Gary Lineker admits he is concerned for Tottenham this season regardless of whether or not Harry Kane makes the “fantastic” move to Bayern Munich.

Kane – Tottenham and England’s all-time record goalscorer – has been heavily linked with a move to the Bundesliga champions this summer and Bayern have already had two bids knocked back in their efforts to land the striker.

Reports on Friday claimed the Bavarians had made a third – and final – bid for the striker of more than 100 million euros (£86million), also setting Spurs a midnight deadline to accept or reject the offer.

The 30-year-old is out of contract at the end of the upcoming campaign and is reportedly keen on a move to Germany.

Spurs finished eighth last season – their lowest placing in the Premier League since 2008 – despite Kane weighing in with 30 goals, second only to Erling Haaland.

“I’m concerned for Spurs either way, whatever happens with Harry,” Lineker told the PA news agency.

“I have been concerned about them for a while, I see where they ended last season and they are in the worst position they had been in for quite some time.

“They have made an exceptional signing in James Maddison, he is a better player than a lot of people think, I think he is absolutely top class.

“That is a good addition but they are a long, long way short. The new manager (Ange Postecoglou) could make a difference, but Harry, the goals he scores, take that away from any team it would be hugely difficult. It is time to rebuild for Tottenham – rebuild, rethink, re-plan.”

One temptation for Kane to remain at Spurs is the tantalising prospect of becoming the Premier League’s all-time record goalscorer.

He is currently on 213, second on the list to Alan Shearer, and needs 48 goals to surpass the former Southampton, Blackburn and Newcastle striker.

However, Lineker – who is launching him own independent podcast, ‘The Rest is Football’, alongside Shearer – feels trophies would mean more to Kane than individual accomplishments.

“Obviously, it is personal record versus a near-guarantee to win trophies at Bayern, so I think it will be an exciting move for him,” added Lineker.

“It is a team game, I was as selfish as anybody and I’ve spoken to Alan Shearer as well, I asked him ‘what would you take, the Premier League record or your Premier League trophy?’ Straight away he said the trophy.

“I have got three golden boots from three different clubs (Leicester, Everton and Tottenham) – a record in itself – but if I had to give one of those away or my FA Cup, I would give one of those away – it is a team game, you are in it to win the big prizes, personal records are wonderful but they are secondary.”

Very few England players have opted to move abroad in the past but Lineker is someone who chose to do so – thriving on and off the pitch during a three-year stint at Barcelona, leaving in 1989 to sign for Tottenham.

“Everybody is different but if you are of the mind of wanting to experience different things and enriching your life and learning different cultures, it is absolutely the right thing to do,” the 62-year-old said.

“What Jude Bellingham has done at Borussia Dortmund and now with Real Madrid has been amazing, but obviously it is a personal choice. I don’t know what Harry is going to do, I suspect he will go.

“I think it will be a fantastic move for him, he is guaranteed to score goals, German football is really attacking and it will suit him.

“He would be going to one of the best clubs in world football, they win trophies every year, a beautiful city – my only advice would be try and learn German because it would be appreciated and help him settle in. If he goes.”

:: Gary Lineker was talking to mark the launch of ‘The Rest is Football’ and independent podcast he will host alongside Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.

Sports stars and clubs across the world continue to provide an insight into their lives on social media.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the best examples from August 4.

Neil Warnock is ready to go again.

All smiles at Everton.

A post shared by Ashley Young (@youngy_18)

New number who this?

Franck Ribery reminisced.

Lucas Digne was feeling good.

Stuart Broad felt lucky.

George Russell enjoyed his summer holidays.

Conor McGregor hit the beach.

Jade Jones has a love-hate relationship with training.

Matthew Wade says the draw for players to take part in The Hundred remains strong despite growing competition from new franchises.

The Australia international, who produced a stunning piece of fielding to deny a boundary as London Spirit lost to Oval Invincibles on Thursday, believes the advent of new competitions such as Major League Cricket in the United States can benefit the game at large as well as players and fans.

