As Frankie signed off with a magnificent farewell in the rain on Champions Day, the red cards were pouring down in the Premier League. After a weekend of high entertainment, I discuss the biggest talking points.
1. Weather for ducks
When Baaeed loomed up on the outside of My Prospero as the field turned the corner and headed into the straight in the 2022 Champion Stakes the racing world watched on waiting for the inevitable moment when the brilliant son of Sea The Stars would hit the front and coast home. There was no reason to believe he wouldn’t — ten runs and ten wins — except this time he didn’t hit the front. Jim Crowley was all action in the saddle trying to rev up that Ferrari-like engine, but Baaeed was glued to the spot — wheels spinning in the late October mud.
Therein lies the problem for Champion’s Day. What should be a lap of honour for the best of the best — a hedonistic parade of racing brilliance — has become a brutal slug fest. Just once since the inaugural Champions Day in 2011 has the word soft not appeared in the going description. This year Storm Babet ratcheted things up a notch, of the four Group 1 winners at Ascot, all four were first time Group 1 winners, and while it is no bad thing for top honours to be shared around, trends like this cannot be ignored.
Holding Champions Day so late in October does not offer the best spectacle possible. It simply favours whichever horse handles the challenging conditions best.
2. Red letter weekend
The Premier League season is barely two months old but there have already been 26 red cards brandished. That is 9 more than had been shown at the same stage last season. Of this weekend’s “victims” in the red card surge only one was shown for a straight red card offence — when Lewis Cook ill-advisedly threw a vague headbutt in the direction of Hwang Hee Chan.
The other three Ashley Young, Manuel Akanji and Connor Roberts all came from second yellow cards as part of the PGMOL’s new disciplinary guidelines that seem to mean a common or garden foul equates to a yellow card. A red card should be a freak event — a game-changing decision that the referee only resorts to if he absolutely deems it necessary. Yet, such is the astonishing frequency with which red cards are being dished out this season, Liverpool have played a third of their games so far with ten men.
Gone are the days of Roy Keane, Vinny Jones and co. steaming in for tackles at neck height — and perhaps that’s for the best. But fans aren’t baying for blood, they simply want to see 22 players remain on the pitch for the duration of the game.
The Merseyside Derby, despite Young’s red card, was a muted affair (we won’t discuss the early kick off factor). It’s over to Manchester this weekend for a city derby between two teams with plenty of players who know how to stick a boot in. Will eleven men stay on the pitch, is Manchester Utd’s best hope that their sky blue rivals are reduced to ten?
Manchester United to beat Man City @ 10/3
3. Hope in defeat?
Under the Parisian rain when the final whistle blew at the Stade De France the overarching emotion was a simple sadness. England led from almost the first minute until the 77th, when they could sustain their rage against the dying of the light no more.
Once Cole and Marler had departed, the scrum began to creak which eventually offered South Africa a route to victory. There is plenty to prove for England’s back-up brigade if they are to usher in a new era of success. There is no doubt that English rugby finds itself at a crossroads. What happens on the club scene — and whether the Premiership can somehow resurrect itself will have a part to play. But there is hope beyond the rain-soaked turf of Saint-Denis.
Freddie Steward is just 22 and has been England’s player of the season for the past two, seasons. George Martin, also 22, on his fourth ever test start prevented the Springboks from generating any attacking rhythm. There is Chessum too who has enjoyed a consistent tournament. While Ben Earl, Marcus Smith, Ollie Lawrence and Henry Arundell are all waiting in the wings to take over from the old guard.
Borthwick’s men will return home to lick their wounds with the Six Nations in February offering the chance to rubber stamp any progress made in France. But the battle for England’s rugby future has already begun and the next generation will be needed to man that frontier.
England to win the 2024 Six Nations @ 11/2
4. Too good to go
As Frankie bounced up into the air for a second time on Saturday, lapping up the adulation of the crowd and cameras, you could have been forgiven for thinking it was a Dettori showcase like any other. But the last few years haven’t been plain sailing for racing’s most mercurial talent. There have been the high-profile fallouts — a rupture in the relationship with John Gosden that had seemed at times like a father and son, high-profile mistakes leading to public criticism and dwindling prestigious rides on the big days.
It is worth remembering that this is the backdrop against which Frankie decided this season would be his last. In his wildest dreams he could not have imagined it would turn out like this. A Guineas, an Oaks and a glut of winners at Royal Ascot — headlined by Courage Mon Ami’s Gold Cup success all came in a heady early-season rush. Enough to believe that the decision to retire had squeezed out one final bit of magic from the master.
But the big-race wins have not dried up culminating in that pulsating Champion Stakes victory aboard King Of Steel. So, the reversal of his decision to retire comes as no surprise. His win percentage has soared as high as it’s been since 2020 and more than just the bare statistics, he has produced ride after ride from the very top draw — the Juddmonte International aboard Mostahdaf a particular highlight.
Why bow out when there are races to be won?
Lola Katz Roberts is a Content Executive at Fitzdares.
