Peter Bowen’s Francky Du Berlais will bid for a third successive victory in the Unibet Summer Plate Handicap Chase at Market Rasen on Saturday.

The 10-year-old has landed the contest for the past two years, prevailing by seven and a half lengths in 2021 and by a neck in 2022.

His successes have continued Bowen’s exceptional record in the race, a contest he has won eight times since its inception in 1995.

Francky Du Berlais became the first horse to land the valuable chase twice when triumphant last year and he returns to Lincolnshire in good form as he goes for the hat-trick.

“He’s had his prep run and everything’s gone fine, everything’s ready for him now,” Bowen said.

“He’s won it twice and whether he can do it a third time, I don’t know, but he’s in great form anyway.”

When asked if the Summer Plate is a specific target for the yard, the trainer said: “Not particularly, but it just seems to happen for us in this race. It’s about seven hours from here but he’s made it worth it.”

Francky Du Berlais will not make the journey from Pembrokeshire alone as Bowen also has Courtland in the Summer Plate.

The eight-year-old has won his past three starts, including a course-and-distance victory by five and a half lengths last time out.

“Sean (Bowen, son) rides him (Francky Du Berlais) and Gavin Sheehan will ride Courtland, he’s in good form and he’s up and coming so he could be well in.”

Success in the race would be another win to add to Sean Bowen’s impressive tally so far this season, with the trainer’s son the current favourite be crowned champion jockey at the conclusion of the term.

Bowen snr said: “He’s had a brilliant start. As long as he can stay injury-free and have a bit of luck, he should stand a good chance.”

Elsewhere in the Summer Plate is Jonjo O’Neill’s La Domaniale and Sarah Humphrey’s Gloire D’athon, with Emma Lavelle saddling two entrants in both Killer Clown and Hang In There.

Gavin Cromwell also brings a pair of runners over from Ireland in Railway Hurricane and Broken Ice, while Laura Morgan is also double handed with And The New and Tardree.

Sergio Perez’s torrid run of form continued at the Hungarian Grand Prix after he crashed out of a rain-hit opening practice.

George Russell led the way in the wet conditions for Mercedes at the Hungaroring, 0.359 seconds clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll third and Lando Norris fourth.

Only 13 of the 20-strong field posted a competitive lap, with championship leader Max Verstappen and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton not risking the possibility of damage.

The first one-hour running of the weekend was still dry, and barely a few minutes old, when Perez lost control of his Red Bull and ended up in the wall.

The Mexican put two wheels on the grass under braking for the fifth corner, sending him into a pirouette and into the tyre barrier.

Perez was unharmed in the accident but he sustained significant damage to the front of his machine.

Perez is under increasing pressure at Red Bull following five consecutive qualifying sessions in which he has failed to make it into Q3. On each of those occasions, Verstappen has scored pole position in the other Red Bull.

Indeed, Verstappen, who has won eight of the opening 10 rounds and six in succession, has already moved 99 points clear of his struggling team-mate.

Daniel Ricciardo’s comeback at Red Bull’s junior team AlphaTauri is also likely to be playing on Perez’s mind, with the Australian admitting he is daring to dream about the possibility of a return to the grid’s all-conquering team.

For now, Ricciardo has a dozen races to prove his credentials. However, the eight-time grand prix winner was among those who elected not to set a timed lap on Friday.

The red flags were deployed to deal with Perez’s stricken car and then the rain arrived. The slippery conditions caught out Carlos Sainz after he lost control of his Ferrari on the exit of turn three.

The Spaniard spun across the track and grazed the wall on the opposite side of the circuit before becoming stuck in the grass.

A second red flag was required as marshals assisted in helping Sainz return to the pits with front-wing damage on his scarlet machine.

Friday’s concluding session takes place at 5pm local time (4pm BST).

Harry Brook and Ben Stokes made half-centuries as England advanced their lead to 189 on the third morning of the fourth Ashes Test.

Starting 67 in front after the thrills and spills of Zak Crawley’s dashing century, the hosts continued to stretch their advantage at Emirates Old Trafford.

Captain Stokes reached 51 before being bowled off the inside edge by opposite number Pat Cummins, with Brook making 61 before a mis-hit hook off Josh Hazlewood picked out fine-leg.

At the lunch break they had moved to 506 for eight, with 122 runs and four wickets in two hours of rapid-fire entertainment.

Resuming on 384 for four, England began positively with 38 runs from the first six overs. Stokes and Brook had both played carefully on the second evening but showed early intent.

