Well that wasn't exactly great was it. I am no expert on rugby but even I could tell that England were poor. The rugger boys even made the football team look good in comparison. The curse of ITV strikes again. They paid hugely for the rights to the Champions' League and no English teams qualified for the knock-out stages, and now they make the Rugby World Cup central to their sports strategy and the national side do not make it. Stop giggling at the back Sky and the BBC.
Anyway to more important matters and this afternoon's Arc. Sadly no Sir Peter O'Sullivan there this year. He drove to the meeting for more then 50 years, and was reputedly even stopped by the French traffic cops for doing 100mph on the Paris ring road 4 years ago - they let him off with a warning as he was only exceeding his age by 7 years!
The marvellous mare Treve, and her equally marvellous trainer Criquette Head-Maarek, could make history as the first horse to win the Arc for the third time.
Of course there are no certainties in racing, or indeed sport (e.g. South Africa v Japan). I cannot see our champion, Golden Horn, striking a blow for the English Derby. He's drawn in the car park, and I did not like the way he jinked right under pressure at Leapardstown last time.
For me if anything is going to dethrone Treve, it has to be another female, in the filly Found. I'll be visiting Cashel next weekend, and as anyone who has been there knows, everyone there knows somebody who knows what is going at Ballydoyle. Found has now been tipped up to me 4 times, and each time she has lost. Today will be her first time over a mile and half, I'm convinced the 3 year old fillies are better than the colts this year, and there is total silence from my connections in Tipperary. This can only mean they are all getting on before the price contracts.
Found each way for me at 20/1 - would be good for the pocket but I still hope Treve does it really.
No comments:
Post a Comment