The New York Knicks needed Stephon Marbury to play, then suspended him a game and docked him nearly $400,000 in salary Friday after claiming he refused.

The disgruntled guard insists he never told coach Mike D’Antoni “no” and plans to appeal.

Just another chapter in Marbury’s turbulent tenure with his hometown team.

D’Antoni wouldn’t go into specifics of their conversation that took place before Wednesday’s loss in Detroit, though he made it clear he asked the point guard to play because the Knicks were short-handed.

“I don’t want to get into it, guys. I think I already told you, I asked him to play. We just asked. You’re a coach, and we needed him to play,” D’Antoni said after practice Friday. “So I don’t really have a whole lot to say. There’s nothing I can say right now. I’ve already said the piece and what I said from my viewpoint is what happened. So we’ll just leave it at that.”

Marbury will not be paid when he sits out Saturday’s home game against Golden State and will lose an additional game’s pay for Wednesday’s actions. He earns about $21 million in salary this year, drawing about $190,000 a game.

Marbury was not at the team’s practice facility Friday.

“A player’s central obligation is to provide his professional services when called upon,” Knicks president Donnie Walsh said in a statement. “Because he refused the coach’s request to play in the team’s last game, we had no choice but to impose disciplinary action.”

Walsh was in Indiana for the holiday but is expected to address the issue before Saturday’s game.

Marbury told NBC’s Bruce Beck in an interview Friday there wasn’t even a jersey in his locker in Detroit and he was “shocked” he was “suspended for no reason.”

Marbury added he and D’Antoni spoke Wednesday morning and “basically went our separate ways.”

“I never told him I was not going to play,” Marbury said. “That’s basically why I’m getting suspended. If I were to have said I’m not going to play, that’s an automatic suspension, which I basically got suspended anyway.”

The punishment likely accelerates a divorce between the Knicks and their one-time star, days after Marbury apparently could have resurrected his career. The New York Post reported Thursday that D’Antoni, after a number of changes to the roster, offered Marbury the opportunity to be the team’s starting shooting guard the rest of the season – which D’Antoni didn’t deny.

“That might have come up somewhere,” he said of the offer.

It’s the second time in two years the Knicks docked Marbury pay for not playing in a game. Last year, he skipped a loss in Phoenix after a dispute with Isiah Thomas, but contended his former coach gave him permission to leave.

This time, Marbury maintains he never refused an order.

“I’m not going to get into order, not order,” D’Antoni said. “I think I’ve already said what happened and he said what happened, and now we’ll just let it play. And like I said, it’s a regrettable situation for everybody and nobody wants to be in this spot, but we’ll play it out to the best of our ability.”

The players’ association plans to file a grievance on Marbury’s behalf. Although Marbury said his preference was not to play, “he made it clear he was not refusing to play,” according to a players’ association official who requested anonymity because the appeals process had not yet begun.

“If you say I got to play, I’m going to play,” Marbury, speaking before the suspension, said in Friday’s Post. “If he said I have to play, guess what, I’m going to get on the court and play, period. If I refuse to play, I’m getting suspended. I never told him I’m not going to play. Those words never came out of my mouth. That’s insubordination.”

Marbury briefly played for D’Antoni in Phoenix before he was traded to New York nearly five years ago. He told the Post he doesn’t trust the coach, who hasn’t played him at all this season.

“I wouldn’t trust him to walk my dog across the street,” Marbury said.

Marbury feuded with past Knicks coaches Larry Brown and Thomas, and there was speculation the team would release him before D’Antoni opened his first training camp in New York. However, the sides have been unable to work out an agreement over money.

Marbury has repeatedly said he refuses to negotiate a buyout, believing he’s entitled to all the money left on his contract – though he told Beck he offered to give back $1 million. The Knicks have balked at paying that, so Marbury remains on the roster, coming to practices and games but mostly remaining on the inactive roster because he’s not in D’Antoni’s plans.