There have been several high-profile pull-outs across the men’s and women’s tournaments this year, with both Ashes series having recently completed and the men’s World Cup only two months away.

Rashid Khan will no longer be a part of Trent Rockets’ campaign and Heinrich Klaasen will withdraw from the Invincibles at the end of the group stage, whilst Ollie Pope, Olly Stone and Fred Klaassen – representing Welsh Fire, London Spirit and Manchester Originals respectively – have pulled out of the competition completely.

In the women’s tournament, Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry have withdrawn from Northern Superchargers and Birmingham Phoenix respectively after playing for Australia during this summer’s Ashes.

Yet Wade, who is playing in The Hundred for the second time after featuring for Phoenix in 2022, says he sees no threat to the competition from the growth of new franchises.

“From internationals’ point of view, every player I speak to wants to get over and play in The Hundred,” the 35-year-old told the PA news agency.

“It’s unfortunate that a couple of guys got pulled out due to workloads. We’re coming into a lot of cricket so that’s more about international cricket and a World Cup coming up, so boards are being a bit more protective of their players.

“I don’t think it’s a reflection on the tournament at all. Every player I speak to is jumping at the chance to come and play in it.”

The inaugural instalment of Major League Cricket culminated on Sunday with victory for MI New York, and with just six teams competing offers players a lighter playing schedule which can have a knock-on benefit over the rest of the summer.

“I wouldn’t say Major League Cricket has changed the landscape,” said Wade. “The new tournament gives greater opportunity for overseas players and I was lucky enough to play in America this year and it’s terrific to see cricket played over there.

“It’s been talked about for a long time. The facilities were a lot better than I’d expected and it’s nice to see it after a lot of talk. But I wouldn’t say it’s changed the landscape.

“There’s been a lot of tournaments over the last few years that have started up, so the franchise game over the last four or five years has certainly changed.

“Most of them run back to back, one tournament finishes and another starts. There’s plenty of international players that are going in drafts and not getting picked up.

“There’s a lot of players that don’t get opportunities to play in The Hundred that are now able to go and play in Sri Lanka or in America.

“I don’t think there’s competition, I think it’s a good thing that we have cricket pretty much 12 months of the year, whether you want to watch tournament cricket or franchise cricket. It’s a good thing for the game.”

Freddie Steward has welcomed the introduction of the ‘Bunker’ review system after enlisting the help of a psychologist to move on from the controversial red card he received against Ireland in March.

England’s full-back was sent off at the Aviva Stadium for making a dangerous tackle on Hugo Keenan but a hugely contentious decision was subsequently overturned by a disciplinary hearing.

World Rugby has since trialled a procedure designed to help referees make the right call that will be in place throughout the Summer Nations Series, which will see England face Wales in Cardiff in their opening match on Saturday.

The Bunker enables a foul play official to review yellow cards at the request of the referee, with the scope to upgrade them to a red if warranted by the offence.

Any incident will be analysed while the match continues and the player is in the sin-bin, thereby preventing the type of lengthy delays witnessed when Jaco Peyper deliberated over Steward’s red card.

“It’s a good step forward. Games are significantly affected because when it’s 15 v 14 it’s a different game,” Steward said.

“If the right decision is made or the wrong decision is made, it gives an opportunity to correct that which is good for the game.

“Also when a decision like that takes about five or 10 minutes out of the game, it’s not good for the spectators or the players to have that break.

“It’s a really good initiative to keep the game flowing and ensure the right decision is made.”

Keenan was concussed during the incident that took place in the climax to the Six Nations won 29-16 by Ireland, but there was little Steward could do to avoid the collision.

The disciplinary hearing determined that Steward has been reckless only and that the offence should have been limited to a yellow card, but the saga still left its mark on the 22-year-old Leicester star.

