see the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle as his target for the Festival.

Speaking to At The Races, the trainer insisted: “We are sticking with the original plan. The Supreme Novices’ Hurdle is where we’re going and we have tunnel vision about it now. That’s his race.”

Make sure you keep a regular check on the totesport.com horse racing betting markets ahead of the Cheltenham Festival – which begins on March 16.

Jack Collison has called on his Welsh compatriots to qualify for Euro 2012 ahead of their friendly against Sweden (11/10 to beat Wales in the 90 minute betting) on Wednesday night.

The West Ham midfielder believes the game against the Swedes is a good opportunity for Wales’ promising young squad to show they can compete with the top European nations ahead of the start of qualifying for Euro 2012.

John Toshack’s team have been put in Group G alongside England (2/7 to win the group), Switzerland (5/1), Bulgaria (8/1) and Montenegro (33/1) and are 16/1 with totesport.com to qualify for the tournament after the tough draw.

With Simon Church (15/2 first goalscorer against Sweden), Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Chris Gunther and Wayne Hennessey all likely to be prominent in Wales qualifying campaign the future of Welsh football looks bright.

However, Collison believes that now is the time for the Wales squad to deliver and believes the game against the Sweden will serve as a good litmus test to see how far the squad might go.

“We’ve a lot of a good young players who have come through together and there has been a lot of talk about this good group,” said Collison.

“It is about time to start showing it - and we have a great opportunity for us on Wednesday before we start the qualifiers.”

Don’t forget to check out Totesport.com for all the international football betting ahead of this week’s friendly.

Wales will be without the forward duo of hooker Gareth Williams and lock Deiniol Jones for the remainder of the Six Nations because of injury.

Williams picked up a knee injury in the 31-24 victory over Scotland while Jones came off with a rib injury in the 26-20 defeat to France (1/33 to win the Six Nations outright) on Friday night.

The injuries leaves coach Warren Gatland with a selection headache ahead of the game against Ireland (4/11 to win the triple crown) in two weeks time with Gethin Jenkins, Dwayne Peel, Mike Phillips, Alun Wyn Jones and Andy Powell all either doubtful or out of the game at Croke Park.

Gatland will also be hopeful that the 14 of the players he has released from his 32-man squad to play for their clubs this weekend don’t pick up any problems, especially Matthew Rees as he prepares to play for the Scarlets (150/1 to be Magners League grand final winners) against Ulster (25/1) at the Parc y Scarlets on Friday night.

The Wales coach will hope the weekends fixtures serve as a chance for some of his squad to get some game time under their belts with the likes of scrum-half Mike Phillips having not played much rugby in the last few months.

Phillips will more than likely be involved for the Ospreys in their clash against Edinburgh on Sunday, along with compatriots Andrew Bishop, Dan Biggar, Tom Prydie, Kristian Phillips and Ian Gough as they look to play their way into contention.

Don’t forget to check out Totesport.com this weekend for the domestic rugby betting ahead of the restart of the Six Nations.

Leeds Carnegie head coach Neil Back has paid tribute to the side’s fans as the Headingley outfit look to defy the odds and remain in the Guinness Premiership for next season (8/11 To Finish Bottom).

Leeds have given their survival chances a shot in the arm with back-to-back wins against Sale Sharks (11/2 To Finish Bottom) and London Wasps ahead of the visit of Saracens this weekend.

The Men in Black edged the league meeting between the sides at Vicarage Road back in October, but Carnegie will be confident ahead of Sunday’s return.

And England World Cup 2003 winner Back believes his side can pull off another ‘Great Escape’ act as they bid to end their yo-yo status.

He told the BBC: “If we continue to play like that we are going to challenge and put pressure on anyone and we should get the results we need to achieve our objectives this year.

“This victory was not just about the 23 involved today, it’s about the whole squad and I’m very proud of the whole squad.

“The guys outside the 23 are the ones that really contribute to our success, and continue to, and they need to for the rest of the season. They work hard in training and all keep the standards very high at the club.

“I have to fight back the tears. I am an emotional guy and I don’t let many people see that. It was an extremely proud moment for the whole management team and the whole squad today.

“The fans have always been fantastic. They haven’t been great in number, but they’ve always been very passionate, very loyal to us and gave us tremendous support and that was the case again today.”

Ireland captain Robbie Keane has pulled out of Giovanni Trapattoni’s squad to face Brazil (Ireland 9/2, draw 13/5, Brazil 1/2) at the Emirates on Tuesday night.

Keane (knee) is joined on the sidelines by key centre-half Richard Dunne who has a strain following his involvement in Aston Villa’s Carling Cup final defeat against Manchester United at Wembley on Sunday.

Trapattoni, who is eager to draw a line under the Thierry Henry handball incident during last autumn’s World Cup finals play-off second leg, has reacted to Keane’s injury by calling up Hibernian’s former Arsenal youngster Anthony Stokes.

Wolfsburg striker Grafite has been included in the Brazil squad after originally being omitted by head coach Dunga.

The five-times World Cup winners flew to London on Monday without Sevilla ace Luis Fabiano so Grafite was handed a late call.

Liverpool midfielder Lucas is the only Premier League-based player included in Brazil’s 23-man squad, with Santos’ on-loan Manchester City forward Robinho (13/8 Anytime Goalscorer) also in the party.

Be sure to check out totesport.com for the rest of the midweek football betting.

Hibernian striker Anthony Stokes has been called up by Republic of Ireland for the injured Robbie Keane for Tuesday’s international friendly against Brazil at Emirates Stadium (Republic of Ireland 9/2 draw 5/2 Brazil 8/15 - match betting).

On-loan striker Keane aggravated a knee injury in Celtic’s defeat by Rangers on Sunday and pulled out of the squad later that night.

