News about Alan King

SPORT: when was the last time you truly thought about the meaning of the word? The question must be asked for these, increasingly, are unusual times to be around this remarkable industry. The Oxford English Dictionary gives you the definition that sport is 'diversion, entertainment, fun' and leads to 'success, pleasure, or recreation derived from, or afforded by, an activity' - it should never be forgotten. Thousands will stream through the gates at Lord's today simply to say they were there for the moment Jimmy Anderson, England's finest of them all, steamed in from the Pavilion End to bowl for the final time. Watching him bowl will provide a wonderful break from reality.

Mail Sport's racing expert Robin Goodfellow delivers his tips for Saturday's meetings at Ayr, Newbury, Bangor-on-Dee, Thirsk, Brighton and Nottingham.

MARCUS TOWNEND: Shishkin is still ranked 8-1 in the National Hunt festival's main event, perhaps because the horses that chased him home on Saturday - Hitman and Prosektorat - are still winless since November 2022. Shishkin has been described as a mystery because he can throw in a sub-standard run. He even refused to begin on his seasonal debut at Ascot in November. However, five Grade One wins in his career, including the Arkle Novices' Chase at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival, show the presence of the equine equivalent of an F1 engine under the bonnet. It's a matter of making sure he's on target, as Shishkin was.

MARCUS TOWNEND AT SANDOWN: Due to the Esher track being hit between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, the hurdle course is already heavy with up to half an inch of rain. Sandown, which also hosts the Tingle Creek Chase on Saturday afternoon, in which Henderson's Jonbon faces last season's champion Edwardstone, who was conditioned by Alan King, must pass a 7.30am inspection, but even if it does, the chances of Constitution Hill running have lengthened with every drop of rain.

Morgan Trowland (bottom inset) and Marcus Decker (top inset) are both facing a custodial sentence after being found guilty of causing a public nuisance for their stunt on the Dartford Crossing last year (top right). The moment the pair started their ascension (bottom right) and the moment they were arrested (left) with Decker singing a protest song as he was apprehended was shown on a police bodycam video.

On day two of the Cheltenham Festival, the Queen Mother Champion Chase is the highlight race. Edwardstone and Enermene, two old rivals, are rematching in the form of a classic Britain vs. Ireland battle. Sportmail delivers you our racing experts' tips ahead of Cheltenham Festival day two with picks from Britain's No. 1 tipster Sam Turner, National Hunt legend Peter Scudamore, and former Grade One winning jockeys Lizzie Kelly and Mick Fitzgerald.

Edwardstone brought an end to a seven-year absence for coach Alan King in last season's Arkle Chase, and the nine-year-old can return to action on jumping's biggest stage. The Arkle has often been a profitable pointer for this performance, and the jury fought hard for this assignment, with an encouraging start in the rearranged Clarence House Chase at the end of January. Edwardstone was given a gruesome challenge by rider Tom Cannon, who gave the front-running Editeur Du Gite plenty of rope at the helm of affairs and was encouraged to expend valuable petrol to slow down the pacesetter late on. It was a slow start to the dying stages, but it was an encouraging display, and it could have been more focused mentally and physically.

Only a few days until the most impressive show on turf at Cheltenham opens on Tuesday. In recent years, the Irish contingent has dominated the festival, winning 23 of the 28 races in 2021. But the home team put up a fight last year by winning 10 victories.

One of the reasons that make the Cheltenham Festival so popular is that it brings together equine stars from both directions of the Irish Sea, as well as five horses expected to fight for top accolades on the sport's grandest stage.

David Crosse, a former jockey, and former weighing-room colleague Noel Fehily are like "chalk and cheese," but the two work together have forged into a heavenly combination since launching their racehorse ownership syndicate operation. When Love Envoy, coached by Harry Fry, won the Mares' Novices' Hurdle, she will return to the Mares' Hurdle for the first time in the jumps calendar, making her a front-runner for the Mares' Hurdle. The Paul Nicholls-trained Tahmuras, the shortest British hope for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle after his triumph in the Grade One Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown, will be joining her in March.

Great investment has been made in what goes on at Kempton over the next two days, with the findings suggesting that hope will be carried forward into 2023. Everyone knows that Irish jump racing is now the most popular sport in the country, but there are already signs of revival. We'll get a better idea whether they'll continue to flourish or die off like delicate new flowers that have been blasted by a harsh winter freeze in the next 48 hours.

Alan and June King were just 15 when they first met at work and fell in love, and they stayed smitten for more than seven decades. Mrs King died on June 9 this year, aged 87, at Brookfield Nursing Home in Dronfield, Derbyshire. Her husband died the following day, about 21 hours later, at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, where he was being treated for cancer. He was also 87 years old. They were given the send-off at their joint funeral at Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium on Thursday, December 8, standing side by side in the same coffin and holding hands as they had spent much of their lives doing. 'Mum and dad were inseparable to the end,' Alan King, their son, told Yorkshire Post: 'Mum and dad were inseparable to the end.'

On Sunday, it was the best day of the year for the 246th running of Britain's oldest Classic race, but Eldar Eldarov's name, although not of utter importance, seemed to be of secondary significance. There had been no thud of hoof on turf for 48 hours since Queen Elizabeth II's death. Yesterday, it was back, and it was deemed as if to strike the right tone.