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Frankie Dettori finally claimed his first Derby on Saturday on the massive favourite Authorized.  All the pre-race chatter was about the little Italian, which is normally a bad sign, but he managed to live up to the hype, as did Authorized, romping home by a country mile, much to the disgust of the bookies.

He compounded their misery 24 hours later, winning the French Derby on on Sunday riding another short odds favourite Lawman.  Like red buses. You wait for years and then two come along at once…

The double Derby result is estimated to have cost the bookies around £100M, which I’m sure will upset nobody other than the bookies themselves.  After winning all 7 races on the card a few years back when he again cost them a  fortune, I suspect that Mr Ladbrookes et al can’t wait for the little man to retire.

Well having completely forgotten to bet on the Grand National on Friday - unbelievably work got in the way - I had to find rush about Saturday morning to try and find an internet cafe.  Normally this wouldn’t have been an issue in most towns, but in the little town of Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire, which I happened to be visiting for reasons I cannot divulge, it wasn’t to be easily achieved.  I could have gone to the high street bookmaker of course, but that would have meant paying over cash rather than using my cricket winnings, which have been sitting in my online account since England’s last convincing performance in the cricket.  Yes they have been there a while.

So having struck out at the local library where it had “crashed”, I was directed to a small computer shop where for £2 I was able to use the internet for 2 whole minutes, and selected Ballycassidy to be my steed for the day.

In previous years I haven’t even heard the name of my horse mentioned but this year I was leading from the front - or at least second from the front for most of the way.  I knew that meant I was doomed, and sure enough he fell 4 from home, leaving me crying into my beer and rueing the day Hornsea discovered the internet. 

As you know doubt all know by now Silver Birch went on to win much to the delight of at least one screaming banshee in the pub I watched from, as well as to many Irish punters no doubt.  So that was it for another year - until next year’s National I’ll stick to what I know best.  I have put £10 on England to win the cricket World Cup afterall, so I clearly know something about sport…

Well after the Ryder Cup there was talk that there would only be one winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.  With all the drama and emotion following the death of his wife it appeared that Darren Clarke was a dead cert.  However, he was out gunned by Zara Phillips who scooped a massive third of the votes and in my opinion derservedly so.  I have the utmost sympathy with Clarke and his situation but think that the award should really be for sporting achievement and Zara has by far and away eclipsed Darren within her own sport.  I did notice however, that the front page of the News of the World yesterday was a story that Clarke has already found himself a new partner - interesting timing I would suggest given the most of the votes would have been cast yesterday evening…

I have to say I have mixed feelings regarding the appointment of Sir Clive Woodward as Director of Elite Athletes for the 2012 Olympics.  No doubt he worked wonders with England World Cup rugby squad but since then he seems to have had a bad fall from grace , having seemingly alienated the RFU and been overlooked for the top job there.  In addition there was his baffling move to Southampton where he has shown an inability to change sport and maintain respect.  Not so long ago there were reports of him threatening to sue SFC because he didn’t have the respect of the players in the dressing room - this from a guy who has one of his best qualities listed as “motivational”.  Strange way of motivating people in my book.  The brief he has been given is enormous - he is supposed to get to grips with the coaching methods and technique and technique for 35 sports.  Being able to understand what is required is only part of the issue as any sports player will know, and athletes tend to respect people who have done it rather than talked about it.  Team GB may not have the overpaid egotistic character of many footballers, but will still need careful handling.  I just hope Sir Clive listens to the people around him, and takes advice from the experts in each sport, rather than try and apply text book teaching across the board.  If he does I fear he, and Team GB are heading for disaster

Fraser

www.lookupsport.com

Well I take a few days off, to enjoy the bank holiday and all sorts has happened in the sporting world, not to mention Portsmouth riding high in the Premiership - I’ll come onto that but firstly I’ll recap on the past few days.

Congratualtions must go to Zara Phillips for winning Gold in the World Equestrian Games.  It’s good to see our Royal Family make the headlines for the right reasons for a change and bodes well for the Olympics.  Long may it continue.

Congratulations as well to our rowing teams who competed so well in The World Rowing Championships at Eton, which attracted 40 000 spectators demonstrating the popularity of the sport, following the retirement of the “big names”.  It’s good to see that Steve Williams has picked up the mantle for the men, while Katherine Grainger is leading the way for the women, with GB topping the medal table, securing 4 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze.  We also competed well in the disability event, picking up 2 golds and a bronze from 4 events.

Now then - Pompey.  What’s happening down there? As a supporter, I was dismayed not to say disappointed to see the signings made over the summer, with Sol Campell, David “Calamity” James, and Kanu being snapped up for the princely sum of £1Million.  This, when there are reports that Harry has anything from £25-45M to spend.  However, having sat in amazement last night to watch the blue army thrash Middlesborough 4-0, I concede I might have been a little hasty in my comments pre-season.  Campbell looked really sharp and has hopefully put his off pitch troubles behind him, Kanu was a handful and is now the leagues joint top scorer having only scored one less than he did all of last year, and even Calamity made a couple of good saves (although you just know it’s only a matter of time before he comes charging out and screws up).  So now they are second, and although only 3 games in, its encouraging that they have yet to concede and actually have a positive goal difference!  The concern is that there is not enough depth in the squad, but if they continue to play with as much energy and enthusiasm as they did last night then the signs are good.  Let’s just hope that Harry manages to secure a couple of players before the deadline expires on Thursday.

Fraser

www.lookupsport.com