What Katie Didn’t, Sue Did

Auroras Encore (right) on his way to Grand National glory

Aintree Grand National Meeting

The story was there to be written, only it came out with a different hue. The wait for the first female to ride a Grand National winner goes on but given how comparatively few have tried, or perhaps been afforded the opportunity, the odds are still very much against for the moment. Katie Walsh is a skilled horsewoman from impeccable stock and would have been an appropriate trailblazer. She still represents the most likely hope; in once more steering her mount safely home, albeit not to the fanfares that might have transpired, others may now feel empowered. Among the training ranks, however, there are no such barriers to be overcome. For the second time in five years it was ladies’ day in the winners’ enclosure, as Jenny Pitman and Venetia Williams were joined in the history books. Sue Smith was not why the headline writers were here, but at least the positive vibes had not been wasted.

The Highest Mountains Are Still To Climb

Becky James

Congratulations to Becky James. Before the ink has even dried on Victoria Pendleton’s retirement cards, it seems her legacy is safe. First we had double Olympic Champion Laura Trott, now another rising star, one who was only a reserve for the London team, has staked her claim to be considered in the same breath. Four medals at a single World Championships, two of them gold, is a unique achievement for any cyclist from this country. Rio is the obvious target going forward, but in contrast to the boundless opportunities opening up for their male equivalents, the horizons are rather more limited for James and the exceptional crop of young British women driving this two-wheeled revolution. In the warm glow of success, it is a disparity which is easily overlooked.

How Women’s Cricket Began To Come Of Age

Australia celebrate victory at the Women’s Cricket World Cup 2013

So how to evaluate the Women’s Cricket World Cup? The first thing to say is that the tiresome preoccupation with comparing everything to the men’s game is both unhelpful and faintly ludicrous. Women’s cricket has just recently come to be taken anywhere approaching seriously. It is little more than a decade ago that it was still played in skirts. Funding and resources were almost non-existent prior to that and remain minimal. Opportunities for girls to play are being realised only gradually, and the fight against prejudice and mockery has a long way to go, in some parts of the globe more than others. So what if we didn’t see balls being hit out of the ground or anyone generating the pace of Dale Steyn? That we were able to enjoy the quality and drama that was on display is testimony to how far has been travelled in such a short time.

Notes From A Small Island

Some observations from the T20 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka:

The West Indies celebrate their T20 World Cup success

West Indian Success Fantastic For Cricket? Well, Maybe

After two decades of alarming decline, there was something special about watching the boys from the Caribbean back on top of the world. While their individual flair was never in doubt, their ability to fuse it together as a team certainly was. That’s why captain Darren Sammy is worth his place despite his modest personal record. He forged an atmosphere in which egos were suppressed, replaced by a spirit which recalled the cornered tigers of the past. Show the world you’re not just a ragtag bunch of cash-obsessed mercenaries with a single arrow in your quiver, he might have intoned. It certainly lacked the raw power of the racism and discrimination which motivated their forebears to immortality, but their wild celebrations betrayed their sense of vindication.

Hayl The Queen Of The Turf

Hayley Turner

Cavaleiro probably won’t be winning racing’s most famous prize this weekend but, as the stalls open and the horses shoot off across the Epsom Downs on Derby day, he will at least be destined for a minor role in the history of the great race. Marcus Tregoning’s charge has earned the right to take his place in the line-up with some promising if unremarkable performances even though the bookies rate his chances as slim. On his back however, he will carry a jockey whose presence in the proceedings is the result of a far greater struggle for recognition. Hayley Turner will become only the second female rider to take part in well over two hundred years of the showpiece occasion. That she will do so not as a novelty but as a serious and respected competitor is a cause for some celebration.