He has jumped double clear rounds in Grand Prix competitions, finishing fourth in Luxembourg and third in Arnhem. Close behind came Germany’s Olympic champion, Ludger Beerbaum on Gaylord.
Midnight Madness has had a couple of weeks off since twisting his off- fore fetlock in St Gallen earlier this month. Assuming he remains sound he is likely to go to Atlanta as Whitaker’s reserve horse.Twostep, Whitaker’s first choice, continues to progress since cracking two bones in his withers in February. Substitutes: B Goulding (St Helens), S Blakeley (Salford Reds), B McDermott (Leeds), M Cassidy (Wigan).Referee: W Harrigan (Australia).. Michael Whitaker and Midnight Madness produced a turn of foot which no one could match when winning yesterday’s Mercedes-Benz Prize on the opening day of the Aachen Nations Cup Show in Germany. It was their second successive win in this competition and they were runners-up in 1994.

Whitaker was second to go in a field of 71 horses, which would normally be considered a hopeless draw. But he whizzed round to such effect that Piet Raymakers, second for The Netherlands on Jewel’s Amethyst, was 6.45sec slower. “We always think Wales are likely to be formidable on home soil. They will certainly play with a lot of passion.”For once, however, that passion is unlikely to be quite enough. Despite the loss of Martin Offiah, Paul Newlove and Karl Harrison from his first- choice side, Larder has a team of true international calibre at his disposal.WALES: P Atcheson (Oldham Bears); A Sullivan (St Helens), A Bateman (Cronulla), G Davies (Warrington), J Critchley (Keighley Cougars); I Harris (Warrington), I Watson (Salford Reds); M Jones (Warrington), K Cunningham (St Helens), N Cowie (Wigan), P Moriarty (South Wales, capt), M Perrett (Halifax Blue Sox), C Morley (St Helens).

By a masterpiece of planning, even by the standards of this sport, Wales and England will decide one European Championship tonight in Cardiff while the attention of most of the country will be on Euro-matters 150 miles away. Appropriately, Paul Moriarty – no mean schoolboy football player himself – will be Wales’ captain as they try to retain their title. He succeeds David Young, an ever-present in recent Welsh sides, who tore ankle ligaments in France three weeks ago The other injury news for Wales is mixed. Anthony Sullivan is fit to play on one wing, but Gerald Cordle misses out, with Jason Critchley moving to the flank and Allan Bateman, fresh from Australia, in the centre.
“We still think it is a pretty strong side,” said a wary England coach, Phil Larder. Trevor Francis, the Birmingham manager, said that Papin was “very interested” in moving to St Andrew’s and called for sponsors to help meet wage demands believed to be around pounds 15,000 a week.Mark McGhee, the Wolves manager, will watch the Czech Republic’s pounds 2m- rated goalkeeper, Petr Kouba, at Old Trafford today, having confirmed that he had contacted Sparta Prague about the fee they are seeking.Paul Stewart, who helped Sunderland clinch the First Division title after joining them on a free transfer from Liverpool, has signed a two-year contract.Leeds’ South African striker Phil Masinga flew to Switzerland yesterday to discuss a transfer to St Gallen after the clubs had agreed a pounds 500,000 fee.. Alex Ferguson hopes today to sign the 31-year-old Dutch goalkeeper Raymond van der Gouw on a free transfer from Vitesse Arnhem as Manchester United’s No 2. United have offered van der Gouw a three-year deal and he was at Old Trafford yesterday finalising terms.
Birmingham’s hopes of signing Jean-Pierre Papin from Bayern Munich may rest on the readiness of businesses in the West Midlands to help the First Division club pay his salary.

Yesterday, Craig Quinnell left Llanelli to join his brother Scott at Richmond, bringing to five the number of internationals they can field in the pack. The back row of Quinnell, Quinnell and Ben Clarke will be as good as any in the land, let alone the Second Division.Still in the Second, Moseley have found a seven-man consortium of local businessmen to invest pounds 600,000 in the club, and have called a special meeting on 11 July to turn the club into a limited company.. Juventus have offered Blackburn pounds 12m for Alan Shearer, according to Italian television and newspaper reports. The deal, which might suit both the club and the player, reportedly would involve the Italian international striker Fabrizio Ravanelli going to Ewood Park, plus a substantial cash settlement for Rovers. Our priority is to take the club back to its rightful position in Division One. The club and the people of Bedford deserve nothing else.”The people of Richmond no doubt think something similar as rugby’s map changes according to where the money is. Bob Burrows, the former head of ITV Sport, is SNE’s representative at the club, and becomes its chief executive.

“In my opinion, Cooke and Turner will be the ‘dream team’ to handle the playing affairs of the new Bedford rugby club,” he said. “They provide an irresistible combination in our ambition to restore Bedford to former glories.”Cooke, who took England to one World Cup final and two Grand Slams, said: “We have some exciting plans and a number of top names have expressed an interest in playing a part in our future. “There would seem to be so much untapped rugby potential in the county of Bedford and I’m thrilled to be working with a group of people who have a clear vision of where rugby is going in the new professional era.”It is his vision that Bedford will be paying for – the mastery of the game which made Sale unique among sides promoted to the First Division in that they actually prospered there.So it is hardly surprising that Bedford are regarding their newcomers – Cooke will be director of rugby – with unconcealed delight. The move comes about directly through their connection with Sports Network Europe, a partnership involving Frank Warren, which will take a 50 per cent stake in the club. His influence on the top flight of English rugby has been such that his fellow First Division players voted him the No1 stand-off last year, before a falling-out ended his liaison with the Manchester club.
“I’m raring to go,” he said. It says something about the size of Bedford’s two coups yesterday that the recruitment of Geoff Cooke, the former England manager, was probably of secondary excitement to the announcement that Paul Turner, the Welsh mastermind of Sale’s resurgence, has been signed up as player-coach. But he was never in danger of surrendering the lead, with the second-placed Norwegian Sigurd Njerve way back with 17.01m.Fredericks, meanwhile, mis- sed by two hundredths of a second Leroy Burrell’s world record of 9.85 set in Lausanne two years ago.