The remarkable mare goes for a 29th win in 29 on Saturday, but the Caulfield Cup result offers some hope for EuropeIt was another highly satisfactory weekend for European stables in the Antipodes as runners from the northern hemisphere finished first, third and fourth in the Group One Caulfield Cup, an outcome that is likely to add to the jitters among local fans as the remarkable mare Winx, who is on a 28-race winning streak, attempts to make it 29 this weekend with an unprecedented fourth success in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley. Winx is top-priced at 2-5 with British bookmakers for Saturday’s race, which could prove to be the last outing of her career, and only one other likely...
Along with Geoff Lemon, we share a love for radio cricket commentary and a belief that it is special and necessary“What are you blokes up to now?” When explaining to friends and colleagues that I had decided to purchase the radio rights for Australia’s Test series against Pakistan, the response bounced somewhere between curious and bewildered. Geoff Lemon and I have frequently taken an unorthodox approach to staying afloat as freelancers, but buying the means of production on my credit cards, without a sponsor in sight, appeared a new and preposterous one.Fast forward a couple of weeks, to the penultimate delivery of the 90th over of the final day at Dubai. Sure, throughout the gripping struggle our vantage point was...
A year from the World Cup, New Zealand look good for a hat-trick of titles but Ireland, South Africa and Wales are all on the rise with England and Australia heading in the other directionDefeat by South Africa in Wellington reminded the world that the All Blacks can be beaten – no bad thing with 12 months to go until the World Cup – but they are still the overwhelming favourites for a third straight win. They were not brilliant against France over the summer but then thrashed Australia twice, displaying an ability to find a gear their opponents cannot live with. It will be fascinating to see their response to defeat; do they add a dose of pragmatism to...
The tennis player is one of the most unpredictable athletes in the world, but he can always be relied on for dramaThe main interview room in the bowels of Arthur Ashe Stadium was as packed with reporters and cameramen as you’ll find it after a second-round match on an otherwise routine Thursday afternoon during the first week of the US Open. The occasion was an audience with Nick Kyrgios, the mercurial Australian star who an hour earlier had seen off the Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert amid sweltering heat and humidity on the fully exposed Court 17, where after what appeared to be a public unravelling was curtailed by an unusual intervention from the chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani, who descended from his...
The 2014 finalist was brusque last week at qualifying but she knows the path to a grand slam is littered with pitfallsThe longer the interview went on, the more it seemed that nothing was going to elicit an interesting answer from Eugenie Bouchard. The Canadian had walked off court with an important victory in the bag but it was difficult to tell from her icy demeanour as she responded to questions about her first‑round win at Wimbledon qualifying last Tuesday. There was no hint of joy, no attempt to engage. The interviewer could have revealed that the world was about to end and Bouchard still would have said: “Yeah, well, obviously I’ll just take each apocalypse as it comes,” in...