“I didn’t create this,” Marbury told the Post. “I’m sitting inside the car. I’m not behind the wheel in the driver’s seat. I have no control of the wheel of the car, if we’re turning or going straight. I’m sitting in the back seat. He’s not going to play me because my heart isn’t in it, because the way he treated me. That’s on him, not me.”

But D’Antoni has twice asked Marbury to play. After two trades last week, Marbury suited up at Milwaukee so the Knicks could have the league-mandated eight players in uniform, but he declined to play. At the time, D’Antoni said he wasn’t angry and didn’t consider the decision insubordination.

On Wednesday, however, guards Nate Robinson and Cuttino Mobley were unavailable, again leaving the Knicks with seven healthy players, but Marbury was not in uniform. Knicks forward Quentin Richardson ripped Marbury after the game, telling reporters, “I don’t look at him as a teammate because teammates don’t do that.”

Neither Richardson nor D’Antoni knew if Marbury would still be around next week, or if his Knicks career was finally over.

“I don’t know. I’m not even there,” D’Antoni said. “If he is, he is, and we’ll deal with anything that happens but that’s not up to me right now.”

LeBron James reacted strongly to Charles Barkley’s comments that the Cavaliers star isn’t showing respect for Cleveland fans and his teammates by discussing his possible free agency following the 2010 season.

“He’s stupid. That’s all I’ve got to say about that,” James said Friday night before the Cavaliers’ game against Golden State.

Barkley made the comments on TNT’s NBA studio show and Dan Patrick’s radio show.

“If I was LeBron James, I would shut the hell up,” the Hall of Famer said on Patrick’s show. “I’m a big LeBron fan. He’s a stud. You gotta give him his props. I’m getting so annoyed he’s talking about what he’s going to do in two years. I think it’s disrespectful to the game. I think it’s disrespectful to the Cavaliers.”

James, under contract for two more seasons, was bombarded with questions about his future when the Cavaliers visited New York to play the Knicks on Tuesday night.

The Cavaliers can offer him an extension as early as July 1, 2009. There has long been speculation James will eventually end up in one of the NBA’s larger markets and the Knicks have cleared salary-cap space in anticipation of the 2010 free-agent class.

“I think July 1, 2010, is a very big day,” James said when the Cavaliers were in New York. “It’s probably going to be one of the biggest days in free-agent history in the NBA. So a lot of teams are gearing up to try to prepare themselves to be able to put themselves in position to get one of the big free-agent market guys.”

Steve Nash sat out Friday night’s Phoenix Suns game against the Miami Heat with a bruised right thigh.

The two-time league MVP was injured Wednesday when he collided with Minnesota’s Kevin Love during the Suns’ 110-102 victory.

Rookie Sean Singletary replaced Nash, who’s averaging 14.3 points and 8.0 assists per game, in the starting lineup.

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Spurs get Parker back from ankle injury.

Tony Parker was expected to play for the Spurs on Friday night for the first time in 10 games since injuring his left ankle earlier this month.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said his All-Star guard would come off the bench against Memphis. He was hurt in a Nov. 7 loss to Miami, when he rolled his ankle driving to the basket early in the game.

Parker’s return gives the Spurs their Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili for the first time this season. The Spurs won seven of nine without Parker, thanks in part to the emergence of rookie George Hill.

Joe Zeglinski scored 17 points to lead Hartford to a 50-38 victory over N.J. Tech at the Palestra on Friday.

The loss was the 37th straight for N.J. Tech (0-4), which hasn’t won since beating Longwood on Feb. 19, 2007. Jaret von Rosenberg had 12 points for Hartford (2-4), which never trailed in the game.

The Hawks used a 16-3 spurt midway through the second half to take its biggest lead, 47-27, and the Highlanders never got closer than 11 points.

N.J. Tech trailed by only 18-14 with 8 1/2 minutes left in the first half, but Zeglinski hit two straight 3-pointers, sparking a 12-2 run, and Hartford pulled away to a 30-19 halftime advantage.

The game was the first of four being played Friday as part of the eight-team Philly Classic tournament.

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Reid keys FSU victory in Vegas.

