Now 30, the former policewoman and local-government official stands third in the world indoor rankings for 800m.
Running for an England team in Budapest nine days ago, she won against international opposition in 2min 00.53sec, a performance that ranks her third on the UK all-time indoor list – behind Holmes (1:59.21) and Jo Fenn (1:59.50), and ahead of such luminaries as Kirsty Wade and Diane Modahl, both Commonwealth champions at 800m.It was little wonder that the talk at trackside at the Norwich Union International in Glasgow the next day was of just where the 30-year-old new girl had come from. The appointment of the retired Olympic 800m and 1500m champion has coincided with the emergence as a British middle-distance star in the making of Karen Harewood, who started racing on the track in the summer of 2004, aged 28. If part of her brief is to unearth some talent with 2012 in mind then perhaps she ought to be trawling the nation’s gyms searching for women pushing both the 30 mark and the pace on the treadmill. But who else would have done it? A disgruntled angler? The last thing they want is masses of baby trout getting in the way.

In addition to her part-time job, skating on thinnish ice on Saturday-night television, Kelly Holmes has embarked on a new career as the figurehead for the Government’s National School Sport Champion Initiative. The result is that Bewl, one of the few reservoirs that rears its own trout, may be forced to buy them – from an intensive fish-rearing farm.. Expect several very large pike to appear over the next year.These newly released trout have dined daily on free food Suddenly, that has stopped. When trout-fishing opens on 21 March, anglers may catcha lot of very small, hungry trout – not quite what their rescuers were intending.Perhaps the ALM are being blamed unfairly. Every fish-eating bird that hasn’t already made the journey to Sussex is planning to join the eat-all-you-can bonanza.And trout are predatory, too. Even a two-pounder (the average size for stocking these days) will dine on a 6in trout Much yummier than some spiky bug But scarier predators lurk in Bewl’s depths The fishery has a healthy pike stock Three over 40lb (about 4ft long) have been netted there. In this age of insanity we may be branded terrarists but one day we will be remembered as Selfless Warriors who dared to fight for what is right.”The trout were stock fish that would supply angling demand at the 770-acre reservoir, the largest inland lake in the South-east, for most of the year.

Simmer for 15 minutes, then strain and serve, adding a little coriander. The red chillies can be recovered from the sieve and left to float decoratively in the soup.. This is a classic Goan-style dish, cooked very quickly so that all the goodness in the scallops and the vegetables remains. Goans, thanks to their Portuguese heritage, might well eat this dish in a toasted p?roll with salad leaves: a ciabatta roll would be a good substitute. 3 king scallops, cubed, or 6-10 queen scallops, cut in half (leave the orange corals attached if you like) 1tsp salt A pinch of turmeric 2tsp lemon juice 2tbsp sunflower oil A large knob of ginger, finely chopped 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1 green chilli, finely chopped 1 tomato, skinned and finely chopped Half a small green pepper, thinly sliced Half a small red pepper, thinly sliced 2 spring onions, shredded diagonally 1tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Marinate the scallops in the lemon juice, salt and turmeric for a few minutes. Boil until soft.Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the mustard and let it crackle, then add the onion, curry leaves, coriander, chillies, cumin, peppercorns and fenugreek.

Saut?or six minutes, then add the lentil broth and the tamarind and boil. A popular variation includes tomatoes.Serves 4 as part of a balanced Indian meal 50g/2oz yellow or pink lentils 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 clove of garlic, crushed 1tbsp coriander seeds, finely crushed 2 or 3 dried red chillies A pinch of turmeric A pinch of mustard seeds A pinch of cumin A pinch of fenugreek 6 black peppercorns 2tbsp tamarind pulp 1litre/13/4 pints water 10 curry leaves (fresh or dried) 1tbsp sunflower oilWash and drain the lentils and put them in a casserole dish with the water, turmeric and some salt. It forms a vital part of the meal and is sipped both to add flavour and aid digestion: the spices help to make the protein in the lentils much easier to absorb. Serve immediately, with a sprinkling of chopped coriander if you like.RasamRasam is a very healthy soup from south India, made in many different ways but usually with lentils. When hot, add the mustard seeds and cover with a loose-fitting lid until they stop popping Add the onion and chillies and cook until soft Add the coconut, turmeric, curry leaves and a little salt Stir, then add whichever vegetables you like.

