94 Lincolnshire Echo Thursday, March 8 - Wednesday, March 14, 2012 ECH-E01-S2www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk Thursday, March 8 - Wednesday, March 14, 2012 Lincolnshire Echo 95ECH-E01-S2 www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk

Get the breaking sports news first via search for @LincsEchoSport

Women’s Football

that I’m good enough to beplaying here and over someonewho lives in England.”Meanwhile, fellowcentre-back Bradley faces atleast a month on the sidelinesafter suffering an ankle injurywhile playing for England inthe Cyprus Cup last week.“The initial fears were thatshe’d broken her ankle,” addedHarris.“But it looks like ligamentdamage so she’s looking at fourto six weeks out. We’ll be fight-ing to try and get her fight for

Alleway and Bradley ruledout of Arsenal cup clash

the start of the Super League.“She’s been on fire for Eng-land and she’s worked reallyhard to get her strength andfitness up having had a coupleof injuries.”To Harris’s relief, Lincoln dohave plenty of options atcentre-back, including Eng-land captainCasey Stoney, newsigningMeaghan Seargent andRachael Daly.Stoney should be on a highafter making her 100th appear-ances for her country againstFrance last weekend.

French seeking some va-va voom in Lincolnshire horse trial event

by Mark WhileyFootball writermark.whiley@lincolnshireecho.co.uk

William Fox-Pitthonours list

Olympic Games

Silver - Athens 2004 (team)Bronze – Bejing 2008 (team)

World Championships

Bronze – Jerez 2002 (team)Silver – Aachen 2006 (team)Gold – Kentucky 2010 (team)Silver – Kentucky 2010 (ind)

European Champs

Gold – Italy 1995 (team)Gold – Burghley 1997 (team)Silver – Burghley 1997 (ind)Gold – 2001 Pau (team)Gold – P’town ‘03 (team)Gold – Blenham 2005 (team)Silver – Blenham 2005 (Ind)Gold – F’bleau 2009 (team)Bronze – Luhmuhlen 2011

(team)

Olympic medalistFox-Pitt relishingtask of clinching aplace at this year’sLondon Games

Market Rasen Racecourse isthe place to be on Sunday forbetting tips ahead of nextweek’s Cheltenham Festival.Grand National-winningjockey Graham Lee will behere to give visitors the insidetrack on the best prospects forCheltenham.The special Punters’ Panelwith the jumps rider beginsbefore the first race which is at2.20pm.The Cheltenham Festivaltheme continues through theafternoon as expert opinionsare sought between the races.Racegoers will be able to dis-cover the top tips of racedaypresenter Mike Vince, TomHalliday scholar Ollie Garner,the Tote’s George Primarolo –as well as myself !There will also be scenes re-miniscent of Noel Edmond’sHouse Party.Fifteen lucky visitors willwin the chance to enter a glasscube and the one who picks upthe most tickets in 30 secondswill go home with £1,000 ofvouchers to spend at the race-course.And our splendid new res-taurantMaMa J’s opens for thefirst time – with the officialceremony carried out by Mas-terChef contestant EamonnHunt from Lincoln.

Market Rasen form is bestfor CheltenhamThe big race on day one of theCheltenham Festival is theStan James Champion Hurdle.I can’t see past the odds-onfavourite Hurricane Fly.In Sizing Europe, there’s an-other short-priced marketleader for Wednesday’s fea-ture, the sportingbet.comQueen Mother ChampionChase.I prefer the value – at about5-1 or thereabouts – in Big Zebwho won the race two yearsago.My pick of the opening twodays though comes in theWeatherbys Champion Bump-er, the last race on Wednesday.At odds of 10-1, New Year’s Eveis my selection.The horse was a very im-pressive when winning here atMarket Rasen next month, andhe’s my bet of the festival.Everyone is still hoping thatKauto Star will recover fromhis heavy fall on his home gal-lops to be able to take his placein the starting line-up for theCheltenham Gold Cup.Next week, I’ll give you a tipfor that race too.The next racing at MarketRasen Racecourse is onSunday 11 March: PremierMembers £26; County Enclos-ure £19; Tattersalls £14; FamilyEnclosure £9.Accompanied children 18 ad-mitted free of charge. Parkingfree.For more information atwww.marketrasenraces.co.uk.The first race is at 2.20pm,and gates open from 12.30pm.