Republic manager Giovanni Trapattoni could give Portsmouth’s Marc Wilson and Manchester City’s Greg Cunningham their debuts, while experienced pair Richard Dunne and Damien Duff both played on Sunday.

Dunne was part of the Aston Villa side that lost to Manchester United in the Carling Cup final on a heavy Wembley pitch, while Fulham winger Duff played in the goalless draw at Sunderland.

Wigan’s James McCarthy (16/1 First and Last Goalscorer) did not train on Sunday because of an ankle injury but he remains in line to win a first cap after refusing to switch allegiance to his native Scotland.

“Scotland never chose me. I wasn’t good enough,” said McCarthy on Sunday.

“Ireland picked me in their (youth) squads. Sean McCaffrey picked me in those squads and I was delighted and all my family are happy with it.”

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Carling Cup hero Wayne Rooney is a doubt for the international friendly against Egypt on Wednesday (England 3/10 draw 16/5 Egypt 8/1 - match betting) because of a knee injury, according to Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

The red-hot England striker took his goals tally to 28 in all competitions (Rooney 3/10 Premier League Top Goalscorer) this season with a winning header in the 2-1 victory over Aston Villa at Wembley on Sunday.

The 24-year-old was introduced from the substitutes’ bench just before half-time for the injured Michael Owen, who now faces three weeks out because of a hamstring injury, and Ferguson revealed Rooney had been playing with some discomfort for a few weeks.

“He got a whack right away,” Ferguson said. “He has been complaining about that for a few weeks and I thought we might have to take him off.

“The doctors are assessing it. I don’t know what England are going to do.”

England manager Fabio Capello is expected to make a decision on Rooney’s availability for Wednesday’s visit of the African Nations Cup winners in the next 24 hours.

Don’t miss your chance to check out the midweek international firendly coupon and ante-post football betting opportunities on totesport.com.

Brad Davis reckons his Bath (11/8 to win – Guinness Premiership coupon) side could be meeting Saracens at the right time in the Guinness Premiership.

The Bath coach told BBC Radio Bristol that he has seen his side looking confident in recent weeks and they face Saracens (4/7 to win, 18/1 draw – Guinness Premiership coupon) at Vicarage Road today looking to cause an upset.

Bath sit seventh in the Guinness Premiership table while their hosts this afternoon are third and close to battling for the title.

Davis has to cope for the game without Butch James, their dominant stand-off, and he has been replaced by Ryan Davis.

Better news for Bath fans is the return of Olly Barkley in midfield as he makes his first appearance since being out of action with a broken leg.

Davis said: “For the last few weeks, everyone’s come in with a bit of a spring in their step, looking forward to training, looking forward to matches and looking forward to continuing this run.

“Things are going well for us at the moment, we should continue to keep building.”

Elsewhere in the Guinness Premiership on Sunday afternoon, Leeds Carnegie take on Wasps (Leeds 7/4, draw 18/1, Wasps 6/9 – match coupon) while London Irish play host to Harlequins at the Madejski Stadium (Irish 2/7, draw 20/1, Harlequins 5/2 – match coupon).

Rangers manager Walter Smith reckons today’s Old Firm derby is of vital importance for both them and Celtic (2/1 to win – Rangers v Celtic coupon).

The Glasgow rivals are currently separated by seven points in the Scottish Premier League and victory for Rangers (13/10, draw 12/5 – Rangers v Celtic) could see them extend their lead to a massive ten points plus a game in hand.

Celtic will be gunning for victory in the lunch-time kick off to cut the deficit to four points and keep their faint hopes of winning the title still alive (Rangers 1/6, Celtic 7/2 – Scottish Premier League outright 2009/2010).

Smith is hoping that goalkeeper Allan McGregor will be fit to play in the game after being attacked on a night out, while he also expects Lee McCulloch to be able to take part.

The Rangers manager said the match was “a must-win game” for both Rangers and Celtic.

“We’ve got to go into the game hoping to win it. Both teams are exactly the same,” said the former national manager.

“There are quite a number of games to be played so it’s too early for us to be making assumptions about championships.”

The biggest injury worry for Celtic concerns on-loan striker Robbie Keane (6/1 – First Goalscorer), who has not trained this week and is due to be assessed by medical staff before the kick-off.

Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill is confident that the players in his squad are capable of winning Sunday’s Carling Cup final against Manchester United (Villa 7/4, United 2/5 Carling Cup Winner).

The two sides go head-to-head at Wembley for the season’s first piece of silverware and O’Neill will be boosted by the news skipper Stiliyan Petrov has overcome a virus, while keeper Brad Friedel, defender James Collins and striker Emile Heskey are all pushing for a start after being rested in the FA Cup fifth-round replay win over Crystal Palace.

O’Neill, who won the League Cup while in charge of Leicester, is confident that Villa can win the game (Villa 7/2, United 20/23, draw 13/5 Carling Cup 90 Minutes) after their victory over United at Old Trafford in the Premier League.

The Northern Irishman said: “We have some players in brilliant form who can cause them problems.

“Our confidence comes from being the only team to win at Old Trafford in the league this season. We played exceptionally well that day. But Sunday’s game will be open.”

On the prospect of winning his first trophy since taking over at Villa Park four years ago, O’Neill added: “Winning a trophy is the ultimate. There is no getting away from that and it would be fantastic.

“We have a lot of pictures of the old teams around the training ground. It is something to aspire to.

“I have often said to keep the pictures up on the walls of the 1981 league-winning side and 1982 European Cup-winning side. The early 1980s was a fantastic spell for Villa.

“The history of the club is there to see, a great tradition, so we’d like to try and do something about it.”

Don’t miss your chance to check out Carling Cup final match betting opportunities and ante-post football bets on totesport.com.