Stir again and then steam for 2-3 minutes under a tight lid.Remove the lid and stir over a low heat until nearly dry. Almost any vegetable can be prepared this way (or a combination – mushrooms and broccoli work very well together) but remember that the final cooking described here takes just a few minutes, so any vegetable that takes longer to cook – root vegetables, for example, or tough spring greens – should be blanched first. Try Swiss chard this way, or purple sprouting broccoli, or broad beans.Serves 4 as part of a balanced Indian meal 3tbsp freshly grated coconut, or 2tbsp desiccated coconut soaked in 1tbsp water 2 or 3 green chillies, finely chopped 1 small onion, chopped roughly Salt to taste 10 curry leaves, fresh or dried 1tsp black mustard seeds 1/2tsp turmeric 2tbsp sunflower oil Your choice of vegetables: about 400g/13oz in totalHeat the oil in a large frying pan. Heat the oil in a frying pan and saut?he scallops for a few seconds. Toss in everything else, except the coriander, and stir-fry over a very high heat until the dish is nearly dry. Remove from the pan and serve immediately, sprinkled with the coriander.ThoranThis Keralan way of preparing vegetables makes good use of their most precious resource: the coconut. Goans, thanks to their Portuguese heritage, might well eat this dish in a toasted p?roll with salad leaves: a ciabatta roll would be a good substitute.Serves 4 as part of a balanced Indian meal 3 king scallops, cubed, or 6-10 queen scallops, cut in half (leave the orange corals attached if you like) 1tsp salt A pinch of turmeric 2tsp lemon juice 2tbsp sunflower oil A large knob of ginger, finely chopped 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1 green chilli, finely chopped 1 tomato, skinned and finely chopped Half a small green pepper, thinly sliced Half a small red pepper, thinly sliced 2 spring onions, shredded diagonally 1tbsp chopped fresh corianderMarinate the scallops in the lemon juice, salt and turmeric for a few minutes.

Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes.Meanwhile, make the dressing: whisk the yoghurt with the cinnamon, then stir in the coriander and lemon.Transfer the aubergines to a serving dish and top with the dollops of the dressing: you could add sev (a crunchy chickpea snack food) or even Bombay mix for texture if you like.Scallops with ginger and garlicThis is a classic Goan-style dish, cooked very quickly so that all the goodness in the scallops and the vegetables remains. Add the chilli and tomatoes, simmer and reduce a little, then season to taste with salt.Place the aubergine slices, without overlapping, on a baking tray, sprinkle with chaat masala if desired and spread a spoonful of tomato sauce on each one. Slice the aubergines into 1cm (1/4 In) thick rounds and cook in the pan in batches until well browned on both sides, using a little of the oil for each batch. You should have a little oil left.Heat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas6. Heat the rest of the oil in a frying pan and saut?he onion until it’s just starting to colour Then add the ginger and garlic and cook until golden brown. The name literally means “fruit of the clouds”.Serves 4 as part of a balanced Indian meal 2 aubergines A tin of chopped tomatoes 2-3tbsp sunflower oil 1 medium onion, finely chopped 4 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped A knob of ginger, finely chopped Chaat masala (optional) 1/2tsp chilli powder 500g/16oz Greek yoghurt A pinch of cinnamon A small handful of fresh coriander, chopped Salt to season 1tsp lemon juiceHeat the oil in a ridged grill pan. And, thanks to Todiwala, these benefits are now available in the privacy of your own kitchen.Caf?pice Namaste, 16 Prescot Street, London E1, tel: 020 7488 9242; Dilli, 60 Stamford New Road, Altrincham, WA14, tel: 0161 929 7484Cyrus Todiwala’s baadaljaamThis is pan-grilled aubergine, topped with tomato sauce and a delicious tangy yoghurt.

He played in the NFL my whole childhood, so I didn’t think of it as anything unusual It was a great way to grow up. I didn’t really appreciate it until he was done playing, but it has definitely made certain things easier for me.”The Hasselbecks spent only one season in California before returning to their roots in New England. Their fathers may have been extras in the Super Bowl story, but the sons are set for starring roles.
“My best sporting memory is of being with my dad at the Super Bowl,” said Matt during the build-up to tonight’s show. Don and Mosi will be in the crowd at Ford Field in downtown Detroit, watching their sons, Matt and Lofa, leading the Seattle Seahawks against the Pittsburgh Steelers.Matt is his team’s quarterback, while Lofa occupies a similarly pivotal role on the defensive side, as middle line-backer.

