NICK SKELTON had to wait until the final day of this year’s Olympia Show Jumping Championships before recording his first win of the meeting, with a wonderfully polished display of speed and precise turns. Riding 13-year-old Virtual Village Showtime, Skelton won the Euro-sport Christmas Hamper by 1.31sec, beating Ireland’s Trevor Coyle on Vivaldi and Britain’s Di Lampard on Equity.
It was a timely victory, since Skelton is about to be dropped from the Virtual Village team. Now looking for a new sponsor, he knows that winning is the best means to that end. He had produced a class round against the clock when riding Hopes Are High in the Traxdata World Cup qualifier on Saturday, when he achieved the fastest time only to topple a plank off the final fence.Showtime, owned by Sue Welch and who has twice won the Horse of the Year Show Grand Prix, has been with Skelton for seven years. The mare may be slightly overshadowed nowadays by the younger Hopes Are High, but she can still produce some sparkling performances.After his own swift round, Skelton had been particularly worried by two of his remaining opponents: John Whitaker and Belgium’s Philippe le Jeune.

Whitaker was eliminated when 18-year-old Virtual Village Welham he knew better than his rider. Landing over the fourth fence, the horse should have turned left. Instead he jumped the fence immediately ahead of him and that was the end of Whitaker’s chance.Le Jeune had been nipping round smartly until his mount, Valiska Forever, was caught unawares by the penultimate obstacle which was a small “bounce” – a double in which there was no room for a non-jumping stride – and he stopped there.Beat Mandli, from Switzerland, won the earlier P&O Events Christmas Eve Six Bar on Gravur 004 – a nine-year-old he has been riding for only three weeks. “He is very careful and has a good brain,” Mandli said, after jumping four clear rounds to gain his first win with the horse.Second place was shared by Andrew Davies on Satchmo and Gerany’s Rene Tebbel on Le Patron.

Davies, whose yard is on Cardigan Bay in Wales, had only entered his mount at the last moment and it must have seemed like a silly idea when he had a crashing fall in the collecting ring before his first round. He nevertheless jumped three clear rounds in the arena, before having one error on his fourth appearance.Davies used to ride Skelton’s current top mount, Hopes Are High, and he was distressed when David Broome (then the owner) decided in June on a change of jockey. The 24-year-old Davies has a natural talent, which was recognised yesterday when he received the Raymond Brooks-Ward Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the rider aged 25-or-under who shows the most potential.. THE SOUTHAMPTON manager, Dave Jones, flew in the Colombian World Cup striker Adolfo Valencia for transfer talks last night. Valencia, known as “The Train”, could be snapped up by the Saints for a knock-down fee from his club in Bogota, Independiente Santa Fe, but Jones wants to see him in training first.

The 30-year-old has won over 60 caps for Colombia and wore the No 9 jersey at the World Cup finals in France, so he would qualify for a work permit.
Valencia wants to cash in with a move to Europe after spending most of his career in South America, although he had a spell with Bayern Munich in Germany. He has a reputation as a skilful goalscorer.Jones has been forced to look abroad by excessive domestic prices. He will also make a decision on the Peruvian striker, Waldir Perez, in the next 24 hours.Perez, 25, is rated at pounds 2.5m by his club Alianza Lima. He does not need a work permit because he has an EU passport.Steve McManaman will play a match today for the first time in six weeks. The Liverpool and England forward, who has rested a nagging Achilles tendon injury since early November, will play in a specially arranged practice game against Bradford City at the Anfield club’s Melwood training complex.The German Bundesliga club TSV 1860 Munich have denied reports that they are interested in signing Liverpool’s unsettled former German international striker, Karlheinz Riedle.The 27-year-old German goalkeeper Stefan Klos is expected to arrive in Glasgow today to finalise the details of his protracted pounds 700,000 move to Rangers from Borussia Dortmund.Rangers are also expected to tie up the pounds 100,000 signing of the Northern Ireland Under-21 international midfielder Lee Feeney from Linfield later this week.Port Vale yesterday completed the pounds 175,000 signing of Tony Rougier, the Hibernian winger, but anticipate problems securing a work permit in time for the Trinidad and Tobago international to play over Christmas or in the FA Cup tie with Liverpool.The former England striker Mark Hateley, who was dismissed by Hull City earlier this season, has confirmed he is talking over a possible return to management with the Scottish League club St Mirren, who sacked their manager, Tony Fitzpatrick, last week.There are fears that the special influence enjoyed within world football by the four home nations may be under threat. Since the end of the Second World War, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have been guaranteed the exclusive right to nominate a Fifa vice-president between them.

But that privilege now seems likely to be challenged, due to the allegations of corruption aimed at the Football Association’s chairman, Keith Wiseman.A motion calling for the end to that right is set to be debated at special congress of football’s world governing body in Los Angeles in July next year. Scotland’s David Will is currently the home nations’ Fifa vice-president.. THE CONSORTIUM pushing for control at Celtic may hold off from making a formal bid for the club, because they believe it is overpriced as a consequence of their interest. The group, led by the former Celtic player, Kenny Dalglish, and backed by Jim Kerr, Jim McAvoy and the Bankers Trust are reluctant to pay above the odds for Fergus McCann’s 50.3 per cent stake in the Parkhead club. They first approached the Celtic managing director in October following confirmation that McCann will be leaving at the end of this season.