General
American Football: Bryant kicks 62 yards for Tampa
Published: 24 October 2006
The humble place kicker is rarely a man afforded much status in an American football locker-room, but on Sunday night, three teams were thankful for the accuracy of their kicker's boot.
Sailing: Knox-Johnston sets sail again after 37 years
Published: 23 October 2006
It is 37 years since Robin Knox-Johnston became the first man to circumnavigate the Earth solo and non-stop.
Racing: Kauto Star leaps into King George reckoning
Published: 23 October 2006
This was the day when the real Kauto Star stood up. As it happens, having fallen twice in five previous steeplechases, merely standing up was by no means a trivial ambition. But the low rainclouds at Aintree yesterday made it seem an injustice to suggest that the sky could be any kind of limit. Kauto Star confirmed himself a soaring, uninhibited talent, quite possibly without peer among British jumpers.
Racing: Authorized stamps his class
Published: 22 October 2006
Fishing Lines: Coarse choice to fly in face of tradition
Published: 22 October 2006
Fly-fishing is changing. Once it was the domain of irascible old buffers in tweed suits who hunted salmon in Scotland and trout (pronounced "trite") on Hampshire's chalk streams. To them, there were only four types of fish: salmon, trout, sea trout and others. Woe betide a greedy chub or dace that snatched the major's trout fly. The mere sight of a non-acceptable species dangling from his line would produce a reaction akin to seeing the memsahib feeding a fox.
Sailing: Golding plots 'cool' course to beat gales and rivals
Published: 21 October 2006
The bottom of the Bay of Biscay is a place sailors always tried to avoid, so to start a yacht race from there, especially with the promise of early gales, should provide a particularly rugged send-off for what is already the longest single stage of any individual sports event in the world.
Racing: O'Brien's Eagle Mountain on Derby flight path
Published: 21 October 2006
The excellent credentials displayed by Teofilo at Newmarket a week ago notwithstanding, and with the greatest respect to the countless progressive maiden winners being carefully tucked away in winter quarters and shielded from the eyes of the Godolphin headhunters, the Racing Post Trophy is the juvenile race to look at with Derbys in mind.
Gymnastics medal for Tweddle
Published: 21 October 2006
Liverpool's Beth Tweddle tonight won Britain's first ever world gymnastics championships gold medal when she came out on top in the uneven bars competition in Denmark.
Racing: Moore partners Sergeant Cecil in bid for second Group One
Published: 21 October 2006
Champion jockey-elect Ryan Moore will partner Sergeant Cecil for the first time when the rags-to-riches seven-year-old goes for his second Group One success in tomorrow's Prix Royal-Oak at Longchamp.
Racing: War class tells on first return to fray
Published: 20 October 2006
The black-garbed priest by the winning post at Punchestown yesterday summed it up as he took off his shallow-crowned hat and saluted the dark-coated horse galloping past. It was less a punching gesture of triumph than a wave of thankful acknowledgement that God is in his heaven and all's right with the War. The Cheltenham Gold Cup winner War Of Attrition, the pride of all Ireland, returned to the fray with an 11-length defeat of Watson Lake.
Racing: Japan's Deep Impact fails dope test
Published: 20 October 2006
Japanese superhorse Deep Impact has failed the routine dope test taken after he finished third behind Rail Link and Pride in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Although there is no question that the administration of the drug found in his system was anything but accidental the four-year-old will be disqualified in due course and Hurricane Run moved up a place.
Racing: I have fallen on my sword, says Ascot chief
Published: 20 October 2006
Douglas Erskine-Crum, the man who oversaw the £210m redevelopment of Ascot racecourse, has quit, barely four months after the venue's flagship Royal meeting opened and closed to uncompromisingly mixed reviews. But, insisted the 57-year-old ex-army man, he has not been made a scapegoat for criticism the project has attracted.
