Excelebration Struts his Stuff in France

Aidan O’Brien’s fine miler, Excelebration, finally had his chance to shine, and duly grabbed the opportunity with both hands, when comfortable landing a high-class renewal of the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville on Sunday, writes Elliot Slater.

 

The four-year-old colt has had the misfortune to be born into the same generation as the mighty Frankel, and no less than five times over the last couple of seasons has finished second behind Sir Henry Cecil’s all-time great in the major mile contests in Britain. 

Most recently, he slammed 11 lengths as the world champion racehorse put up arguably his greatest performance in turning Royal Ascot’s Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes into an absolute procession.

With Frankel stepping up to 10 furlongs though, the way has now been left clear for Excelebration to finally make hay while the sun shines, and he duly ‘did the business’ when quickening up well inside the final furlong to easily account for the gallant, Cityscape and Elusive Kate, with an unlucky-in-running Moonlight Cloud finishing fast to take fourth.

As long as all goes well for Frankel in the Juddmonte International Stakes at the York Ebor 2012 Festival meeting on August 22, it seems that Excelebration will have more chances to shine at a mile this term. Races like the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot and possibly the Breeders’ Cup Mile in the US in November are obvious targets for the imposing son of Exceed and Excel. 

There is also the option of dropping back to sprinting. O’Brien has given his charge an entry in the six furlong Betfred Sprint Cup, and judging by the way he travels in his races and quickens, there are good grounds for believing that, if he did change tack, the Ballydoyle colt would also be a force to be reckoned with at shorter trips.

Visit the St Leger 2012 odds page on Betfair for the latest news, odds, and tips on the upcoming race meeting.

Podolski looking to influence Arsenal

New Arsenal signing Lukas Podolski believes Arsene Wenger’s men can finally fulfil their potential and win the Premier League title in the upcoming season.

The Gunners are currently on a run of seven years without atrophy, having not lifted silverware since winning the 2005 FA Cup, despite playing some of the most attractive football in Europe for most of the last decade.

The odds betting again puts them in the mix for silverware this time around, though the supporters are feeling less optimistic.

Veteran boss Wenger is famous for his preference of developing talent and his production line has seen the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy all go on to other clubs.

All three have hinted that the reason for their exit has been the North Londoners’ lack of ambition in the transfer market but there appears to have been a changing of the guard in recent months.

After finishing third last season, Wenger has decided to bring a number of more established players to the club, with Podolski arriving from German club Cologne, while the Gunners have also signed striker Olivier

Giroud from French champions Montpellier, as well as Spanish international Santi Cazorla.

The 27-year-old believes the trio’s arrival will help the Arsenal squad change their attitude and that their previous success will inspire their team-mates to pick up some decent early live scores results, starting on Saturday against Sunderland.

"The Premier League has fiveor six teams who can play for the title and we are one of them," he said."We really want to win this trophy and I hope I can score a lot of goals and make some assists to help the club in the Premier League.

"When you are a footballer you must be ready - you're on the pitch to win. Whether it is against Cologne or against Sunderland, you are a footballer and you must be ready to win matches," he added.

Horn outclassed at Olympic Games

Australian boxing fans were left reeling this week after their biggest medal hopefuls in 24 years fell at the final hurdle at London 2012.

Two of Australian boxing’s biggest names are already out after Naomi-Lee Fischer-Rasmussen and Jeff Horn both lost before reaching the semi-finals.

Without a medal since Graham Cheney’s lightweight silver in Seoul 1988, punters placed plenty of online bets backing Horn, a nippy light welterweight who has the talent to dominate his division in years to come, to come away with a place on the podium.

After defeating Zambia’s Gilbert Choombe and Abderrazak Houya of Tunisia, the 24-year-old came into London’s ExCel Arena knowing the weight of a nation was on his shoulders.

But up against Ukrainian favourite Denys Berinchyk, Horn confronted a challenge far superior to those set in the early bouts. Horn did well to physically impose himself upon Berinchyk but couldn’t bring his opponent into a proper scrap as the Ukrainian boxed his way to a 5-3 lead after the first bell.

Things went from bad to worse for the Brisbane fighter with the gap at 12-7 by the end of the second and, although he battled bravely in the third round there was nothing stopping last year’s World Championship silver medallist from coming through 21-13. It was a surprisingly heavy defeat that even line betting enthusiasts hadn’t predicted, but one in keeping with a difficult Olympic games for Australia up to this point.

Also 24 years old, Berinchyk has set the level that Horn must aspire to, while Fischer-Rasmussen was served the same treatment in the last 16 of the women’s middleweight, losing out to Sweden’s Laurell Anna 24-17.

Australian boxing will sit down after these Olympics and go through what went right and what went wrong, but it seems we will have to wait another four years before medal hopes can surface once more on the horizon.