But it was a relief to hear that he had retained his sense of humour. The argument between the England captain and the match referee was threatening yesterday to become a test case of player power. I think she could do it from here just using reduced sail."MacArthur, despite huge fatigue, can afford to be a little less cautious about the likelihood of success, even in the litter-strewn North Atlantic, but Mike Golding on the other hand will have to throw caution to the winds.Golding was still in third place in the Vend?Globe round the world race yesterday, but he had closed the gap to the leader, Vincent Riou, to just 95 miles.But, with just 48 hours between him and the finish in Les Sables d'Olonne, and the second-placed Jean le Cam 27 miles behind Riou, a grandstand finish is in the making.. The rudder seems fine."MacArthur was making steady progress yesterday, maintaining a day and a half advantage over the progress at the same point by Francis Joyon, the man who holds the current record of 72 days 22 hours 54 minutes.She has 10 days to complete the final miles and, speaking from his home in La Ciotat, France, top British skipper and round the world multi-hull sailor Neal McDonald said: "I think she has done a fantastic job. "I don't know what it was, maybe a fish or squid but it wasn't huge."It went on to the leeward rudder [and got stuck there] so I ended up turning the boat a full circle to get that off. Disaster is only a second away was the message from Ellen MacArthur's minders yesterday as the 28-year-old closed in on a new record for sailing solo round the world.

After a near-collision with a whale - it swam under the starboard hull of her 75-foot trimaran B&Q - they were anxious to highlight the ever-present vulnerability to catastrophe. This included another collision with an unidentified underwater object with 2,500 miles to the finish off Ushant "I hit something last night," said MacArthur. Coral hacked his odds to 8-1 from 25-1 for the contest which opens the meeting on 15 March.. I have also previously helped to bring up a step-daughter who spent as much time as possible with her father, again in an agreed way.To be denied access of any kind must be unutterably painful. Satisfactory access is very hard to achieve (it requires continual give-and-take and geographical proximity, and is costly), and terribly easy for an ill-willed "primary carer" to sabotage, whatever the formal agreements or orders may say.Joan Smith ("Are divorced fathers really getting a raw deal?", 19 January) seems to lack the slightest empathy for fathers in such situations. How would mothers feel if they were placed in similar circumstances? Any and all tactics for publicity would seem appropriate Citing historical wrongs to women seems beside the point. (Creating new wrongs, such as the monstrous proposal to tag or curfew women who deny access is of course the opposite of a solution, and all too typical of this government's authoritarianism.)If family law proceeded not from the "gender-specific" assumption that a mother is the "natural" custodian of her children, but from an expectation that both parents have equal responsibilities, then more children might find themselves less traumatised during separations. It is generally not practicable nor emotionally satisfactory for a child literally to split its life equally between two homes, but removing the assumption of a mother's priority would be a useful corrective to the kind of seemingly unconscious gender bias displayed by Joan Smith.ALASTAIR GREEN London N5 Shooting in France Sir: While I do not dispute the accuracy of John Lichfield's statistics on the activities of hunters in France (Our Man in Paris, 25 January), his article does not accord with my own experience of boar hunting in France over the past couple of years.Both shoots I attended were meticulously conducted Each participant had to produce his licence Details of compulsory third party insurance must be shown These legal requirements are true of any shoot in France.

The firm's Simon Clare said: "Small fields never bring out the best in Moscow Flyer so he deserves to maintain his position in the market."It seems incredible that despite Best Mate going for a fourth Gold Cup win, many will view the clash between Azertyuiop, Moscow Flyer and Well Chief as the star attraction of this year's Festival."Earlier on the Punchestown card, Justified spread-eagled a competitive field in a novices' event to stake his claim for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle. Steel Band ran a blinder to finish second to Moscow Flyer and is 25-1 from 40-1 for the Arkle Chase."Coral were more impressed with the performance, and Moscow Flyer remains their 2-1 second favourite behind Azertyuiop. "We thought Well Chief's performance was simply outstanding and he deserves to share joint favouritism with the previous winners."Totesport cut Well Chief to 5-2 from 11-4, with their spokesman, Damian Walker, saying: "Moscow Flyer probably idled in front, but there's no doubt Well Chief was the more impressive of the two weekend winners and we have cut his price accordingly. "We can't split them and we're going to let punters tells us who should be clear favourite," said the firm's Balthazar Fabricius. It's only when he gets into a really good, fast-run race that he shows his true mettle."I was more nervous today than before the Tingle Creek, but it's now all systems go for Cheltenham."Ladbrokes cannot decide which of the big three to side with for the Champion, and quote Moscow Flyer, Azertyuiop and Well Chief as 2-1 co-favourites. "He had no company, and Barry says that when he makes the running he will never win far and only does as much as he has to. He now shares favouritism for Cheltenham with the two he beat convincingly in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown, Well Chief and Azertyuiop, the reigning champion.Sent off the 2-11 favourite for the Tied Cottage Chase yesterday, Jessica Harrington's gelding had to make all of the running under Barry Geraghty and was foot-perfect at almost all of his fences on his way to a two and a half length success."I'm delighted with the way he jumped, it was absolutely brilliant," said Harrington.