Stokes was swinging from the hip almost immediately, missing his first couple of attempts before nailing a couple of unforgiving blows through mid-wicket.

Brook came to life in Mitchell Starc’s sixth over, lacing a pair of cover drives then staying on the back foot to guide a third boundary to wide of gully.

Australia’s best chance of parting the pair looked to be a run out, with half-chances opening up as they looked to snatch every available scoring option.

Stokes laid another blow on Hazlewood as he reached a third fifty of the series in 72 balls but did not get the chance to stick around, playing Cummins into his stumps as he continued to attack.

Brook followed his skipper to a half-century, chasing ones and twos as Australia finally found a way to dry up the fours, but came unstuck when the tourists took the new ball.

It was the first time in the series they have done so and the move paid off when Brook top-edged a Hazlewood bouncer to Starc as he marshalled the ropes at fine-leg.

Jonny Bairstow ensured England had enough in the tank to breach the 500-mark, racing to 41no in just 31 balls including 15 off his last five balls of the session.

But Hazlewood was whittling away at the other end, Chris Woakes caught behind for a duck and Mark Wood cleaned up off the last ball of the session.

Evgeniy Zukin says the only way to ensure tennis' future in Ukraine is by stopping the war started by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia, with Belarus' assistance, invaded Ukraine in February 2022. 

The war still rages on, but in sport, Ukrainian athletes are carrying on, with Elina Svitolina becoming something of a figurehead with an exceptional run to the semi-finals at Wimbledon this month.

Zukin, the chief of the Ukraine Tennis Federation (UTF), is proud of the achievements of his compatriots, but warned that the "golden age" of Ukrainian tennis could ultimately lead to nothing down the line.

"This is the hard work of all the players themselves and the federation, the clubs, who put in those efforts in the last 10 years – the results are following just now," he told Stats Perform.

"We are truly happy, so many players in the top 50 and the way they play is inspirational and they have chances of beating the top players all the time. It's great.

"But could you imagine if this moment had come in a peaceful situation, in a good economical situation, because our main focus as the federation in the peaceful times was to promote our sports so that the parent would decide which sport their child would take up.

"They might go to tennis because it has tradition, good results, good coaches, so that’s why we need results on top, to grow the mass participation, to involve more people at grassroots. From those grassroots, there’d be more players, and from there more talents who become professionals if they work hard enough.

"Unfortunately now this is not the case and the problem is not many will be able to afford tennis for quite a big period of time.

"This is a golden age for [Ukrainian] women's tennis, for sure, but I'm really worried what's going to be there when this generation stops playing, and for the next generation."

Zukin says there is little the sporting community can do. Instead, the onus must be on the war coming to an end.

"We need to stop the war. This is the most important thing," he said.

"We cannot do anything in tennis when there are bombings in Kyiv, not even at the frontline, even in western Ukraine. We need to stop the war.

"Tennis is dependent on the economic situation of normal people, who can invest in their child until at least 13, 14, when we can understand if the kid can be a professional.

"Then we could support them, find an investor or a club. Those first five, six, seven years, it's the parents who are taking on most of the expenses.

"We need to stop the war, get back our normal economy and get it even better, with all the infrastructure that we lost already – it's not going to be easy, this is what we see as the biggest challenge, the economic resurrection.

"It's not about how many [tennis] courts were destroyed, the parents need to invest in their kids and be able to do this."

American golfer Billy Horschel intervened to help remove protesters who invaded the 17th green at Royal Liverpool on the second day of the Open Championship.

The 36-year-old escorted a woman wearing a Just Stop Oil T-shirt covered in orange paint off the green of the Hoylake links and into the custody of a police officer.

Both her and two other people wearing similar T-shirts were handcuffed and marched off the course by several police officers.

Just Stop Oil confirmed three people in total were involved in the protest.

“At around 12.20pm three Just Stop Oil supporters ran onto hole 17 at The Open in Royal Liverpool,” said a statement given to the PA news agency.

“They set off a smoke flare and threw orange powder paint on the green before being removed by security.”

Greenkeeping staff were dispatched to the hole and removed the powdered paint with leaf-blowers.

The environmental group have targeted a number of high-profile sporting events this summer, including the second Ashes Test at Lords – where England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow physically manhandled one pitch invader to the boundary – and Wimbledon, where three people ran onto the court throwing orange paper and jigsaw pieces.

Open organisers were prepared for a protest and stressed they had put in extra security precautions.

They did advise players not to engage with anyone who entered the course but Horschel decided against that.