These are the two most important positions on the entire 53-man roster. Mosi Tatupu was a member of the New England Patriots who were destroyed by the Chicago Bears two decades ago, while Don Hasselback’s sole contribution was limited to blocking an extra-point attempt as his Los Angeles Raiders prevailed in 1983. Tonight, however, is the turn of the next generation, and the names of Hasselbeck and Tatupu are destined for a more dominant role. In the 40-year history of American football’s showcase extra-vaganza, the names of Hasselbeck and Tatupu have barely merited mention as a footnote alongside the greats of the gridiron game. Another top novice, Racing Demon, puts his reputation on the line at Chepstow today.The Victor Chandler Chase, transferred with the Cleeve Hurdle from last week’s abandoned Cheltenham card, proved a benefit for the Brown family, as husband Bill’s Tysou beat wife Tracy’s Dempsey.The meeting at Uttoxeter was abandoned after both the course doctors accompanied the jockey Robert Stephens, badly hurt in a fall from Titian Flame, to hospital, leaving the meeting with insufficient medical cover.BETS OF THE DAYSerious betTwo Miles West (Chepstow 3.45) was unlucky not to be closer in a graded contest at Cheltenham and represents top-class novice form.Fun betFifth in a better race under an amateur last time, Golly (Chepstow 2.00) can get each-way punters out of a jam this time..

The five-year-old had been overhauled between the last two fences by Turpin Green, who then jinked and tried to refuse at the last, to the stupefaction of his rider, Tony Dobbin.Turpin Green scrambled over in Napolitan’s wake and was only a neck down at the end “Yes, we were lucky,” said a relieved Nicholls. “But credit to the little horse.”Dobbin was handed a one-day ban after he smacked Turpin Green in anger on the walk back to unsaddle.Napolitan’s Festival target will be the Royal & SunAlliance Chase, where he may meet Halcon Genelardais, who showed that his bloodless defeat of the faller Iris’s Gift at Warwick was no fluke as he came home an impressive winner at Wetherby. “When I turned for home I was going nowhere,” he admitted, “but he is good and tough, so who knows?”If Royal Shakespeare was arguably fortunate, Napolitan definitely was as he continued Paul Nicholls’s progress towards a first trainers’ championship in the Grade One Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase to give McCoy a double. The other horse’s fall looked a tired one.”Tom Scudamore, in the saddle, was wearing less rose-tinted spectacles. But the German raider tumbled, leaving Royal Shakespeare to outbattle unconsidered Alph up the steep run-in.”Maybe the track owes him one,” Steve Gollings, the winning trainer, said, referring to the gelding’s fall here last April when in the process of beating Rooster Booster, “and maybe he would have won anyway. “It was great to watch.”Luck, good and bad, played its part through the day. Royal Shakespeare looked booked for second place as clear leader Fiepes Shuffle headed towards the final obstacle in the two-mile Listed hurdle.

Lingo is the third high-profile, high-class, horse to die, after Rooster Booster and Best Mate, while Harchibald, Feathard Lady, Kicking King and Trabolgan are sidelined by injury.Fire Dragon earned a ticket for the stayers’ crown, the World Hurdle, with his determined all-the-way success. It was an inspired ride by McCoy, who took the race to his rivals from the off and calculated his reserves on Gay Smith’s little five-year-old to perfection, with a driven-out two-length success over Mighty Man “He did everything right,” said O’Neill appreciatively. The way is now clear for the Ulsterman to resume his partnership with the Irish-trained Brave Inca, on whom he won a Grade One at Leopardstown a week ago. Colm Murphy’s charge has hardened to 15-8 favourite for the Festival showpiece.But the run-up to the race, and to Cheltenham itself, continues to be an unhappy one. “We’d been looking forward so much to Cheltenham with him and everyone at the yard is in bits. It was a sickener, but what can you say? That’s life and that’s racing. Hard games.”
Lingo’s loss has resolved the dilemma of the stable jockey, Tony McCoy, over his Champion Hurdle mount in the grimmest possible way.

