Max Verstappen goaded his forlorn rivals by challenging Red Bull to pointless “pit-stop training” during his exhibition win in Belgium on Sunday.

Verstappen started sixth by virtue of a grid penalty for a gearbox change, but he assumed the lead on lap 17 of 44 before taking the chequered flag 22.3 seconds clear of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.

Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton started third and crossed the line in fourth.

Verstappen’s triumph was his eighth in a row – leaving him just one short of Sebastian Vettel’s record.

It also marked his 10th victory from 12 rounds so far this season, his 19th from his last 23 outings and Red Bull’s 22nd in that period. The team from Milton Keynes head into Formula One’s summer break unbeaten this season.

Verstappen is riding on a wave of invincibility – a staggering 125 points clear in the championship – and with nine laps remaining here, his supreme confidence was expressed in a message to his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

“I could also push on and we do another stop?” he said. “A little bit of pit-stop training?”

“Not this time,” replied Lambiase.

“He has reason to be cheeky because he is just driving circles round everybody else on merit,” was the verdict of Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff following another so-so afternoon for the Silver Arrows.

“The stopwatch never lies and there is one guy in one car above everyone else.”

From sixth to fourth at the end of the first lap, Verstappen dispatched of Hamilton at 210mph on the Kemmel Straight on lap six, and then Leclerc three laps later following a fine move round the outside of the Ferrari pole-sitter at Les Combes.

Then came the first of a series of sharp-edged radio exchanges with Lambiase which would provide some entertainment on a one-sided afternoon in the Ardennes.

Trailing Perez, Verstappen wanted Red Bull to perform a double-stack tyre-stop in order not to lose any time to his team-mate on fresh rubber. But his request was rebuffed by the Red Bull pit wall.

“So don’t forget Max, use your head please,” said Lambiase. “Are we both doing it (stopping) or what?” replied Verstappen.

“You just follow my instruction,” came Lambiase’s response. “No, I want to know both cars do it,” fired back Verstappen.

“Max, please follow my instruction and trust it, thank you,” said Lambiase.

Lambiase was promptly back on the radio to ask Verstappen if he could make his dry rubber last for the next nine minutes with fine drizzle anticipated.

“I can’t see the weather radar,” was Verstappen’s spiky response.

A lap after Perez stopped for tyres, Verstappen came in. He left the pit-lane 2.8 sec adrift of the Mexican but he required only two laps before he was crawling all over the back of his team-mate’s identical machine.

Verstappen tracked Perez through the fearsome Eau Rouge-Raidillon section before he applied DRS and roared round Perez along the Kemmel Straight. By the end of that 17th lap, Verstappen had already established a 1.6 sec gap over his team-mate.

It then began to drizzle, and Verstappen endued a hairy moment through Eau Rouge as the back end of his Red Bull stepped out at 180mph.

“F***, I nearly lost it,” said the championship leader after he regained control.

On lap 29, Perez now trailing Verstappen by nine seconds, stopped for a second time, with Verstappen following in on the same lap and then building on his lead.

Lambiase returned to the airwaves. “You used a lot of the tyre on the out-lap, Max,” he said. “I am not sure if that was sensible.”

Verstappen responded by producing the fastest lap of the race.

Verstappen’s back-and-forth with Lambiase, known as GP, came 48 hours after they squabbled over the radio in qualifying.

But Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “GP and Max have been together since the first race that Max stepped into the car. Max is a demanding customer. And you’ve got to be a strong character to deal with that.

“GP is our Jason Statham equivalent, certainly a lookalike, and he deals with him firmly but fairly.

“There’s a great respect between the two of them and that comes out of a mutual trust, which you must have between an engineer and a driver. There’s no counselling required.”

The sport will now head for a four-week shutdown before Verstappen’s home race in the Netherlands on August 27.

Elite Status served a reminder of his talent with a taking victory in the Prix de Cabourg at Deauville.

