| Steelers QB Dixon hurts knee, replaced by Batch By TERESA M. WALKER 2010-09-19T18:16:55ZNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Pittsburgh quarterback Dennis Dixon has left the game against Tennessee after hurting his left knee and his return is questionable.... hosted.ap.org |
Dettori rides Ascot four-timer • Godolphin runner pips Rip Van Winkle on line• Frankel hot Guineas favourite after runaway win"I don't have a statue here for nothing," Frankie Dettori said after the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes yesterday, with his best film-star smile. From anyone else it might have sounded arrogant, but not from him, not at Ascot, and above all not on this day.Fourteen years ago, he went through the card with all seven winners. Twenty years ago, he rode his first two Group One winners, in the Fillies' Mile and the QEII, and yesterday there was a repeat performance, thanks to White Moonstone and Poet's Voice, as well as two more successes in supporting races for a 217-1 four-timer.Poet's Voice got home by a nose from Rip Van Winkle in the QEII, with Makfi, the 2,000 Guineas winner, among the also-rans. In the stands, few would have called the photo-finish with any confidence, but Dettori was celebrating a stride after the line. No one knows or rides Ascot better.With two winners on the board for Dettori, there was plenty of money for Poet's Voice, though he still started third-favourite at 9-2. On the book, he needed to have improved from a victory at Goodwood last month, but he looked like a horse who is thriving in the paddock beforehand and duly underlined it on the track."You know me when I get on a roll, it just happens," Dettori said. "Saeed [bin Suroor] was very confident, and that gave me lots of confidence, and the horse did the rest."This day is very special for me, and I think this is my fifth QEII. The crowd gets behind me, and riding good horses helps as well. The place has a real magic for me. Looking at the photograph, perhaps I was a bit over-confident [of the result], but he had his head down on the line and I knew that Johnny [Murtagh] hadn't come back to me."Poet's Voice will now head to the Breeders' Cup Mile in Kentucky in early November, where the opposition is likely to include Goldikova, the winner of the race for the last two years. He is improving so rapidly, though, that given luck with the draw, he is not a forlorn hope. Hill's make Goldikova the 2-1 favourite, with Poet's Voice and Rip Van Winkle quoted at 9-2.Frankel has yet to contest a Group One event, but he is the 2-1 favourite for next year's 2,000 Guineas after a 10-length success in the Royal Lodge Stakes that summoned memories of the runaway victories of two-year-olds Arazi and Celtic Swing.What neither of those exceptional juveniles managed to do was to win the Guineas the following spring, but while the opposition was moderate by Group Two standards, Frankel powered away from them with such casual ease that normal progress alone would surely make him difficult to beat at Newmarket in April.Frankel almost ran away with Tom Queally, galloping straight past his field in just a few strides as they turned for home and then striding further clear all the way up the straight. Despite being under no pressure at all, he completed the mile nearly a second faster than White Moonstone in the Group One Fillies' Mile, the next race on the card.Henry Cecil, Frankel's trainer, reached back to the 1970s in the search for comparisons. "In the last two months he's started to improve, improve, improve," Cecil said. "He's got a lot of talent, the way he works, I don't think I've had a better two-year-old since Wollow, which was a long time ago, nearly 40 years."I'd question whether he can get the Derby trip. The dam [Kind] was very fast, and the female being the stronger sex, the dam side has come out a lot in him. He's got a lot of class, and he could easily be a Guineas horse. Now we've got to decide whether we go to the Dewhurst [on 16 October] or the Racing Post [Trophy on 23 October] but if possible, I would rather finish him a bit earlier."Tom Queally, Frankel's jockey, was not surprised by the ease of his win. "I moved to get a little bit of room and he just went up through the gears so quickly," he said. "It would be nice to think he could continue on an upward curve, and he looks physically as though he will train on."White Moonstone, Dettori's first Group One winner on the day, will head into winter quarters as the 4-1 favourite for the 1,000 Guineas, and a 5-1 chance for the Oaks. "Her turn of foot wasn't as good today as it was at Doncaster [two weeks ago]," Dettori said, "but her class pulled her through. Now we can dream."Horse racingFrankie DettoriAscotGreg Woodguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Thunderbirds donate $4.4M to charities The Thunderbirds — the group that hosts the Waste Management Phoenix Open — is donating $4.4 million to Phoenix-area charities from money raised at the 2010 golf tournament earlier this year. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Buchanan: Pietersen could be weak link • Former Australia coach sees Pietersen as weak link• Buchanan says Pietersen's strength and unity will be testedJohn Buchanan, the former Australia coach, believes Kevin Pietersen could be a "major problem" in England's Ashes campaign if he fails to rediscover his batting form.Buchanan, who was the coach when Australia lost the Ashes in England in 2005, said: "Pietersen is a quality player and he could be an incredible strength for them but, if he's not scoring runs, he could become a major problem for the batting line-up and the entire team. Andy Flower has been trying to work on that."Pietersen's maiden Test century five years ago was against Australia at The Oval in the drawn match that secured England their first Ashes winning series since 1987. In the 12 Tests he has played against them he averages more than 50 with the bat. Buchanan, though, is not sure that will matter when the sides meet again this winter. The first Test of the Ashes series starts in Brisbane on 25 November."Pietersen hasn't done himself or the team any favours with his recent Twittering," he added in the Wisden Cricketer. "Two of the things that will be tested in Australia are strength and unity and clearly he hasn't understood his role within the team yet."Despite his misgivings over Pietersen, Buchanan believes England can be "world leaders within the next three years" and possess mental strength missing from previous sides."They seem to have a new mental toughness and they are more consistent, except for the odd glitch, which is mainly Kevin Pietersen. They need to retain this united spirit and sense of purpose. England teams in the past would often be beaten before the Test started. They didn't believe in themselves, even when they were ahead, but they are better at handling that now."Kevin PietersenAshesEngland cricket teamAustralia cricket teamCricketguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Auburn-LSU: Last of SEC's unbeatens meet By JOHN ZENOR 2010-10-22T13:58:08ZAUBURN, Ala. (AP) -- Lucky, plucky or just plain good?... hosted.ap.org |