Brisbane jockey Ric McMahon will miss the Magic Millions carnival through injury but is determined to be back to ride exciting sprinter Better Than Ready in his autumn campaign.

The winner of four of his six races, Better Than Ready gave a sight of what was to come when he set a Randwick 1200m record of 1:08.19 in the Brian Crowley Stakes in October.

Trainer Kelly Schweida elected to give the colt a break rather than press on with his spring campaign with the Sydney autumn in mind.

The three-year-old’s regular partner McMahon suffered a dislocated AC joint and rib cartilage damage when he was involved in a fall at the Sunshine Coast on December 9.

His mount Olliedale was unable to avoid another fallen runner, Any Poet, near the 500m in the Maiden Handicap (1000m) and had to be put down after being fatally injured.

Last Wednesday, McMahon saw a specialist who told him he would be unable to ride for several weeks.

“The best option is to rest it until it heals in two to three weeks then I can do some physio and start riding trackwork in the new year,” he said.

“I’ll definitely be back for Better Than Ready when he resumes at the end of January.”

McMahon is just one of several injured Queensland jockeys with Dan Griffin unlikely to ride again this season as he recovers from injuries incurred in a three-horse fall at the Gold Coast on November 24.

Fellow jockeys Dean Tanti and Luke Rolls, who were involved in that fall, are also sidelined.

“Dan’s cruciate ligament disappeared in his left knee and he has a grade two tear of the medial ligament in the same leg,” Griffin’s manager Glenn Perry said.

“He will have an operation where they take one his hamstrings out and use that to replace the knee ligaments.

“Apparently there are five hamstrings in the leg but only four are needed for leg function.”

Griffin has won the past six Gold Coast jockey’s premierships, eclipsing the previous record of five set by the late Ken Russell in the 1980s.

Tanti has a broken left ankle and elbow as well as a broken right wrist and will be out for three months.

Rolls suffered a fractured wrist but will seek a medical clearance on December 23 to resume riding.

Group One-placed mare Soft Sand has a new trainer after being purchased jointly by BC3 Thoroughbreds and Arrowfield Stud.

The mare had been trained by Colin Little at Caulfield and has won four of 12 starts including the Listed Kevin Hayes Stakes.

She will be prepared for her next campaign by Paul Messara.

The four-year-old was runner-up to Appearance in the Group One Myer Classic at Flemington last month before a spell.

Soft Sand will chase a Group One win during the autumn with an international campaign also possible.

Messara campaigned Ortensia overseas this year, winning Group One races in Dubai and England with the sprinter.

Would the real RIcky Ponting please stand up?

There’s already been one false alarm, but when the next wicket falls in the defining third Test against South Africa in Perth, retiring champion Ponting will stride to the crease.

Ponting will be on a wave of support not seen since his predecessor as captain Steve Waugh made a career-saving hundred against England at the SCG in 2003 on the last ball of the day.

It’s fitting that Ponting joins Waugh as the most capped Australian player of all time (168 Tests) in this his last match.

The Australians resume on Saturday 2-33 in their reply to South Africa’s first innings of 225.

Nathan Lyon is not out 7 and David Warner 12.

Just as the Sydney crowd was delirious for Waugh, the Perth faithful erupted late on Friday when No.3 Shane Watson was sent on his way and Ponting was due to walk to the middle.

The cries from the stands were matched by Ponting’s nervous wife Rianna.

Only problem was, it was Lyon making his way out to bat as a nightwatchman, and not man-of-the-moment Ponting.

The crowd was so irate when they realised they’d been duped that they decided to boo Lyon.

The first session on day two could go a long way towards sealing the match, the series and the No.1 Test ranking.

A few wickets and Australia will be under enormous pressure, but a vintage performance from Ponting and the home side will be well on their way to stealing top spot in Test cricket from the Proteas.

Ponting has scored 41 Test hundreds, third on the all-time list after Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis, but a three-figure score in Perth would just about be the best of them.

The 37-year-old has scored just two tons in the past three years and his efforts so far this series have been nought, four and 16.

The odds are stacked against Ponting but, at the same time, he has a golden opportunity to go out with a bang.

He can bat for as long as he wants and play a key innings for Australia.

A big knock would complete the symmetry of his 96 on Test debut in Perth back in 1995 against Sri Lanka, when a poor umpiring decision cost him a hundred.

Wallabies legend David Campese has apologised after being reprimanded by Federal Sports Minister Kate Lundy for questioning whether a female newspaper journalist should write about rugby.

Campese tweeted that a “girl” shouldn’t be covering rugby and then later dug the hole deeper as tried to defend his stance by saying he meant female journalists weren’t as tough on coaches.

In the original tweet posted on Wednesday morning Campese referred to Fairfax journalist Georgina Robinson, who is covering Australia’s current tour of Europe.