Trained by Karl Burke, the son of Havana Grey had appeared a colt of supreme potential when following up an easy win at Doncaster on debut with an emphatic triumph at Listed level in the National Stakes.

That set up a tilt at the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot where his winning run came to an end, but upped to six furlongs on the Normandy coast, he got back to winning ways in fine style.

Always handily placed in the hands of Clifford Lee, he was travelling powerfully as the Group Three contest entered its final furlong and only needed to be encouraged to keep up his work late on as he held off Andre Fabre’s Sajir by a length and a quarter.

“I think he beat a couple of smart French colts and did it very easy in the end,” said Burke.

“He’s a lazy horse and we learned a little bit more about him today and he was drawing away at the end once Cliff gave him a smack or two. Cliff said he couldn’t pull him up then and there was a bit more in the tank I think.

“He’s a lovely horse and we think he’s pretty good and it’s great to get back on track after Ascot when we were a bit disappointed.”

The youngster could now be in line for a tilt at Group One honours and a return to Deauville for the Prix Morny on August 20, although York’s Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack Stakes also remains an option depending on how high-class stablemate Kylian gets on in his Goodwood assignment next week.

Burke added: “I would say we will either be back to Deauville for the Morny or the Gimcrack next. I will have a chat with Sheikh Obaid (owner) and see which way he wants to go.

“He will be home tomorrow and as long as he is OK I think he deserves a crack at a Group One, but if we are not sure then the Gimcrack is another obvious race.

“A lot will depend on how Kylian gets on this week, although they are two different owners and they could go for the same race. However, I did say to both owners it would be nice if they could meet in the Middle Park at the end of the year, that would suit me.

“Let’s see what happens. He will be entered in the Morny next week and we will go from there.”

Amy Murphy’s Geologist fared best of the British-based runners when third in the Group Three Prix Six Perfections behind Laulne while David Simcock’s Empress Wu filled the same spot in the Prix de Psyche, won by Excellent Truth.

Pass rusher Danielle Hunter has agreed to a new contract with the Minnesota Vikings for the 2023 season that could be worth up to $20 million and guarantees the three-time Pro Bowl selection $17 million, NFL Network reported Sunday.

Hunter was slated to earn $5.5 million this season, and this new deal reportedly has a clause that prevents Minnesota from using the franchise tag on Hunter – making him an unrestricted free agent next year.

Hunter was selected by Minnesota in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He has 71 sacks in 102 games, including a team-best 10.5 last season when the Vikings won the NFC North with a 13-4 record.

Charlie Fellowes will step the quirky but talented Grand Alliance up in distance on his next start on the advice of Ryan Moore.

The four-year-old infamously threw away the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot last summer when hanging badly but still only losing out by a nose. The visor he wore that day has subsequently been replaced by cheekpieces and he has since been gelded.

He came good with a facile success in the Group Three John Porter Stakes at Newbury in April, but disappointed on his return to the Royal meeting for the Hardwicke last month and has since finished a tailed off last of four in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket.

Moore was on board Grand Alliance for the first time at the July meeting and while the prevailing first ground appeared an obvious excuse for his below-par effort, the rider took a different view.

Fellowes said: “Grand Alliance is a funny character and a lot of people said ‘why did you run him on ground you knew was too quick?’, but a lot of the time you don’t learn about horses sitting at home.

“We had booked Ryan Moore, who is just an outstanding jockey, and I felt we’d learn more about the horse by running than we would staying at home.

“Ryan got off him and said ‘this horse, in my opinion, is crying out for a step up in trip’. He said ‘I don’t think his attitude is a problem’. He’s been called a lot of names in the past, but Ryan felt he really worked for him and he just said ‘I could not go quick enough’.

“Ryan said ‘step up to two miles and see what happens, yes it was good to firm, but in my opinion the ground wasn’t a problem, the problem was the trip’.”

Fellowes will therefore test Grand Alliance over a longer trip next time and has identified a suitable race in France next month.

