| After checkered pasts, Twins' Young, Pavano hit their strides They were baseball's bad boys. Dumped, scorned, ridiculed and vilified. Now Pavano and Young are two of the most-liked players in Minnesota and ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Greg Wood: Arc trip shows punters will pay for racing Europe's premier race meeting offers some important lessons for the repackaged Champions' Day that should enable Flat racing's new flagship meeting to prosper in timeMonday mornings are rarely pleasant, but yesterday's struggle to work will have been a little easier to bear for thousands of British and Irish racing fans, who know that Arc weekend is now just a few days away. Only the Le Mans 24-hour race tempts more sports fans across the Channel on an annual basis, and there is something about the atmosphere at Longchamp on Arc day that, once experienced, is painfully difficult to miss.The long-term hope for the new Champions' Day at Ascot in mid-October 2011 is that one day it may compare favourably with Arc day or the Breeders' Cup meeting in America. The decision to aggregate major races is a sound one – in fact, it is what has made Arc day so special with its six Group Ones in a row, a programme that has taken many years to build.Some fans will never forgive Newmarket for allowing the Champion Stakes to head to Berkshire – "sold down the river to a bunch of Londoners" was one view in last week's Racing Post. If the sport is to prosper, its best events need to be played out in front of the widest audience.That is not feasible in a small Suffolk town served by a single, two-carriage train each hour. An eventual crowd that approaches the 80,000 on Royal Saturday is presumably the aim, and Newmarket would never cope.To stand any realistic chance of comparison with the Arc or Breeders' Cup, though, the new Champions Day needed to start 30 years ago. An eventual switch to a date in early September might help, but in terms of the setting, the buzz and above all the racing, Ascot's Champions' Day is likely to struggle by comparison when Arc weekend is still so fresh in the memory. Longchamp is the stage for Europe's end-of-season championship meeting, and whatever the long-term aspirations for Ascot's event, it is likely to be the same long term in which we are all dead.This does not mean, though, that French racing is somehow "better" than ours. In fact, it is an oddity of Arc weekend that because it is the one day at the races abroad that many travelling fans see, it skews their view of British racing too.The week after the Arc would not be entirely complete, for instance, without a letter in the Racing Post that marvels at the ¤8 admission price at Longchamp. If only Britain had a pari-mutuel monopoly for betting, so the logic goes, then perhaps our racegoers could also attend the biggest events without paying £50 or more.This, I feel, rather misses the point. Having hitch-hiked to Paris in 1988 to see my all-time favourite Mtoto contest his final race, with two nights in a no-star hotel either side, I know that Arc weekend can be done on the cheap, but at the same time, I would not recommend it.It may be ¤8 on the gate, but most of the thousands of travelling fans have spent many hundreds of pounds to attend. They are not there because it's cheap, they are there because when the racing experience is so good, they are more than willing to pay for it. Guineas day at Longchamp, incidentally, is not just cheap. It's free, and yet there is scarcely a punter anywhere.French racing is not any cheaper, it just charges in different ways, most obviously by forcing racegoers to bet via a system that will, on average, keep at least 20 cents from every euro they pass through the betting window.British racegoers pay more at the door – a great deal more, in most cases – but they can punt in the most competitive betting market in the world. And with attendances holding up remarkably well, despite the recession, they seem to consider it a fair trade-off.Arc day is unique but it does offer some lessons for Ascot's Champions' Day, and British racing as a whole. "PMU good and bookmakers bad", however, is not one of them.Horse racingGreg Woodguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Week 4 bests & worsts: Missed chances doom winless Lions, Panthers, 49ers USA TODAY's Sean Leahy looks at the superlatives for Week 4 of the NFL season: rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Werner on Hicks football fight: No comment SportsBusiness Journal's Daniel Kaplan on Friday caught up with New England Sports Ventures Chair Tom Werner to discuss the purchase of Liverpool as he packed before heading to the U.K. today. feeds.bizjournals.com |
I will be fit for Ashes, insists Tremlett • Tremlett denies boxing injury caused him to miss training• 'My rib was a bit a bit sore but it didn't stop me doing anything'The England fast bowler Chris Tremlett has insisted he will be fit for the Ashes after denying reports of an injury setback.Tremlett was James Anderson's sparring partner in the ill-fated boxing bout at England's camp in Germany earlier this month that left Anderson with a fractured rib.Reports have since suggested Tremlett's own Ashes build-up had been set back, too, by bruising sustained during the boxing module of England's week-long trip, but the Surrey bowler said that was not the case."I didn't miss any preparation at all," Tremlett said. "My rib was a bit a bit sore but it wasn't an issue and it didn't stop me doing anything at all. I've been able to bowl and train and do everything I wanted."I can understand why it's been made into a big deal but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary and my preparation has gone on as normal."I've not had any injury problems all season. I feel totally fine in my body and very strong. I've felt like I've got much stronger over the last year and for the first time I've felt like I've been able to bowl all day and not worry about it."When I was younger my body just wasn't strong enough, I got niggly injuries a lot. But now I feel fine. It's a funny thing. When I was 20 I used to feel like I was 35. Now I feel like a 21-year-old so the tables have turned a bit there."Tremlett said he owed his current fitness levels to a rigorous strengthening and fitness programme undertaken since signing for Surrey from Hampshire last January.England cricket teamAshesCricketBarney Ronayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |