Continuous added to Aidan O’Brien’s Classic haul with a clinical triumph in the Betfred St Leger at Doncaster.

On a day when a first royal Classic winner since 1977 was a real possibility, it was racing royalty that came to the fore as O’Brien won the showpiece event for the seventh time with the 3-1 second-favourite striking in the hands of Ryan Moore.

The Ballydoyle runner had marked himself out as a prime contender for the final Classic of the season with victory in the Great Voltigeur at York and franked that form in supreme style on Town Moor.

https://x.com/itvracing/status/1703057710944534752?s=20

With stablemate Denmark setting the pace from Gregory, Moore was at pains to bide his time aboard Continuous alongside Desert Hero towards the rear of midfield.

But on turning for home Continuous showed his class up the long, stamina-stamina Doncaster straight, working his way to the front two furlongs from home and surging clear to register a two-and-three-quarter-length success over 11-4 favourite Arrest, who was ridden by Frankie Dettori in his final Classic.

Desert Hero ran with huge credit in third for the King and Queen, who were on course to watch the William Haggas-trained colt.

Jurgen Klopp admitted Liverpool’s first-half struggles left him questioning his side – before the Reds hit back to win at Wolves.

Andrew Robertson’s late strike and Hugo Bueno’s injury-time own goal completed Liverpool’s 3-1 victory at Molineux.

Cody Gakpo had levelled earlier in the second half as Liverpool earned a third comeback victory of the season and fourth straight win. They are now unbeaten in 16 Premier League games, stretching back to last season.

Hwang Hee-Chan’s opener had put vibrant Wolves in command and only a shocking miss from Matheus Cunha stopped them from adding to their lead.

Klopp had criticised the early kick-off after the international break – with Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Alisson and Alexis Mac Allister all returning from South America on Friday – and conceded he was worried during a wretched first half.

He said: “In the first half I thought ‘WTF?’ a couple of times. We were not ready in the first half but Wolves did really well.

“With these boys, some of them we’ve had seven, eight, nine weeks with, some of them longer, I know if they can be, they are there. Today they couldn’t in a lot of moments.

“I know if you get through the first half with a reasonable result, you can turn it.

“The team needed help and we could deliver the help a little bit with the changes and change of system. They were completely different halves.

“The same players who looked rusty in the first half, in the second half it looked much easier.

“Wolves played a super first half but in the second half we were really good and controlled the game.

“We stayed calm, there was no rush, 3-1 was a result I didn’t expect after 20 minutes but during the second half we deserved it.”

Wolves dominated early and Hwang grabbed a seventh-minute goal when he swept in Pedro Neto’s low cross.

Livewire Neto caused chaos and he gift-wrapped a chance for Cunha after 33 minutes when he breezed past Joe Gomez to cross for the striker to miscue an unmarked header from five yards.

It kept Liverpool in the game and, after introducing Luis Diaz at the break, the visitors levelled 10 minutes later.

Gakpo and Diaz managed to smuggle the ball to Salah on the right and his low ball was turned in by the unmarked Gakpo.

Wolves lost all their first-half fearlessness, failing to create another chance, but it took until the 86th minute for Liverpool to capitalise.

Jose Sa’s poor clearance fell for Robertson just inside Wolves’ half. The defender burst forward to swap passes with Salah and finish from seven yards.

Harvey Elliott’s 20-yard strike then deflected off Bueno in stoppage time to seal victory.

Wolves boss Gary O’Neil said: “If you look at the two sides, the gap in quality, it takes a big effort to close that.

“I thought we did for a very long time. The organisation and structure managed to help us bridge that gap.

“When we were on top we could have taken one or two of our good situations.

“We were digging in and then we make a strange decision, create a bit of chaos and concede the second goal.

“At 1-1 they’ve had a lot of the ball but we made a strange decision and it cost us a goal. Up until 80 minutes to have pushed Liverpool that close was a very good effort.

“We conceded a crazy second goal which is what I’ve been trying to get out of the players since I’ve been here.”

Max Verstappen will start Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix from a shock 11th place after Lance Stroll crashed out at 110mph and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took pole position.

On a wild night at the Marina Bay Circuit, both Red Bull drivers were eliminated in Q2 leaving the world champions facing an enormous task to retain their unbeaten record this season.

George Russell qualified second, missing out on pole by just 0.072 seconds with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari, one place ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris. Lewis Hamilton finished fifth, half-a-second back.

Verstappen was eliminated in Q2 after he bemoaned the handling of the Red Bull machine which has carried him to a record 10 consecutive wins, but has struggled under the bulbs that light up this unique 3.07-mile high-downforce track.

Verstappen missed out on Q3 by 0.007 sec, and then took aim at his team over the radio.

“I don’t know if you saw that, but it was an absolutely shocking experience,” he said amid of flurry of expletives.

Verstappen is also facing three stewards’ investigations for separate incidents of impeding during qualifying.

His team-mate Sergio Perez, who spun, also failed to progress to Q3. He will start 13th following a miserable night for the team from Milton Keynes in the city-state.

Red Bull’s demise allowed Sainz to capture his second consecutive pole with Russell narrowly missing out.

Earlier, Stroll survived a staggering crash. The Canadian driver lost control of his Aston Martin through the final left-hander before he slammed into the barrier.

The force of the high-speed impact sent Stroll’s head rocking from side-to-side. He catapulted back across the track with Norris forced to take evasive action – dodging a flying wheel and Stroll’s out-of-control machine.

“Is the driver alright?” asked Norris on the radio. “That must have been quite a big one.”

Stroll pirouetted to a standstill in the middle of the track before his race engineer Ben Michell came on the radio.

“Lance, car is safe,” said Michell. “Are you OK?” Stroll, 24, replied: “Yeah, I am OK.”

The Aston Martin driver emerged from his wrecked car unaided before being taken off to the medical centre.

Aston Martin confirmed Stroll had been given the all-clear by the on-site medical team and was allowed to return to the paddock.

Stroll’s accident brought a premature end to a frenetic conclusion to Q1 and left the marshals with a significant barrier repair job at the final corner, with fluid from his car also on the track.

The session was delayed for 34 minutes before Q2 started at 9.53pm local time.

Rangers striker Danilo will undergo an operation after sustaining a broken cheekbone when scoring the opener in the 2-0 win over St Johnstone.

The Brazilian headed the Light Blues ahead after 16 minutes of the cinch Premiership match at McDiarmid Park but had to be immediately substituted along with Saints captain Liam Gordon after both men clashed heads in the aerial duel.

Substitute Rabbi Matondo added a second for the visitors in the 79th minute to seal the three points.

Afterwards Michael Beale confirmed the bad news ahead of the Europa League opener against Real Betis at Ibrox on Thursday night.

The Gers boss, pleased with the much-needed win after defeats to Celtic and PSV Eindhoven before the international break, said: “Danilo has fractured his cheekbone so we have to see how long he is out.

“He is away (to hospital) and hopefully he will be operated on this evening.

“I just asked the doctor and he gave me the news which is not great news to receive but you could see from the swelling right away that it was a bad one.

“It is a really disappointing moment for the team.

“Danilo had had a couple of things going on, he took a few weeks to get fit, then he scores.

“After the injury the game got a bit stuffy and in the second half we made more chances than we took.

“The game was scrappy at times, we still have work to do but it was a 2-0 win and it was comfortable.”

England resume their World Cup campaign when they face Japan in their second Pool D encounter at Stade de Nice on Sunday.

Here the PA news agency examines five talking points heading into the showdown on the French Riviera.

No more cards

England have amassed more cards this year than any team ranked in the top 10, accumulating five yellows and four reds. It is a debilitating statistic and while Steve Borthwick and Kevin Sinfield are adamant that the team do not have a discipline problem, they know they can not keep playing with 14 men – or even less. The officiating of incidents involving head contact and their subsequent disciplinary hearings during this World Cup have been plagued by inconsistency, making avoiding dangerous play more important than ever.

Sharpen the attack

England delivered a defensive masterclass to nullify clueless Argentina but there was no masking their attacking deficiencies. The most glaring moment was the butchering of a clear overlap that the same players would finish with ease for their clubs. If England are to advance deeper into the World Cup they must show they have the capacity to score tries as drop goals and penalties alone will not be sufficient to see off the big guns.

Sinckler ready to roll

A big moment looms for Kyle Sinckler, who will be making his first World Cup appearance since he was knocked out in the final against South Africa four years ago. Sinckler was in the form of his career in Japan, his scrummaging, ball handling skills and rampaging runs elevating him into the sport’s elite band of tighthead props. The 30-year-old has failed to rescale those heights since and now that he has recovered from a chest injury to take his place in the front row, he will be determined to invoke his 2019 form.

Ford’s final audition

A fudge beckons when Borthwick is confronted with one of the toughest selection decisions of his young reign. George Ford was outstanding against Argentina and is in the form of his life, but with Owen Farrell completing a four-match suspension against Japan the long-term friends are battling for the same number 10 jersey. Borthwick will reveal his thinking in the final group fixture against Samoa on October 7 when he is expected to reunite the duo in a playmaking axis that served England well in 2019, but before then Ford has one last opportunity to show why he should be entrusted to pilot the team by himself.