“We actually played at the Aviva Stadium a couple weeks after it happened,” Steward said.

“I had done a bit of work with the psychologist David Priestley and he said to me before the game ‘go and stand where it happened, on that bit of turf, and just replay it and park it’.

“Ever since then that was the line in the sand and it’s not really something that I’ve thought about since.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by England Rugby (@englandrugby)

“It definitely helped. To be back in that same spot, it was so much easier to think ‘it happened, deal with it’. And that was that.”

Steward is one of five starters at the Principality Stadium who are assured of their places in England’s final World Cup squad named on Monday.

Another is Ellis Genge, the Bristol prop who leads England out in the first of four warm-up Tests fully aware of the need to ensure those on the fringe of selection focus on the match rather than making an impression on head coach Steve Borthwick.

In 2019 Genge was outstanding against Wales at Twickenham, leading to his inclusion in Eddie Jones’ squad for Japan.

“It would be naive not to address that. I was in that position four years ago,” Genge said.

“The squad hadn’t been announced yet and I went out and played well and then went on the plane. So I know it’s a huge game for some people.

“I was a different character back then. I just went in with all guns blazing and hit everything as hard as I could and it all looked after itself.

“Taking a step back from that now, I see how that could have worked against me. Luckily on that day it didn’t. So I’ll try and share some advice.”

Wales will step up their World Cup preparations on Saturday, with George North claiming “the vibe is completely different” following a dismal Six Nations campaign last season.

England arrive at the Principality Stadium for an opening pre-World Cup encounter that sees Wales back in action after winning just two of their last 10 Tests.

A tense victory over Italy in Rome prevented a Six Nations whitewash and staved off the wooden spoon as Wales’ poor on-field displays were mirrored by events off it through major financial issues in Welsh professional rugby and grave uncertainty with player contracts.

And those behind-the-scenes troubles led to a threatened players’ strike ahead of England’s last Cardiff visit in February.

“After the Six Nations, anything is better than that, really, after all the stuff going on. It is a much better place. The vibe is completely different,” North said.

“We all took it (Six Nations) very personally, as we do, because it is our fingerprints on it.

“And ‘Gats’ (Wales head coach Warren Gatland) took it on himself to make it right. He has been back playing his normal mind-games, he has been around the boys geeing them up.

“He has had the ability to put his stamp on it, more than he did in the Six Nations, and the same with the coaches.

“We have had a lot more time on the paddock with them, a lot more time to sit down with them, being away in (training) camps, having a coffee with them and understanding how they see things working, bouncing ideas off them.

“Some of those sessions (in Switzerland and Turkey last month), you think there’s no way we can do it, but you grind it out as a team and you get what you want out of it.”

A fourth World Cup beckons for 113 times-capped centre North, who is among just four survivors from the 2011 tournament in Wales’ current training squad alongside Leigh Halfpenny, Dan Lydiate and Taulupe Faletau.

And the 31-year-old remains an integral part of Gatland’s plans, offering vast experience and a considerable midfield presence.

“I am still enjoying it, still loving it, still competing, which is the main thing,” he added.

“It is not just knowing your role, but knowing two or three roles – which can obviously help with selection – covering both wings, in the centre, knowing that injuries happen.

“And it’s just imparting some wisdom to the younger guys knowing that ‘yes, you can do this, but you need to be good at this and this to really open that opportunity’.”

North, meanwhile, has paid a glowing tribute to Halfpenny, who will become the ninth member of Wales’ 100-cap club when he runs out against England.

“We’ve been doing it together for 14 years, through thick and thin, and in sickness and in health,” North said.

“I can’t think of a Welshman who deserves it more for his service to the country. What he has given for years in big moments where he has stepped up and delivered for us.

“He has had a rough old time with injuries and it has kept him on 99 caps for a long enough time. But what a player.

“If any young players want to look up to anyone as to how it should be done, how you should look after yourself on and off the field, then look at Leigh.