Junior forward Ryan Reid had 14 points and six rebounds to lead Florida State to a 58-47 victory against previously undefeated Cincinnati in the third round of the Global Sports Classic at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday night.
It was a team effort but you have to take your hat off to Ryan Reid. I thought he stepped up and made some big plays, head coach Leonard Hamilton said following the victory. I thought it was a tremendous effort on his part. I thought he anchored us. He maintained his poise.

The Bearcats posed the biggest challenge to the Seminoles on the early season largely due to their size on the interior. The Seminoles answered that challenge by attacking the paint, racking up 23 fouls on the opposition, while also winning the battle on the boards by a three rebound margin.

It was part of the gameplan but it was also a challenge, Reid said. It was a good experience for us showing what we could do against other big guys. We just took it to them. It was a battle down there but we did what we had to do.

Freshman forward Chris Singleton was the only other Seminole to reach double figures on the evening, scoring 10 points. Senior point guard Toney Douglas added eight points and 11 rebounds.

Cincinnati (4-1) got a game-high 16 points from guard Deonta Vaughn.

At the half, Florida State (6-0) led 27-23 behind eight points from Reid. They extended that lead by opening the second half with a 15-5 run to take a 42-28 advantage with 14:28 remaining. The rally was capped by a three-pointer from freshman Deividas Dulkys.

Cincinnati stormed back cutting the deficit to 46-39 with five minutes remaining, but back-to-back buckets by Reid took the lead back to double digits. Senior forward Uche Echefu, who finished with nine points, added a three-pointer with just over three minutes remaining to put the Seminoles ahead 53-39.

We kind of panicked a little bit and got away from what we have been teaching, Hamilton said. Once we made the adjustments we got the ball inside a couple of times.

With the victory, the Seminoles improve to 6-0 for the first time since the beginning of the 2003-04 season.

Everybody is happy right now, Reid said of being 6-0. We still cant be satisfied though. We are just trying to correct some things here early in the season but at the same time it means a lot to us and the program to get this win. We are really trying to get the program going the right direction.

Florida State returns to action on Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. against the California Bears (5-0) in the fourth round of the Global Sports Classic. Cal defeated UNLV 73-55 in the third round of the Global Sports Classic.

They are one of the best three-point shooting teams in America, Hamilton said of the Bears. We have our hands full once again tomorrow night.

(12) TENNESSEE 90, (16) GEORGETOWN 78

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida Cameron Tatum drained four 3-pointers in the closing minutes to lead 12th-ranked Tennessee to an 90-78 victory over No. 16 Georgetown in the semifinals of the Old Spice Classic.

Tatum came off the bench and finished with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. He also connected on 5-of-6 from beyond the arc.

The Volunteers (5-0) were led by Tyler Smith, who scored 21 points. Bobby Maze added 14 points and J.P. Prince finished with 11.

Georgetown (3-1) went on a 23-10 run early in the second half to build a 65-57 lead as the Volunteers were forced to play a small lineup due to foul trouble.

Tatum then buried a 3-pointer with 5:56 remaining as the Volunteers rallied to take a 67-66 lead. He later scored five straight points with another 3-pointer and a dunk as Tennessee opened a 75-69 edge with 4:05 left in the contest.

Georgetown was paced by Chris Wright who scored 18 points.

Tennessee will face 10th-ranked Gonzaga in Sundays championship game.

(13) OKLAHOMA 87, (9) PURDUE 82 (OT)

NEW YORK Blake Griffin scored 18 points, including two clutch free throws in overtime, as No. 13 Oklahoma captured the NIT Season Tip-Off championship with an 87-82 victory over ninth-ranked Purdue.

Forced into the extra session after the Sooners (6-0) caused a timely turnover in the closing seconds of regulation, the Boilermakers scored six of the first eight points in OT before Oklahoma closed out the contest on an 11-2 run.

Griffin, who also had 23 rebounds, had two from the stripe during the run, giving the Sooners an 81-80 lead with 1:05 remaining. That was the last lead change in the game.

Freshman Willie Warren had 24 points and Taylor Griffin added 19 for Oklahoma, which went 33-of-46 on free throws. Purdue (5-1) had just five attempts from the line.

