Rookie Royce Lewis hit two home runs in his return from injury, Pablo Lopez pitched effectively into the sixth inning and the Minnesota Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 Tuesday in their wild card series opener.
The win snapped Minnesota’s 18-game postseason losing streak, the longest in MLB history, as the Twins won their first playoff game since 2004.
Lewis, who had been sidelined for the last two weeks with a strained left hamstring, went deep off Toronto starter Kevin Gausman in each of his first two career postseason at-bats and was responsible for all three of Minnesota’s runs.
Lopez scattered five hits and two walks over 5 2/3 innings to earn the victory in his second career playoff start.
Three relievers worked 2 1/3 innings before Jhoan Duran got the final three outs to secure Minnesota’s first home postseason win since Game 1 of the 2002 ALCS at the Metrodome.
Kevin Kiermaier drove in Bo Bichette with a sixth-inning single for Toronto’s only run.
The Twins will look to win their first postseason series since 2002 on Wednesday when they send veteran Sonny Gray to the mound. Former Twin Jose Berrios is slated to start Game 2 for Toronto.
Diamondbacks chase Burnes, rally by Brewers
Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte and Gabriel Moreno each hit home runs off Corbin Burnes, and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied to take Game 1 of their wild card series against the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-3.
Carlos Santana singled in Christian Yelich in the first inning, and Tyrone Taylor hit a two-run homer in the second to give Milwaukee a 3-0 lead.
The D-backs responded with home runs by Carroll and Marte in the third to tie the game, then took the lead on Moreno’s solo shot in the fourth. Christian Walker’s two-run double in the ninth provided insurance for Paul Sewald, who earned his first career postseason save.
Burnes needed 92 pitches to get through four innings, allowing four runs, five hits and two walks.
Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt was chased in the third inning, but six pitchers from the Diamondbacks’ bullpen combined to close the game with 6 1/3 scoreless innings.
Wheeler stifles Marlins in Phillies’ win
Zack Wheeler turned in a stellar start and Jose Alvarado preserved the lead with a key strikeout to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-1 victory over the Miami Marlins in their wild-card opener.
Wheeler limited Miami to one run and five hits over 6 2/3 innings without a walk and eight strikeouts.
Alvarado fanned Yuli Gurriel with two runners on in the seventh to end Miami’s threat. He retired two batters in the eighth before Jeff Hoffman got the third out.
Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth to seal the win.
Alec Bohm’s RBI double in the third opened the scoring and Bryson Stott delivered an RBI single in the fourth for a 2-0 lead.
Cristian Pache’s single later in the inning extended the lead and Nick Castellanos doubled home Philadelphia’s fourth run in the eighth.
The Phillies will try to book a return trip to the NLDS with a win in Game 2 on Wednesday.
Rangers blank sloppy Rays behind Montgomery
Jordan Montgomery scattered six hits over seven innings and the Texas Rangers extended the Tampa Bay Rays’ playoff woes with a 4-0 win in Game 1.
Montgomery retired 14 of his last 16 batters and fanned pinch-hitter Junior Caminero to end his outing with five strikeouts and no walks.
The left-hander also made the defensive playoff game, diving to make a catch on Jose Siri’s bunt along the first-base line with runners at the corners in the second.
Tampa Bay lost its sixth straight postseason game dating to Game 2 of the 2021 AL Division Series against Boston.
Corey Seager and Josh Jung drove in runs and Texas benefited from four errors by the Rays, who are hitting .133 while scoring just one run in their last three playoff defeats.
Tyler Glasnow allowed four runs and six hits in five-plus innings with eight strikeouts and five walks.
Hooker Dan Sheehan admits it would be “stupid” of Ireland’s players to be unfamiliar with complex permutations which could extinguish their Rugby World Cup dream.
Andy Farrell’s men will top Pool B and qualify for the quarter-finals by avoiding defeat in Saturday evening’s crucial Paris clash with Scotland.
Ireland could even progress to the last eight with a loss but that would be dependent on the Scots’ margin of victory and bonus points gained.
