Tatupu Snr coached his son in high school, but there was a parting of the ways, as divorce saw Lofa relocate to be with his mother in California. Unlike Hasselbeck, Tatupu has remained on the other side of the country, and there were times last week when the distance between father and son has appeared more than simply geographical.Responses to questions about his father have been met with the essence of brevity, the son seemingly uncomfortable discussing family matters in public. Don had begun his career with the Patriots and, by coincidence, had been Mosi Snr’s team-mate for six seasons.Meanwhile Lofa, seven years younger than Matt, was being raised on the East Coast, where his father remained after his career ended. “I think I was seven years old and it was just so cool to be in LA and watching my dad win a Super Bowl.

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.