Robshaw injured for final Test June 18, 2012 RUGBY UNION: England captain Chris Robshaw will miss Saturday’s third and final Test against South Africa after suffering a cracked thumb, with hooker Dylan Hartley now set to lead the side. “Chris, as you would imagine, is devastated,” said England coach Stuart Lancaster.
Johnson and Nelsen join QPR June 18, 2012 FOOTBALL: QPR have signed forward Andy Johnson and defender Ryan Nelsen on free transfers after their respective contracts with Fulham and Tottenham expired.
Wizz Kid to prove too speedy in King’s Stand June 18, 2012 CONSIDERING six of the last nine winners of this afternoon’s King’s Stand (3.05pm) have been overseas raiders, I am a little surprised that only four of the 23 runners are trained outside of Great Britain and Ireland. Ortensia, winner of the Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan in March, flies the flag for the Australians who [...]
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 [...]