Having already shipped out 17 players since his arrival, Burley accepted that even more changes are now needed.. Such is the relentless pace at which Reading and Sheffield United have been charging towards the Premiership that Leeds lost ground after a hard-fought draw at Ipswich in midweek. But manager Kevin Blackwell is adamant that, despite the 11-point gap his side must close to rise above third place, automatic promotion is not yet out of range. Action! What a relief.For the bulk of the second half, the home side remained penned in their own half, further annoying supporters who continued their insults against chairman Lowe.Derby were unfortunate not to secure the win when Smith’s shot rammed into Claus Lundekvam, but, as far as the future of both clubs was concerned, nothing here hinted at real optimism. The keeper then pushed Moore’s header on to the underside of the crossbar and the rebound was screwed wide by Tommy Smith. A teasing free-kick from Inigo Idiakez was headed a shade round the post by Darren Moore. Lacking an alternative, the home crowd amused themselves by chanting: “We want Rupert [Lowe] out.”Keeping the ball out of their net was the more immediate priority for Southampton when, shortly before half-time, a corner from Idiakez beat Bartosz Bialkowski’s grasp and almost went in.

The Rams acted quickly by sacking their manager, Phil Brown, while on the south coast, a rumoured takeover by a consortium led by Andrew Strode-Gibbons has been the talk of the town.
George Burley, Southampton’s manager, decided that big changes were needed yesterday, so he brought in Danish striker Peter Madsen and defender Alexander Ostlund from Feyenoord. But new faces quickly brought together rarely make for smiling football and, here, the unfamiliarity caused Southampton to begin like strangers.Derby were not much better; passing badly and defending on the verge of generosity – but at least they had a shot somewhere near the target in a lamentable first half. It has been a turbulent week for both clubs, with Southampton losing to Plymouth after an irritatingly dubious penalty decision, while Derby’s defensive frailties gifted Sheffield United the points in the wake of last weekend’s shock defeat against Colchester in the FA Cup. It was difficult to imagine that you would ever see him in management again.

Of course, professional football being the perverse activity that it is, not only is he currently thriving, but is also among the possible contenders for the vacant Newcastle seat.. There were some excuses for this desperate muddle of a match. Disruptive influences seemed to have seeped into the minds of the players even before they began but Southampton fans, in particular, were appalled by an inept display. It recalled a moment at Swindon’s County Ground a decade ago when Steve Coppell, then Manchester City’s manager, and as ashen-faced in reality as Private Eye’s supremo Ron Knee is habitually, looked similarly overcome by events. “I just remember the great times I have had here, and I will have the strongest of feelings for Chelsea for the rest of my life.”. It was three weeks ago, but even then, one glance at Graeme Souness after Newcastle’s defeat by Fulham, in which his team had performed guilessly and uninspiredly, was enough to convince you that it was time to summon the priest. He was suffering a slow death, but, presumably for financial reasons, opted against euthanasia.

Last month, it launched an appeal begging us to cough up £60m to save dilapidated churches. Now, after two years of lobbying, more than 200 farms and butchers are selling mutton, with more people discovering it every day.Food is classless, which is why it’s depressing that something which was once so important to the humble workers of this country has ended up being championed by the middle classes and the aristocracy.If we want British eating patterns to change – helping the poor and ill-educated to cook more nutritious fare – then we need roadshows in shopping malls and free samples for schools and pensioners, not black-tie events at hotels in central London.In the church’s portfolio are many mansions…Want to live in an eight-bedroom luxury detached Victorian house with a garden of an acre and a half, worth at least £2.5m? Then I suggest you apply to become the Bishop of Oxford (of course, only men need apply at present, but that’s another issue).The Church of England makes some rum decisions, and how it houses its senior staff is certainly, at best, embarrassing. Mutton tastes great, is good value for money, and is a doddle to cook. So why am I gutted that the Prince of Wales, my particular b? noire, is being feted as the great saviour of this wonderful product? Could it be because I was not invited to the swanky black-tie dinner held last week at the Ritz attended by people who sell, raise and breed mutton, as well as top chefs, food writers and the inevitable celebrities?The guest of honour at this auspicious occasion was HRH, who has been made patron of the Mutton Club for his efforts to revive one of Britain’s most distinctive dishes. So we have an increasing number of pre-packed “baby” vegetables; Lilliputian corn on the cob; weeny little flavourless spinach leaves; dwarf turnips like golf balls; carrots the size of my little finger; aubergines the size of tomatoes and tomatoes the size of marbles.
There’s asparagus that looks like a pack of pencils and baby gem – was there ever a misnomer for this particularly flavour-free salad ingredient? – lettuces that wouldn’t give a hamster a full meal.There are shelves of pallid, bland poussins that have probably never seen daylight; lamb cutlets trimmed so they look like dainty bits of jewellery and fish fillets with all the bones, heads and signs of their watery provenance removed.Since when did food have to be judged by the same criteria as those by which we choose socks, hats or underwear?One of the most soul-destroying aspects of celebrity chefs and TV cooking programmes is that they are obsessed with presentation and not concerned enough with taste.