BAYLOR 87, (14) ARIZONA STATE 78

ANAHEIM, California Curtis Jerrells scored 27 points as Baylor made a huge statement, upsetting 14th-ranked Arizona State, 87-78, to advance to the finals of the 76 Classic.

LaceDarius Dunn poured in 27 points off the bench and Henry Dugat added 14 for the Bears, who opened the season with five straight wins – four by double-digits – but had yet to face a ranked opponent.

Baylor, which next will face 24th-ranked Wake Forest in the finals on Sunday, proved that it deserves to be mentioned amongst the best 25 teams in the country, making their point from long distance.

Following a back-and-forth opening 20 minutes that left the teams tied, 31-31, entering the break, the Bears caught fire from the arc immediately after emerging from the locker rooms.

Dugat started the second half with a 3-pointer and the rest of the team followed his lead.

Baylor made five of its first six 3-pointers after the break to forge a 53-38 advantage with 14:17 remaining in the game.

The Sun Devils chipped away at the lead, closing to within five points with one minute remaining. It was too little too late, however, as Baylor made 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

(4) PITTSBURGH 80, TEXAS TECH 67

NEWARK, New Jersey Sam Young scored 24 points as fourth-ranked Pittsburgh continued its undefeated start with an 80-67 victory over Texas Tech in the semifinals of the Legends Classic.

DeJuan Blair returned the lineup for the Panthers (6-0) after a one-game absence, scoring 15 points and adding 11 rebounds.

Blair missed Pittsburghs 74-60 victory over Belmont on Tuesday due to swelling in his right knee.

Pittsburgh, which advanced to face Washington State in Saturdays final, put the game away with a 10-3 run midway through the second half.

Trevor Cook scored 24 points for the Red Raiders (5-1), who shot 35 percent (23-of-65) in absorbing their first loss.

(6) MICHIGAN ST 94, OKLAHOMA ST 79

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida Raymar Morgan scored a season-high 29 points as sixth-ranked Michigan State had little trouble with Oklahoma State, 94-79, in a consolation matchup in the Old Spice Classic.

Morgan recorded the majority of his offense in the second half when the game was well in hand, reaching the free-throw line 10 times – 13 times for the game – en route to scoring 20 points after intermission.

The Spartans (3-1) blew open the game with a 17-3 run, grabbing a 36-19 advantage with 4:34 left in the first half. Morgan had five points during the spurt.

Terrel Harris led the Cowboys (4-2) with 21 points.

(5) DUKE 95, DUQUESNE 72

DURHAM, North Carolina Lance Thomas scored 21 points off the bench as fifth-ranked Duke cruised to its 64th consecutive home victory over a non-conference team, posting a 95-72 triumph over Duquesne.

The starters did their part as well. Kyle Singler finished with 17 points and seven rebounds and Nolan Smith scored 11 for the Blue Devils (7-0), who had 11 different players score at least three points.

Damian Saunders collected 22 points, 10 boards and two blocks for the Dukes (4-1), who were overmatched from the start and trailed the entire contest.

Thomas made all eight of his attempts from the field and pulled down six rebounds with a block, helping Duke turn the game into a rout.

The junior forwards slam dunk midway through the first half highlighted the clubs 13-2 run, which extended its advantage to 22-8.

The Blue Devils took a 52-32 edge into the break and continued to use their up-tempo offense and opportunistic defense to pile on the points in the second half.

Duquesne tried to match the Blue Devils fast-paced style with little success. The Dukes committed 19 turnovers and shot just 40 percent (27-of-68), including 3-of-21 from the arc.

(10) GONZAGA 81, MARYLAND 59

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida Josh Heytvelt registered 22 points and nine rebounds as 10th-ranked Gonzaga advanced to the championship of the Old Spice Classic with an 81-59 victory over Maryland.

Austin Daye collected 17 points and nine rebounds as the Bulldogs dominated inside for much of the game, outrebounding the Terrapins, 41-28. Gonzaga will face 12th-ranked Tennessee in the tournament final Sunday night.