“We’ve got an eye on the Prix Kergorlay at Deauville, which is over a mile and seven furlongs and he should get a little bit of cut in the ground,” the trainer added.

“That’s the race I’ve got pencilled in at the moment and that should tell us whether we need to drop back to a mile and a half when the ground really does get soft or if we stay the trip over two miles, ridden patiently, maybe it opens up a few more doors.

“It’s a little bit of a fact-finding mission and I still feel like we haven’t quite worked the horse out, but it’ll be interesting to try what Ryan says.”

Live In The Dream will return from his midseason break at Deauville next Sunday, with trainer Adam West excited to see if he can retain his consistency in the second half of the campaign.

The four-year-old was an improving sprinter last term but hit a purple patch earlier in the season when following back-to-back victories in handicap company with placed efforts in both the Palace House and Temple Stakes when upped to Group-race level.

Having been given a break following his fine effort behind Dramatised at Haydock in May, West is now fine-tuning the gelding for his French return which he hopes will set him up for further big race assignments later in the season.

“He will be back next Sunday. He goes to Deauville for the Listed Prix Du Cercle,” said West.

“He had a little break and has freshened up really well. We were lucky enough to work at Sandown on Thursday because of his Nunthorpe entry and he did the work nicely.

“He should come on for the run in France, wherever he ends up going after. There are still a few options in America as well as the Nunthorpe.”

He went on: “I think the break has done him really well. He came out of the Temple Stakes really well, but trying to divide a season in two halves is hard.

“I will look forward to running him in France, we’ve got a lot of owners heading over there. It is almost like a little holiday for everyone and if we can get a bit of luck, it will be even better.”

Live In The Dream was narrowly beaten in both of his forays into Group company this term and West is already planning ways to increase his stamina for next season to ensure he has a better chance of landing a telling blow in one of the season’s top sprinting contests.

He added: “We’ll probably look to start a little later next year and look to keep him going, rather than breaking in the middle.

“Next year will be about trying to sustain that little bit further and make him a little more amenable on the stiffer tracks because we keep getting collared late.

“If we can just put a little bit more stamina in him with another year’s strength under his belt, I think he would be right up there at these big tracks.”

There was no joy for the British and Irish raiders as Mqse De Sevigne led home an Andre Fabre-trained one-two in the Prix Rothschild at Deauville.

Fabre had won the Group One contest five times in the past and became the race’s leading trainer as his consistent four-year-old Mqse De Sevigne came home ahead of stablemate Life In Motion.

Jockey Alexis Pouchin, who was winning at the highest level for the first time, was in no rush aboard the filly as Prix Jean Prat runner-up Sauterne and Kelina led the field along, with Ralph Beckett’s race favourite Remarquee travelling powerfully on the wing and Royal Ascot winner Rogue Millennium held up in rear.

As the likes of Remarquee began to wane in the closing stages, the stealthily ridden Fabre pair emerged as the main dangers to the ever-game Sauterne and it was Mqse De Sevigne who had a bit extra in the tank as she led home a one-two-three for the home team, fittingly in the colours of the Rothschild family.

The winner had been campaigning over 10 furlongs but owner Baron Edouard De Rothschild was persuaded by Fabre to drop the filly back in trip, a move which proved successful on the Normandy coast.

“I think it is tremendously wonderful for the stud and all the team that work very hard and I am delighted,” he told Sky Sports Racing.

“When Nashwa won the Falmouth Stakes, Andre Fabre called me and said I think we should do the same and drop back in trip.

“He picked out a race at the end of August, but I said no, the entries for the Prix Rothschild are over but we can supplement her and we did.

“It’s a fantastic result for the team and I am delighted.”

Stuart Broad’s hopes of retiring in a blaze of glory threatened to go awry as his old rival David Warner helped Australia puncture the party atmosphere on day four of the final Ashes Test.