But tastes change and over the past 20 years the time we spend preparing food has shrunk, just as the time we spend working has increased Mutton needs slow cooking and good root vegetables. It’s not something you can assemble in 20 minutes and garnish with a packet of frozen peas. When you walk around a supermarket today you see products aimed at people who know nothing about cooking or nutrition but everything about fashion and appearance. One hundred and fifty years ago, mutton – meat from sheep more than two years old – was, like oysters, the mainstay of a working-class diet. There is no doubt that many Muslims are angry, but what none of their leaders has successfully explained is why the cartoons justify this extraordinary and belated (they were first published several months ago) degree of outrage. Throughout the Muslim world, millions of people live in miserable conditions, denied basic human rights such as free expression, fair trials and freedom from torture. Publication of a dozen cartoons in Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper most Muslims had not heard of until last year and have certainly never read, does not alter these circumstances one jot.

More from Joan Smith.

Arab governments have withdrawn their ambassadors from Copenhagen, editors who re-published the cartoons in France and Jordan have been fired and there is every sign of the row reaching the fever-pitch of The Satanic Verses affair 17 years ago. In the past few days, Muslim protests against the publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohamed have escalated into violent street demonstrations, threats to kidnap and kill Europeans, a grenade attack on a French cultural centre in Gaza and an incursion into the Danish embassy in Jakarta. As he evolved from pink-cheeked Thatcherite to technocratic Howardist he and his friends nurtured a growing conviction about how a centre-ground strategy might work. This was not a matter of policy but of positioning – and above all of “character”.

More from John Rentoul.

Stelios Giannakopoulos’ goal for Bolton was equalised by Andreas Johansson during a second half that was a marked improvement on a turgid first, although both sides have played a good deal better and done a good deal more for their managers’ reputations this season.
Sam Allardyce and Paul Jewell, as the two most conspicuously over-achieving managers in the Premiership, have inevitably been linked this week with the vacancy at its most under-achieving club, Newcastle United. “We had a very tough start in terms of playing all the top teams – and we knew that all along Now we’re catching up again.”. Samaras headed Joey Barton’s corner on to the roof of Richard Wright’s net, before Kiki Musampa was presented with a shooting opportunity from the edge of the area. This time, Wright, making his 50th Premiership appearance for the home side, was able to make a comfortable save.Given their respective starts to the season – City were second while Everton were bottom at one stage – the Merseyside club can be much the happier of the two with their respective mid-table positions.”After the season we’ve had we’re just pleased to be moving away from the wrong end of the table,” Moyes said. This time it was Dunne’s looping defensive header that caused the danger. Playing against his former club and booked late on, it was not one of the centre-half’s better afternoons at the home of his former club.City’s best spell came in the final 20 minutes.

Samaras, the £6m Greek forward making his full debut, looked rather taken aback by such an aggressive form of defending.Everton began the second half in similar style to the first by hitting the top of the crossbar. Mikel Arteta’s corner was only partially cleared by Dunne and his header rebounded off Weir’s thigh and bobbled over the line. Goal of the season material it was not, but Everton were hardly bothered.They continued to press and their wholehearted, team- oriented approach was summed up by the sight of Alan Stubbs pursuing Georgios Samaras well into the City half before dispossessing him and immediately shooting at goal from 30 yards. As early as the second minute, Leon Osman picked up possession in space on the halfway line and beat the back-pedalling Richard Dunne before shooting from 20 yards and grazing the crossbar.The only goal of the game arrived within eight minutes. “We restricted them to very few chances and as for our goal, it doesn’t matter how they go in!”Everton had begun energetically. They just about deserved it, because City did not look like a side challenging for a top-six finish.