“He is a very good friend of mine and I am chuffed to take the field with him on Saturday for his 100th cap. He’s probably the one guy who deserves it more than most.”

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel will miss the start of the 2023-24 NHL season after undergoing right ankle surgery earlier this week.

The Penguins announced Friday that Guentzel underwent a successful procedure at Twin Cities Orthopedics in Minnesota on Wednesday. The two-time All-Star is scheduled to be re-evaluated in 12 weeks, which would leave him sidelined into at least late October.

Pittsburgh opens its season Oct. 10 against the Chicago Blackhawks. 

Guentzel hurt his ankle at some point this offseason and the injury progressively worsened during recent training sessions, according to Penguins president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas.

"As Jake continued to increase the intensity of his preparation for the upcoming season, it was apparent that his ankle injury was not resolving in a way that was satisfactory to he or the Penguins," Dubas said in a team statement. "In collaboration with Jake - his representative Ben Hankinson of Octagon Sports, the Penguins medical team led by Dr. Dharmesh Vyas of UPMC Sports Medicine, and Dr. (Chris) Coetzee - it was decided that surgery would be the best way to ensure Jake would be at his best in 2023-2024."

Guentzel has led the Penguins in goals in each of the last two seasons and tied a career high with 40 in 2021-22, a campaign in which he finished with a personal-best 84 points.

The 28-year-old enjoyed another productive season in 2022-23 with 36 goals and 37 assists in 78 games. His 11 power-play goals last season were a career high and tied for the team lead.

Guentzel has spent his entire seven-year career with the Penguins and has compiled 197 goals and 217 assists in 453 regular-season games. The Minnesota native led Pittsburgh with 13 postseason goals as a rookie in 2016-17 to help the team to its most recent Stanley Cup championship.

Guentzel is also one of seven players in franchise history with six consecutive seasons of 20 or more goals, a list that includes franchise legends Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. 

The redoubtable Hamish bagged his sixth win at Group Three level in the l’Ormarins King’s Plate Glorious Stakes at Goodwood.

The lightly-raced seven-year-old had won eight of his 16 previous starts in all, most recently pipping Scriptwriter to success in the John Smith’s Silver Cup at York three weeks ago.

Trainer William Haggas declared Hamish for a stellar renewal of the King George at Ascot last weekend, but fast ground scuppered his participation and he instead arrived at Goodwood as a 5-6 favourite in the hands of Tom Marquand.

Ridden patiently in midfield for much of the mile-and-a-half-contest, the son of Motivator – who is owned by the trainer’s father, Brian – burst into it late before powering to a four-length verdict over Jack Darcy, with the winner’s stablemate, Candleford, best of the rest in third.

Haggas said: “The horse has been an absolute nightmare today to saddle. Poor Maureen (wife) has been jumped on about eight times, she’s got blood coming out of the top of her head because the horse struck her, but she adores this horse and she does everything with him. I’m taking no credit myself, the credit and the praise should go to her.

“I rang my father, who is a very proud Yorkshireman, and said ‘he’s been a bloody nightmare today, when he’s like this he never runs his best’, and he said ‘I think he’s like the north!’.

“He’s quite good at York, the horse, so he’s probably right.”

He went on: “I didn’t think this was a strong race for the grade and he was always travelling well. Tom said after the race this was the best the horse has felt this year. He scrambled home a bit at York last time, and while he likes a bit of cut in the ground he likes it wet.

“He won and poor Candleford was cantering, but got lost in the ground – it’s too tacky for him. He wants top of the ground. Candleford ran a good race, but Hamish was better.

“He won’t run in the Ebor. He’s hard to place, and while people said I should have run him in the King George I couldn’t do that on drying ground. You can run in a race like this on drying ground, but the King George is a different thing. My father quickly pointed out he has only run against one of this year’s King George horses, and that was Hukum and he beat him (in the September Stakes at Kempton in 2021)! He was lambasting me for not running.