Lincolnshire Horse Trials

Join in the discussion on click like at www.facebook.com/LincolnshireEchoSport

With the Olympics just around the corner, the equestrianworld is starting to shape up for the forthcoming Games.The Echo’s Dave Marshall speaks to potential OlympianWilliam Fox-Pitt about his chances of selection, his horsesand his hopes for next week’s Lincolnshire Horse Trialswhich are already capturing the imagination

He may have represented hiscountry at three OlympicGames and countless worldclass events, but WilliamFox-Pitt still admits to a tingeof excitement when the Lin-colnshire Horse Trials comearound.As one of the first events ofthe year suitable for advancedhorses, Fox Pitt will be one ofmany potential Olympianswho will head for Lincolnshirenext week as they begin theirbid for selection for theLondonGames.The Lincolnshire Horse Tri-als start on Friday, March 16and conclude on SundayMarch 18. The event is expec-ted to attract more than 700competitors, with the cream ofBritain’s three-day-eventershoping to impress selectors asthey get their Olympic yearunderway.“Lincoln will be the firstevent of the season for my ad-vanced horses,” Fox-Pitt said.“Each year I try to bring my

top horses up to Lincoln. It isalways quite important to getstarted and have a good firstouting.“The Lincolnshire Horse Tri-als is always a very well or-ganised and efficient event,which is very well presented.“There is always an air ofexcitement around the Lin-colnshire venue and I amhope-ful that it will prove to be aproductive event for me.“The cross-country course isusually well-thought out andthe ground is well prepared.”As one of the more famousnames in the world of Britisheventing, Fox-Pitt is expectingto bring four of his top horsesto Lincoln.While perhaps his bestknown horse, Cool Mountain,has been ruled out of Olympiccontention through injury,Hampstead-born Fox-Pitt willbe bringing Neuf des Coeurs,Lionheart, Oslo and ParklaneHawk.And the 43-year-old is hoping

for a confidence-boosting visitto the Lincolnshire Show-ground venue.“Cool Mountain is currentlyout of contention, but I amverylucky to have some extremelygood back-up,” Fox-Pitt said.“It is very important for mor-ale to have a good start to theseason at Lincoln.“I would like to think we areready to do well, but I don’tthink it is essential that weshould win.“There will be many ups anddowns over the duration of the

season and experience tells methat you can have a very goodyear even if you don’t startwell.”With the clock ticking downtowards the London Olympics,Fox-Pitt is stepping up prepar-ations at his base near Stur-minster Newton in Dorset.With a number of top horsesto prepare, the formerOlympicsilver medalist admitted hecould easily spend all day inthe saddle.“I am a professional sports-man and I need to ride more

When three sisters named thenew addition to their familyafter a literary hero, theymight have chosen amore com-plimentary character than Pig-let from Winnie the Pooh.But 31 years on and eques-trian star and British Olympichopeful Piggy Frenchwouldn’tchange a thing, writes DaveMarshall.“I suppose I could have toldpeople somewhere along theline that I actually had a realname,” she said.“But my big sisters gave methat name because they thoughtI looked like Piglet when I wasborn and it just stuck.“I don’t see why I shouldchange now.”Piggy Frenchwill be among alist of famous names compet-ing at this year’s Lincolnshire

Horse Trials.The annual event takes placeat the Lincolnshire Show-ground next week, and withthe London Olympic Gamesonly months away, Piggy, whois a member of the UK’s WorldClass Squad, will be hoping fora good performance and a suc-cessful start to this Olympicyear.“Weare getting very busynow,the season is about to kick off,”Piggy added. “I really like theLincolnshire Horse Trials, Iwouldn’t miss it.“The ground is very good atthis time of year so it gives agood opportunity for me tobring my top horses.“I will be bringing both mypotentialOlympichorsesJakataand DHI Topper W to Lincolnbecause it is such a good event.

“The cross-country course iswell built and it gives thehorses a really good run at thestart of the season.”Piggy,who’s realname isGeor-gina, finished the 2011 season infourth place in the BritishEventing rider rankings andwas leading lady rider.The Leicestershire-basedrider was also selected for theBritish team at the EuropeanChampionships, winning abronze medal.Her horse Jakata topped theBritish Eventing horse rank-ings for last year, while DHITopper W finished the yearranked seventh.“It is very important that weget a good start to the season,”Piggy said. “Every event is im-portant now, we have beenworking towards this for the

past three years.“There is no room for errorand the horses have to be aswell prepared as we can pos-sibly get them.“Thankfully, both thesehorses are looking good andwewill give it a really good shot,both at Lincoln and for the restof the season.”British Olympic selectorswill be at the Lincoln event asthe cream of Britishthree-day-eventing begin theirquest for a place on the team.Five horse and rider com-binations will be selected torepresent Great Britain at theLondon Games.“We don’t actually have to goto Lincoln and win,” saidPiggy. “As long as we go thereand put on a good perform-ance.

