"You can hardly see it and his collarbone has not moved or anything like that. He said he's not going to move an inch for five days because he wants to get better. His chances would be 50-50."Walford has ridden Kingscliff on both his starts this term and landed the biggest win of his career when claiming the scalp of Kicking King in the Betfair Chase, a victory which put his connections in line for the £1m bonus due if he can add the King George and Cheltenham Gold Cup.The jockey's fall, from a horse he was due to partner today, came out of the blue "I just wanted him to have a pop," said Alner "He had schooled last week and was fine. The 25-year-old fractured his left collarbone when a novice he was schooling came down. Ironically, the accident happened less than two hours before Walford and Kingscliff were due to meet the media at Alner's Dorset yard. Instead of parading proudly with the gelding he rode to victory at Haydock last month, the Yorkshireman was in hospital in Blandford. There, an x-ray examination revealed the injury as slight and there is now a 10-day countdown to the traditional festive showpiece, run at Sandown this year."He has a hairline fracture," Sally Alner, the trainer's wife, said.
Robert Walford, the journeyman jump jockey plucked from relative obscurity to partner the top-class chaser Kingscliff, has only an even-money chance of being fit to partner the Robert Alner-trained eight-year-old in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day after a fall on the gallops yesterday morning. "The atmosphere is fantastic, the changes to the boat, including the new keel, have been really good, so we are just going to fire up and go.". British solo sailor Alex Thomson is enjoying himself in the New South Wales sunshine but life is soon to take a more serious turn for the 31-year-old from Gosport as he prepares to line up for the start of the Sydney to Hobart Race on Boxing Day at the helm of his Open 60, Hugo Boss. Alongside him will be the Australian round-the-world sailor Nick Moloney, who has signed a new four-year deal with Ellen MacArthur's Offshore Challenges firm. Thomson expects to have a new boat in the water at the end of March 2007, in good time to take part later that year in the two-handed Barcelona round-the-world non-stop race, announced in September by MacArthur's business partner, Mark Turner."I am very much looking forward to the Hobart," Thomson said yesterday. The RSPCA said it was "appalled" by ministers' announcement of a 12-week consultation on culling, aimed at halting the spread of bovine TB.. From an environmental point of view, its death was a disastrous piece of vandalism.
The shark is not a biblical monster from the deep, but an endangered species which deserves protection, not persecution.PHIL COLEHITCHIN, HERTFORDSHIRE Political revolution Sir: What is it with all the political infighting right now? Can't everything simply be cleared up by Tony Blair joining the Tories as shadow foreign secretary, Kenneth Clarke taking over the leadership of the Lib Dems and Gordon Brown facing a challenge from Charles Kennedy? We still wouldn't have a clue which way to vote, but at least it might keep the noise down.PETE MARCHETTOGUILIN, GUANGXI, CHINA. The Government was on a collision course with animal rights groups and environmentalists last night after taking the first steps towards a nationwide cull of badgers. However, from a newspaper that campaigns courageously about the state of the natural environment, I found the article highly insensitive. The shark that attacked Bethany was described as a beast, a monster, which was, in the end, killed and "strung up". I think the proper response is for the Polish President to invite President Ahmadinejad to visit Auschwitz and the Warsaw Ghetto Monument and learn the truth at first hand.
If he refuses the invitation we can draw our own conclusions about Iran's nuclear energy programme.WIKTOR MOSZCZYNSKILONDON W5 Spare the shark Sir: As one who occasionally enjoys the surf I found Bethany Hamilton's story inspiring ("Triumph of a free spirit", 14 December). He has also tried to preach a message of gang avoidance and peacemaking. It is hard to assess the effect of such efforts in concrete terms, but the continued pervasiveness of gang violence leads one to question the efficacy of Williams' message." Doesn't it lead one to question the efficacy of capital punishment?ROCHELLE HARRISLONDON N19 History lesson Sirs: However much in denial President Ahmadinejad may be over the Holocaust he cannot just be dismissed as an isolated fanatic as he was elected President in one of the few Middle Eastern countries still showing some respect to parliamentary democracy. CHARLES SCANLANLONDON NW8 Secret successes Sir: I don't doubt there are dark things going on out there, and counter-terrorism a dangerous but necessary trade. However I want to know about its "successes" in rather more detail. When are the thwarted terrorists to be brought to trial? Who are they? What did they start and then fail to finish? Where is the evidence and what is the story? Don't tell me it's a secret.MALCOLM ROSSTOTNES, DEVON Useless punishment Sir: Explaining his refusal of clemency to a man sentenced to death, Arnold Schwarzenneger says: "Williams has written books that instruct readers to avoid the gang lifestyle and to stay out of prison. Further, this policy reversal runs counter to the Government's professed support for socially responsible investment (SRI).At the end of this month, the new regulatory regime for pension-scheme investment is expected to reaffirm the obligation (introduced in 2000) for scheme trustees to disclose their policy on SRI Only this March, similar rules were applied to charities.
Yet now these institutional investors are to be deprived of precisely the kind of extra-financial information which they need in order to develop SRI strategies. If Saddam was a West-friendly dictator he would still be in power and happily gassing, boiling, and butchering his people and the West would have called him an ally in the war against terrorism.S MOHAMMEDCARDIFFSir: George W Bush has stated that the coalition will not leave Iraq until "victory has been achieved". Given the recent problems over the definition of "torture" can we ask for his definition of "victory"?PHILIP BELLMAYFIELD, EAST SUSSEX Brown baffles pension trustees Sir: Sir Geoffrey Chandler rightly condemns as regressive Gordon's Brown's decision to abolish the requirement for companies to report on their social and environmental impacts (letter, 10 December). If it isn't, he should accept that the ethical high ground is out of bounds to those who would ask others to suffer what they themselves would not (see Bush and Cheney on Iraq and rewind to that doughty duo's stance on Vietnam).PATRICK TUOHYHASTINGS, EAST SUSSEXSir: If the reason for getting rid of Saddam was the human rights of Iraqis the US and British tanks would now be in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Pakistan or any other countries ran by dictators.