“The Irish St Leger is a possibility, but he wants soft ground. We’ve been lucky this summer – ha, ha, what summer? – that we’ve had some soft ground. He’s run twice in a fortnight, while last year we couldn’t get anything out of him at all.”

Hamish was making it a good two days for the Haggas team, after the King and Queen’s Desert Hero booked his St Leger ticket with victory on Thursday.

Confirming Doncaster for the world’s oldest Classic as the plan, Haggas said: “He’s in the Voltigeur, but doesn’t need to run there, so all being well he will go straight to the Leger. I think we ought to try it because there’s plenty of stamina on the dam’s side and he’s by Sea The Stars, a very versatile stallion.

“He has a chance of getting the trip. Gregory will be hard to beat, but we will give it a go.”

Celtic captain Callum McGregor is relishing the pressure of keeping the Scottish champions at the top of the pile.

McGregor will lead his team out for their cinch Premiership opener against Ross County on Saturday looking to begin the process of adding to his 20 major honours.

Celtic face the challenge of a Rangers side who have added nine players, while Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibernian have also been spending money.

And McGregor is excited about the chance to meet the renewed competition head on.

“If you are in elite sport, you have to enjoy the pressure,” the 30-year-old said. “There is always a challenge. There’s challenges within the building, new players coming in trying to push the players who are playing. You get a real competitive edge within the squad.

“And then of course when you come together as a squad you have 11 other teams who are trying to beat you. That’s the pressure you want as a football player. You want to stay at the front. You understand how hard that challenge is but it’s something that you relish.”

Celtic won their fifth treble in seven seasons last term but McGregor knows that can quickly become irrelevant.

“I have been lucky enough to have that feeling a fair few times in my career but when you start a new season, you start afresh,” he said. “It doesn’t count for anything.

“Everyone is now looking at: ‘Can you win it again, can you do this, can you do that?’ You have to find the answers and if you play at a top club like this then you have to take that challenge on.

“You embrace it, you embrace it with your mates, the manager, everyone together, supporters. What is better than that challenge, to continue to push and improve every year?

“We have to. It’s simple. We had a tremendous season but we have to park that. It’s a new manager, some new players, and a fresh test of mentality, quality, finding a way to win. All of these things.”

Manager Brendan Rodgers returns to competitive action for Celtic against a familiar face in former Hoops defender Malky Mackay.

The Ross County manager worked under Rodgers at Watford before succeeding him as Hornets boss. The pair then managed Swansea and Cardiff at the same time before Mackay’s acrimonious departure from the Bluebirds set back his managerial career.

Rodgers said: “I am really looking forward to seeing Malky. Malky is a good man.

“I have to say Ross County are very, very fortunate to have someone of that calibre as a manager.

“He has had a real challenging decade, Malky, but what I know from working with him is what a first-class manager he is, and a coach and person.

“He has done a great job at Ross County with, I am sure, limited resources. He had a great finish a couple of seasons ago and obviously fought to stay in the league last season.

“But what I know about Malky’s teams, they always make it really, really difficult. He’s a top-class manager that Ross County are very fortunate to have.”

Highfield Princess belatedly opened her account for the campaign with a runaway victory in the King George Qatar Stakes at Goodwood.

John Quinn’s superstar mare won three times at Group One level last term, landing the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville, the Nunthorpe at York and the Flying Five at the Curragh.

She had to make do with minor honours in her first three outings of this season, but having placed in both the King’s Stand and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in June she was the 4-9 favourite to get back on the winning trail.

Those who took the cramped odds about the six-year-old will have had few concerns for the duration of the five-furlong contest, with Highfield Princess initially taking a lead Czech raider Ponntos before bursting to the lead.

White Lavender came from out of the pack and just briefly threatened to make a race of it, but Highfield Princess found another gear in the last half-furlong under her regular partner Jason Hart and had three lengths in hand at the line.