View this post on Instagram
Sheehan is eager to avoid “over-hyping” a pivotal Stade de France showdown which will also determine the fate of reigning champions South Africa.
While the 25-year-old hopes to emphatically banish any prospect of elimination by helping his country register a 17th consecutive success, he insists Ireland’s squad are au fait with all possible scenarios.
“We’re all aware of the different little permutations, but our job is to go out and win a game,” said Sheehan.
“I’m sure there’ll be scenarios throughout that, if we find ourselves in a situation, we’ll know what to do, and it would be stupid of us not to know it going into a match.
“Of course everyone is fully aware of what we need to do at what time and depending on what the scoreline is.”
South Africa top arguably the competition’s toughest pool with 15 points from their four games, with Ireland and Scotland on 14 and 10 respectively ahead of what could be a tense encounter in the French capital.
Tournament regulations state teams level on the same number of points at the end of the group stage will be separated by their head-to-head result in the first instance.
However, in the event of a three-way tie, the nation with the best overall points difference will top the pool, with head-to-head then used to rank the other two.
View this post on Instagram
“Obviously there is a lot on the line, especially this week,” said Sheehan.
“But I think we probably stick to the same procedures in regards to preparation.
“I think you can be in danger of over-hyping a game or getting too feared up about an occasion, so realistically it’s pretty similar to a Test match, but obviously everyone knows that there is a lot on the line.”
The weight of expectation is firmly on in-form Ireland, with comments from Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and head coach Jacques Nienaber ramping up the pressure.
Sheehan is uninterested in the outside noise and pays no attention to press coverage.
“I don’t read or contribute to any sports media really,” he told reporters.
“I was just like that as a kid, I wasn’t really interested in… in your job, really.
“It’s just another Test week for me and I sort of focus very much on what’s going on in the camp and what people tell me within the camp.”
Leinster man Sheehan is pushing for a full World Cup debut this weekend.
He returned from a foot injury as a replacement in Ireland’s 13-8 win over South Africa on September 23 following a layoff which also allowed him to rehabilitate shoulder and hip niggles .
“I feel in a great place, probably the fittest and the best condition I have been in a long time,” said Sheehan.
“It was nice to have that rehab window, where you can focus on other things as well. The body is in great shape.”
Danny Care insists England will resume their World Cup quest armed with inspiration from Europe’s stirring Ryder Cup victory.
Care was among four England players to send a good luck message to Luke Donald’s team from a golf course in Le Touquet, where Steve Borthwick’s squad are based ahead of the final Pool D game against Samoa.
Europe emerged 16½-11½ winners against the United States on Sunday and for Care one aspect in particular stood out about their performance.
“Team spirit is the reason the best teams are successful,” the veteran Harlequins scrum-half said.
“I don’t know many environments where you wouldn’t have a good team spirit and the team ends up winning a tournament or a league or a trophy at the end of it.
“I was an outsider watching the Ryder Cup but they looked more aligned and close than the American team did.
“You could see it, you could feel it just watching on the screens. You could see how much it meant to them. That’s definitely something we’re trying to harness – how much it means to us.
“Europe hung in together, fought for everything. Those little half points that they saved. We can definitely take some inspiration from those lads.
“The golf they played was unbelievable. We haven’t shown much of that in Le Touquet, some of our lads!”
England have forged their own winning path so far in the World Cup, polishing off Argentina, Japan and Chile with plenty to spare.
Even with Samoa left to play they have qualified for the quarter-finals as group winners to continue an impressive revival since losing three of their four warm-up Tests in August.
“Sometimes you have to go through some bad stuff to get to the good stuff,” Care said.
“Maybe our bad stuff was those warm-up games, to get us to look at ourselves and go ‘Right, we need to pull together a little bit’. It’s going to take everyone to win this.”
England play Samoa in Lille on Saturday, with Borthwick naming his starting XV on Thursday evening.