Jeremy Pargo added 11 points and Gonzaga (4-0) shot 53 percent (29-of-55) from the field while limiting Maryland to just 37 percent (25-of-67), including 1-of-14 from 3-point range.

Maryland (4-1) was led by Greivis Vasquezs 16 points and four assists. The Terrapins take on 16th-ranked Georgetown in Sundays consolation game.

(15) MARQUETTE 73, NORTHERN IOWA 43

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Illinois Wesley Matthews scored 20 points and Lazar Hayward had 15 as 15th-ranked Marquette cruised past Northern Iowa, 73-43, in the Chicago Invitational.

Jerel McNeal added 10 points for the Golden Eagles (5-0), who had their lowest point total of the season – but allowed their fewest points as well.

Marquette never trailed and Haywards 3-pointer gave the Golden Eagles a 10-2 lead just over four minutes into the contest. Marquette took a 37-18 at the break and cruised throughout the second half.

Kwadzo Ahelegbe scored nine points to lead the Panthers (3-2), who shot 35 percent (18-of-51) from the field, including 3-of-19 from the arc.

(20) VILLANOVA 64, TOWSON 47

PHILADELPHIA Scottie Reynolds had 14 points, six rebounds and six assists as No. 20 Villanova used a strong second half to defeat Towson, 64-47, in the Philly Hoop Group Classic.

Dante Cunningham and Antonio Pena each recorded 12 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats (5-0), who will play Rhode Island on Saturday.

Villanova only led, 33-28, at the break after Corey Fisher beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer.

But the Wildcats opened the second half on a 13-2 run and never looked back, holding the Tigers to 28 percent (7-of-25) shooting over the games final 20 minutes.

Junior Hairston scored 11 points to lead Towson (3-2), which shot 5-of-27 from the arc.

(23) KANSAS 85, COPPIN STATE 53

LAWRENCE, Kansas Cole Aldrich and Brady Morningstar each had career highs with 23 and 21 points, respectively, as No. 23 Kansas crushed Coppin State, 85-53.

Sherron Collins added 11 points and eight assists for the Jayhawks (4-1), who were coming off their first loss, an 89-81 overtime setback to Syracuse on Tuesday.

Kansas wasted little time taking control of the game as it jumped out to leads of 16-2 and 27-4 before taking a 41-17 bulge into the locker rooms.

Tywain McKee scored 17 points to lead the Eagles (1-2).

(24) WAKE FOREST 82, TEXAS-EL PASO 79

ANAHEIM, California Jeff Teague scored 20 of his 27 points in the second half as 24th-ranked Wake Forest held off Texas-El Paso, 82-79, in the semifinals of the 76 Classic.

Teague has averaged 25.5 points in two games here for the Demon Deacons (5-0), who will face Baylor in Sundays championship game.

Texas El-Paso stayed close behind Stefon Jackson, who poured in 30 points.

Down by as many as 13 in the second half, the Miners (3-2) closed within 80-79 on Jacksons three-point play with 16 seconds remaining.

Teague converted two free throws two seconds later, and Jackson forced a 3-pointer that was off the mark.

Brandon Powell was dismissed from Marshall’s basketball team for an unspecified violation of team policy.

Powell, a redshirt sophomore guard, transferred from Florida in 2007. In four games this season, he averaged 5.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 21 minutes.

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Dick Vitale might start arguments with new book.

If you’re a college basketball fan, or own a television, you know Dick Vitale isn’t afraid to offer his opinion in his style.
Vitale has written several books over his three-decade broadcasting career, but his latest could be considered ammunition, as well as literature.

The name gives it away: “Dick Vitale’s Fabulous 50 Players & Moments in College Basketball.”

The two lists cover the 30 years he has been an ESPN broadcaster, so the UCLA dynasty, Indiana’s perfect season, Pistol Pete, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson weren’t eligible. Still, that leaves plenty to sift through, and that’s where the fun begins.

There’s no way to please everybody with lists like these, especially in a sport where people wear their passions on school-colored sleeves.

