But since he was blown away by the oil money of Sheikh Mohammed and his brothers, no-one has threatened to challenge the domination of the Maktoums.Yet now it seems that Michael Tabor and John Magnier, with the able assistance of another man called O'Brien and the same invigorating grass and gallops of Ballydoyle, are going to give it a very good shot.They are still at stage one, which involves spending obscene amounts of money at the major sales to build up a rich pool of breeding stock. His price for next year's Guineas may react accordingly this morning.Orpen's success - he beat the British runners Exeat (John Gosden) and Golden Silca (Mick Channon) on rain-softened ground - was particularly good news for those who enjoy an old-fashioned power struggle on the British turf.In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Robert Sangster used to set off for the Keeneland Sales with Vincent O'Brien and enough cash to fill an Olympic swimming pool. When his Classic odds shrank still further on Friday morning, down to as little as 4-1, the derision duly increased. On the face of it, this scepticism is reasonable enough, but a possible flaw in the logic became apparent yesterday when Aidan O'Brien, Stravinsky's trainer, proved once again that he inhabits a parallel world with rules of its own. Orpen, who ran for the first time less than a month ago, took little more than a minute to bridge the gap between maidens and the highest grade by winning the Group One Prix Morny at Deauville.Working out the order of merit at Ballydoyle can be a little like assessing the ups and downs of the Communist-era Kremlin according to who is standing where on the Red Square balcony, but most experienced Aidan-ologists seem to agree that Stravinsky is the best of the latest gang of two-year-olds. WHEN STRAVINSKY won a maiden race at York last Thursday and immediately stormed clear in the 2,000 Guineas betting, too, it seemed only fair to point out that there is a world of difference between a field consisting of horses without a win to their name and another, eight months hence, containing the best three-year-olds in Europe.

Her only previous defeat at the event was against Sanchez Vicario in the 1992 final.. "I'm a better player than I was a year ago and I go into the Open very confident."n Monica Seles upset Martina Hingis of Switzerland 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the du Maurier Canadian Open. Seles advanced to last night's final against the third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, who beat the second, Jana Novotna, of the Czech Republic, 4-6, 7-6 6-2 in the other semi-final.Seles, 24, the fifth seed, has won the last three du Maurier tournaments. The British No 1 now has one more week's competition, at Long Island, in which to get ready for the US Open in which last year he reached the final.Henman, who has a week's break before the Open, thinks he is already prepared.Although Krajicek beat Henman for the first time in three attempts, the match could have gone either way during a 22-minute tie-break."I would have been disappointed had I played badly, but I don't think I did," said Henman. TIM HENMAN and Greg Rusedski were looking forward to next week's US Open with increased confidence after reaching the quarter-final stages in two separate tournaments at the weekend. During the first week in tennis history in which two Britons have been ranked in the world's top 10, Henman held eight match points in one of the most thrilling contests of his career, in which the Oxfordshire man lost the tie-break by 18-16 in a 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 defeat to the 1996 Wimbledon champion, Richard Krajicek, at the Pilot Pen International in New Haven. Meanwhile, Rusedski was beaten more routinely, 6-4, 6-3 by the French Open finalist Alex Corretja in the RCA Championships in Indianapolis.But Rusedski still had reason to be satisfied with his first tournament for more than 10.

Substitutes used: L Melgarejo, G Garreta.Umpires: C Hough (England), E Saladino (Argentina).. Although failing to score again England dominated the rest of the game.ENGLAND: S Mason (Reading); M Johnson (Cannock), J Halls (unattached), B Waugh (captain, Southgate), G Fordham (Hounslow); D Woods (Southgate), J Pidcock (Cannock), R Garcia (Harveste Huder, Hamburg); S Head (East Grinstead), D Hall (Guildford), M Pearn (Reading). Substitutes used: B Sharp (Cannock), J Wallis (Teddington), J Wyatt (Reading), B Garrard (Teddington).ARGENTINA: M Ronconi; A Castelli, C Retegui (capt), M Pellegrino, G Orozco; J Hourquebie, M Caldas, D Chiodo; F Moresi, S Capurro, T MacCormik. After sabre-rattling in the opening minutes of the second half, Ben Sharp won the ball in midfield, sent Danny Hall away down the wing and was then in the centre of the circle to play his second.

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