This week the R&A revealed they had received a credible threat regarding Just Stop Oil protesters targeting last year’s Open at St Andrews but any action failed to materialise after security was stepped up.

It is understood police have now deployed one officer to each green on the course.

The R&A and Merseyside Police have been contacted for comment. Horschel declined to speak after his round.

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou admits he is “not relaxed” by the uncertainty over the future of Harry Kane and wants the issue sorted as soon as possible.

England captain Kane has emerged as a prime transfer target for Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich this summer.

The 29-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season but, while Bayern continue to push to secure his services and have reportedly lodged two bids for the forward, Spurs’ stance remains the same, they have no intention of selling Kane.

Tottenham’s record goalscorer has also been offered a new contract that is a significant increase on his current £200,000-a-week terms, the PA news agency understands, although reports claim
Kane will not sign a fresh deal this summer.

Postecoglou, who was appointed as new Spurs boss ahead of the new campaign, conceded the situation is not a welcome one. He told reporters, via football.london: “Fair to say I am not relaxed about it!

“It’s not something you go: ‘Ah, well, you know if it does or doesn’t happen!’ I mean it’s a very important part of this football club, not just the team, but the football club.

“So, you’ve got to deal with it, and I think, for everyone concerned, we don’t want to be doing it for too long. I don’t think that is good for anyone. I don’t think it is good for Harry, I don’t think it is good for the club, because as laser focused as we want to be, you end up sort of repeating yourself along the way.

“But the flip side of that is I don’t want to put a deadline on it, because that adds even more pressure. You want these things to happen for the right reasons. The reality of it is he’s still a contracted player at our football club, so that’s the way I see him.

“It’s not like his contract is ending on the 12th [of August] and he’s got to make a decision, he’s got another year.”

Stay Alert looks set to head to France in a bid to gain some form of compensation for her unfortunate runner-up effort in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh.

The Group One contest produced a somewhat messy conclusion as the George Boughey-trained winner Via Sistina drifted across the track in the final furlong, impeding the placed horses in winning by two lengths under Jamie Spencer, who was suspended for six days.

Ben and Sir Martyn Arbib, who own Hughie Morrison’s second-placed Stay Alert, appealed against the decision not to revise the placings, but to no avail.

Though Stay Alert holds an entry in the Yorkshire Oaks on August 24, Morrison is favouring a trip to the Group One Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville four days earlier.

He said: “Ideally, I would go to France for the Romanet, over a mile and a quarter.

“The Yorkshire Oaks is afterwards and we can go there if we were not happy with something going to France. The Yorkshire Oaks is Plan B.”

One For Bobby is another talented filly at the Summerdown yard and she landed her biggest career success to date in the Group Three Grand Prix de Vichy on Wednesday evening.

Formerly trained by Johnny Murtagh, One For Bobby defeated Bolthole by three-quarters of a length in the 10-furlong contest.

Morrison will try to keep his two talented fillies apart and has not completely ruled out heading to Munich for the Group One Bayerisches Zuchtrennen, over a similar distance, on Sunday week.

“If we can keep them apart we will,” said Morrison. “One goes better on softer ground and one is better on faster ground, but they both go on good ground.

“I will talk to the owners and try to keep them apart.

“Actually, One For Bobby is in a Group One in Munich on Sunday week, because we were keeping our options open.

“If it was in three weeks after that (run), I would probably be going to Munich.

“I haven’t had a long chat to the owner yet, but prior to having won a Group race, (we felt) a Group One place would be at least as good as a Group Two win, so be brave and aim high.

“I think she won in conditions where you’d think she might be better in softer ground. She could win a weak Group One.

“She had been Group Two-placed last year and she is rated 104, so if they take the form at face value, she will go up to 109. The runner-up was rated 111.

“I think Munich is unlikely, but we’ll keep options open. You could go for the Prix Vermeille (at ParisLongchamp in September) and it might suit her, a mile and a half in France, we’ll see.”

Meanwhile, crack stayer Quickthorn, who bounced back to form when making most of the running to beat subsequent Group Two Princess of Wales’s Stakes scorer Israr in a Listed race at York last month, remains on course for the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup.

Morrison was primed to send the Lady Blyth-owned six-year-old to ParisLongchamp in a bid to win the Group Two Prix Maurice de Nieuil for a second successive season.

However, connections instead favoured a trip to the Sussex Downs for the two-mile Group One contest, for which he is a 10-1 shot with Coral.

