On the book though Streamstown has every chance of success
On the book, though, Streamstown has every chance of success.When he arrived at Ferdy Murphy’s yard in Middleham, the seven-year-old’s handicap rating was barely into three figures. Now he races off a mark of 136, and so rapidly has he progressed over the last few months that an 8lb rise since his latest success, at Wetherby in January, is unlikely to hold him back.”We’d left a bit to work on when he got his hat-trick up but he still did it very nicely,” Murphy said yesterday, “so we’d hope he will improve from that. Everything has gone according to plan with his preparation, and he also looks better than he did earlier in the year. The softer the ground, the better it will be for him, because it will inconvenience the others, and he’s the sort of horse that will always give his all.”The only concern for Murphy ahead of Saturday’s race is that Adrian Maguire, Streamstown’s regular partner, will be serving a suspension.
“The first time we ran him this year, at Liverpool, he fell,” Murphy said, “then next time out, when he finished second at Carlisle, Adrian made a lot of use of him, letting him have a good look at his fences, and that was the making of him. Adrian has made this horse, and it’s a shame he won’t be riding him because he knows him so well, but I’m happy that JP [McNamara] will be a more than able substitute.”Streamstown is just one of a series of talented staying chasers to emerge from Murphy’s Middleham yard over the last 12 months, along with the likes of Paris Pike, last season’s Scottish National winner, and Narrow Water, who took the Northern National at Newcastle four days ago This, the trainer believes, is more than mere coincidence. “Our gallops are a steep rise,” he said, “and the work that we have to do to get up there gives them all an abundance of stamina. It means that these marathon races seem to suit the horses we have.”Kempton also hosts one of its major events this weekend, the Racing Post Chase, and the veteran chaser General Wolfe was yesterday confirmed as a definite starter in Saturday’s race.
The 12-year-old finished second in the Agfa Diamond Chase at Sandown earlier this month, when he was racing for the first time in almost two years, and he goes to Kempton in preference to the Jim Ford Chase at Wincanton tomorrow.”He seems to have retained his enthusiasm and is as good as ever,” Mark Gichero, a spokesman for The Winning Line, General Wolfe’s owners, said yesterday. “For the first time in ages he’s not badly handicapped, and when the handicapper gives you a bit of a chance, you’ve got to go for it.”Irish bookmakers Cashmans yesterday made Struggles Glory 5-1 favourite from 10-1, with David Robinson’s charge now likely to be 3lb, rather than 13lb, out of the handicap.. Lennox Lewis is sending Mike Tyson a draft contract for a world title fight this summer with prize money – reported to be some $100 million – being split 50/50. Lennox Lewis is sending Mike Tyson a draft contract for a world title fight this summer with prize money – reported to be some $100 million – being split 50/50.
But the WBC and IBF champion says he will only accept that split if Tyson comes to a deal with his TV network, Showtime.According to Lewis, his business manager, Adrian Ogun, has talks in New York last week with Tyson’s representative, Shelly Finkel.”Mike, through Shelly, made an offer to me to fight as early as June this year, leaving me to choose the date and location,” Lewis said in a statement.”I am delighted to accept the offer and I have instructed my lawyers to send Mike a draft contract for the deal.”Mike wants us to share purses on a 50/50 basis,” Lewis said.
“I am prepared to do that provided the live pay-per-view for the fight is on my network, HBO/TVKO, and that Mike compensates his network, Showtime, out of his 50 percent of the purse.”I intend to fight Hasim Rahman on 21st April in Carnival City, South Africa, and I am prepared to meet Mike soon after his birthday, 30th June, although my preferred date would be 21st July.”A contest with Tyson remains the only fight that really interests Lewis who was undisputed champion for a spell last year until a judge took the WBA title off him because of a conflict of opponents.Former undisputed world champion Tyson has won three comeback fights but is currently suspended for testing positive for marijuana after his October fight with Andrew Golota.. For the first time in 27 years England will start a Test match with just one specialist pace bowler. Although not finalised, the extraordinary tactical direction for tomorrow’s first Test against Sri Lanka is thought to have come after close inspection of the Galle pitch yesterday. Unless overnight events force a change, Darren Gough is virtually certain to open the bowling with his Yorkshire colleague, Craig White, as Nasser Hussain’s men prepare themselves for a surfeit of spin.