Tika Taka Japan

Defence coach Sinfield has compared Japan’s tactics to the ‘Tika Taka’ football played by Barcelona and England are on guard for dynamic opponents who like to move the ball and look for space over contact. They are not the force of four years ago when they lit up their home World Cup through enterprise and courage, but they have the capacity to upset the favourites if they hit their stride.

The current Davis Cup format has been branded a “disaster” and “wrong”, but players’ calls for the return of home-and-away ties look set to be rejected.

Since 2019, the historic competition has been converted to a World Cup-style event with group stages and matches on neutral soil, but low crowd numbers have attracted consistent criticism.

Stan Wawrinka posted a video on social media on Tuesday showing virtually empty stands in Manchester for Switzerland’s tie against France, a stark contrast to the 9,000-strong crowd that attended Britain’s contest with Australia the following day.

After Britain’s 2-1 victory over Switzerland on Friday, Wawrinka said: “We see the difference between today and three days ago – it’s not normal. I played some Challenger tournaments this year and there were way more people and a way better atmosphere than when we played France.

“You have to try new things, that’s for sure, but it’s been quite a clear disaster. This company, they finish a 25-year deal after five years so that means something is wrong. And the people who took this decision are still deciding for the future of Davis Cup.”

A lot of the ire has been directed towards former Barcelona and Spain footballer Gerard Pique, whose Kosmos group took over the running of the competition from the International Tennis Federation in 2018 and instigated the changes.

Kosmos promised to invest three billion US dollars into the sport over 25 years in a deal that always seemed financially questionable and it is heading for the courts after collapsing earlier this year, with both sides blaming the other.

Australian former doubles great Mark Woodforde, who is chair of the Davis Cup committee, believes the focus on Kosmos has masked the problems that existed with the old format.

He told the PA news agency: “We’re fully aware that some players will say, ‘Why don’t we go back to that home-and-away format?’ That format was not working. That’s why the change came about. The old format was killing Davis Cup.

“We had nations telling the ITF they were unhappy, it needed to change. We had our title sponsor telling us we need to make changes, we need to keep the competition alive, we need to make it fresh.

“The home-and-away format had been an integral part of the competition historically, we haven’t got rid of it, it’s still there, it’s still alive in the lower groups as well. Even without Kosmos being involved, we think the changes we’ve made are positive.

“It’s in the minority some of those voices, some of them are politically motivated, which is unnecessary. Stan created a bit of a furore with filming the stands. We’re always welcome to having feedback, it’s unfortunate he did it in such a public way.”

While the ITF insists players were consulted and their views taken into account, that is not the feeling among those doing battle on the court.

Andy Murray said: “I was on the ATP player council when the initial discussions were had about this format, not one person on the council supported it.

“We told that to (ITF president) David Haggerty and to the ITF at the time. We were told that would be taken into consideration and then literally two days later it was announced they were changing the format.

“We’re fortunate here because we get to play all of the matches in a brilliant atmosphere, great crowd. It is a shame when France and Australia, two of the biggest tennis nations, they love their Davis Cup, and they’re playing in front of what feels like an empty stadium.

“It feels wrong. I think the format will have to change if it’s going to be successful again. All the players loved the home-and-away ties, I think the fans loved the home-and-away ties as well. Hopefully there’s a way we can get it back to that.”

At the end of the current group stage on Sunday, the top two teams from each group will progress to November’s final eight event in Malaga.

That will be played entirely on neutral territory, though, with Spain already knocked out following two losses.

While organisers are open to tweaks and insist they welcome feedback from players, it does not appear there are likely to be any major changes to the format in future years.

The focus instead is likely to be on trying to improve the attendance and atmosphere at ties where there is no home team, with Woodforde suggesting organised support crews, reducing capacity at venues and working with them to better promote all the players on show.

“It’s challenging,” he said. “It really does make it look like we’re not doing a great thing for the competition, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

“In 2024 the competition will remain as is. We feel this is the format where we can see mileage with it.

“I don’t think there is a format that we are going to ever have 100 per cent thumbs up from the players and the nations. Through our cooperation with the ATP we are doing an assessment looking at the options. I think we leave the door open for tweaks.”

Sandrine relished conditions at Doncaster to run out a convincing winner of the Betfred Park Stakes.

A Royal Ascot scorer at two, Andrew Balding’s filly had been without a victory since taking the Lennox Stakes at last year’s Qatar Goodwood Festival.

However, she got the perfect tow into this hotly-contested seven-furlong event and as the front-running Audience and 5-4 favourite Spycatcher got duelling a long way from home, Oisin Murphy switched out the 11-2 winner who came cruising by the two market leaders just inside the final furlong and galloped on gamely to hold off the rallying Audience.

