Should Tamarillo be cloned?

Tamarillo is a famous 3-Day event horse who has won various titles including the Badminton and Burghley horse trials. Recently his breeders (at Biddesden stud in Hampshire UK) Mr and Mrs Finn Guinness expressed their desire to clone their champion steed. This may seem like a touch of vanity per say, but on closer inspection their could be a greater vision at work in their wishes.

Regular horse racing over the flat is generally contested between 3 year old male and female throughbred horses, and the blood lines are carefully preserved owing to the fact that the male horses are never castrated. For almost all other types of horse competition the horses that obtain the highest level are geldings (castrated males). The reasons for this are unclear, but it seems that perhaps stallions stop trying so hard when they reach maturity or perhaps they have a a greater sense of self preservation, or perhaps even the testosterone stops the brain from discipline! Either way, one they are castrated they can never be bred from.

Mr and Mrs Finn Guinness are interested in cloning Tamarillo with the specific aim to not castrate him (cited in horse and hound). With race horses the better and more succesful horses are the ones that tend to have better progeny. Whole generations of the greatest horse lines are therefore lost. No one can claim to ride a horse who's forefather has won Badminton as they have never been Stallions.

The idea of playing God has in someways been meddled with many century ago, afterall the thoroughbred horse itself was selectively bred by man by racing Arabian horses across the Salisbury plain. It is ironic as this is not many miles from where Tamaillo was himself origionally bred. there have been offers for this to happen but it is not free. I say we help out and make donations to the Clone Tamarillo fund.

see also - www.biddesdenstud.co.uk

As always

xx

Rory

WHY!!!

If Manchester United are having trouble scoring goals recently, why would they have no substitutes that are strikers? And perhaps Scholes should have come on, but not in place of Tevez!?!
Scholes and Giggs for Fletcher and Park, and Manucho for O'Shea

xx

Who is the best defender in England?

The best defender is clearly from on of the Big 4 as they are always the clubs who concede the fewest goals. So who is the best?

For Liverpool- Carragher is a little small, Agger a little inconsistent, Skrtel seems to be good but needs more time.

For Arsenal - Toure is strong, but Gallas is sometimes prone to lack of concentration.

For Chelsea - Terry can be a little slow, but Carvalho is intelligent.

For Manchester - Vidic and Ferdinand make a good partnership

My personal opinion is that

1. Vidic
2. Carvalho
3. Toure
4. Ferdinand
5. Skrtel

xxx

Whats happened to Blackburn of late?

They didnt get off to too bad of a start in the English Premier League however they have seriously fallen off the pace. Obviously their manager has moved on to greener pastures, Santa Cruz was injured and they lost Bentley.

My personal opinion though is that vis a vis my article on which countries produce good player - they lost Friedel. Everyone needs a great keeper and they have Paul Robinson who hardly inspires confidence.

Look at what has happene to Aston Villa since the American moved to their club - they are probably (quote me on that) going to finish in the top 4!

have a good saturday

xx

I met someone recently who told me...

He worked in a Manchester park. Ryan Giggs house overlooked this park. When people would wave at him as he looked out the through his glass walled balcony, he would stick his middle finger up at them.

This could give you an insight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoXoSiTRvlY

A position of Nationality? Which countries specialise in which soccer positions

Styles of soccer vary greatly between different countries. Nothing is either right or wrong, no one country wins the world cup every time. However it does seem that some countries seem to produce more world class players in one position rather than another. For example noone would ever accuse Nigeria of being a conveyor belt of reliable defenders, but their attacking players are powerful and skillful. In this article I am trying to identify which country produces the best players for each position.



GOALKEEPERS - USA
The world is riddled with great American goalkeepers. Hanhemann, Friedel, Keller, Howard - to name but a few. Other countries specialise in this position as well such as Italy, and it is a close call. The American goalkeepers are not only numerous but also extrememly good consistently. The reasons behind this is that US sports in general suit the mentality of a goalkeeper. American football involves catching footballs, basketball is soccer with the hands. These sports provide the perfect lessons for a budding goalkeeper



CENTRE HALVES - EASTERN EUROPE

Appologies for lumping in all eastern european countries into one, but the mentality is perfect for this role. Vidic has changed Manchester United, as Skrtel did liverpool and Ivanovic is great for Chelsea. These defenders bring a no nonsense approach and keep the ball away from the goal. What sets these defenders apart is their fearlessness, to look at the nose of Vidic is to know he is not scared of putting his head in the way, a moments hesitation and all is lost



FULL BACKS - BRAZIL
To not award this to France shows how good Brazilian full backs are. Cafu, Roberto Carlos, Maicon to name just three. The idea that Dani Alves of Barcelona is not a starter for his country is testament to the abundance of talent that Brazil have in this position. Fabio and Rafael of Manchester United are some of the most exciting players that have come through the ranks recently. What sets Brazilian full backs apart is their attacking mentality, they are fast, great at crossing, can score and are fantastic defenders.



WINGERS - PORTUGAL

To be honest this was the hardest to award, wingers are mavericks and they can come from anywhere. Portugal have a great tradition of wingers with Eusebio being the most celebrated, there is huge competition for a starting berth on the wing with Nani, Quaresma and Simao, but with Ronaldo having just won the Ballon d'Or from the wing, perhaps they are worth their value.



MIDFIELDERS - ENGLAND

Not awarding this to France is surprising once again. Great midfielders have to be great leaders and organisers. Even though traditionally associated with the 'long ball' technique, Englands most famous players have ofter been midfielders since Bobby Charlton through to Bryan Robson, and little has change today with Gerrard, Lampard, Barry, Hargreaves, Carrick all offering something a little different and they are all extrememly important players for their clubs in a very competitive league.



