Excelebration set to chase unbeaten Frankel’s shadow June 18, 2012 FINDING a horse good enough to beat Frankel has eluded me on every occasion I have tried to date and I have no intention of attempting it again this afternoon. Sir Henry Cecil’s superstar is the highest-rated racehorse in the world and is simply impossible to oppose in his attempt to make it 11 without [...]
Born To Sea and Lucayan can go close in St James’s June 18, 2012 IF the opening two days are anything to go by, this year’s Royal Ascot is going to have record breaking field sizes. This afternoon’s feature race, the St James’s Palace Stakes (3.45pm), has 16 declared runners, the largest in over 60 years. It makes for fantastic racing, but finding winners is going to be even [...]
Rooney’s return should inspire Three Lions to another victory June 18, 2012 ENGLAND UKRAINE 7.45pm ITV 1 ENGLAND have one foot in the quarter-finals of Euro 2012 and Roy Hodgson’s men should step in to the last eight with only a point required against Ukraine this evening, especially with Wayne Rooney returning to the side. Regular readers will know that I’ve been down on England’s chances from [...]
Ascot ready to welcome Australian sprinting sensation Black Caviar June 17, 2012 ROYAL Ascot will once again host a strong international raiding party when the world’s most famous five-day meeting gets underway tomorrow. Horses and jockeys now regularly travel to Berkshire from throughout Europe and from as far afield as Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA. However, it’s the visit of one Australian [...]
Buick is the value at 10/1 to be crowned top jockey for the first time June 17, 2012 THIS year’s Royal meeting couldn’t kick off with a much bigger bang than Frankel in tomorrow’s opening Queen Anne Stakes, but that race is immediately followed by two other Group One contests. We’ll be taking a detailed look at the card in tomorrow’s newspaper and will concentrate on trying to unearth some interesting special bets [...]
Van Marwijk: Blame me for Holland’s early exit June 17, 2012 PORTUGAL (2) vs HOLLAND (1) HOLLAND manager Bert van Marwijk accepted the blame for his side’s shock early elimination from the European Championship after their third defeat from three became the devastating denouement of a woeful campaign. The recalled Rafael van der Vaart scored for Holland before Cristiano Ronaldo inspired a Portuguese victory that finally [...]
Bad blood at Queen’s as final is ruined by Nalbandian kick June 17, 2012 ARGENTINA’S David Nalbandian yesterday provoked controversy amid the usually quaint surroundings of Queen’s after he was disqualified for kicking an advertising board into a line judge’s leg, drawing blood from the official’s shin. The final of the Aegon Championships, widely seen as a warm-up to Wimbledon, ended bitterly as chair umpire Fergus Murphy dismissed Nalbandian [...]
Crutchlow: Injury cost me June 17, 2012 BRITAIN’S Cal Crutchlow bemoaned that only a broken ankle cost him a place on the podium at yesterday’s Moto GP at Silverstone, after he defied doctors’ orders to compete in the race. Crutchlow produced a heroic performance, moving from the back of the grid to finish sixth in front of a cheering home crowd, despite [...]
Lancaster eyes Care to replace injured Youngs June 17, 2012 ENGLAND coach Stuart Lancaster is confident about the ability of Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care to replace Ben Youngs after the latter’s shoulder injury ruled him out of the remainder of the tour of South Africa. Care was dropped for the Six Nations because of several off-field incidents but has since been recalled and, after impressing [...]
Germany wary of dangerous quarter-final against Greece June 17, 2012 DENMARK (1) vs GERMANY (2) GERMANY coach Joachim Low last night predicted that Greece will prove a tough nut to crack, after his team set up a quarter-final against the 2004 winners scheduled for Friday. Low’s men finished top of Euro 2012’s Group B on maximum points thanks to a late winner from Lars Bender. [...]