Racing: Iktitaf lays down Champion Hurdle challenge
Published: 19 October 2006
Though Paul Carberry may not appreciate the choice of verb, there was no mistaking the way he ignited the jumps season at Punchestown yesterday. Spared a jail sentence earlier in the week for setting fire to a newspaper on a plane, the jockey can rest assured that two of his mounts, Iktitaf and Leading Run, will consume plenty of newsprint themselves during the months ahead.
Racing: Cheltenham take steps to cut Festival risks
Published: 18 October 2006
The gathering tempo of the jumps season gains further impetus tomorrow when no less a horse than the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner appears at Punchestown. Cheltenham itself resumes business next Tuesday, while the winner of a novice chase at Exeter yesterday, Natal, was dignified by quotes as low as 14-1 for the Irish Independent Arkle Trophy, still five months distant. All in all, there is a very pleasant expectation in the air.
Racing: Eagle Mountain set to swoop on Trophy
Published: 17 October 2006
Though the bulldozers are still busy at Doncaster - and it is difficult to imagine what they might do there that could not represent an improvement - the final Group One race of the British Flat season has a very familiar aspect. The Racing Post Trophy, which finds sanctuary at Newbury on Saturday, succinctly measures the present balance of power in two-year-old racing.
American Football: No sign of a Raiders recovery
Published: 17 October 2006
Once they were a team to be respected and feared. The Oakland Raiders were one of the game's superpowers through the 1970s and 80s, their swagger and bravado encapsulated by their maverick owner, Al Davis, whose catchphrase "just win, baby" marked a period of excellence which yielded three Super Bowl titles between 1976 and 1984.
Racing: Washington switches to Classic duel
Published: 16 October 2006
The two most magnetic thoroughbreds in the world will meet in Kentucky next month. Reflecting on another epic showdown at Newmarket on Saturday, when Holy Roman Emperor was just thwarted by Teofilo, Aidan O'Brien revealed that George Washington will definitely tackle the American champion, Bernardini, in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on 4 November.
Motorcycling: Pedrosa's folly knocks Hayden off road to title
Published: 16 October 2006
In one of the greatest debacles in the 57-year history of grand prix racing, the 21-year-old Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa yesterday took out his Repsol Honda team-mate Nicky Hayden from the Portuguese MotoGP and virtually handed the championship to Valentino Rossi.
Boxing: Calzaghe stumbles in campaign to woo US
Published: 16 October 2006
Blood dripped slowly down Joe Calzaghe's cheek as he stared in disbelief at Sakio Bika at the end of round four of their oddly gripping but ultimately one-sided fight at Manchester's MEN Arena on Saturday night.
Basketball: Robinson fires Eagles' take-off
Published: 16 October 2006
Newcastle Eagles' defence of their British Basketball League title finally took off last night.
Boxing: Calzaghe keeps his head to win bruising battle
Published: 15 October 2006
They say in boxing that you are only as good as your last fight and Joe Calzaghe discovered the brutal truth of the old adage when he returned to Manchester's MEN Arena, scene of his sweetest triumph seven months ago. The Welshman retained his world super-middleweight titles but found himself embroiled in a messy brawl with a warrior, African-born Sakio Bika, before winning unanimously on points.
Racing: Perfect Pride proves deadly
Published: 15 October 2006
Fishing Lines: Mighty bleak day at the auction house
Published: 15 October 2006
Bleak are the easiest of all freshwater fish. Many people's first catch is a perch, a gudgeon, maybe a trout. But if your local water holds bleak, nothing gets to a bait or fly faster.
Athletics: Don banned for missing three tests
Published: 14 October 2006
Tim Don, who won the world triathlon title for Britain last month, has been suspended for three months for missing three out-of-competition drug tests.
Racing: Laurels belong to Sir Percy on Champions' Day
Published: 14 October 2006
Though few seem willing to acknowledge as much, its portentous billing as "Champions' Day" derives ample substance from the appearance of Sir Percy at Newmarket this afternoon. His achievements since winning the Darley Dewhurst Stakes here 12 months ago have done much to maintain the card's lustre and narrative. Yet whether because of his humble origins, or the desperate margin of his success in the Derby, and his disappearance since, this colt is overdue recognition for his vintage quality.