STRIKERS - HOLLAND

Fabio Capello has coached nearly every famous player of the modern era, he thinks Van Basten is the greatest he has worked with. Van Basten is definitely not the only great Dutch striker, they currently have Kuyt, Van Nistelrooy, Huntelaar, Babel, Van Persie and many others. These are all great players and all competing for two places. Finishing requires a cool head and for some reason or another the Dutch seem to be able to deal with all situations.




Although a few eyebrows may be raised by the absence of a mention of Italy, Argentina and Germany, this is because their teams seem to be more well balanced, they are strong in every position which explains their great success over the years.

The Top 8 most unbelievably exciting sporting moments in 2008!!!

What a year for sports 2008 has been.  There have been millions of sports events around the world from the cow fighting in Switzerland to the sumo wrestling in Japan, from the elephant polo of Nepal to the razzle dazzle of the English premier league soccer.  These events have been attended by the faithful who have poured through the turnstiles and gateways to stand or sit in the scalding heat or bitter cold to witness these moments of history.  However there can only be 8 exciting moments in the top 8 of 2008 and here they are.

NUMBER 8  -  Zarkava wins the Arc de Triomphe

Although this filly was the favourite, and the race went as planned, it is extremely unusual event for a filly to win a major race.  Set in the heart of Paris, the Arc de Triomphe is one of the worlds most glamarous races and also one of the hardest to win.  Perhaps she will be back next year to see if she can reclaim the title

NUMBER 7 - Usain Bolt winning the 200m at the Beijing Olympics

The Jamaican athlete did the unthinkable by beating Michael Johnson's world record.  This was probably one of the most one sided finals that the Olympic games have ever seen, but the excitement was as to whether he could beat the world record that many experts thought was unbeatable.  A close thing it was, only scraping inside the time by 3/100 of a second.  By winning three gold medals in three world records Usain Bolt made history, but the 200m has to go down as his greatest achievement of the games as he took off on a solo mission with the clock as his only competitor.  Now do we think that anyone will ever be able to beat the women's 100m record?

NUMBER 6 - The New York Giants winning the 42nd Superbowl in the final minute

With 35 seconds left to go, Eli Manning threw a fade to Plaxico Burress to end the Patriots unbeaten season and win the Superbowl.  The match was mainly a defensive affair with the Patriots in control.  The final drive led by Manning will live on in history.

NUMBER 5 - Rafa Nadal finally ends Roger Federer's winning streak at Wimbledon

In what was probably a display of the highest quality tennis that has ever been played, Nadal did the unthinkable and beat Federer in London's famous SW18 arena.  The 22 year-old Spanish player battled the weather as well as probably the greatest player to ever hold a tennis racket.  In a monumental struggle he finally came good winning 9-7 in the 5th set.  The match will rival the Bjorg/McEnroe version as the greatest grandslam final ever played.

NUMBER 4 - The US win the 4x100 freestyle Olympic swimming final

Michael Phelps achieved something that will probably never be repeated.  8 gold medals in 1 olympics was a mixture of good fortune, 16,000 daily food calories, great team work and an extraordinary amount of talent.  Winning the 100m butterfly by less that 1/100 of a second was pretty exciting, but the 4x100 freestyle has to go down as the most exciting of all his golds, and ironically he only played a small role on the victory.  It was his team mate Jason Lezak who swam 0.9s faster than world record holder Alain Bernard in the final 50m to somehow win the gold.  He performed this remarkable feat by swimming in the wake of the Frenchman who had been jive talking before the race.  Phelps owes much to this remarkable performance that defied all logic.

NUMBER 3 - Tiger Woods wins the US Open

With relative unknown Rocco Mediate poised to win the Open, Tiger Woods had one last chance on the 18th to send the US Open into a playoff.  He duly obliged by quite unbelievably sinking a 12 ft putt that just edged into the hole.  The next day, Tiger won the event in the playoff.  What made this even more remarkable was that Tiger Woods was playing with a torn ligament in his left knee, he described it as his 'greatest ever championship', this coming from a man who has 14.

NUMBER 2 - Manchester United win the Champions League Final on Penalties

With the 120 minutes of normal and extra time being unable to separate these two rivals.  Captain John Terry had the chance to win the Champions league for Chelsea on penalties.  Up he stepped, and as he was about kick the ball he slipped.  The ball hit the outside edge of the post and Manchester United went on to win the cup.   The tears that followed reflected just how close Chelsea had been - a matter of inches.  Surely with Roman Abramovic's millions, it is only a matter of time before they will win the Cup for the first time in their history.

NUMBER 1 - Lewis Hamilton wins the Formula 1 world championship in Brazil

It was hard to even understand how it happened.  Hamilton needed to finish 5th to win the world championship, with 5 laps he came in to change tyres thinking that it would rain.  He dropped a place and when he was overtaken by Vettel he found himself in 6th with 2 laps to go.  Try as he might he was unable to overtake Vettel.  The rain finally started to fall and as they approached the final turn of the whole season - they finally caught Timo Glock, the driver who hadn't changed his tyres and whom everyone had forgotten about.  The crowd went wild thinking that their countryman Massa was world champion.  Massa father was shedding tears of joy, Hamiltons team was also celebrating - including his Pussycat Dolls singer girlfriend.  Through the mellee it was established that the youngest ever, and first black driver was the World champion.  For a sport that most people fail to find exciting, this was serious drama, and why it wins for 2008's most exciting sporting moment.

Agree or disagree?  What your opinion on the matter?

Introduction

Hi - I am Rory and I would like to welcome to you to my new sports blog.

I am obsessed with sports and know a flip of a lot about them so stay tuned to hear views and news from all sports around the world.

Check up regularly.

Your sports guru,

Rory