Today in sports history – 3 April

As sport grinds to a halt all over the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve decided to have a daily look back at those “simpler” times, when there was triumph, drama and disappointment on various fields and arenas.

This is today in sport history…

1962

Eddie Arcaro.

Eddie Arcaro bows out as one of America’s greatest thoroughbred jockeys after a stunning 31-year career. He had a unique gift of immediately gelling with every horse he partnered up with, eventually competing in an incredible 24 092 races and winning 4 779 of them. It meant he racked in more than $30 million in earnings.

Nature probably dictated that the son of Italian immigrants from Ohio become a horse whisperer of sorts. Arcaro was born prematurely and weighed only 1.4kg. That stunted his height too – he would only stand 1.57m in his shoes – but made him absolutely ideal for his craft. “Banana Nose”, as he was affectionately known as by his peers, grew up impoverished and did well not follow his father’s example of pursuing illegal activities. Pasquale Arcaro once ran an illegal liquor store during the US’ era of prohibition.

Eddie left school at 14 to exercise horses and quickly graduated to jockey. He won his first race as a 16-year-old at the Agua Caliente in Tijuana. Arcaro would eventually become the only man to win the US Triple Crown and only one of two to win the Kentucky Derby five times.

1982

Hugo Porta Mandatory Credit: Adrian Murrell/Allsport

An overconfident and possibly complacent Springbok team get the living daylights scared out of them as they succumb to a shock 12-21 defeat at the hands of the South American Jaguars. The result was a complete turnaround from the previous week, where Carel du Plessis – known as the “Prince of Wings” – scored on debut en route to a 50-18 thrashing.

But the Boks couldn’t cope with Jaguars flyhalf Hugo Porta, the one truly world-class talent in the regional team. The Argentinian genius scored all of his side’s points to inspire a famous upset, and leave the South Africans licking their wounds.

1993

The Grand National is one of the jewels of the British sporting calendar, an annual steeplechase – a horse race with fences and ditches to jump over – that continues to command a lot of attention. Its first edition was held way back in 1839 and offered a massive purse of one million pounds last year. This year’s race was the first not to be run since WW2.

However, the 137th edition also delivered no winner after the race was bizarrely voided in controversial circumstances. Attendees probably had an inkling that they day could become one to forget after proceedings had to be delayed initially due to an animal rights protest. 15 people had somehow gained entry and picketed at the first fence.

When the race finally commenced, the first start was ruled a false one after several riders became entangled in the starting tape. With everyone back behind the starting line, the race commenced again. Frustratingly, the tape became wrapped around the neck of Richard Dunwoody, one of the jockeys. Keith Brown, the race’s starter, tried to wave his recall flag, but it freakishly didn’t unfurl. By then, 30 of the 39 participants were already in their stride.

Imagine those riders’ surprise when they crossed the finish line, only to realise it wouldn’t count in any way. There was an initial thought to just let only the nine riders that did heed the second recall flag race again, but that idea was rejected. Instead, no winner would be declared. It was a bad day for the bookmakers too – they had to refund a staggering 75 million pounds in bets that were staked.

An official inquiry later concluded that while Brown was partly to blame for the race chaos, his fellow official who was further down the track, Ken Evans, was the biggest culprit for not seeing the second false start.

2007

Jacques Kallis of South Africa in action during the ICC Cricket World Cup Super Eights match between Ireland and South Africa at the Guyana National Stadium on April 3, 2007 in Providence, Guyana. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

The Proteas avoid a major banana peel by beating cheery underdogs Ireland in a Super Eight fixture of the ICC World Cup in the Caribbean. A few weeks previously, the Irish famously knocked out Pakistan in a group game and gained in confidence as the tournament progressed.

Yet on a damp day in Guyana, the South African seam attack stuck to their task to reduce their opponents to 152/8 in 35 overs. AB de Villiers was out for duck to set off some alarm bells, before Jacques Kallis was unruffled in making 66 and Ashwell Prince an attacking 47 to guide their team to a seven-wicket win.

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