The stage seemed set for Broad to bow out in style following his shock announcement on Saturday night, as he was awarded a guard of honour by the tourists and then smashed his final ball as a batter into the crowd for six.

That left Australia chasing a mammoth 384 to win at the Kia Oval, 121 more than the ground record, placing England as heavy favourites as Broad began the chase for wickets alongside 41-year-old birthday boy James Anderson.

But Australia spoiled the party as Warner (58no) and Usman Khawaja (69no) carried the score to 135 without loss. In all England sent down 38 overs without a single concrete chance before rain stopped play in the afternoon session.

Broad bowled six overs for 15 but was unable to give the crowd the moment they wanted – an 18th career dismissal of Warner.

Australia showed their respect for England’s most prolific Ashes wicket-taker by lining up at the boundary edge and clapping him through as he and Anderson emerged to complete their last-wicket stand. Anderson, who has vowed to carry on despite having four years on his partner, made a point of taking a different route.

The pair refused to take easy singles off the first five balls of Mitchell Starc’s first over, a seemingly curious ploy but one that cashed out when Broad stepped away and smashed the seamer over midwicket for six. That would be his final stroke as a professional cricketer, with Anderson lbw to Todd Murphy in the next over.

Both men dashed off as they rushed to get their hands on the new ball, with clouds rolling in on cue. Warner produced an uncertain jab off Broad’s first delivery, spraying it off the inside edge, but the Dukes was refusing to swing despite the overheads.

Broad’s first spell did not not create any real danger, though he managed a few theatrical reactions to suggest otherwise, but he was not alone. Anderson and Chris Woakes fared similarly, with the 10th over of the innings thrown to Moeen Ali. Mark Wood, meanwhile, saw his 90mph go surplus to requirements.

He had not been certain to bowl at all due to a groin injury, but worked through five gentle overs before giving way to Joe Root. Warner and Khawaja were focused on the task at hand, picking off a steady diet of loose deliveries and reaching 75 by lunch.

Warner hinted that he was ready to go through the gears at the start of the afternoon session, clattering Anderson high over mid-off with a clean swing of the bat that took the score to 92 – the highest opening stand of the series.

Anderson sent down a wild beamer at his next visit, with Warner flopping to the ground as he avoided injury and collected four deflected runs into the bargain. With Root beginning to leak boundaries at the Vauxhall Road End, Stokes finally sent for Wood after 33 overs.

The Durham quick rapped Khawaja on the helmet as he ducked into a skiddy bouncer, but England could not get prevent the game slipping away from them. Khawaja was first to 50 in 110 balls, with Warner a couple of minutes behind but 20 deliveries quicker.

The weather intervened midway through the session but, while rain ruined England’s victory charge at Old Trafford last week, this felt like a welcome break for a home side who were losing the initiative with every run scored.

Max Verstappen’s invincible streak continued at the Belgian Grand Prix with another crushing win.

The double world champion started sixth but took the lead at Spa Francorchamps on lap 17 of 44 before taking the chequered flag 22.3 seconds clear of his forlorn Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.

Verstappen’s triumph was his eighth in a row – one shy of Sebastian Vettel’s record – and 10th from the 12 rounds so far.

He leads Perez by a mammoth 125 points in the standings – the equivalent of five victories – heading into Formula One’s summer break.

Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc took the final spot on the podium with Lewis Hamilton, who denied Verstappen a bonus point by setting the fastest lap, fourth.

Fernando Alonso finished fifth for Aston Martin, one place ahead of George Russell with Lando Norris seventh.

Verstappen qualified fastest on Friday evening but was demoted five places following a gearbox change.

The Dutch driver was up from sixth to fourth at the end of the first lap while Perez blasted past Leclerc on the Kemmel Straight to take the lead.

Oscar Piastri finished runner-up in Saturday’s 11-lap sprint race, but the Australian rookie’s Grand Prix lasted less than a lap after he collided with Carlos Sainz at the opening corner. Sainz turned into Piastri at La Source leaving the McLaren man with race-ending damage.

