Puig says that Bradley is like clay and not a vase” Alan Smith said
“Puig says that Bradley is like clay and not a vase,” Alan Smith said. “There’s plenty of time to mould him into a better rider.”Smith has surprisingly mature ambitions. “Everyone in racing says he wants to be world champion,” he said. “But if you set a big target for yourself and you don’t get there, you fall flat on your face.”So I’m not predicting where I will finish in the championship points table.
I just want to set my bike up properly for the Jerez race, improve my lap times and see what I can do.”. In the mayhem of the Queen Mother Champion Chase, French jockey Thierry Majorcryk brushed his fingertips against the mythical hard knocks trophy. But however mournful he felt on his ambulance ride to hospital, he must have known the trophy was already beyond his reach. Ruby Walsh, whose first day at the festival was dream-like in the perfection of his two winning rides, had it all bandaged up. The Oxfordshire schoolboy Bradley Smith claimed yesterday that he would not be fazed when he races on the same track as the seven times world motorcycle champion, Valentino Rossi, in 10 days’ time. Smith, 15, will make his debut in the 125cc class on a factory Repsol Honda at the opening round of the MotoGP Championship in Jerez, Spain.
Rossi will set about winning his eighth world title on his Camel Yamaha in the big race for 990cc, 215mph bikes. But Smith would be happy with a single point for 15th place when he rides his 145mph machine.
Coral, one of Britain’s biggest bookmaking firms said last night that yesterday had been the worst day for punters in the history of betting at the Cheltenham Festival. After an afternoon when outsiders dominated, David Hood, a spokesman for rival firm William Hill, said: “Punters in the UK and Ireland have left behind the best part of £50m today – as much as the Securitas robbery, only ours is legal!”
Among the big bets recorded on course were wagers of £100,000 and £80,000 on the first race runner-up, Denman, plus £100,000 on Equus Maximus, who trailed home 12th in the final race of the day as punters tried in vain to fight their way out of trouble.. A spokesman for the BFTA said: “A number of our members buy sealskin at international markets. Seals are a sustainable resource and harvesting is carried out under strict regulation which is monitored by the Canadian government and vets.” He added: “There is virtually no market for sealskin products in the UK.”The International Fund for Animal Welfare has discovered seal penises on sale as traditional Chinese medicine, which prizes them as aphrodisiacs.. However, seal products worth about £300,000 a year are imported into Britain and exported to customers around the world. Britain is the biggest trader of fur in the world and plays a major role in the European trade in seal fur.
According to the British Fur Trade Association (BFTA) the UK trade in animal furs is worth between £400m and £500m a year. Despite the attention of animals rights protesters, the trade body says the animal fur industry is thriving, with sales of fur garments and accessories up 30 per cent last year.
The most popular furs sold are mink, fox and rabbit; seal fur is not sold by fashion retailers in Britain. The fearful sounds of the seals, the savagery of the clubbing, the ice turning red as the blood seeps away and the steaming, skinned and abandoned corpses. It is difficult to understand the mentality behind this cull It needs to be ended.”. A spokeswoman said: “The annual seal hunt is tightly-regulated, humane, economically viable and based on sound conservation principles.
