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| What A Friend proves pal to stand-in jockey Sam Thomas • Winner pays huge compliment to Newbury conqueror Denman• Paul Nicholls favours running victor in Gold Cup in 2011The depth of racing talent in the Paul Nicholls stable was emphasised once again here today as What A Friend, only the sixth-best chaser in his yard on official ratings, fought on bravely in testing ground to take the Grade One Lexus Chase, the feature event at Leopardstown's four-day Christmas Festival.What A Friend's victory not only added ¤93,000 (£83,800) to Nicholls's earnings this year, but also confirmed the merit of his stablemate Denman's performance in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury last month. Denman gave 22lb and a 3½-length beating to What A Friend there, which suggests he will be a serious opponent for Kauto Star, the capo di tutti capi in the Nicholls chasing mafia, in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in March. The bookmakers took a similar view, and while What A Friend can be backed at 20-1 (from 33-1) with Hill's for the Gold Cup, the same firm also took the chance to put another 2% into their ante-post overround, cutting Denman to 2-1 from 9-4 behind Kauto Star on 6-4.What A Friend travelled like the best horse throughout today's race, and as Cooldine, last year's RSA Chase winner, quickly dropped away down the back, Sam Thomas took him closer to the leader, Joncol. It was now a question of how much What A Friend would find, and he showed real determination to overhaul Joncol and then resist the late charge of Money Trix, from Nicky Richards's yard in Cumbria.Thomas was called up for the ride on What A Friend this morning, following the 24-hour postponement of the Lexus Chase from Monday's fog-bound card and the departure of his original jockey, Barry Geraghty, to Newbury."He travels very well and jumps very well, which makes my life a lot easier, but he had to dig deep and it felt like a long way home from the last," said Thomas. "If you take Denman out he would have been a good winner of the Hennessy and all credit to him for coming here three weeks after that run. People thought he was ungenuine in the Hennessy when he wandered about going to the final fence but he was just trying so hard."Hopefully this will be a stepping stone now for the horse to go on to bigger and better things. It seems that all he's doing is improving and he's proved today that he's top class."What A Friend is part-owned by Sir Alex Ferguson. The Manchester United manager was at Leopardstown yesterday but had returned to Britain before today's race. He would no doubt relish a chance to see his horse contest the Gold Cup, though Nicholls, speaking at Newbury, seemed to suggest that 2011 might be a better year to try. "He'll definitely have an entry," Nicholls said, "but I'm not sure I'd want to run him in the Gold Cup this year against Denman and Kauto. I'll discuss it with [co-owner] Ged [Mason] and Sir Alex but he has an enormous amount of ground to make up. I'd love to go to Aintree and Punchestown with him so those are my targets. The Irish Hennessy [at Leopardstown in February] is another option, but we might keep him fresh for the spring."Solwhit, only third behind Go Native in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle last time out, was a game winner of the Grade One December Festival Hurdle ahead of the former champion hurdler Sublimity. Solwhit is 9-2 (from 5-1) with Hill's for the Champion Hurdle, half a point behind the favourite, Zaynar."It turned into a three-furlong sprint at Newcastle," Charles Byrnes, Solwhit's trainer, said. "I think we'll come back here for the Irish Champion Hurdle [in late January] and then go on to Cheltenham. Good ground would be a concern at Cheltenham. I think he'd need 2½ [miles] on good ground, as he showed at Aintree last year, where he needed every step of it to win the Grade One [Aintree] Hurdle there."Horse racingPaul NichollsDenmanGreg Woodguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Bryan Redpath says Gloucester can still make the Heineken Cup Gloucester 13-13 WorcesterBryan Redpath rued Gloucester's lack of a cutting edge but said that his side belonged in the higher reaches of the Premiership after they scraped a last-gasp draw here. Gloucester are eighth in the table, 19 points behind the leaders, Saracens, but their head coach believes they are playing well enough to be in contention for a Heineken Cup place at the end of the season."I am disappointed because I thought we dominated most of the game," Redpath said. "I think we are a good enough side to be up the table in a different part of it and we've got to kick on now."The lock forward Dave Attwood touched down to level the scores with 16 seconds left and Gloucester would have won the match had another substitute, the former All Black fly-half Carlos Spencer, kicked the conversion from the touchline."How many chances did we not take?" Redpath said. "The opposition didn't have to play too much because we allowed them to get the ball from our mistakes. I am chuffed that we created the chances we did, but we didn't finish off and I have to try to create confidence in the decision-making side of things. The Premiership is tough and we have got to put in another performance like we did today when we go away to Newcastle next weekend."Worcester have drawn four of their last five Premiership games and Bath's victory over the bottom club, Leeds, has put the Warriors into 11th place."It was heartbreaking to concede a try in the last minute," said Mike Ruddock, the Worcester director of rugby. "But in terms of the league, it is about picking up points as often as you can. We are a very hard team to beat and we have got to keep performing to a high level."Worcester had looked to have done enough to repeat last season's Premiership victory over Gloucester at Kingsholm – and end an eight-month wait for an away league win. First-half tries by their former All Black wing, Rico Gear, and the scrum-half Jonny Arr put them in charge. The former Gloucester back Willie Walker, who was playing at fly-half here, kicked a penalty.The home side produced an early Akapusi Qera try and a second-half penalty from Nicky Robinson before Attwood scored, but they were guilty of not taking other chances.Ruddock said: "Our first-half performance was excellent, although we gift-wrapped Gloucester their first try. They upped the tempo in the second period but we were tenacious in defence and will take the two points." PAGloucester Morgan; Sharples (Molenaar, 36), Simpson-Daniel, Fuimaono-Sapolu, Vainikolo; Robinson (Spencer, 75), Lewis (A Williams, 68); Wood (Dickinson, h-t), S Lawson (Azam, 61), Somerville, Eustace, Brown, Strokosch, Qera, Delve (Narraway, 61).Tries Qera, Attwood Pens Robinson.Worcester Latham; Gear, Grove, Rasmussen, Benjamin; Walker, Arr; A Black (Mullan, 52), Fortey (Lutui, 52), Sourgens (Gilding, 71), Rawlinson, Gillies, Wood, Sanderson, Horstmann.Tries Gear, Arr Pens Walker.Att 16,500 Referee D Richards (Berkshire).Guinness PremiershipGloucesterWorcesterRugby unionguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Portsmouth kept afloat by Aaron Mokoena's extra-time winner Portsmouth have been sinking fast of late but somehow they managed to cling on, almost with the aid of lifeboats it seemed, in their FA Cup third-round replay against Coventry City at the Ricoh Arena last night. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Federer and Co. stage fundraiser for Haiti victims Roger Federer played the role of master of ceremonies. Andy Roddick doubled as a stand-up comic. Serena Williams was laughing all the way. rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Roger Federer returns to form with emphatic victory over Victor Hanescu Roger Federer sent out an ominous warning to his rivals with the most comfortable of second-round victories over Victor Hanescu at the Australian Open. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |