Old Favourite Sublimity Back To Winning Ways

Trainer Robbie Hennessy’s grand servant Sublimity returned to the winners’ enclosure for the first time in over two year’s when getting the better of a tremendous tussle with the 2006 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Newmill in the McCarthy Insurance Group Hurdle at Cork on Monday, writes Elliot Slater.

The 2007 Champion Hurdle winner has had plenty of ups and downs since his famous Cheltenham triumph over Brave Inca, but has found victories hard to come by despite a number of fine efforts. An injury last year to a suspensory ligament placed the now 11-year-old’s career in serious jeopardy, but he has recovered well and proved at Cork that he is still a force to be reckoned with in the right grade.

The clear pick on official ratings according to those looking at betting tips regularly, Sublimity was given a patient ride by Andrew Lynch as Newmill established a long lead. After gradually moving closer, Lynch delivered his mount to challenge at the last but then had to get to work as Newmill found extra reserves and made a serious fight of it, eventually only giving way to Sublimity in the last 75 yards.

Plans are now afoot for the Selkirk gelding to tackle the Limestone Lad Hurdle at Naas on January 15 over two-and-a-half miles, before possibly having a crack at the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown at the end of the month, a race in which Sublimity finished third last year to Solwhit. Monday’s win was the ninth in a 33-race career, both on the Flat and over hurdles, in which Sublimity has now amassed over

NBA – Orlando Magic breaks the Boston Celtics 14-game winning Streak

by Stephen Lars on Dec.30, 2010, under Basketball, Sports News

Orlando is starting to believe in their Magic. And that’s how Orlando took charge and defeated the Celtics by 86-78. With a decisive 4th quarter that saw Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick complete a jumper in the last minute while both Celtics’ Nate Robinson and Ray Allen each had airballs in the final seconds, the Orlando Magic went on to dominate the Boston Celtics and give them their first defeat since November 21st at Toronto.

Orlando Magic is giving us a brand new face. It seems like Santa finally listen to head coach Stan Van Gundy’s prayers and gave him one heck of a Christmas Day present. The Magic has just signed a few key player that include top-notch point-guard Gilbert Arenas from Washington and Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson and Earl Clark from Phoenix. This Magic mix has been enough to bring in two outstanding wins over the San Antonio Spurs, ending their 10-game winning streak and over the Boston Celtics, cutting theirs at 14.

There is one factor that must be taken into consideration. Like we had stated before, the Celtics where winning, yes, they had the longest winning streak of the season, but they were certainly hurting badly. The Celtics had to rely on its backups for the better half of these 14 games.  Injuries had been playing a negative roll against the Boston Celtics. Point Guard Rajon Rondo has been out for 7 games now due to a sprained ankle and backup Delonte West has missed the last 13 after he broke his wrist. As a matter of fact, Jemaine O’Neal played for the first time since the streak began and Kendrick Perkins, who used to be the starting center, hasn’t played yet.

Still, there is one very distinct side of this injury prone and veteran based team. They Celtics kept on winning. If you take into consideration that the Big Three, that is: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are still healthy, the Celtics have managed to keep on winning, that’s something that they couldn’t do last year.

Brandon Bass scored 21-points and 9 rebounds while Hedu Turkoglu had 15 points as Orlando Magic defeated the Celtics 86-78 on Christmas Day. Jameer Nelson went out as the starter and collected 12 points while Roddick had 12. Dwight Howard got into foul trouble early on the game while keeping a close defense over Shaquille O’Neal. He collected 11 rebounds but was quite unproductive on the offensive end.

Orlando had been struggling recently. The Magic had lost 8 of its last 9 games of the season, and they were not capable of bringing a good record for the season until they underwent the big mid season swap of players. The Orlando Magic will now play the New Jersey Nets. As of press time the Magic are a -6-point favorite on the NBA spread.

Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard had a couple of incidents on the court that ended early in the first three quarters. After a small wrestle, Howard was able to pull a sixth foul on Shaq and send him to the locker rooms early in the game.

NASCAR – Clint Bowyer penalized after winning the Chase Opener

by Stephen Lars on Sep.24, 2010, under Motor Sports, Sports News

When it comes to car racing, be it the NASCAR Sprint Series, the Formula One series, the Moto GP, it has always been a matter of how far can you take the technical limitations that are set upon the car to the limit. It has always been a matter of how you can cut the corners inside the legal margins to, at the end, have the fastest car or the fastest bike out there. Let’s not forget that at the end of these 200, 300, 500 mile-long races, it all comes down to a matter of seconds and milliseconds between the winner and everybody else.

Don’t get me wrong here, I do realize this limitations set upon chief mechanics and team engineers are set to keep things fair and let the talent and driving skills of each driver be what makes the difference. Let’s not forget also that some of these limitations are also place to keep the safe being of the racers and spectators as the No. 1 priority.

So yes, if you do make changes that go too far, if you cheat (but that’s not the right word here) and break some regulations to make your car go faster, you and your team should be penalized. But I would go so far as to expect that if as a Driver and a team both Clint Bowyer and Richard Childress Racing should be penalized with such a harsh punishment, then NASCAR should have done so on Sunday, not wait for an extended review and give the punishment on a Wednesday afternoon.

Here is the thing, why did it take so long.  They have penalized Clint Bowyer with 150 points. Ok, Sunday night, after he won the race, Bowyer was 2nd in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Thursday Morining, that same guy now sits 12th over 180 points from the first place and basically without the slightest chance to win the Chase. For a single race infraction, 150 point must be up-to-date the highest penalization any NASCAR driver has received. The thing here is that, as of press time, Sprint Cup officials have yet to make an statement regarding the details of what was it that Richard Childress Racing had done wrong.

They, the evaluative commission who tested the car, have said that it was a matter of how the team mechanics and engineers had arranged the care body over the frame, giving it some sort of aerodynamic advantage. But here is the twist. If the infraction was really worth a 150-point sanction, why didn’t the guys who check the cars after the race noticed that anything was wrong?

Upon further review

Winning Donation for Hughes

Posted by Leigh on August 27, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

After his victory the Racing UK-sponsored Leading Jockey Award at Glorious Goodwood, Richard Hughes has made the sizeable donation of his