Saturday 2 February 2013

SACRED SUNDAY FEBRUARY 3rd RACING POST 2013. RACING FROM PUNCHESTOWN. DAVID ASHFORTH'S MUSINGS



RACING POST SUNDAY FEBRUARY 3rd RACING POST  2013
WEEK MONDAY JANUARY 28th TO  SUNDAY FEBRUARY 3rd 2013

REVIEW YESTERDAY'S RESULTS
 
 
 
PREVIEW TODAY'S CARDS
http://www.racingpost.com/news/live.sd




DONT FORGET TO READ WILLIE MULLINS FEATURE IN TODAY''S RACING POST
RPSUNDAY  ALWAYS GOOD AS WELL.


PUNCHESTOWN (IRE) ATR SUNDAY FEBRUARY 3rd

GOING: HEAVY (Fresh ground on the hurdle track; using inside straight on the hurdle track for the first circuit only; finishing on main straight). (Light rain)
12:50 Anna Gannon 80th Birthday Maiden Hurdle 2m4f Card Betting
1:20 Racing UK Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle (Grade 2) 2m Card Betting
1:50 Pertemps Handicap Hurdle (Qualifier) 3m Card Betting
2:20 Boylesports.com Tied Cottage Chase (Grade 2) 2m Card Betting
2:50 Glenfarclas P.P. Hogan Memorial Cross Country Chase 3m Card Betting
3:20 Dan Moore Memorial Handicap Chase (Grade B) 2m Card Betting
3:50 Michael Fitzpatrick Memorial Grand National Trial Handicap Chase (Grade C) 3m4f Card Betting
4:20 ITM Promoting Irish Bloodstock (Pro/Am) INH Flat Race 2m Card Betting
Show all racecards for this meeting on one page



PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

DAVID ASHFORTH
Saturday's musings from a retired racing enthusiast.

David Ashforth at the Derby Awards 6.12.10
David Ashforth:
twice voted journalist of the year
PICTURE: Dan Abraham


DAVID'S SATURDAY MUSINGS 
02.02.2013

"Don't despair - salvation lies in the Superdome"

David's snowman not only lost 'his rather nice carrot nose' but has melted out of sight. This week we have a pic of  Monster Man, Ray Lewis  "You wouldn't want to run into Ray Lewis, especially an a football field."

 Posh sort of top, very impressive I must say - a Super Bowl, Super Star of sorts obviously …..

Having no idea about Super Bowl whatsoever other than this photograph. A mighty

looking man indeed.

"IT'S one of life's great puzzles. What to do when racing's abandoned? It's a tricky one and, over the years, various approaches have been tried, none of them altogether successful.
 
"Experimenting with other sports is a popular route and last Sunday, while trying to decide whether to watch Nordic combined skiing or indoor hockey (the super sixties premier division finals), my eyes alighted on an event at Hopton-on-Sea, in Norfolk, on BBC2. "Bowls. singles. Rishi Persad presents live singles action from the world indoor championships at the Potters Leisure Resort."
 
"Come on, Rishi, what do you know about bowls? But there he was, in front of an enthusiastic crowd, filling us in on Stewart Anderson and Paul Foster, the finalists. I wonder if Persad knows who won the championship in 1982, after Davis Bryant had won the first three events? Or who has won the tournament the most times? As you probably know yourself, it was John Watson and Alex Marshall, respectively.
 
"Funny enough, on my way to crack walnuts with a sledgehammer, a man asked me to join the Cirencester Bowls Club, tempting me with the information that, first, it's in Ashcroft Road, second, it's the only sport where I'd be below the average age and, third, I could join them on their annual trip to Torquay, which was where they were setting off for. It's tempting.
"Of course, Persad can't compete with the ubiquitous (a great word) Clare Balding, who spent Saturday afternoon covering the racing from Cheltenham for Channel 4, the evening hosting a game show on BBC1 and Sunday morning saying "Good Morning Sunday," on Radio 2. It's the Super Bowl tomorrow ...  no, surely not.
 


CH4 Horseracing Team a balancing act.
Rishi Persad perhaps his talents are best described as an ‘in between person’, not in the Equus Zone, more in the People’s Zone . Clare Balding who has worked with Rishi before
clearly has great confidence in him, that is the main thing. The key issue here is how best to bridge the gulf to bring the Equus Zone and the Peoples Zone together so as a true understanding between the two, may best be reached. Another work of art in the mix to aim for, which has proved throughout hiistory to be more than tricky, virtually impossible so far to date. A challenge indeed .... wondering if we can achieve this?