Though they rallied in the latter stages, for too long Joey Barton was given precious little support in the middle of the field, where Phil Neville and Tim Cahill had things largely their own way.
City’s frustration was evident in the final minutes when Stephen Jordan was dismissed for his second yellow card, after a reckless lunge at Tony Hibbert.”It was a big game to win,” Moyes, the Everton manager, said. It was by no means the comprehensive victory it threatened to be in the early stages, but eventually David Weir’s first goal of the season – not that he knew a great deal about it at the time – proved enough for another win. But in the six weeks since losing the Merseyside derby David Moyes’s team have all but doubled their tally. In extending their unbeaten run in all competitions to nine games by beating Manchester City yesterday, they moved to within a point of both their opponents and a place in the top half of the table. As recently as late December, Everton were fourth from bottom of the Premiership with only 17 points to their name. Then again, the pre-match huddle patented at Parkhead and performed by Alan Shearer and his team-mates for the first time yesterday has also been copied down the road at Sunderland.

There was nothing wrong with the initial operation, it was just the final gap hadn’t healed. That operation, unless I had any setbacks in the meantime, would guarantee a six-week maximum time-out, so I decided to have another one.”Owen is currently working his way back to full fitness, and although he is setting no comeback date, he is confident he will play again for his club this season before setting his sights on the World Cup finals. It had healed three-quarters but it was still giving me a little pain after I had this little setback, and he couldn’t guarantee whether that little last quarter would heal in four weeks or 12 weeks.”I needed to guarantee it wasn’t going to be 12 weeks, and the only way that was going to happen was if I had a slightly bigger screw in so that the thread wouldn’t be in the same place. “He said ‘I think you should go in and have another operation’, and I panicked then. But after being reassured that the setback was only a minor one, the 26-year-old Newcastle United player quickly agreed to undergo surgery to hasten his recovery ahead of this summer in Germany.
“When the surgeon called me, there was that panic,” Owen recalled.

Owen said he panicked when his surgeon informed him last month that the fracture had not fully healed. At stumps the visitors needed another 44 runs to win with four wickets left to fall.. The England striker Michael Owen has admitted that he feared his World Cup dream was over when he was told he needed another operation on his injured foot. Brett Lee arrived and fenced at several deliveries before the umpires decided that the light was not good enough. Shane Warne arrived determined to continue playing his shots By now Ntini was charging at the crease Warne parried at a fast ball and was held behind the wicket Events were unfolding at a electrifying pace. All this happened in just 10 minutes.Australia were still 60 runs shy of victory and Justin Langer was in the pavilion recovering from concussion. Adam Gilchrist lasted a single ball, tickling a snorter that a revived Ntini delivered from around the wicket.

Specifications

Price: From £6,999 Motor: D/C electric Performance: Top speed of around 42mph; 600mpg equivalent CO2: Nil (at point of use) Worth considering: Smart ForTwo, used Honda Insight Available from: www.goingreen.co.uk 020-8574 3232OK: if you’re so concerned about global warming that you think driving a Fiat Panda, say, is tantamount to being an accessory to the murder of Gaia, then the G-Wiz ought to calm you down. Now, cars emitting under 100g/km of CO2 in the official drive-cycle test attract no tax at all. Electric cars have always been tax-exempt, as they emit nothing except heat and the smell of warm insulation, but now the most frugal of fossil-fuel cars are similarly tax-free.. Newer cars fall into various emissions bands, and the Budget two weeks ago extended the banding and altered the figures.

Cars made before that date are taxed as having either a small engine or a large one, the dividing line being set at a slightly strange 1,549cc. Nearly all cars do this, which is why, since 2001, the annual tax has been based on a car’s CO2 emissions. But, with the global warming debate raging, we’re more concerned about the emissions of carbon dioxide that result from burning carbon-based fuels. How can a car’s “green” credentials be judged? By the amount of energy it consumes ­ the less, the better.