Paddy Power make the winner their 2-1 favourite from 11-4 to successfully defend her Nunthorpe crown at York on August 25.

Epictetus inflicted a shock defeat on the much-vaunted Nostrum to land the Bonhams Thoroughbred Stakes at Goodwood.

Winner of his first two juvenile starts before finishing third in the Dewhurst, the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Nostrum was considered a legitimate Classic contender at the start of the year before injury ruled him out of the first half of the season.

Having made a dominant comeback in the Listed Sir Henry Cecil Stakes at Newmarket last month, there was talk of a tilt at Group One glory in the Sussex Stakes, but connections instead elected to take another step forward in this Group Three contest.

For much of the one-mile journey the race appeared to be going according to script, with Ryan Moore adopting the same pacesetting tactics which worked so impressively at Newmarket three weeks ago aboard the 4-6 market leader – but it was a clear with a furlong to run he had a race on his hands.

Having sat in Nostrum’s slipstream throughout, the John and Thady Gosden-trained Epictetus produced the better finishing kick of the pair and passed the post with a length in hand under Frankie Dettori.

Of the vanquished favourite, Stoute’s assistant James Savage said: “Ryan thought he had the horse in the perfect place and that the race was for us, but in the last 100 yards he said it was like having a puncture.

“We always thought he would handle cut in the ground, but it found him out in the final 100 yards.

“He’s never not hit the line and we felt he just didn’t hit the line today. We’ll give him a good check over and regroup.

“All of our horses are trained to hit their heights at a certain time, and this horse – for sure he’s a very good horse this year, but he will be an even better horse next year.”

Epictetus, trained by John and Thady Gosden, was a 6-1 shot to notch a first win since making a successful reappearance at Epsom in April, having since failed to trouble the judge in the Dante, the French Derby or the Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Dropping back to a mile for the first time this season Epictetus looked the real deal, much to the delight of his connections.

“The horse has shown plenty of speed over a mile and two (furlongs), we thought he’d progress to a mile and a quarter this year,” said Thady Gosden.

“Obviously it hasn’t necessarily panned out, he’s run good races without getting his head in front but dropping him down in trip today on ground he’s enjoyed has suited him well.

“It was a perfect ride. He broke well, sat where he was happy on the fence and it panned out, he followed Ryan and it was a Houdini move to get out of there with a furlong to go. Being Frankie, he obviously managed to do it!

“Obviously there is a mile race back here, the Celebration Mile, which fits in well.”

Dettori added: “We tried three times over a mile and two furlongs and we always had an excuse – the ground, the competition in the Jockey Club, and we thought maybe George (Strawbridge, owner) was right when he said, ‘Maybe you guys are running this horse too long!’

“John and Thady found this race over a mile and the favourite looked very hard to beat, I had a good passage and he passed the horse and was not stopping, I give him full credit

“He is ready to go up in grade – the Celebration Mile in three weeks springs to mind and then there are lots of races in the autumn – at Newmarket, maybe over Arc weekend. He has beat a decent field today in style and we can go back and make big plans.

“As he handles some ease in the ground, we can look to the autumn.”

Annabelle Hadden-Wight produced a composed performance to land the Markel Magnolia Cup aboard Scott Dixon’s Fosroc.

The 22-year-old, who is a work rider and racing secretary to trainer Jack Jones, partnered the seven-year-old gelding known under rules as Ebury.

The partnership got off to a good start over the five-and-a-half-furlong trip and travelled near the head of the field, pulling away two furlongs from home and holding on to narrowly finish ahead of the closing rival Eliza McCalmont.

“It has not really sunk in, it was so much fun, I want to do it all over again! I have only ridden the horse once and I didn’t know what to expect,” said Hadden-Wight.

“He jumped really well, we got a good start, and I was in front most of the way, and I had two each side and I decided that I was not going to let them come past.