Back up front and Verstappen was on the move. On lap six he breezed past Hamilton at 210mph along the Kemmel Straight. Three laps later, Leclerc became his next victim, after he outbraked the Monegasque man with a fine move around the outside of Les Combes.

Perez was now three seconds up the road. In came Perez for new rubber on lap 12 but Verstappen wanted Red Bull to double-stack in order not to lose any time to his team-mate on fresher tyres.

“So don’t forget Max, use your head please,” said Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

“Are we both doing it or what?” replied Verstappen.

“You just follow my instruction,” came Lambiase’s response.

“No, I want to know both cars do it,” Verstappen fired back.

“Max, please follow my instruction and trust it, thank you,” said Lambiase.

The following lap, Verstappen stopped for tyres and it only took a couple of laps before he was crawling all over the back of Perez’s Red Bull machine.

Verstappen tracked Perez through the fearsome Eau Rouge-Raidillon section before applying DRS and roaring round the outside of his team-mate along the Kemmel Straight on lap 17. By the end of the lap, he had already pulled out a 1.6 sec gap over his team-mate.

Verstappen was then on the radio, reporting rain, and the Dutchman endured a hairy moment through Eau Rouge as the back end of his Red Bull machine stepped out on him at 180mph.

“F***, I nearly lost it,” said the championship leader amid the light drizzle.

Lambiase was then back on the radio asking if Verstappen could make his tyres last with more rain due to arrive.

“I can’t see the weather radar,” came Verstappen’s spiky response.

On lap 29, Perez now trailing Verstappen by nine seconds, stopped for a second time with Verstappen following in on the same lap but it was not long before Lambiase was back on the radio lambasting his driver.

“You used a lot of the tyre on the out lap Max,” he said. “I am not sure if that was sensible.”

Verstappen responded by banging in the fastest lap of the race.

Such is Verstappen’s stranglehold of Formula One, he was back on the radio joking if he should stop for a third time.

“Should we push on and do another stop?” he said. “A little bit of pit-stop training?”

“Not this time,” replied Lambiase, having previously calling on his driver “to use your head a bit more.”

But Verstappen showed no sign of slowing down, delivering Red Bull’s 22nd win from the last 23 races and retaining the team’s unbeaten streak this season.

Owen Burrows feels he has a lot to thank Hukum for as he prepares to send his King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes champion straight to the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The six-year-old has won 11 of his 17 career starts and it was somewhat fitting that having provided the Lambourn-based handler with both his first Royal Ascot and Group One winner, Hukum was front and centre once again as Burrows enjoyed his finest hour in the training ranks.

Having downed last year’s Derby winner Desert Crown on his comeback from a career-threatening injury sustained when winning the 2022 Coronation Cup, Baaeed’s brother was at the peak of his powers in the hands of Jim Crowley in Ascot’s midsummer showpiece to tee up a trip to Paris on the first Sunday in October.

As short as 6-1 for the Arc, Burrows is determined to enjoy Hukum while he can as he begins to dream of victory in Europe’s richest middle-distance contest.

He said: “I owe him a lot. He’s been around for a while, he was my first Royal Ascot winner and my first Group One winner.

“We travelled him to Dubai after the sad passing of Sheikh Hamdan and that was a big thing for him to win over there on Super Saturday as well.

“He’s been a tremendous horse in my career and he’ll be very hard to replace, but we’ll enjoy him while we can.”

He went on: “He’s all well this morning. He ate up and he’s been out and had a lead out and a nice pick of grass and trotted up sound, so touch wood all good.

“The Arc is something like eight weeks today and that is the obvious plan now. The plan has always been King George in the summer and then trying to get him to France in the beginning of October and now we can start dreaming.”

All of Hukum’s victories have come on ground no quicker than good and having proven very effective with a little cut in the ground, there are plenty of positive signs ahead of Hukum’s autumn visit to the French capital for a race often run in testing conditions.