“The horses are always a bitexcited at the first event of theyear and they tend to get a bitwindy.“But these are two fantastichorses and last yearwas a goodyear for them both. They areboth good enough to give it areally good go.“If theOlympicGameswas intwo weeks time I would be inwith a good chance of selec-tion, but they are not and thereis so much that could go wrongbetween now and the Games.“There is a lot to lose, I thinkit’s more difficult to stay at thetop than it is to get to the top.“But, the London Olympicshas been my aim for a longtimenow.Thehorses have to besolid in all three events(dressage, show jumping andcross country).”

than one horse every day,” heexplained.“I could spend eight hours aday riding, but I am not com-plaining, it is a great way tospend your working day.”Fox-Pitt has already com-peted at the Atlanta, Athensand Bejing Olympics and thefather of two is optimistic ofrepresenting Great Britainagain in London.“I feel very fortunate to havetwo or three potential Olympichorses, but there is no indic-ation yet which one will do

better,” he added.“I very much hope I can dowell and make the Britishteam, I am very pleased withthe team of horses I have.“All the riders in contentionfor a place on the British teamwill be doing their upmost sothere is a lot of competition forplaces.“However, there is also agreat deal of camaraderieamongst those involved. Al-though we are competingagainst each other, we are alsovery good friends.”

Lincoln Ladies’ FA Women’sCup hopes have been dealt ablow after defenders Laura Al-lewayandSophieBradleywereruled out of Sunday’s fifthround tie with Arsenal.The Lady Imps have beenforced to apply for a newvisa forwinter signing Alleway follow-ing a change in FA guidelinesregarding players from outsidethe European Union.The Australian will now notbe eligible until she has se-cured a sporting visa.Lincoln manager Glen Har-ris hopes the defender will beavailable for the start of theWomen’s Super League.But the issue will not be re-solved before Sunday’s tie atAshby Avenue or the LadyImps’ Continental Cup trip toChelsea a week later.Harris says Lincoln are notthe only Super League team tohave been hampered by thenew guidelines and claimedclubs were not consulted prop-erly by the FA before the rulechange.“We genuinely thought we’dgot everything sorted,” saidHarris. “She landed in thecountry on February 4 andthen on following Monday outcome these guidelines.“We’ve applied to the BorderAgency for that, then we’ve gotto go to the FA. Then the like-lihood is that we’ll appeal it.“If we’re successful we’ll stillhave to send her back to Aus-tralia to get this visa.“It could be a three orfour-week process. We’re hop-ing to get it sorted out before

we play Birmingham in theSuper League.“It’s frustrating becauseshe’s settled in really well andlooks a quality player.“The frustrating thing is thatwe don’t seem to have been con-sulted, none of the clubs have.“We’re not the only club inthis boat. We’ve not been con-sulted and all of a sudden thesenew rules are brought in.“We thought we’d donethings correctly and got her inunder a visa that would haveallowed her to play football inthis country.”Alleway added: “Basically, asthe league is deemed profes-sional, I’m on the wrong visa.“We found out a couple ofweeks ago and since thenwe’vebeen going through the processof getting appeals done withthe FA so I can actually play.“They say I have to haveplayed a minimum of ten Aus-tralia games and 75 per cent ofgames in the last year.“We haven’t had that manyinternational games in thepast year so I don’t pass thecriteria.“We have to go to a board ofmembers and prove our case

New girls: Lincoln’s Australian duo Laura Alleway (left) and ColletteMcCallum. McCallum is set to face Arsenal, but Alleway is not eligible

GolfBlankney golfer Jess Wilcoxsecured one of the biggest vic-tories of her career by claimingthe Hacienda del Alamo Wo-men’s Open.Wilcox, playing off -1, won the54-hole tournament by a hugesix shots.In an event sponsored byNike Golf, Wilcox (picturedright) carded three greatrounds to shoot 71-71-72 to winfrom Emily Taylor of RoyalLytham.She will soon be returning toEngland to compete in all themajor amateur competitionsin England and Scotland.“This was a great event and agreat triumph for Jess,” saidJan Heywood of Blankney GolfClub. All at Blankney wish herevery success.”

Woodhall SpaOnMarch 1, the ladies playedthe first qualifying Stablefordcompetition of the season.Dianne Eddington won with34 points. Alyson Potton wassecond with 34 points. AnnLeggate was third with 33,

The agony andthe ecstasy ofSunday Leaguefootball

Football, p96

Pip Kirkby is thechief executiveof Market Rasenracecourse

Tipster setto pass onhis advice

Leap of faith: William Fox-Pitt makes a massive jump on Parklane Hawk Picture: Kit Houghton

Dream team: William Fox-Pitt Picture: Adam Fanthorpe

Carholme Golf Club is an 18-hole course situated on Lincoln’s West Common, designatedas an area of critical asset and nature conservation importance with superb views of theLincoln Cathedral and surrounding areas.

Enter the city on the A57 and drive alongside the race course, past the grandstand andthe Golf Club is immediately on the right.

Get fit, have fun and make new friendsat Carholme Golf Club in LincolnFull Playing Membership now available from £45 per month.Junior and Student membership also available.

For further details, contact the Office on 01522-523725Carholme Road, Lincoln, LN1 1SE

Come and join us, you know you want to!©NM