HE’S MOORE THAN JUST A CHAMPION June 14, 2010 ON 15th May 2000, at the tender age of 16, Ryan Moore steered Mersey Beat to victory in a hurdle race at Towcester. “I learnt to ride at Grandad’s”, he tells me on his way to ride at Salisbury in relentless pursuit of his fourth flat jockey’s title in five years. “I originally thought I [...]
Flamboyance saved for off the field June 14, 2010 THIS World Cup has begun just as expected. Off the field it’s a fantastic carnival atmosphere, full of excitement, but on the park, it’s cagey with nowhere near the same flamboyance. I was at last night’s game between Italy v Paraguay at a freezing cold Cape Town – and it pretty much summed up a [...]
Welcome relief for unconvincing Dutch June 14, 2010 HOLLAND (2) vs DENMARK (0) NETHERLANDS coach Bert van Marwijk admitted his side got out of jail with a “lucky” goal – but insisted they should have caned the Danes with plenty more. A freak own goal from Liverpool defender Daniel Agger just 50 seconds into the second half eased Dutch nerves following a tepid [...]
I can unlock Wallabies, vows frustrated Barkley June 14, 2010 OLLY BARKLEY believes coach Martin Johnson is missing a trick by omitting him from England’s Test line-ups. The Bath playmaker has once again been included in England’s midweek squad side to take on the Australian Barbarians in Gosford this morning. But Barkley feels his more expansive game is better suited to be pitted against the [...]
Rusty Italy get off to slow start June 14, 2010 ITALY (1) vs PARAGUAY (1) HOLDERS Italy began the defence of their trophy with a share of the spoils against a plucky Paraguay in a disappointing encounter in Cape Town. The Italians started slowly and were made to pay when the South Americans took a shock lead on 39 minutes when Antolin Alacarez out-jumped Fabio [...]
Striker Mutu forced to pay Chelsea £14.1m June 14, 2010 ADRIAN MUTU has been ordered to pay Chelsea a whopping €17m (£14.1m) by the Swiss Federal Court after losing his lengthy legal battle with the Blues. The court yesterday upheld the decision by Fifa and the Court of Arbitration for Sport to rule against the Romanian striker and bring an end to a five-year battle. [...]
International raiders set to steal the show on Ascot’s opening day June 14, 2010 FIVE days of quality racing gets underway this afternoon with arguably the race of the week, the Queen Anne Stakes. Last year’s winner Paco Boy meets multiple Group One winners GOLDIKOVA and Rip Van Winkle in a mouth-watering clash. My slight preference is for the French wonder mare who last month won the eighth Group [...]
the INSIDER June 14, 2010 If you followed this column at Cheltenham, which was extremely profitable, you would understand that precautions need to be taken when you face five days of racing. The main requirement is not to go bust, so if we start with a bank of £1,000, the maximum we can bet per race is 10%. If SHEER [...]
Dropping Green will ruin his confidence June 13, 2010 AS calamitous as Robert Green’s mistake was on Saturday night, not playing him for the second game against Algeria on Friday night would do more harm than good. You really have to feel sorry for Green. Mistakes like that don’t happen too much in top-flight football, but the way he held his hands up, then [...]
I’m sorry, says calamity keeper June 13, 2010 ROBERT GREEN last night issued a humbling apology to England players and supporters for his howler against the USA on Saturday night. The West Ham keeper fumbled Clint Dempsey’s innocuous 25-yard shot to hand the USA a share of the spoils in Rustenburg on Saturday night. But he says the error will make him doubly [...]