Burrows added: “He would go on faster ground and it was pretty quick in the Sheema Classic when he was only beaten a length and three-quarters.

“But he’s obviously had a hard enough race there yesterday and knowing we can get him cherry ripe following a layoff, I don’t think we need to be giving him a prep run.

“I would love to get him to the Arc and I think we would be talking about soft ground. Yesterday Jim (Crowley) felt it was a little bit dead ground, there wasn’t a lot of life in it. He handles most ground, but he obviously handles soft ground very well and we can dream.”

Hukum’s victory came just 25 minutes after another of Burrows’ Farncombe Down string, Aflaila, landed the Group Two York Stakes to give the handler a fantastic cross-card Group-race double.

He has been inundated with congratulatory messages since and admits it did take some time for the achievement to sink in.

“It’s been quite busy and I’m literally sitting down trying to work through all the messages, but it is going to take me a while,” said Burrows.

“I’ll admit yesterday I was a bit shellshocked, but now it is finally sinking in and what a day, what a great day.

“I’ve not been at it too long (training), but it was well documented this horse (Hukum) was injured at Epsom last year and to get him back to this level is a huge team effort. From the guys at Shadwell who rehabbed him, to my guys here at Farncombe, it’s a big big team effort.”

Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai will bring "energy and quality" to Liverpool, says former Reds midfielder Lucas Leiva.

Liverpool are hoping to bounce back from a disappointing season that saw them fail to win a major trophy for only the second time in five campaigns, while they also failed to qualify for the Champions League.

They have looked to freshen up their midfield in this transfer window, with Mac Allister and Szoboszlai for sizeable fees from Brighton and Hove Albion and RB Leipzig respectively.

Naby Keita and James Milner left on free transfers at the end of last season, though the departure of captain Jordan Henderson, and the impending sale of Fabinho, both to Saudi Pro League clubs, have perhaps left Liverpool with more work to do than they initially planned.

Lucas believes Mac Allister and Szoboszlai will bring an exciting new dimension to Liverpool, who have been known for their workmanlike midfield in their hugely successful recent period under Jurgen Klopp.

"I think they bring energy, a lot of energy and quality," Lucas said. "Things that to play for a club like Liverpool you must have.

"A lot of players departed so it was important to replace these players, especially in midfield where it's an area of the team that is very demanding. Jurgen asks a lot from the midfield players.

"These players for sure bring a lot of energy and I'm looking forward to watching them too, for sure."

Despite the potential for nerves at joining such a big club, Lucas feels Mac Allister and Szoboszlai will hit the ground running at Anfield.

"When you change a club or you move, of course there is a time that you need to adapt," Lucas explained. "But I think in the preseason, that's why starting from the first day is really important and they did that.

"I think the structure of the team as well with a lot of experienced players, I think they will help them.

"It's really important now in the preseason that they take part of the preseason, the full preseason, so they will understand the way the team and Jurgen wants to play, and I'm looking forward to seeing these two players, especially because they are young and very promising."

Lucas was only 20 when he joined Liverpool. The midfielder explained he struggled initially before going on to make 247 Premier League appearances and becoming an Anfield favourite over a 10-year spell with the club. 

He believes that the previous experience of Mac Allister and Szoboszlai playing in Europe's top five leagues will give them an easier start than the one he had.

"Well my first seasons for Liverpool to be honest, were very difficult," Lucas added. "I was very young, I was only 20 and I left Brazil straight to go to the Premier League, so I took a bit of time to adapt.

"But these players that arrived, I think it's different. Mac Allister, he already knows the league. I think it will be it will be easier for him. So that's very important.

"[Szoboszlai] has got experience as well, he played at a great club in Germany. So I think it's a bit different than when I joined Liverpool. I think the team is more robust I would say."

Scotland rookie Ben Healy was delighted to land the man of the match award against Italy on a day when he knew he had to deliver a big performance to keep his hopes of going to the World Cup alive.

