That was the classic case yesterday because Adrian had kept a little bit

That was the classic case yesterday because Adrian had kept a little bit up his sleeve. Of the two, I would say mine had had the easier race.”There will be no easy races at the Dorchester tomorrow, but those who approach Murphy with criticism of his stable jockey will have strife aplenty. Those at Wynbury stables know of the brickbats and remain bemused.”It’s unbelievable,” Murphy said. “Adrian has his own way of riding horses and I never interfere with him and why shouldn’t I listen to someone of his experience.”What people don’t pick up on is that after McCoy and Scudamore and Dunwoody he is the fastest to ride 1,000 winners. He was the only one that wasn’t supported all the time by [Martin] Pipe. But then whether it’s soccer or racing you have a lot of barstool commentators.”Ferdy Murphy better get used to it. In 24 hours time, in one of the capital’s most prestigious watering holes, he will be getting heaps of beery opinions which he will immediately consign to his mental dustbin..

England drew the fourth and final Test 2-2 with South Africa in Durban yesterday to finish the series one game each, with two draws. South Africa’s opener, was scored by Surbiton’s Greg Nicol, who also claimed the home side’s winner on Saturday.Surbiton could have done with Nicol in their fifth round EHA Cup clash with Teddington which saw the Surrey side crash out courtesy of two goals from James Mulcair. Reading was another side to miss their international players, going down 2-3 to non-National League Bath Buccaneers. With two goals from Andrew Watts the Berkshire side looked comfortable, but James Mummer-Young pulled a goal back for Bath, Tom Fisher adding two more to secure victory for his side.Another Premier side to exit the Cup was Old Loughtonians who lost 7-2 to the Second Division leaders, Belper.

There were golden goals for non-league Bowdon, 4-3 victors over Brooklands, and Doncaster, who had a 6-5 victory over Chelmsford.. Milton Keynes Lions made it to the last four of the BBL Trophy with a 68-67 quarter-final victory over Thames Valley Tigers at Coventry’s Skydome yesterday. “Half an hour later the dripping had stopped and the floor was dry,” he said. However, the BBL chief executive, Mike Smith, said: “They made the right decision at the time.”. Jason Gardener was making up for lost time at the Welsh National Indoor Athletics Centre yesterday. Two years ago the Bath sprinter was unbeatable in the indoor season, taking the European 60-metre title and a clutch of notable scalps. He returned to the boards in spectacular winning style yesterday on the concluding day of the Norwich Union AAA Indoor Championships, taking the prized scalp of the young man who has been threatening to eclipse him and the rest of Britain’s senior speed merchants.

After Gardener crossed the line with the muscular figure of Mark Lewis-Francis having closed alongside him, the 26-year-old had to endure a nervous minute’s wait before the slow-motion replay on the giant video screen showed that he had shaded victory ahead of his 19-year-old rival.Confirmation soon followed that Gardener had indeed won, in a time of 6.52sec, the fastest by a European this year and the third quickest on the world ranking list. It was an emphatic announcement of Gardener’s return to form, not least because of the high speed credentials Lewis-Francis has gained in the senior ranks.The teenage Birchfield Harrier was a 60m bronze medallist at the World Indoor Championships in Lisbon last March and won the European Cup 100m race in Bremen in June. He might well have been a pain in the neck for Gardener, who has been so troubled by back pains in the past two years that he has sought the healing influence of the Munich medical guru who sits on the bench for Bayern Munich and the German national football team. Dr Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wolfhardt, the father-in-law of Lothar Matth?, has clearly done a good job too.”It’s not been an easy time for me,” Gardener said “This has been my first competition.