New fans might not believe players who wore their shorts so short could compete with today’s players whose shorts should be renamed longs. But despite a few rule changes, it’s still the same game those carrying AARP cards played in the days when the NCAA tournament was big but bracketology was something only those assembling bookshelves worried about.

Vitale, with co-author Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News, went with Patrick Ewing of Georgetown, Christian Laettner of Duke, Ralph Sampson of Virginia, Michael Jordan of North Carolina and Danny Manning of Kansas as the top five players.

Let the screaming begin from fans of Tim Duncan of Wake Forest, Isiah Thomas of Indiana, Akeem Olajuwon of Houston, David Robinson of Navy and Len Bias of Maryland, the next five on the list.

You could put all those names in a hat and any five would still be a viable list. That’s what makes this venture impossible, but fun.

Vitale even adds a list of 50 more players who deserve mention.

As for moments, No. 1 was North Carolina State’s improbable national championship under Jim Valvano in 1983 followed by Laettner’s shot at the buzzer that gave Duke an overtime win over Kentucky in the 1992 regional final. And don’t forget Villanova’s “perfect game” to beat Georgetown for the national championship in 1985; Keith Smart’s corner jumper that gave Indiana the 1987 title over Syracuse; and then-freshman Jordan’s jumper from the same side of the Superdome court as Smart that led North Carolina to the national championship over Georgetown in 1982.

Again, you can’t go wrong with any of those or several others on the list. Perhaps a referee should have been included with the book. It’s easy to see a friendly discussion turning into a shouting match worthy of some of the coaches who have drawn a technical or two over the years.

And the West Coast already has expressed its displeasure with the players list. North Carolina and Duke have 14 players among the top 50. The entire Pac-10 conference has two, the first being Sean Elliott of Arizona at No. 26.

If Vitale’s lists don’t do it for you, there are plenty of books about college hoops out there.

On the more serious side is: “Money Players: A Guide to Success in Sports, Business & Life for Current and Future Pro Athletes.” Author Marc Isenberg covers the gamut for young athletes from selecting an agent to relating to the media to financial matters for days as an amateur and a pro.

That’s a book many former athletes probably wish they had many problems and dollars ago.

Coaches, too, are busy sharing their secrets. Two recent books cover the extremes of the profession.

“Bill Self: At Home in the Phog” is a biography of the Kansas coach that came out following the Jayhawks’ national championship season. It chronicles Self’s coaching career from his days as assistant through head coaching stops at Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois. The book offers an inside look into the life of a coach and discloses great details on the games in the national championship run, including the overtime title game against Kansas.

But not every coach makes it to the title game.

Rich Zvosec has been the head coach at St. Francis, N.Y., North Florida and Missouri-Kansas City. His book “Birds, Dogs & Kangaroos” is a look at the other side of Division I basketball. The book’s title comes from his three schools’ nicknames – Terriers, Ospreys and Kangaroos.

In that world, dinners on the road are usually at a place where the words “all you can eat” are prominent, where coaches worry about laundry as much as opponents and there seems to be just as much fun.

Connections full of confidence in Albertas Run if rain stays away. Racing will for ever throw up curious omissions, as the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup illustrates. Tony McCoy has never ridden the winner of Newbury’s showpiece chase and Jonjo O’Neill has failed to win it either as jockey or trainer. Tomorrow, they unite against this arid statistic with the help of an owner who won the Hennessy only three years ago.

Albertas Run represents Trevor Hemmings, whose 2005 winner, Trabolgan, has not run since because of injury but is now just weeks away from a comeback. A special horse to McCoy, since the Cheltenham Festival win which made his jockey’s heroic recovery from broken vertebrae so worthwhile, Albertas Run is also a notable favourite of O’Neill.

In his whimsical way, O’Neill is prone to deprecating comments about some of his less talented inmates. The other day, he even joked that he was trying to run them all in the late afternoon dusk, so nobody could see how far they were beaten. This horse, though, stirs the blood of a man still seeking the vehicle to fulfil his training career.