The 24-year-old Edinburgh fly-half appears to be vying with Gloucester counterpart Adam Hastings for a place in Gregor Townsend’s 33-man squad, which is due to be finalised over the next couple of weeks.

And Healy – who made his Scotland debut as a replacement in the Six Nations match against Italy in March – stepped up and marked his first start by kicking 10 points from a possible 12 and playing a prominent part in two of his team’s three tries as they defeated the Azzurri 25-13 at Murrayfield on Saturday.

“Probably a little bit, yes,” he said when asked if he felt pressure to produce the goods.

“It was more important that we got the win and put into practice a lot of things we’d been working on throughout pre-season.

“But without question, I knew I had to have a good game against Italy because there are only four warm-up games and there are other lads that need to play games.

“Realistically, I knew I had to put my best foot forward.”

Healy played at Under-20 level for his native Ireland, but he qualifies for Scotland through his Scottish-born mother.

The stand-off was called up to Townsend’s squad for the first time for the Six Nations earlier this year just after his impending transfer from Munster to Edinburgh this summer was announced.

Having been involved with the national team for the best part of seven months, serving as back-up to the talismanic Finn Russell, he was delighted to finally make his first start.

“It was great to get the start,” he said. “You have a bit more control of the week when you know you’re starting rather than coming off the bench.

“The boys were brilliant to work with all week. It’s been really good to build all those connections with the boys over the past few weeks and then put it into practice.

“It was far from perfect as a team performance but it was a step in the right direction.

“It was great to play in front of a crowd like that at Murrayfield and get across the white line with a result.”

Healy – who will begin life with Edinburgh once his World Cup commitments are over – has enjoyed the opportunity to get to know his new Scottish colleagues during their gruelling summer training camp.

“I’ve loved being part of the squad for the last couple of months,” he said. “It’s my first World Cup pre-season and it’s probably the hardest I’ve done.

“It doesn’t really compare to any I’ve done at club level in terms of the intensity and the volume of work you get through.

“It’s been great to be in camp and build connections, which is something we’ve put a real emphasis on in the last few weeks and months.”

Few jockeys will ever have as much success at Goodwood as Michael Hills.

The Derby-winning rider knew almost every idiosyncrasy the undulating South Downs track could offer.

Among his many British Group One winners, he secured victories in both the Sussex Stakes and Nassau, though he cherishes the two Goodwood Cups gained by the hugely-popular Further Flight, trained by his father Barry, above all others.

In a 10-year career from October 1988 to October 1998, the magnificent grey ran 70 times and won 24 races – 22 of them partnered by Hills.

“Further Flight used to come at that time of year,” said Hills. “He won two in a row in 1991 and 1992. He was just amazing.

“He used to come from way back and was not the easiest ride. He got there early and then he’d stop. He only just got the two miles. We tried him in the Gold Cup and he didn’t stay.

“The Goodwood Cup was his first Group race win in ’91, after he’d won the Ebor. I have got the pictures and he gets lighter and lighter each year. When I last rode him, he was nearly white.”

Further Flight got better with age, being voted European Champion Older Horse at the Cartier Racing Awards in 1995 and landing the Group Two Jockey Club Cup every season from 1991 to 1995.

“What was remarkable was his durability. After the Ebor, he was right at the top and had to compete at the top all the time,” Hills added.

“He was unbelievable, winning two Lonsdale Cups and the Doncaster Cup as well.

“He was aggressive. He used to pull really hard when he was young, and we got him to settle and that is when he got to stay. He was gelded as a three-year-old and then handicapped. He went up the handicap route and then just got better and better.”

Further Flight was even placed in the 1997 Jockey Club Cup as an 11-year-old and won his last race the following year.

He was retired after his final race in October 1998 and went to live with Hills, his wife Chris and daughter Sam in Newmarket. Not that the jockey’s affection for Further Flight was reciprocated.