 
"It's amazing what people will do. Some of you may remember a racing journalist called Nick Reeves, who was working for the Sporting Life when I joined in 1990. Nick a great guy, endlessly  good humoured, later moved to France, where he works for the Agency France-Presse. A few years ago, when I asked him what he was doing, he said he was covering Ping-pong. Ping-pong! Last summer, at the Olympics, Nick covering rowing, among other things, and, at the moment, he's in Africa for the Africa Cup of Nations, football now being his speciality, although he did return to racing for last year's Cheltenham Festival, with an enormous punt. It lost, so some things don't change.
 
"Every cloud has a silver lining (what a stupid saying that is) - witness the abandonment of Taunton's meeting on Tuesday. I'd been planning to go but, as it turns out I might not have arrived anyway because on Sunday my car started making the most amazing whirring noises. I did what you do when that happens - look in the booklet in the glove compartment to see how to open the bonnet, then open it. I don't know why. What did I expect to see? An arrow pointing to a message reading. "That's where the problem is, mate"?


"Every cloud has a silver lining ….Every cloud could be full of torrential rain, or full of fluffy white snow, maybe we could even find David’s nose less snowman again, he is sure to stand out from all the other snowmen … easy to pick out one would expect… he would be the only one without a nose. David did specifically mention his snowman had a particularly nice carrot nose, obviously it was that bookmakers tired horse, noticed yawning, who grabbed the snowman’s nose before he went off to have his nap. I digress.

 
"WHAT have my seven-year-old Ford Focus and a seven year-old racehorse got in common? When they break down, the bill's enormous. So that ruled out another popular alternative to
racing, shopping. It’s never worked for me, possibly because there never seems to be anything I want, apart from another book and a chocolate flake. Anyway, shops are on the move in Cirencester, There’s a new Coral, to add to the old Ladbrokes, but Blacks Leasure (tents), Thorntons(chocolates) and Clinton Cards (cards) have all gone, although coffee shops have stepped into their shoes. Oh, Stead & Simpson (shoes) have gone, too.

 
“If racing’s off tomorrow (incidentally, meetings full of bumper races don’t count, as I’ve discovered from watching one), salvation’s available late in the day from the Superdome in New Orleans. It’s Super Bowl XLVII, between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers. If you like Alicia Keys she’ll be singing the national anthem and if you like Beyonce she’s singing at half-time. If you’ve got $4 million (£2.5m) to spare, you can have your own 30-second television advert.
“If you don’t know much about American football, Colin Kaepernick, the 49ers quarterback, is spelt Kaepernick and is a bit like an outstanding novice chaser who is favourite to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Ray Lewis, a Ravens’ linebacker, is the one they’ll keep talking about. He is 37, in his 17th season, all with Baltimore, was named as Most Valuable Player after the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV in 2001 and will retire after the game. Lewis was once charged with murder, but the charge was dismissed. Even so, you wouldn’t want to run into him, especially on a football field.
“Either Kaepernick or Lewis will be on the winning side. I’ve no idea which.”


AN ADVENTURE INTO SUPER BOWL PERHAPS ... IS IT EASIER TO UNDERSTAND THAN HORSERACING?
 




SUPER BOWL AMERICAN FOOTBALL UPDATE
The Racing Post let no one down on the SUPER BOWL front on Sunday for all
 Super Bowl fans.
 
Phil Agius introduced his best bets for Sunday nights game
49ERS CAN STRIKE GOLD AGAIN SUPER BOWL PREVIEW


Ray Lewis, Baltimore Ravens claim

Super Bowl XLVII

          http://www.nfl.com/news




SPORT Live NFL: Super Bowl  Sunday 3 February
 
Sky Sports 1  10.30pm  NFL: Super Bowl 
 
Baltimore Ravens  v  San Francisco 49ers





Steve Wall brings us info: BALTIMORE RAVENS  v  SAN FRANCISCO  49ers do battle for the Vince Lomandi Trophy in the 47th Super Bowl in New Orleans. The hero for the Ravens in the AFC  Championship game was Joe Flacco, who threw 240 yards and three TD's as they beat New England Patriots 28-13. That answered a few questions about his big-game mentality. Two siblings coach tonight's  combatants - Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers and brother John of the Ravens.

Observed
Looks like a tough guy's sport, lots of rough looking skirmiches going on.  Interesting headgear and colours.



 


The lights went out for half an hour.

 More later






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