It's horses rather than movies and motorbikes for young Izzi Ryder - and so she joins my list of apt racing names
Some people are just born to participate in a particular sport.
What else was Anna Smashnova going to do other than play tennis, and to a reasonably high level. The same goes for Tennys Sandgren, who made it to the Australian Open quarter-finals in 2018 and 2020. The brilliantly named Chuck Long just had to be a quarterback (he played for the LA Rams and Detroit Lions), while Nathan Leeper competed at the 2000 Olympics for the US in, you guessed it, the high jump.
Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man, is another example, along with Russian 400-metre hurdler Marina Stepanova. Given his first name, Spanish footballer Kepa Arrizabalaga was always going to play in goal.
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- Cash injection or switching dates might be needed to stop the Guineas becoming irrelevant
- The Derby day winner from North Yorkshire who is making the training game look easy
- Ascot's smart approach to selling racing tells us we can be royalty - even if just for one day
- Sectional timings for the Derby suggest City Of Troy isn't the only Ballydoyle star worth following
- It's clear mainstream coverage of the Derby is lost at the weekend - so perhaps it's time to move it back to Wednesday
- Cash injection or switching dates might be needed to stop the Guineas becoming irrelevant
- The Derby day winner from North Yorkshire who is making the training game look easy
- Ascot's smart approach to selling racing tells us we can be royalty - even if just for one day
- Sectional timings for the Derby suggest City Of Troy isn't the only Ballydoyle star worth following
- It's clear mainstream coverage of the Derby is lost at the weekend - so perhaps it's time to move it back to Wednesday