Rogues and cheats

Amidst the fabulous semi-finals of Champions League football and Sprinter Sacre spectable in racing at Punchestown, two bombshells hit the headlines in these sports for the past week; yet-another scandal involving Luis Suarez, and the Al Zarooni drug shame.

The long list of mis-demeanors of Liverpool's Suarez is well-documented; biting at an opponent during his Ajax days, racial abuse towards Man Utd's Evra, refusal to shake hands with the latter in a later game, numerous diving incidents, and the deliberate hand-ball at the goal line against Ghana during a World Cup game. I am less inclined to fault him for that latter obstruction as it was really a reflex to stop being scored against. But his latest chewing at the expense of Chelsea's Ivanovic is less forgivable. It is a case of repeatable barbaric offence which, in my mind, deserves an unconditional heavy punishment. Ten games and Liverpool are sulking? Common, I think he deserves half the season on the sidelines. Let him consider his future in English football; in fact, I think the EPL would be better without his antics. His football skills are evident, but mentally there is definitely something amiss. How much more human meat he needs to chew before Liverpool decide that enough is enough?

The Al Zarooni saga is still unfolding, so not all the elements are pieced together yet before all questions can be clearly answered. It is quite hard to accept his reasoning that he did not know the rules about steroid use in UK racing. I mean, of the past 7 years, there have been 3 drug violations that have been detected; 2 of them were from Al Zarooni himself, for usage of forbidden pain-killers on his horses. It seems unfathomable that had that been naivety of his part back then, that he wouldn't have consulted the drug policies regarding harder drugs like anabolic steroids. His excuse of not knowing the rules does not hold much water. Unlike Suarez, his career is over. It looks to be the case of the young ambitious trainer who had his chance, took it and then blew it. What remains are pertinent questions that hopefully will be answered in the next days, but possibly many others won't be answered; For example, what to make of his successes at the highest level during the past 3 years? Was Monterosso juiced in winning the Dubai World Cup in 2012? He did surprise many by his decisive win on that day. Was Rewilding a worthy winner at Royal Ascot when gunning down heavy favourite So You Think? Many thought, including I, that the Ballydoyle colt was unbeatable that day, which prompted shell-shocked trainer O'Brien to advance that he hadn't prepared the colt adequately. How about Encke foiling Camelot's triple crown bid in the St Leger last year? Pounds, as well as dreams, were shed by many on that Classic, and they could very well have been for the wrong reasons if the Godolphin representative benefited from an illegal boost on the occasion.

Unlike some, I think that Godolphin will survive this. They are too huge to go under, just like the saying in the financial world, where there are banks that are too big to fail. There's every chance that Suarez will continue his controversial path and find something up his sleeve when he comes back. It just wouldn't shock anyone anymore. On further thoughts, maybe it could still shock, you never know with Suarez.

Blue Manchester in trouble

AC Milan, Man Utd, Bayern won and Musir finished in a rather disappointing 3rd place.

The suspected change in leadership in the EPL materialised as the red part of Manchester took the reins away from their blue neighbours. A few months ago, I was writing that this year's La Liga will go to Real Madrid and the EPL will go Man City, with the view that any one of them winning will be rewarding. The first one looks spot on, the second prediction looks fuzzy at the moment. The Citizens still have the advantage of receiving Man Utd at the Etihaad in one of the remaining games, but the momentum has currently turned into Utd's favour. The tide can still swing either way as I expect both to drop surprise points during the remaining fixtures. It will be a tight race but Man Utd are certainly in the driver's seat at the moment and deserving favourites. They are definitely ready for the title run-in while City have a mental hurdle to grasp and overcome, or their title chances could be ruined very rapidly. Exciting duel indeed.

Anyone seen any of the Rooney's penalties lately? It is obvious the guy gives it a good practice as he puts them spot on with no chance for the goalkeeper. Besides one blip when he slipped and missed last year, his penalties have been perfectly dispatched out of the keeper's reach. Contrast him with former team-mate Christiano Ronaldo, who can be as effective, but reacts to the keeper's movements to place his shot, virtually and un-sportingly cutting off his dash in the process. Give me a Rooney penalty to watch anytime.

The Super Saturday Meydan fixture did not go much in the way of the favourites given the ultra-competitive nature of the cards. The results do not give an indication of what the winners could look like on Dubai World Cup day, but they have allowed for certain fancied horses to be removed out of the equation. In this regard, Bold Silvano flopped again and does not look a contender for the DWC, even though connections are pointing out that he had a problem with his tongue over the bit during the race. Same for Gitano Hernando who was expected to find his mile distance too sharp but cannot be expected to improve wonders in 3 weeks time for the big race. The only 2 DWC horses that returned from a positive bulletin were Monterosso, who finished a creditable 4th and will be expected to be better for the run, and Master of Hounds who won on the turf course and might warrant a return to the Tapeta for the DWC.

In golf, Rory Mc Ilroy did not win but came out an eye-catching 3rd in the WGC Championship, one week after winning the Honda Classic. The Irishman certainly has been impressive in racking up quite a few Top 10 finishes and it will be interesting to follow his percentages in that regard. He's certainly getting better and better and warrants more confidence than any other golfer out there, including Tiger Woods.