At the top of the handicap Hedgehunter is 4-1 favourite to land back-to-back runnings. Just 12 horses were withdrawn at yesterday’s five-day declaration stage for the Grand National, leaving 84 horses left in the race and well backed hopes in Ross Comm and Colnel Rayburn as uncertain participants. “So many horses that really believe in themselves.”Chris McGrathNap: McEldowney(Pontefract 5.20)NB: Harvest Warrior(Pontefract 4.20). The older horses are headed by Scorpion, who may run in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh in preparation for the Coronation Cup.And then there is the small matter of 23 juveniles from the final crop of Danehill; 15 priceless ones by the ageing Sadler’s Wells; another 15 by the American champion sire, Storm Cat; and of course several apiece by Coolmore’s emerging stallions: Montjeu, Rock Of Gibraltar, Giant’s Causeway.Their sleek young sons breezed up the gallops, like a lantern show of the breed’s evolution, groping ever closer for the paragon thoroughbred “We have real depth this year,” their trainer mused. For instance, O’Brien did not rule out the possibility that the 1,000 Guineas favourite, Rumpelstiltskin, could be diverted to the French equivalent, having delivered her best performance last season at Longchamp – “though Newmarket would be favourite at the moment”.Fallon, meanwhile, nominated as his “dark horse” another son of Giant’s Causeway, Hitchcock, still a maiden after fracturing a cannon bone on his second start. He runs with his head out, and there’s always more there.”The stable has such an embarrassment of riches among its three-year-olds – though the genuine embarrassment will perhaps be felt by the Maktoums instead – that some of the most envied animals in Europe were reduced to footnotes. “I’d say he is the closest we’ve had to Giant’s Causeway since he was here,” he said.

“He’s exactly in the mould of your man: tough, relaxed, a tank of a horse with a great mind. With time running out, O’Brien considers that an impractical target, but noted that races like the Travers Stakes at Saratoga in August and of course the Breeders’ Cup leave his patrons with ample opportunity to advertise future stallions to the American market.O’Brien was notably enthusiastic about Art Museum, the Storm Cat colt who won both his starts at the Curragh in September but missed the Middle Park Stakes after bruising a foot. That would tell us plenty and we could then start splitting them up.”Three other colts in “Millionaires’ Row” are entered in the Kentucky Derby: Frost Giant, Hurricane Cat and Art Museum. “If we get a dry week I’d love to take a whole lot of them to the Curragh on Sunday and get Kieren [Fallon] to sit on as many as possible. “He has so much speed that the mile would be my biggest worry I’ll believe it when I see it. Horatio will either go to the Guineas and then the Derby or he could take the Ballysax and Derrinstown route at Leopardstown.”O’Brien will postpone that decision until he has a better idea of how various less exposed Classic candidates are shaping up “The ground has been too bad to sharpen them up,” he said. He feels that George Washington must demonstrate stamina for an eighth furlong, while Horatio Nelson may keep out of his neighbour’s way and step up to 10 furlongs for a Derby trial instead.”George is very fast, probably as fast as we’ve ever had here,” O’Brien said.

On the gallops, when he lies up with them doing a half-speed, he’d be herding them.”The stable’s present hegemony is measured by the fact that the nearest rival to George Washington in the betting on the Stan James 2,000 Guineas is in the adjacent box. The best price against George Washington is 5-2 with Coral, who offer 5-1 against Horatio Nelson. Yet their trainer disclosed grounds for caution about both during his press open morning yesterday. “The way he’ll look you up and down, it’s unusual in a horse.

Do you repeat routine actions (getting in/out of a chair, going through a doorway, relighting a cigarette) a certain number of times or until it feels “just right”?10. Do you perform excessive or ritualised washing, cleaning or grooming rituals?7. Do you check light switches, taps, the oven, door locks or your car’s hand brake?8. Do you collect useless objects, or inspect the rubbish before it is thrown out?9. Do you worry about harm coming to a loved one because you weren’t careful enough?5.

Are you concerned about physically harming a loved one; pushing a stranger in front of a bus; steering your car into oncoming traffic; inappropriate sexual contact; or poisoning dinner guests?6. Do you have personally unacceptable religious or sexual thoughts? Do you worry about accidentally hitting a pedestrian with your car or letting it roll down the hill?4. Are you over-concerned with keeping objects (clothing, shopping, tools) in perfect order, or arranged exactly?3. Do you have concerns with contamination (dirt, germs, chemicals, radiation) or getting a serious illness such as Aids?2. Certainly men are far more reluctant to admit to being OCD, and it is to be hoped that Beckham speaking out will help more of them come forward to ask for help.”Do you have OCD?Write down “yes” or “no” in answer to each of the following questions, based on your experiences in the past month.1. “Who knows,” says Salkovskis, “it may become fashionable to admit to OCD tendencies. I’m still shying away from the prospect of getting better.”In any case, effective treatment for OCD is still not widely available and, Morgan says, it could become even harder to find, with primary care trusts currently “asset-stripping mental health services” – the result of a failure to take mental health problems sufficiently seriously.It is to be hoped that David Beckham’s revelation might change that.