“Why does the smh get a girl to write about rugby. Growden who was a great jornio (sic) and now we have someone who has no idea about the game!” was the tweet from Campese’s official Twitter account.

“Growden” is Fairfax’s long-time rugby writer Greg Growden who took redundancy just over a month ago.

Senator Lundy also took to social media to voice her displeasure at Australian rugby’s record tryscorer comments.

“Female players, mums, sisters, partners of #rugby players, in fact everyone expects better from @DavidCampese11″, she tweeted.

That was followed up from Campese with “yes I am sorry for the comment”.

His day didn’t get much better when he then tweeted his phone number to his 8000-odd followers when he tried to direct message the number to one of them.

A vocal critic of Australian coach Robbie Deans, who is under pressure due to the Wallabies’ roller-coaster form, Campese tried to explain his initial comment.

“I was trying to say is that the coach is under pressure and sometimes males give it to the coach as some females go a lot easier on them,” he wrote.

Campese deleted the original sexist tweet but was unable to use his famous goose-step to avoid the criticism.

Wallaby flanker David Pocock, in Cardiff preparing to make his comeback from injury in the weekend’s season-ending Test against Wales, condemned Campese for the comment.

“Really sad to see journos attacked based on their gender. Or a grown woman referred to as a ‘girl’ #destroyingthejoint,” Pocock wrote.

Former dual international Wendell Sailor also criticised the comment.

“Well good morning to u Campo & I have to say r are on ur own with this comment it’s 2012 champ,” Sailor tweeted.

Former Australian Associated Press journalist Margie McDonald, now with The Australian, was the first female to cover a Wallabies tour back in 1988, when Campese was a member of the side.

Brisbane Roar captain Matt Smith has apologised to supporters and coach Rado Vidosic on behalf of his teammates for bringing the reigning A-League champions to what he says is their lowest stage in his time.

The Roar slumped to the bottom of the table following copping a four-1 thrashing from Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park on Friday evening, their third straight defeat.

The loss brought on Vidosic, who took more than from dual-championship coach Ange Postecoglou ahead of this season, to question his players’ wish to execute.

“There was no heart in our perform,” Vidosic informed reporters.

“It was just the game that individuals didn’t want to perform in, didn’t want to carry out.

“It was probably the worst overall performance we have observed from this good deal in two-and-a-half many years.”

But he mentioned he had no trigger to question no matter whether his taking above, immediately after Postecoglou left the club to join Melbourne Victory, had led to the slump.

“I am not questioning my capability since I have been at the club for 7 years and I’ve been element of the last couple of years of our good results, the exact same as the gamers,” Vidosic mentioned.

“I’m hungry, I want to achieve even a lot more. Can they match my hunger?”

Smith was adamant the players even now had hunger to do well, but struggled to describe why it was not on display on Friday evening.

“On behalf of the players we require to apologise A, to our coach, B, to our club, C, to our supporters,” Smith mentioned.

“Tonight was, to me, probably the lowest stage I’ve had at the club.

“At occasions there have been some very good issues but at instances there have been some really, really poor things and we surely need to have to handle that.”

Heart defender Patrick Gerhardt scored the lone very first-half objective, then former Socceroo Richard Garcia, Croatian Josip Tadic and substitute David Williams all scored in the room of 12 minutes midway via the second.

Henrique supplied a late Brisbane consolation aim.

Heart coach John Aloisi, whose club climbed from final to sixth, mentioned beating the Roar nonetheless meant a great deal despite their recent place.

“Brisbane are a top rated side and I even now believe that they are going to be a side that are going to be up there,” he explained.

“They are nevertheless the benchmark, the way they play football and the way they move the ball close to.

“They’re just going by means of a poor period at the second.”

Leading trainer Tony Gollan has been fined $ 4000 following a constructive swab inquiry.

Silver Command, educated by Gollan, returned a post-race swab sample containing the prohibited substance testosterone after he won at Doomben on September 5.

At a stewards inquiry held at the Racing Queensland offices at Deagon on Monday, Gollan pleaded guilty to a charge beneath AR 178 for presenting Silver Command to race with testosterone ranges above the permitted threshold.

Silver Command has been disqualified with Bribie elevated to 1st putting.

Gollan, in search of his 1st Brisbane trainers’ premiership, is locked on 20 wins this season with Robert Heathcote.

Temple Of Boom gave Gollan his first win in a Group A single race when he won The Galaxy at Randwick in April.

The considerably-publicised Cox Plate barrier draw for A lot more Joyous in the end played against her chances when the glamour mare endured the toughest run of all in the fat-for-age race.

More Joyous, one particular of 3 runners for trainer Gai Waterhouse, located herself posted deep for the entire 2040m and finished 11th.

At Tuesday’s barrier draw when Waterhouse had the choose of any of the 14 barriers for More Joyous, she stunned most, like owner John Singleton, when selecting 11.