“My legs were good, but I did jump off and my knees buckled. I am pretty tired now!

“It has been an amazing experience, a lot of cameras, but the whole thing has been really well organised and we have been very well looked after.”

The victory had a special poignancy for Hadden-Wight, who at one point thought she would never walk again, let alone ride, after falling ill with meningitis when she was 18.

“Four years ago I was in the Philippines and I got really ill on my 18th birthday on just the second day we were there,” she explained.

“I ended up spending months and months out there – I had meningitis with lots of complications and my legs weren’t working, I was in a wheelchair. They said I may never walk or ride again.

“After making a full recovery, I like to take every opportunity, it really changed my outlook on life. It was for the best, but at the time pretty scary.

“It is so nice to have my friends and family here, some I have not seen for ages.

“Mum is here, she is not horsey at all and has found the whole thing terrifying!”

Free Wind looks to put defeat at Royal Ascot behind her in the Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes at Goodwood on Saturday.

A winner at Group Three and Group Two level in 2021, the daughter of Galileo made just one competitive appearance last season, claiming another Group Two prize in the Lancashire Oaks at Haydock.

She made a successful comeback in the Middleton at York in May and having seen the runner-up Rogue Millennium go one better in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes, Free Wind was a hot favourite to claim a Royal Ascot success of her own in the Hardwicke.

Supporters of John and Thady Gosden’s mare were ultimately left counting their losses, with the five-year-old beaten three lengths into fifth place by the popular winner Pyledriver – but hopes are high that she can get back her head back on track with plenty in her favour.

Thady Gosden said: “She won the Middleton over a trip below her optimum on her first run of the year and then she found the ground a little too fast for her by the Saturday of Ascot.

“Obviously we’ve had rain at Goodwood this week and there’s more forecast. Hopefully it doesn’t get too deep, but she seems to be in good form.

“She has course form and we’re looking forward to running her.”

Connections of Time Lock began the year with high hopes after the Frankel filly pushed fellow high-class Juddmonte-owned filly Haskoy close in the Galtres Stakes at York last summer.

She kicked off her campaign with a runner-up finish to Luisa Casati in a Listed race at Goodwood and has since finished fourth in both the Pinnacle Stakes and the Lancashire Oaks at Haydock.

Having expected the prevailing quick ground on Merseyside to suit the four-year-old, Juddmonte’s racing manager Barry Mahon is now looking forward to seeing her return to an easier surface.

“She’s in good form and we think a mile and six (furlongs) will bring out a bit more improvement in her,” he said.

“It’s similar opposition to what she’s met so far, apart from Free Wind.

“I think we’ve got her wrong ground-wise. Last year one of her most impressive performances was on quick ground at Newmarket and she looked to skip off it, but Ryan (Moore) felt she really didn’t like it at Haydock.

“Looking at her we always thought she wanted soft ground, but that performance at Newmarket had us thinking we were wrong.

“Over a mile and six with a bit of cut in the ground, I’m not saying she’ll win, but I think she’ll be competitive.”

Luisa Casati beat Time Lock at Goodwood in the spring, but finished a length behind her when fifth in last month’s Lancashire Oaks.

Her trainer Tom Ward also expects a return to softer ground to yield an improved performance.

“She’s in good shape and I thought she ran well the other day at Haydock, although she got back in a slowly-run race on slightly quicker ground than ideal,” he said.

“A step up in trip and slower ground should really suit her, so she’s going there with a nice chance on Saturday I hope.

“She likes the track, it’s not a big field and Richard (Kingscote) knows her well, so fingers crossed.”

River Of Stars is a leading contender for Ralph Beckett, having backed up a York success over Free Wind’s stablemate Mimikyu with a narrow defeat in a French Group Two three weeks ago.

Gosden second string Ghara, Roger Varian’s Peripatetic, Paul and Oliver Cole’s Sumo Sam and Divina Grace from Rae Guest’s yard complete the field.