Speed limit | 27 October 2007

I will never agree with the video referee in England’s World Cup final, even if he produces a certificate signed by every member of the Royal College of Opticians. Though the South Africans deserved their victory, for me Mark Cueto’s effort will always be a try. But officials are not always wrong. The Newmarket stewards who the same day gave the Irish jockey Kevin Manning five days’ suspension for improper riding on the Darley Dewhurst Stakes winner New Approach were absolutely right.

Yes, it was a thrilling victory from a first-class field of the horses likely to contest next year’s Classics. But I don’t like to see success obtained by belting a two-year-old at least 15 times through the last two furlongs and Manning deserved everything he got on the charge of ‘using his whip with excessive frequency’.

New Approach’s success was much harder earned than anybody had expected from the most talented two-year-old we’ve seen this season, who is now the winter favourite both for the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby.