I’ve never been a practiser because I didn’t like picking my own balls up

“I’ve never been a practiser because I didn’t like picking my own balls up. He is 30 and much of his amateur career as a county player with Warwickshire has been characterised by a sense of talent scorned. Our man is notable for the consistency of his practice sessions. Every time Halley’s Comet comes round he can be found on the driving range. But he could feel his life taking a significant diversion and consequently told his employers where they could put their corkscrew.All this has taken Bladon quite a while. Bladon, on the other hand, looks like a bloke you might find on the door of a pub, which would not be far wrong. Until recently you could have found him pulling pints in his native Midlands.After capturing the Amateur Championship at Turnberry six weeks ago, Bladon was meant to return to his post as assistant manager of the Cask and Bottle at Leamington Spa.

This afternoon another behemoth will grapple with Royal Lytham when Warren Bladon carries the flag for the unpaid, but there the connection between our two amateur winners will perish.
Sherry, you will remember, was the articulate biochemistry student from Kilmarnock who had a professional career mapped out with great precision. The 19-year-old light-welterweight, competing in only his third senior international tournament, was selected by Ireland’s Olympic Committee.. These days, it seems, they play the amateur championships over a course on Brobdingnag. Twelve months ago the winner who earned an exemption for the Open was Gordon Sherry, the 6ft 8in Scot who made the St Andrews stands tremble as he pounded the fairways. “We’re not going to go blithely on if conditions get to a stage where we can’t be confident of what we’re doing.”The Galway boxer Francis Barrett has been chosen to carry the Irish flag at tomorrow’s opening ceremony. Nalbandyan did not identify the substance for which he had tested positive.The news is the latest in a series of drugs scandals which have already affected the centennial Games, which begin on Saturday.The Australian sprinter Dean Capobianco has been suspended by his national governing body after a positive drugs test, while the Italian high jumper Antonella Bevilacqua tested positive for the banned stimulant ephedrine twice in May, but has yet to be banned by her national federation.This has sparked a serious row with the International Amateur Athletic Federation, who could even suspend the Italian federation if it fails to act.Organisers of the Olympic three-day event have admitted that they are prepared to stop the event if Atlanta’s renowned heat and humidity become too severe.Hugh Thomas, the Englishman charged with overseeing the horse trials as the technical delegate of the International Equestrian Federation, said that while abandonment is unlikely, it does remain a possibility “If it comes to it we will,” he admitted.

The Russian weightlifter Yuri Myshkovets, the European champion in the under-83 kilogram class, has failed a drugs test and has been barred from going to Atlanta. The Russian coach, Armen Nalbandyan, said that Myshkovets had been sent home from a training camp in Podolsk, just outside Moscow, after testing positive for a banned substance in tests ordered by the weightlifting federation after a series of recent doping scandals.
“After being burned several times before, we do not trust anyone, even ourselves,” Nalbandyan said. “We are very tough now and decided to test everyone.”The positive test came as a surprise for the national federation, he said, but Myshkovets had been sent home to his native St Petersburg Further action against him will be decided later. Dazzle, owned by the Cheveley Park Stud and a five-length winner of last week’s Cherry Hinton Stakes at Newmarket, was among 22 entries published yesterday for York’s Group One all-aged sprint.
Cheveley Park’s assistant manager, John Marsh, said: “We put her in as an option but it is highly unlikely that she will run. Pivotal is by far the more likely candidate and it is just an option for Dazzle, whose main target remains the Cheveley Park Stakes.”Four two-year-olds have been entered for the five-furlong contest in which Lyric Fantasy’s 1992 success was the only win by that age group in 40 years. The other juveniles are the Norfolk Stakes winner, Tipsy Creek, Deep Finesse, whose participation depends on his performance in the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood, and Connemara.The race has been given an international dimension by the entry of Wild Zone from Canada and the Norwegian-trained Windmachine.Nunthorpe Stakes entries: Almaty, Blue Iris, Blue Siren, Catch The Blues, Connemara, Cool Jazz, Danehill Dancer, Dazzle, Deep Finesse, Easy Option, Eveningperformance, Hever Golf Rose, Leap For Joy, Lidanna, Millyant, Mind Games, Pivotal, Struggler, Sunset Reigns, Tipsy Creek , Wild Zone, Windmachine..

Dazzle, the season’s leading juvenile and already favourite for next year’s 1,000 Guineas, could take on older horses in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York on 22 August, but is more likely to defer to the King’s Stand Stakes winner, Pivotal, who is in the same ownership. “All the reports are now before the Licensing Committee and it is now up to them.”Walter is fine and well in himself. He is in good form and is looking forward to riding at the earliest possible opportunity.”Norman Williamson, out of action since February with a dislocated shoulder that required surgery, finished second and third on his comeback mounts at Killarney yesterday. For a couple of strides in the finishing straight it seemed as if the Cork-born jockey might make a perfect return aboard the evens favourite, Micks Delight, in the opening race, but the reigning Irish champion, Charlie Swan, was not to be denied..

Walter Swinburn will meet the Jockey Club’s Licensing Committee next Wednesday “to discuss the re-issuing of his jockey’s licence and the implications of his return to race-riding”, according to a statement from the Club yesterday. He has been out of action since suffering broken ribs, a broken shoulder and bruised lungs in a fall at Sha Tin racecourse, Hong Kong, in February. The jockey, who has partnered three Derby winners, started riding out in Newmarket at the end of last month and applied for the return of his licence.
“He has seen various specialists and the specialist the Jockey Club asked him to see,” Swinburn’s agent, Graham Green, said yesterday. But he gets a second chance to link up with the colt following the defeat of another regualr mount, the Oaks winner, Lady Carla, in Sunday’s Irish Oaks.. Pat Eddery was yesterday confirmed as Shaamit’s new partner, leaving the Irishman, who has frequently ridden for Wragg, unavailable for Pentire.Eddery was due to ride Shaamit in Sandown’s Eclipse Stakes until connections decided not to contest the Group One prize. Hills was found guilty of careless riding aboard Polinesso – trained by his father, Barry, – who dead-heated for third place in the penultimate race.
Polinesso was demoted to fourth place and Hills was suspended for three days, 26, 27 and 29 July, meaning that he will not be able to partner Geoff Wragg’s four-year-old at Ascot on Saturday week.Hills’s agent, John Robertson, could not say whether the jockey would appeal against the ban and Wragg has yet to make plans for a replacement.Pentire, ridden by Hills when beaten a neck by Lammtarra in the race 12 months ago, is Coral’s 11-4 favourite to gain compensation.Hills had opted to ride the four-year-old ahead of his Derby winner, Shaamit.