He has won ten of his 15 starts and was four from six over fences before an oddly uninspired last of four behind Tidal Bay at Carlisle last month. I thought he was spot-on for that race, so it was a bit of a setback, O’Neill said yesterday. But the ground was like glue that day, as it can sometimes be at Carlisle, and I think he hated it.
In recent days, bookmakers have shortened Albertas Run to 10-1, a price that better reflects his positive form against plenty of tomorrow’s rivals. O’Neill, while reporting that his candidate is as good as I’ve ever had him, was casting anxious eyes to the glowering skies at Newbury yesterday after the hard-fought win of Alright Now M’Lad.

They forecast rain and we don’t need it for Albertas, he said, adding with a twinkle: If it stays like this, he’ll win easy. McCoy, who initiated a double yesterday with a typically implacable ride on Gone To Lunch in the grade two novice chase, shared O’Neill’s concern over conditions. That ground would be perfect for Albertas today but if it rains heavily, we’d be in trouble, he said.

Nicky Henderson, who was similarly uneasy over deep ground for his runner, Oedipe, brought the most encouraging bulletin yet about the long-absent Trabolgan. Barry schooled him this morning, he said. He jumped ten fences and won’t jump any more before he runs. All has gone well so far and he’s actually been working in a way that suggests he retains his ability.

The King George VI Chase would seem an obvious target for a horse that appeared to have the world at his feet after his Hennessy win. However, Henderson warned: We’re working backwards from the Gold Cup, which is the only date that really matters.

I’d like to start him in a race that allows him to have a nice time but I think somebody would have to frame one specially – perhaps for horses that haven’t won for three years and whose names begin with T’. It has occurred to me to start him over hurdles and that is a serious possibility.

Henderson’s enviable hand for the Champion Hurdle is further unveiled tomorrow with the return of Punjabi in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle. The trainer, though, is unhappy at the decision to stage the feature race as the last on the card. It makes no sense that the best horses could be running on the worst ground, he said. It sometimes seems that things are done to suit the wrong people.

One promising hurdler no longer under Henderson’s care, Khyber Kim, makes his debut for a new yard tomorrow. Nigel Twiston-Davies, who was sent the horse in the summer, said: He’s done everything we’ve asked so far and I can’t wait to run him.

Twiston-Davies also saddles Knowhere under top weight in a Hennessy field now reduced to 17. The four defectors yesterday included New Alco, suffering from a stone bruise that his trainer, Ferdy Murphy, called an absolute sickener.

Paul Nicholls continues to pull away from Twiston-Davies at the head of the trainers’ championship and his three winners yesterday included Pasco, who made all under Sam Thomas. Straw Bear, beaten 30 lengths in third, continues to disappoint over fences and McCoy felt something was amiss. I hope something turns up, Nick Gifford, his frustrated trainer, said, because he won’t win anything on that form.

Bsharpsonata, Slew Tiznow win at Hollywood Park. Bsharpsonata rallied from fifth place to beat favorite Peppermint Lounge by 1 1/2 lengths and win the $68,400 Playa del Rey feature race at Hollywood Park on Thursday.

Ridden by Garrett Gomez, the filly covered six furlongs on the Cushion Track in 1:07.95 for her seventh win in 12 starts. She paid $16.20, $6.60 and $4.60. Peppermint Lounge returned $4 and $3 while Coco Belle paid $3.60 to show.

The winners share of $41,600 boosted Bsharpsonatas earnings to $532,010.

In a co-feature race, Slews Tiznow held off Pistol Pete Afleet to win the $69,150 War Chant Stakes. He covered 1 1/16 miles in a Cushion Track record of 1:40.34 and paid $4.40, $3 and $2.60. Pistol Pete Afleet returned $9 and $4.40, while Fifteen Love paid $3 to show.

Slews Tiznow earned $42,350, boosting his career total to $247,870.

Fabulous Strike wins Big As Fall Highweight.
Fabulous Strike, fifth most recently in the Breeders Cup Sprint, bounced back to win the $111,200 Fall Highweight Handicap in the return to real dirt Thursday at Aqueduct.

