Everything is on target for Saturday and he's in excellent form It'll be a nice preparation for the King George - and I just hope I'll be able to ride him there."Best Mate may be revered by racegoers and his own training team but other members of the training fraternity have not allowed respect to turn into deference. The eight-year-old will have to be somewhere near his best to see off some smart rivals, including Paul Nicholls's Valley Henry and Richard Phillips's La Landiere.And, one week on from the Telsta Stadium, France sends the finest it can muster to take on England's best. Notoriously too nervous to watch her favourite horses in action, Knight said: "I'm going to have to face it - he's coming out again whether I like it or not. Everything is on target for Saturday and he's in excellent form."Jim Culloty, his regular partner but out of action for his two King George VI Chase attempts, will be back in the saddle for Saturday's Peterborough Chase at the Cambridgeshire track. "He's as fit as he was for this race last year," Culloty said "He's ready to go. "I'm obviously extremely disappointed, but I am feeling very positive and I am determined to focus all of my efforts on getting back to full fitness as soon as I can."Burns blacked out while travelling to Cardiff a fortnight ago for the Wales Rally GB. He was saved from a potentially fatal accident when his rally rival, Markko Martin of Estonia, took the wheel and steered the car to safety.Burns was taken to hospital and ordered to miss the rally before undergoing further tests in London last week. He will undergo a course of radiotherapy to treat the condition."The doctors have advised that I am unable to get back in a rally car for the 2004 Championship and I have to accept that," Burns, 32, said. Richard Burns will miss the 2004 world championship after being diagnosed as having a brain tumour. To be fair, none of the above would probably do much worse than Glenn Hoddle."But Spurs' website said the quote had been fabricated and was "blatantly and totally false".. John Gorman resigned as assistant manager to Tony Adams' at Wycombe Wanderers yesterday. The former Leicester captain, Steve Walsh, has been tipped to be Collymore's assistant if he does join the club.Tottenham have said that their caretaker manager, David Pleat, had been misquoted in a report appearing in the Australian press which poked fun at the club's former manager, Glenn Hoddle.Pleat was quoted as saying of the applications to succeed Hoddle: "We've had everyone.
The 33-year-old, never far from the spotlight during his career - which included spells at Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Aston Villa - developed a reputation as a brilliant but notoriously temperamental striker.Southend have been in the hunt for a new manager following the departure of Steve Wignall. Southend have held initial discussions with Stan Collymore over a return to Roots Hall as player-manager. Gorman, who acted as caretaker manager before Adams was appointed as the permanent successor to Lawrie Sanchez, worked alongside the former Arsenal and England defender for Wycombe's last two games but he is keen to renew his partnership with Glenn Hoddle, if and when the former Tottenham manager finds a new job in football.. When asked about his use of the elbow, Giggs replied: "All I have done is to shrug him off."Such was the ill-feeling generated in Moscow that the sides are more likely to swap punches than shirts when the final whistle blows tomorrow night.. The Middlesbrough defender Franck Queudrue has been cleared of violent behaviour after an incident involving the Southampton striker Kevin Phillips. A statement from the Football Association of Wales said they were "disappointed the Russians have decided to go down this road". The statement added: "We are confident he will be able to play on Wednesday."Shortly before the alleged elbowing, Giggs had been felled by Evseev with a brutally crude tackle which the Manchester United winger described as "one of the worst I have had to contend with in my career". Should Uefa's control and discipline committee decide to take action, Wales' one true world-class player could miss the most vital match he has ever played for his country.This is an unlikely scenario, since Uefa would have to receive the video by this morning and convene a meeting today as no footballer can be suspended on the day of a match. |
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