“The mare (Much more Joyous) ran a good race. She was kind of caught wide and in a bit of a no-man’s land,” Waterhouse mentioned when dissecting every single of her runner’s performances.

“They didn’t run how I would enjoy them too which was initial, second and 3rd but that is lifestyle, is not it?” Waterhouse said.

“Ethiopia going up front with Proisir most likely did not do any of my horses possibilities any favours but all’s fair in adore and war.

“I think Proisir almost certainly felt that he was currently being attacked the whole time and he capitulated but hung on for a long time.

“I believed Pierro ran a gallant race and has come to the finish of his planning.”

Pierro came in third behind Ocean Park and All Too Hard even though Proisir was eighth.

Waterhouse mentioned all 3 of her Cox Plate runners would head to the paddock.

Last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Dunaden will carry 59 kilograms in this year’s race following getting penalised 1 kilogram for his Caulfield Cup win.

Racing Victoria’s chief handicapper Greg Carpenter announced the penalty on Monday immediately after Dunaden carried 58kg to a thrilling win in Saturday’s Caulfield Cup in excess of 2400 metres.

No horse has carried 59kg or far more to victory in the Melbourne Cup (3200m) because Rain Lover won the popular race in 1969 with the equivalent of 60.5kg (9st 7lb).

“Because the Cup went metric in 1972, only two horses – Think Large with 58-one/2 kilograms in 1975 and Makybe Diva in 2005 when she carried 58 kilos to victory – have been capable to win the Melbourne Cup with far more than 57 kilograms,” Carpenter explained.

“So it is a massive challenge for him but he proved yet again on Saturday he’s 1 of the best stayers in the planet, one particular of the finest stayers we’ve noticed to come Australia and I think even with the one particular kilo (penalty), which equates to about two lengths in distance, that he’s nonetheless going to be extremely tough to beat.”

Dunaden won the Melbourne Cup with 54.5kg final year.

A 21-yr-outdated man has been arrested on suspicion of assault right after Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Chris Kirkland was attacked by a Leeds fan during Friday’s stormy 1-one Championship draw at Hillsborough.

With the game shown reside on tv, the thug who shoved Kirkland in the face was speedily identified on social media web sites with hundreds of followers joining in the condemnation.

A mobile phone variety supposedly belonging to the suspect was also posted, but he was not found right up until Sunday, when Gloucestershire Police said a man was arrested in Cheltenham.

Kirkland had just been beaten by a superb 77th-minute equaliser from Michael Tonge in Friday’s English Championship clash when Leeds supporters spilled onto the pitch in in excess of-zealous celebration of the aim.

One particular of those supporters ran up to Kirkland and, pushing each hands into his face, sent the stunned former Liverpool and England star crashing to the turf.

Police and stewards at some point cleared the area of the supporters, but the visibly shaken Kirkland essential a number of minutes of treatment ahead of he was ready to continue.

The Leeds fans massed in the Leppings Lane end of the stadium also appeared to hurl objects, such as broken seats, onto the pitch in the direction of Kirkland.

Leeds boss Neil Warnock, speaking on Sunday, mentioned: “Every club has received these fans and for me it is received to begin at the very best now.

“We know the lad who assaulted him and he’s got to go by means of the courts and they’ve received to make it detrimental.

“It’s all correct saying ‘go in and get them out’, but you’ve got to be there. It is scary for stewards – I would not want to be a steward.

“There shouldn’t be any way whatsoever that people ought to be allowed to run on the field of perform.”

Kirkland admitted he had been shocked by the assault, saying: “I felt the complete force and I was just shocked simply because you by no means know what could have been in his hands.

“The rest of the game flew by and then the final whistle came, the adrenalin goes and you reflect on a thing like that and it was scary.

“It was not a nice feeling to believe my daughter saw me assaulted like that.”

Damien Oliver has followed up his Thousand Guineas victory with an application to be paid what ever fee he would have been eligible for on the horse from which he was sacked in Saturday’s Caulfield Cup.

Connections of English stayer My Quest For Peace dumped Oliver following allegations emerged last weekend that he had bet on a horse other than the a single he rode in a race at Moonee Valley two years ago.

Oliver created the application to stewards at Caulfield on Wednesday.

He has also requested to be paid whatever percentage he may well be eligible for when My Quest For Peace runs in the Melbourne Cup.

Chief steward Terry Bailey explained the unique situation needed additional consideration and that a choice would be made before Saturday.

Oliver was replaced by Corey Brown on My Quest For Peace and Craig Williams replaced him on Green Moon in the Cox Plate, although he is not in search of any compensation for losing that ride following possessing personal discussions with the horse’s owner Lloyd Williams.

Henderson acknowledges there was a reserving for the Caulfield Cup, but not for the Melbourne Cup.

Oliver would be eligible for five per cent of the prizemoney won by My Quest For Peace, which could quantity to more than $ 300,000 if the horse won the two races.