“We were going to go to France, but the owners want to have a go at the Goodwood Cup, so that’s where we’re going,” said Morrison. “He’s in good form and that York form worked out pretty well didn’t it?”

American Brian Harman set an impressive pace in the second round of the 151st Open after tournament officials took the unorthodox step of changing the way the bunkers were raked between rounds.

Masters champion Jon Rahm described Royal Liverpool’s 82 bunkers as “proper penalty structures” after having to play backwards out of one during his opening 74, while Rory McIlroy needed two attempts to escape sand on the 18th in his 71.

In response, the R&A instructed greenkeeping staff to build up the edges of the bunkers to allow more balls to roll back into the centre.

“Yesterday afternoon the bunkers dried out more than we have seen in recent weeks and that led to more balls running straight up against the face than we would normally expect,” the R&A said in a statement.

“We have therefore raked all of the bunkers slightly differently to take the sand up one revet on the face of the bunkers.

“We routinely rake bunkers flat at most Open venues but decided this adjustment was appropriate in light of the drier conditions which arose yesterday.

“We will continue to monitor this closely for the remainder of the Championship.”

Even those players who managed to successfully escape from the bunkers on day one had expressed their concerns, with former champion Stewart Cink speaking out following a bogey-free 68.

“Eventually it’ll catch up with you,” the 2009 winner said. “The bottoms of them are so flat that if a ball comes in with any momentum, it’s just going right up to the lip and stop.

“There’s not a little upslope that helps you at all. They are very penal.”

Harman initially had no problems with the bunkers as he made four birdies in succession to surge into the lead, the left-hander holing from 20 feet on the second and similar distances on the third and fourth before hitting the pin with his chip to the par-five fifth to set up a simple tap-in.

Even when he had to play backwards out of a bunker on the 12th and missed the green with his third shot, Harman promptly chipped in for par to remain eight under, four clear of American Max Homa and Scotland’s Michael Stewart.

McIlroy began his second round in ideal fashion with a birdie on the first and, after missing from four feet on the third, got up and down from a bunker on the par-five fifth to improve to two under.

Australia’s Min Woo Lee had set the early clubhouse target on three under following a 68.

Paul Wellens has urged his all-conquering St Helens squad to draw on the memory of recent heartbreaks if they wish to avoid adding an unwanted chapter to Challenge Cup history when they face Leigh in Saturday’s first semi-final.

Wellens’ men might have amassed a glittering pile of silverware but remarkably they will barely start favourites against Adrian Lam’s side, who only last season were celebrating lifting the 1895 Cup for second and third-tier sides at Wembley.

A revolution led by owner Derek Beaumont has catapulted the club to second place in their first season back in Super League – four points and two places above Saints – and within 80 minutes of a first Challenge Cup final appearance since they sunk Leeds at Wembley in 1971.

With the sport’s established order increasingly being stood on its head, it is perhaps no surprise that Wellens wants his players to forget their recent prize haul and focus on rare setbacks, such as their stunning semi-final defeat to Catalans Dragons in 2018.

Seven members of Saints’ current squad were involved in that game, which the French side won after blazing into a 27-0 half-time lead, and Wellens stressed: “A lot of of our group have won big matches but they have experienced a fair bit of heartbreak as well.

“Losing in the Cup semi-final to Catalans was an experience they have learned from, and has shaped them in terms of the way they approach big games. Sometimes out of those negative experiences, you can draw a lot of positives.”

Saints, who head into the game on the back of a gruelling Super League defeat to the French side which robbed them of influential duo James Roby and Mark Percival due to failed head injury assessments, certainly hold no fear for Lam’s buoyant side.

Lam’s men hit back from a 12-point half-time deficit to sink Saints 20-12 in their previous meeting in March, and have since forged a remarkable run of 12 wins in 13 games which has seemingly cemented their improbable place in the end-of-season play-offs.

For the Leigh-born former Saints hero Tommy Martyn, Lam and Beaumont have breathed new life into a club and a town for so long considered a “laughing stock” in rugby league circles for their inability to hold down a regular top-flight place.

Martyn, who played in Saints’ victorious 1996 and 1997 Challenge Cup final wins and also won Grand Finals and the World Club Challenge before ending his career with his home-town club, told the PA news agency: “It is the only thing anyone in Leigh is talking about.

“When I was growing up it was a golden era, winning the First Division title in 1982, and the town was booming then like it’s booming now. For so long the club was seen as a laughing stock. What Derek and Adrian have achieved is remarkable.”

