This Sunday we have the usual ritual of crowning BBC sports personality of the year. Rory Mcllroy is the hot oddson favourite and really looks past the post.
However it got me thinking to who were the greatest sportsmen and horses of all time and below is my list to which I’m sure will raise debate and eyebrows.
Football – Pele who was a 3 times World Cup winner and could do things with a ball that Messi could only dream about.
Cricket – Sir Don Bradman he had a batting average of 99.94 which is unbeatable in the modern game.
Tennis – Roger Federer a man who has won 17 grand slam titles.
Athletics – Jesse Owen who won 4 golds in front of Hitler in 1936 Olympics.
Boxing – This will cause debate as I’m going for Rocky Marciano who was undefeated in 49 fights in which 43 were knock outs. The Rock was killed in a plane crash at the age of 46. I know many will argue on behalf of Ali who was also a great but I can only pick one.
Golf – Gary Player the most travelled sportsman of all time clocking up over 15 million miles in his carreer from his home in South Africa. He won 9 majors but if he had lived in the states you could have doubled that.
Jump jockey – Tony McCoy the 18 times champ who is the undisputed best by a country mile.
Flat jockey – Lester Piggott, he has won 30 English Classics including 9 Derbys. Along with A.P. these two guys could win on total no hopers.
Best Jumping horse – Arkle who won 27 of his 35 races including 3 Cheltenham Gold Cups. He would run and win in handicaps with massive weights beating other horses out of sight. His biggest rival Mill House would also have been far too good for any current chaser. Sir Peter O’Sullivan called him a freak of nature.
Best flat horse – Phar Lap an Australian horse of the 1930’s who won the Melbourne Cup and 2 Cox Plates plus he won 4 races in 7 days at the Flemington Spring Carnival. He was later taken to America where he won his only race after which he was poisoned by the Mafia for being unbeatable.
Well that’s my list if you agree or have other ideas we would love to hear your comments.
Moving on to other biz I can tell you that Fold4Gold continues to find huge price winners with a 25/1 and 14/1 romping in last week so lets see if I can find a juicy one for Howies Hottie today.
I’m going to take a stab at the 7.40 Dundalk on the Mick Halford filly Ionatas. Now she has yet to place in any of her races to date but has shown glimmers of ability over longer trips. The 6 furlongs looks ideal and she has an inside draw which hopefully will help her get into a prominent position from the start.
EYECATCHERS – We had another good winner last Sunday with Modem 12/1
ARTIFICIAL SURFACES
Salvatore Fury trainer K.Dalgleish – Just failed to catch the winner over the minimum and an extra furlong would help.
Temple Road trainer M.Bradley – Hit the front before fading last time and either a drop in trip or being held up to the last second will make the difference.
Secondo trainer R.Stephens – Won well last week despite not having a clear passage and could well win again.
Unbridled Joy trainer C.Cox – Headed inside the furlong pole at Wolverhampton and a drop back to the mile seems the logical thing to do.
JUMPERS
Eduard trainer N.Richards – Looked all over the winner at Huntingdon and it might have been a poor jump at the last or lack of stamina. So maybe dropping to 2 miles would help.
ABoy Named Suzi trainer Lucy Wadham – Ran placed on his hurdling debut and will strip fitter next time out.
Brigadier Miller trainer N.Henderson – Another who ran well after an absence and will improve.
Souriyan trainer J.Snowdon – French import who will improve on his Fontwell run.
Back next wednesday have a good week and be lucky.
Howard Davis-Shaw.
Betting Opportunity
http://go.betfan.com/1000/317
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