Trainer Todd Beattie and jockey Ramon Dominguez both blamed Fabulous Strikes Breeders Cup defeat on the synthetic surface at Santa Anita. The 5-year-old gelding backed up their position with a front running 1 1/2 -length win over Hes So Chic.

I have no doubt in my mind he did not like the synthetic surface, said Dominguez who had four winners on the card. Today, he showed who he is.

Fabulous Strike, 3 lengths in front at the top of the stretch, was never seriously threatened.

As the name of the stakes suggests, the runners carried more weight than usual. Fabulous Strike prevailed despite carrying the heaviest load: 136 pounds, 10 more than in the Breeders Cup. Fabulous Strike improved to 11-for-18, earning $66,720 for Walter Downey.

The time was 1:09.02 for the six furlongs on the fast track.

Fabulous Strike, the even-money favorite, returned $4, $3.20 and $2.40. Hes So Chic paid $9.80 and $6.10. Ferocious Fires, coupled in the wagering with last-place finisher Nakayama Arashi, paid $3.20 for show.

Grand Champion was fourth followed by Gold Trippi, Silver Stetson Man, Idiot Proof and Nakayama Arashi.

Somersby helps Henrietta Knight find way along road to recovery. The leading players were out in force at Kempton yesterday, but all to no avail. On a day when a winner or two might have soothed some pre-Hennessy nerves, the honours went instead to trainers coming in from the cold.

Henrietta Knight wore the widest smile. Her travails reached a zenith on Saturday before Cross Kennon ended a six-month drought when winning at Ludlow on Monday. That proved a welcome portent for Somersby, who won the opener with far more authority than implied by a winning margin of just under three lengths lengths.

He didn’t disappoint us, was Knight’s opening gambit in the winner’s circle. The same cannot be said for many of her runners this season, but the curse, whatever form it took, has now lifted. To this day Knight has no idea why she suffered such a barren run.

They all seemed very well at home but were stopping as though they were shot two furlongs out, the trainer reflected. After a while we went back to our original feed, based on oats. Maybe it suits us better to stay with traditional ways, not modern ways.
Somersby is certainly a traditional store. A big, well-balanced horse, he also has much to live up to. He runs for Camilla Radford, the owner of Racing Demon, and was bought – like Racing Demon and Best Mate – from the renowned Costello academy in Ireland.

Somersby was handled confidently by Dominic Elsworth, who went on to complete a treble when he revived the flagging fortunes of Paul Webber. Only one of Webber’s previous 18 runners had reached the frame before this quickfire double.

Elsworth produced Laskari late to win the two-mile handicap chase, having earlier made plenty of use of One Gulp in the Starlight Lapland Mares’ Hurdle over an extended three miles. One Gulp’s stamina proved decisive after Amber Brook loomed up going to the final flight. But while the latter’s effort petered out, One Gulp pinged the last with her ears pricked.

One Gulp is the apple of her owner/breeder’s eye – and there have been several for Bobby McAlpine to savour down the decades. His fervent hope is that the five-year-old might deliver a first Cheltenham Festival winner since River Ceiriog, trained by Nicky Henderson, won him the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle 22 years ago.

River Ceiriog’s win was a huge surprise, McAlpine said. Before the race I remember Peter O’Sullevan asking us how to pronounce his name and Nicky told him: ‘Don’t worry, you won’t have to mention it’. Henderson was preoccupied yesterday by his involvement with the Starlight Children’s Foundation, which Kempton commemorated.

However, with the Hennessy looming, it won’t have escaped his attention that none of his six runners troubled the judge. It was also a barren afternoon for Barry Geraghty, who has elected to ride Punjabi at Newcastle instead of the Henderson armada at Newbury on Saturday. In Geraghty’s absence, Henderson hands Andrew Tinkler the Hennessy ride aboard Oedipe.

As expected, Henderson has turned to Tony McCoy for some competitive races on the supporting card. The champion jockey will partner Petit Robin for the Lambourn trainer in the two-mile chase, and Duc De Regniere in a Long Distance Hurdle that is expected to feature the return of Inglis Drever, the three-time World Hurdle winner.