Sandrine has now secured Pattern-race triumphs in all three seasons she has been in training and Anna Lisa Balding, representing her husband, was thrilled to see Kirsten Rausing-owned four-year-old back to winning ways.

She said: “What a star. It is up to Kirsten (if this is her last season), but she owes us nothing. To come back and run as well as she did in the City of York Stakes and then two weeks later run like that in this ground, she has a massive heart.

“Oisin said he was keen not to go too soon and they seemed to go pretty steady early and no one wanted to go on. He got it spot-on.”

Both Paddy Power and Betfair went 12-1 for the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot on October 21, but Balding was in no rush to name a next target, with the Prix de la Foret at ParisLongchamp on October 1 another possible option.

She added: “I think we will see how she is when she gets home as it can sometimes take quite a lot out of them on this ground. It is important with breeding prospects ahead of her to look after her.”

Lance Stroll survived a staggering 110mph crash in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Canadian driver lost control of his Aston Martin through the final left-hander at the Marina Bay Circuit before he slammed into the barrier.

The force of the high-speed impact sent Stroll’s head rocking from side-to-side. He catapulted back across the track with British driver Lando Norris forced to take evasive action – dodging a flying wheel and Stroll’s out-of-control machine.

“Is the driver alright?” asked Norris on the radio. “That must have been quite a big one.”

Stroll pirouetted to a standstill in the middle of the track before his race engineer Ben Michell came on the radio.

“Lance, car is safe,” said Michell. “Are you okay?” Stroll, 24, replied: “Yeah, I am OK.”

The Aston Martin driver emerged from his wrecked car unaided before being taken off to the medical centre.

Stroll’s accident brought a premature end to a frenetic conclusion to Q1 with drivers improving as the city-state track evolved.

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda led the way, with Lewis Hamilton 14th of the 20 runners with the bottom five set to be eliminated.

Stroll’s impact left the marshals with a significant barrier repair job at the final corner, with fluid from his car also on the track.

The session was delayed for 34 minutes before Q2 started at 9:53pm local time.

Novak Djokovic competing in the "unique" Davis Cup so soon after winning the US Open comes as an honour for tournament director Feliciano Lopez.

Serbia's Djokovic defeated Daniil Medvedev to equal Margaret Court's record of 24 grand slam triumphs after a straight-sets victory earlier in September.

At 36 years and 111 days, Djokovic became the oldest winner of the men's singles title at the US Open, as well as winning three majors in a year for the fourth time in his career.

That saw him surpass Roger Federer – who won three grand slams in a year on three occasions – but unlike the Swiss star, Djokovic has shown no signs of slowing down.

The 36-year-old was straight back into action just five days later, overcoming Alejandro Davidovich to help Serbia into the Davis Cup quarter-finals with victory over Spain.

Former Spanish tennis player and now tournament director Lopez hailed the endeavours of Djokovic for appearing in Valencia in such a short period after victory in the United States.

"As you can imagine having Novak here in Valencia this week is such an honour first of all," Lopez told Stats Perform.

"I personally appreciate a lot what he's done by coming here after winning the US Open because I know how tough it is to win a slam and then three or four days after put yourself in a position to compete again at the highest level.

"I don't think I can thank him enough that he's here ready to compete, ready to represent his country.

"I have to take my hat off and say thank you and wish him all the best for the rest of the week."

Djokovic has reiterated his commitment to helping Serbia to a second title in the men's Davis Cup, a tournament that Lopez believes is different to any other.

"I think the fact that you're representing your country is one of the things that I wanted to say [about what makes it special] because tennis is an individual sport where you normally play for yourself," he added.

"Whenever you have the chance to play for your team-mates, for your country and for a lot of people that you know, they put in a lot of efforts during that particular week to make everything happen.

"For me, it's the most special thing and unique."

Annaf’s class came to the fore as he carried top-weight to a game victory in the Betfred Portland Handicap at Doncaster.

Mick Appleby’s four-year-old has been a regular in Group-race company this season and made the podium at Royal Ascot when third in the King’s Stand Stakes.

However, the 7-1 shot was remarkably still a maiden on turf prior to making his 23rd overall career start in the hands of Rossa Ryan.

Ridden with supreme confidence by the in-form jockey, the duo picked their way through a stacked field and pulled out all the stops to prevail in a photo-finish over Julie Camacho’s Significantly.

The victory continued a fine week on Turf Moor for Oakham-based Appleby who enjoyed Flying Childers success with the Breeders’ Cup-bound Big Evs on Friday.