“He was a funny character, because when he retired, they gave him to me and I had him at home – he wouldn’t go near me and didn’t like me at all,” said Hills.

“He used to love my daughter and my wife. He would only go to her. He wouldn’t let me catch him.

“I don’t know why. He didn’t like men and Chris will say he was a good judge of character! He was a funny old boy.

“The only time I’d go near him was when he was in his box. In the paddock, he wouldn’t go near me.”

Hills, whose big-race victories included the Derby with Shaamit and King George with Pentire in 1996, retired in 2009 after three decades in the saddle.

He has remained a fixture on racecourses and the 60-year-old imparts his riding knowledge, teaching young jockeys as a British Horseracing Authority coach at the British Racing School in Newmarket.

“I love working with the apprentices,” added Hills. “It’s really great, when they listen to you and you see them doing it on the track, it gives me a good kick.

“Telling them about the draws and the different tracks. Goodwood is so tricky, where the draw is, where the pace is, it is so, so important.

“As soon as those gates open, you can win and lose the race there and then. Goodwood is a very awkward track. They had a few suspensions at Royal Ascot, and I think we will see a few more at Goodwood.”

Longevity and consistency made Further Flight one of the more popular horses in training and Hills could invariably be relied upon more often than not to deliver on the biggest days at the West Sussex track.

“I have some lovely memories of riding there,” he added: “The Sussex Stakes on First Island (1996) was really great, coming back from a mile and a quarter when winning the Prince of Wales’s at Ascot, to a mile. It was a great training performance from Geoff Wragg.

“I think I won two Schweppes Miles with Prince Rupert and Distant Relative, too.

“I was lucky at Goodwood. Dad and Geoff (Wragg) pinged it. There was the Richmond with First Trump and Superstar Leo for William Haggas in the Molecomb, which I won a few times (Hoh Magic 1994, Majestic Missile 2003 and Enticing 2006), and winning the Nassau on Ryafan (1997) was great.

“That was a very, very good filly. I said to John Gosden that day, she was the best filly I’d ever ridden.”

Ryafan had won the Prix Marcel Boussac as a juvenile and then went on to score in the Falmouth and Nassau to be crowned European Champion Three-Year-Old Filly, before heading to the States to take three more top-level contests as a four-year-old, earning her an American Champion Female Turf Horse honour in 1997.

“She went to America and she was unbelievable out there,” added Hills. “She was up there with the best I’ve ridden.

“She never got any further than a mile and a quarter. I remember the one thing John asked me, ‘what do you think on the trip?’. I said in the last 50 yards I was on vapours. I was on the floor, but six (lengths) clear or something.

“I think she was possibly one of the best fillies John ever trained and she never got the credit she deserved over here.

“One of my great Goodwood days was Broadway Flyer, when he won the Gordon Stakes in 1994. That was for my brother John. That was great.

“Then there was First Island in the Sussex Stakes. He was a very good horse, but unfortunately he had to take on Bosra Sham a lot. I won the Hong Kong Cup on him, which was my first big international win. He was a terrific horse.”

Sadly, Further Flight died after suffering a paddock injury to his hind leg in July 2001. Though he won just two races at Nottingham, he is remembered there with a race named after him – the Barry Hills Further Flight Stakes – and will always be the horse Hills will be best associated with.

He was very much part of the family, so much so that they could not bare to part with his memory.

Chris Hills explained: “We had a headstone made for him when he was buried.

“When we sold the farm, we hoped the new owners would keep the grave in good order, but I went there one day and it was all overgrown.

“I was so upset and angry. I said to Michael, ‘I’m going to get his headstone’, so we basically spirited it away. It took a job to get it out of the ground.

“We had a wooden cross made as a replacement with his achievements on, so no-one is going to forget him.”

“He was by far my favourite horse,” Michael Hills added. “To win back-to-back Goodwood Cups and the same five Group races in as many years, no other horse as done that. He was fabulous.”