The ground was plenty quick enough but full marks to Leopardstown it’s safe

“The ground was plenty quick enough but full marks to Leopardstown, it’s safe. He quickened nicely when I asked him to.”2,000 GUINEAS (One mile, Newmarket, 3 May): Coral: 5-2 Hold That Tiger, 6-1 Refuse To Bend, 8-1 Trade Fair, 10-1 Lateen Sails, 12-1 Muqbil, 14-1 Tomahawk, Tout Seul, 16-1 Qais. William Hill: 9-4 Hold That Tiger, 7-1 Trade Fair, 8-1 Lateen Sails, Refuse To Bend, 14-1 Muqbil, Tomahawk, Tout Seul, 20-1 Oasis Dream.THE DERBY (11/2 miles, Epsom, 7 June): 4-1 Brian Boru, 8-1 Refuse To Bend, 10-1 Alamshar, Hold That Tiger, Muqbil, 14-1 Dalakhani, 16-1 New South Wales, 20-1 Alberto Giacometti, Chevalier, Powerscourt, Qais, Songlark. William Hill: 7-2 Brian Boru, 8-1 Refuse To Bend, 10-1 Alamshar, Hold That Tiger, 12-1 Alberto Giacometti, 14-1 Dalakhani, 16-1 New South Wales, 20-1 Chevalier, Lateen Sails.. It has also been revealed that Harrison has already discussed a possible fight against Bruno with the retired boxer’s new advisers and, according to rumour, Harrison is very interested in the deal.If Bruno can satisfy the board’s strict medical tests, and if Harrison can be made to see financial common sense, then the fight really could happen next summer on a pay-per-view channel. Harrison is currently renegotiating with the BBC and is undefeated in 10 fights, while Bruno left the sport having won 40 of his 45 fights.If the pair meet it will be similar to the 1987 extravaganza at White Hart Lane when Joe Bugner returned from his Australian exile to lose to Bruno in a one-sided bloodbath.

Bugner was 37 at the time.Meanwhile, there was some action in the ring over the weekend at York Hall, Bethnal Green, where Edinburgh’s Craig Docherty won the Commonwealth super-featherweight title when he stopped Dean Pithie in the eighth round. Docherty and Pithie failed to generate much publicity but the mere suggestion that Bruno is getting back in the ring has created a storm.. Paula Radcliffe took the women’s marathon into new territory yesterday as she retained her Flora London title in a world best time of 2hr 15min 25sec, taking 1min 53sec off the mark she set in Chicago last October. It was a performance that would have earnt the Briton every male Olympic title up to 1960, and would have placed her 15th in yesterday’s men’s race.Radcliffe had feared she might not be able to take part after suffering extensive cuts and dislocating her jaw in a collision with a cyclist while training in Albuquerque, New Mexico, five weeks ago. But her wounds have been helped to heal with regular application of an oil obtained from the belly of the emu, the flightless Australian bird.

This ancient Aboriginal remedy had been recommended to the former World and European champion Sonia O’Sullivan, who is also training in Albuquerque, by Australia’s Aboriginal Olympic 400m champion, Cathy Freeman.The defending champion was thus able to extend an extraordinary recent run of success which has seen her win European and Commonwealth titles.After a day’s work which earned her approximately £400,000, she also received the Jim Peters Trophy as first Britain home. The fastest British male recorded 2:17.57.On a day when all 32,746 entrants observed a minute’s silence in memory of the event’s originator, Chris Brasher, the men’s title went to Ethiopian World and Olympic champion Gezahegne Abera, who won by less than a second from Italy’s Stefano Baldini. It was the closest finish in London since the first race in 1981 when Dick Beardsley and Inge Simonsen crossed the line hand-in-hand as joint winners.* Tony Blair’s communications chief, Alastair Campbell raised more than £250,000 for the Leukaemia Research Fund, including a $100 (£65) contribution from President George Bush, by completing the marathon in 3 hours 53 minutes and 6 seconds – well within his target.. The London Marathon leader board for women competitors told its own story yesterday. The number in the frame, from first mile to last, was 101 – Paula Radcliffe’s The defending champion left no room for error. The defending champion left no room for error.
Radcliffe’s physical therapist, Ger Hartmann, described her winning time of 2hr 15min 25sec, which took 1min 53sec off the world best she had set in Chicago six months earlier as a “quantum leap” in the event. “I have worked with 42 Olympic medallists and I don’t know anyone else who works so hard nor is so dedicated to what they do,” Hartmann said.

“The other girls are going to have to start thinking of ways to bridge the gap because I know Paula can run faster again.”Radcliffe has still to decide whether to contest the marathon or the 10,000 metres at next year’s Olympics, but after a remorseless display which left her four and a half minutes clear of her nearest challenger, Kenya’s former world record holder Catherine Ndereba, she is entitled to feel enormous confidence as she looks ahead to Athens.Although the 29-year-old Bedford athlete manifested signs of stress in the later stages of the race, grimacing and nodding her head in characteristic fashion, her final mile before the 385-yard stretch down the Mall was completed in 4min 48sec, the fastest in any women’s marathon. She finished as she started – superbly.Much had been made before the race of the decision to allow the women to be paced by eight Kenyan men, who were instructed to proceed in pairs at intervals between 2.16 and 2.22 pace. As soon as the runners had moved clear of the start, Radcliffe established herself alone with the fastest pair and the race became, in Hartland’s words, “a time trial”.But Radcliffe, who remained studiously detached from her assistants throughout, had been reluctant to tie herself down to a race plan as she approached what was only her third marathon. “It wasn’t because we were playing our cards close to our chests,” she said. “The organisers were asking me about it, but I just wanted to go out and run how I felt on the day.”When I run it’s not about the clock, it’s about a battle with myself to see how fast I can go.