Jockey goads rivals at Ascot June 17, 2014 JOCKEY James Doyle last night apologised for goading his rivals after piloting Kingman to glory in the St James’s Palace Stakes on the first day of Royal Ascot. Doyle turned to face the field and pressed his finger to his lips after the 8/11 favourite saw off rival Night Of Thunder, who beat Kingman in [...]
Cipriani shines on Test audition June 17, 2014 RUGBY UNION: Fly-half Danny Cipriani boosted his hopes of featuring in Saturday’s final Test in New Zealand with a promising display in England’s 38-7 win over Super Rugby side Crusaders yesterday. Regular No10 Owen Farrell has been ruled out of the third Test against the All Blacks with a knee injury.
Cavendish wins Swiss stage four June 17, 2014 CYCLING: Britain’s Mark Cavendish won stage four at the Tour of Switzerland to help Omega Pharma Quick-Step team-mate Tony Martin retain his six-second lead in the general classification. Team Sky’s Sir Bradley Wiggins crashed on the 160.4km leg, leaving him 14 minutes 43 seconds off the pace.
Box clever by backing Burano and Queensberry Rules in Hunt Cup June 17, 2014 BILL ESDAILE PREVIEWS THE ROYAL HUNT CUP, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE AND QUEEN MARY STAKES PUNTERS like nothing more than solving a complex handicap puzzle and there is no race run at Ascot all week that is more difficult to find the winner of than the Royal Hunt Cup (5.00pm). There have been only two successful [...]
Take Stoute to enhance Duke of Cambridge record with Integral June 17, 2014 SKY LANTERN is the current favourite for today’s Group Two Duke of Cambridge Stakes (4.25pm) and considering she’s a four-time winner at the top level and is dropping a grade, many of you will think the 3/1 available is fair value. But I think she is begging to be taken on. Unlike yesterday’s Queen Anne [...]
Spanish Pipedream to show Queen Mary rivals a clean pair of heels June 17, 2014 THE QUEEN Mary Stakes (3.05pm) is always a difficult race to decipher with a huge field of mostly unexposed two-year-old fillies going hell for leather over a straight five furlongs. It’s fast and furious and today’s edition looks another blinder. Despite the large number of runners, only three of the last 10 runnings have been [...]
Mukhadram to chase home superstar Treve June 17, 2014 BILL ESDAILE PREVIEWS THE PRINCE OF WALES’S, SANDRINGHAM AND JERSEY STAKES THERE is always a horse or two that steals the show at Royal Ascot. Last year it was the Queen’s Estimate and in 2012 it was Frankel and Black Caviar. Without doubt the animal with the best chance of etching its name on Ascot [...]
Sturridge: I’ll be happy to see Suarez in crunch clash June 16, 2014 WITH Uruguay striker Luis Suarez having declared himself fit for Thursday’s win or bust clash with England, his Liverpool strike partner is relishing their head-to-head but has warned the two-time World Cup winners are by no means a one-man team. Suarez played no part in his country’s surprise defeat to Costa Rica due to recent knee [...]
Golf Comment: Kaymer’s 72 and 69 just as good as his pair of 65s June 16, 2014 NOT since the height of Tiger Woods’s dominance have we seen a Major victory as extraordinary as Martin Kaymer’s eight-shot win at the US Open on Sunday. The German loves the challenge of being out in front. Kaymer led from the start in claiming the Players Championship last month, and did it again in incredible [...]
World Cup: Muller magic puts Portugal to the sword June 16, 2014 GERMANY 4 PORTUGAL 0 GERMANY forward Thomas Muller believes the experience of playing in two major international tournaments set him up perfectly to shake off first day nerves and bag a hat-trick against 10-man Portugal. Having finished the 2010 World Cup as joint-top scorer with five goals, the Bayern Munich star struck three more at [...]