A week-end of Champions

As a precursor to the upcoming London Olympic games, England was centre-stage to some fantastic sports headlines over the week-end.

The King George promised a lot and delivered in spectacular fashion as Danedream edged out Nathaniel by a nostril at the end. Both horses come out of this race with highly-enhanced reputations. The German filly has now the Arc and the King George on her resume and must be considered one of the best to come out of German racing. I cannot wait for her to defend her Arc title in October where she might lock horns with a certain Camelot. Very enticing indeed.

I cannot but be impressed with Nathaniel. Considering he won a hard race only a fortnight ago and to come up to that short, he showed he had both talent and a heart. He's a champion and deserves every respect whenever he steps out again. This horse is one of the 3 best middle-distance runners in training today.

Still in racing, Carlton House failed to fire in the Summer Mile. I think the mile is too sharp for the son of Street Cry. Nine or ten furlongs is his distance.

Then, there was the British Open, without doubt the best feel-good news of the week-end and of recent months; Ernie Els win and 4th Major of his career. In a previous post, I mentioned that he did well at Royal Lytham before and was great value to make the cut. He did easily but little did I think that he would win the whole thing. Just like many many others, I am a huge fan for Ernie Els because he's such a class act. He does not need the fist-pump, he's as humble as you can get, and Sunday's win showed the respect for he beholds for this opponents, like unlucky runner-up Adam Scott. Also, like many others, I did not think he would win another Major as I thought his best years were behind him. But it is fantastic that he did, and the better for golf if he wins more. Golf needs such class characters.

Finally, Brad Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de France. I hope for the nation that he never gets his name embroiled into a doping scandal. With today's cycling, it's something that one can never ascertain anymore.