Leigh’s stunning rise has been built on solid foundations, from a front row featuring stand-out prop John Asiata and mercurial hooker Edwin Ipape, to the flair in their three-quarters including the current joint-top Super League try-scorer, Josh Charnley.

But in a warning to Saints and the other clubs whom they must still face in their unlikely quest for silverware this season, Lam believes his side are still searching for their best.

“We pride ourselves on our identity but there are also one or two more levels we can keep improving on, and everyone agrees about that, so that’s the exciting part,” said Lam.

“We know the challenge ahead of us, we know it’s a massive mountain to climb, but the way this season has been rolling, if we can turn up and give our absolute best and be that same consistent side, I know we will give ourselves a chance.”

Truthful will continue her education in Listed company at Newmarket on Saturday with William Haggas content to take things gently with a filly whom he likes “a lot”.

Owned by Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, the three-year-old daughter of Sea The Stars will take on 13 rivals in the Ric And Mary Hambro Aphrodite Fillies’ Stakes over a mile and a half, bidding to remain unbeaten.

She made a belated debut in May when scoring by a head from Mantoog in a 10-furlong novice at Salisbury, before impressively beating previous winner Shagpyle by two and three-quarter lengths when stepped up in an extended one-mile-three-furlong fillies’ novice at Haydock.

With Tom Marquand, who has been on board for both her victories, required for duty at Newbury, where he rides Weatherbys Super Sprint Stakes favourite Relief Rally for the Somerville Lodge yard, Cieren Fallon takes over on Truthful.

Haggas said: “She is a work in progress and this is sort of the logical next step for her, and we will see whether she is up to it.

“We like her a lot, we think she’s a good stayer and I hope she will run a good race.”

However, plans are fluid thereafter and while she holds entries in both the Group Two Lillie Langtry at Goodwood and the top-class Yorkshire Oaks, the master conditioner is in no rush to pigeon-hole bigger targets for her.

“There are not really any long-term targets,” he added. “When you are training a filly like that for Highclere, we will go nice and gently and see where we are with her. She can go anywhere if she is up to the task.”

Truthful’s rivals include the highly-tried Novakai from Karl Burke’s yard and the four-year-olds Time Lock and Sound Angela.

England goalkeeper Mary Earps has expressed her dismay over the “very hurtful” decision not to put her replica shirt on sale ahead of the World Cup.

The Manchester United star was named the world’s best goalkeeper in women’s football by FIFA in February, and was also appointed vice-captain by England boss Sarina Wiegman for this global showpiece.

Earps claimed she only realised her shirt would not be made available by manufacturer Nike in April, and said she has since been “fighting behind closed doors” to find a solution before England open their campaign on Saturday against Haiti but to no avail.

The Euro 2022 champion said: “I can’t really sugar-coat this in any way, so I am not going to try. It is hugely disappointing and very hurtful.

“It is very, on a personal level, it is obviously hugely hurtful considering the last 12 months especially – and also I think there has been an incredible rise in goalkeeping participation over that year.

“I go into grassroots clubs and I am asked to bribe people to go into goal, and I have been to more clubs recently and that’s not been the case.

“A lot of that has come off the back of the Euros but also some of my success this year.

“For my own family and friends and loved ones not to be able to buy my shirt, they are going to come out and wear normal clothes and I know that sounds like: ‘Oh Mary, what a horrible problem,’ but on a personal level that is really hard.

“You know, (England captain) Millie  (Bright) spoke to me a couple of weeks ago or maybe a bit longer and said: ‘Mary, my niece is desperate to get your shirt, where can I get it?’.  I was like: ‘Yeah you can’t, it doesn’t exist’.

“I think that is a huge problem, and I think it is a scary message that is being sent to goalkeepers worldwide that you are not important.

“(Kids) are going to say: ‘Mum, dad, can I have a Mary Earps shirt?’ And they say: ‘I can’t but I can get you an Alessia Russo 23 or a Rachel Daly 9.’ And so what you are saying is that goalkeeping isn’t important but you can be a striker if you want.”

England men’s keeper Jordan Pickford also does not have a replica goalkeeper shirt available for purchase on the England store.

Earps claimed she offered to fund the shirts herself and that the Football Association (FA) has supported her efforts, but said she was ultimately forced to produce her own limited edition t-shirt because she at the very least “wanted to create something that people could have for themselves” at the World Cup.

The PA news agency understands that while the FA is involved in the design of England kits, the manufacturer ultimately determines the commercial direction of what is produced.

PA has contacted Nike for comment.