Up over the top of Shap deer-warning signs start to appear at the side of the road and in the fields
Up over the top of Shap, deer-warning signs start to appear at the side of the road, and, in the fields, the greenery gives way to increasing patches of snow around the blasted sheep.When I arrived, Richards had just finished a morning's work and was emerging from his off-road vehicle with a barrel of gas in his hand. It is a place few visit.If you come from southern- softies direction towards Greystoke, the appreciation grows that you are entering a different land. This was originally the hub of an ancient barony, which included all Cumberland between Inglewood, Penrith and Keswick, before One Man once again made it a seat of power. Gordon Richards, who will be 66 this year, is closing in on 2,000 winners after 30 years with a licence, and he has just about every major chasing rosette going. There is one hole in the tapestry though and it is awaiting the garland of the Gold Cup.Greystoke may be little more than a village, but it has significance beyond its place in the atlas.
If he wins the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Thursday, and the bookmakers consider the sash is already around his neck, One Man is likely to join the few superheroes that cross into the public domain, the likes of Arkle, Red Rum and Desert Orchid.He will also complete one of the greatest training careers in National Hunt history. "But if you put him out in the field that's the first thing he does." But neither is it for his leisure technique that the eight-year-old is most famous. On the contrary, it is in the heat of racing's most testing furnace that the highest celebrity awaits One Man. "Nine out of 10 horses will come in and roll in their box, but this one never does," Richards said. There is a horse at Gordon Richards's Greystoke yard in Cumbria that is different, and it is not just because he is grey.
"We won, I think." Whooah! See those fists fly!This week at the World CupMoment of the weekRichie Richardson's emotional greeting of the West Indies' victory against Australia after he had responded to the immense personal pressure on him following the humiliation against Kenya by compiling a tremendous, match-winning innings of 93.Team of the week1 S T Jayasuriya (SL)2 A C Hudson (SA)3 R B Richardson (WI)4 R T Ponting (Aus)5 P A de Silva (SL)6 S R Waugh (Aus)7 H H Streak (Zim)8 Rashid Latif (Pak)9 C R Matthews (SA)10 Mushtaq Ahmed (Pak)11 C E L Ambrose (WI)England's humiliation of the weekThings have reached some pass when a canter to a routine victory over England by Pakistan is actually seen as a dramatic improvement in the English side's performance - but such was the case after the two met in Karachi last Sunday.Quote of the week"The inherent drama of a Waqar Younis v Sachin Tendulkar duel or an Inzamam-ul-Haq v Anil Kumble clash of wits is a sight for the cricketing gods." The Times of India builds up the India v Pakistan quarter-final in Bangalore in a suitably understated fashion.. The two men shook hands, started chatting, and bam! Scores of photographers knocked the glasses out of people's hands as they rushed to catch the scene. This was supposed to be Ali versus Frazier, and what was going on? These two looked like friends Eventually they politely deigned to sound tough Did Wasim remember the last time he'd played here "Yes," he said. The Pakistan team, like nervous guests, were smartly dressed; India, with the laid- back slouchiness of hosts, wore poolside gear "What's happened to Azhar's weight," said Wasim. Wasim Akram was just explaining how the muscle strain in his side was holding him back when Mohammed Azharuddin walked in. He won't be playing county cricket this year." You read it here first.As two nations held their breath over the outcome of today's India-Pakistan match, the players of both sides clinked orange, and politely declined the sponsor's cigarettes at a pre-match function in Bangalore's swishest hotel.
"Incidentally," he added at the end, "some news for Lara fans. The reporter in question has a knack for being first with the news. You should take ours now." Any doubts about the reliability of the report can be laid to rest, though. Sad, in a way - all this drowned out what could have been a sweet scene. "A few years back," Maurice Odumbe, Kenya's captain, said, "me and Steve Tikolo asked for your autograph, and you refused. When he hung around after the match against Kenya chatting to the triumphant Africans, he obviously didn't realise there was a reporter - some buffoon, probably - hanging around too.