Weekend Jottings

It looks like a quiet day on the racing front with just a couple of meetings taking place today, Goodwood on the flat and Ffos Las over the sticks.  The first race at Goodwood this afternoon is for National Hunt jockeys and I am pleased to see that Conor O'Farrell has a ride in the race - it is on one of the outsiders, but it does appear to be a very open contest.  The stable has no runners today.

I see that last weekend Sir Peter O'Sullevan went to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp - the most amazing part is that the incredible 95 year old turned up in his car having driven to Paris!  I wonder how many other 95 year old's are still driving, never mind navigating the streets of Paris?!  The French have a bit of a reputation for taking no prisoners behind the wheel too!

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I'm sorry but I just cannot get excited about heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko.  In his latest bout he managed to beat Alex Povetkin on points.  However, the champion had his opponent on the canvas four times by round seven and really should have stopped Povetkin.  Back in the days of Clay, Frasier and the like, the champions would have won by knock out or am I looking back at the past through rose coloured spectacles?

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Controversial snooker world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan could be in trouble with the snooker authorities.  He has stated in his book that he was approached to fix a match about ten years ago now.  If the incident had occured in the last three years he would have been expected to report the approach within 24 hours.  He is a great entertainer, but trouble never seems to be too far from 'The Rocket'.

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How awful for NFL star running back Adrian Peterson.  Peterson, who was fantastic a couple of weeks ago as he scored a couple of touchdowns for the Minnesota Vikings en route to victory at Wembley sadly lost his son of two years of age on Friday having been beaten to death by the child's mother's boyfriend.  I don't know how you get over something like that, but Peterson has said that he finds strength in his football and intends to play tonight against Carolina.  Our thoughts are with him at this terribly sad time.

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Just think, a few years ago Coventry versus Sheffield would have been a top class match.  Nowadays both sides are in the bottom half of League One...how times have changed.