Things may not have gone exactly how Barbados artistic gymnasts Olivia "Storm' Kelly and Anya Pilgrim would have hoped, but both still had some significant positives to boast from their FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.
An historic Olympic Games qualification was the main target for the American-based Kelly and Pilgrim, and though they came up short in that regards, both took heart from their respective performances on Monday.
Pilgrim, who was making her World Championships debut, welcomed the fact that she was able to overcome certain obstacles among the minor successes worth celebrating.
She tallied 46.500 All-Around, with scores of 13.100 on vault, 10.700 on uneven bars, 11.300 on the balance beam and 11.400 on her floor routine.
"I wholly enjoyed the experience. I hit all of my routines this time, even the skill that has been gave me some trouble at PanAms. So even though I did not have much preparation, I was able to do well, and I am happy with the outcome and the support I got from family and others on the island which makes me even prouder," Pilgrim told SportsMax.tv.
"I believe my score was an improvement from PanAms but of course the judging is much tighter at an event like World Championships. So, again, I am delighted that I was able to hit my beam routine which has been my troublesome event after my injury last year," the Jenny Rowland-coached gymnast added.
Given the fact that her inclusion in the Championships was somewhat last minute, the 18-year-old Pilgrim says her performance speaks volumes of her scope for improvement.
She pointed out that it will serve as a springboard for her to attain other goals and ambitions she has set for the season, particularly with her University of Florida team.
"I am just going to soak up the atmosphere here in Belgium while I reflect on the experience before returning to Florida to resume training for my NCAA season. This season, the goal, of course, would be to win a National Championship with my team, and achieve some personal bests of my own," she declared.
"And since I had to prepare my routines so early, I now have built up my endurance and stamina to complete routines on each event way before my season which will help me a lot. So now I can focus more on the details," Pilgrim shared.
For Kelly, it was her second appearance on the World Championships stage, and she beamed about the prospects, as she also expressed delight about improvements from last year's outing.
The 17-year-old, coached by Ashley Umberger, had scores of 13.200 on vault, 11.666 on uneven bars, 11.933 on the balance beam and 11.700 on her floor routine for an All-Around total of 48.499 for 75th overall. She rose three places higher than the 78th position she achieved last year.
"They took the top 14 girls, who are not on a team and the girl that placed 14th has a 49.965 and I finished with a 48.499 which means I basically just missed out. But even though I didn’t qualify here at Worlds, there are a few other opportunities I can use to qualify, but that depends on if Barbados will send me," Kelly explained.
"The experience was amazing overall. I’m not exactly sure what the plan is now, but if those opportunities are presented to me by Barbados, I will take them gladly. If not, I remain contented with how my elite season ended this year and I’m excited to start my new chapter in college next summer," she noted.
The Bermuda Olympic Association (BOA) announced Monday an 11-member squad representing five sports for the Pan American Games in Chile starting later this month.
Swimming has the biggest unit of four, siblings Emma Harvey and Jack Harvey, Madelyn Moore and Sam Williamson. This past summer’s Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games 1500-metre bronze medallist Dage Minors is the sole representative for the island in track and field.
The squad for the October 20 to November 6 event, is completed by cyclists Conor White and Kaden Hopkins, Campbell Patton and Adriana Penruddocke in sailing, and triathletes Erica Hawley and Tyler Smith.
Julia Hawley, Bermuda’s chef de mission for the Games is looking forward to the final push for the event.
“I’m thrilled to be leading our Bermuda Team,” she said.
“Our team is small, but our athletes have had to attain very difficult standards in order to qualify and compete at these Games. There are Olympic points, Olympic time standards and even Olympic spots at all the events our athletes have qualified for.
“They will do Bermuda proud on the world stage and I will do everything as Chef to ensure their journey to the Games, and at the Games, is as smooth as possible and they are able to focus only on their competitions,” Hawley added.
Ayr Gold Cup winner Significantly is likely to sidestep a rise in grade at Ascot this weekend and instead wait for the Coral Sprint Trophy at York on Saturday week.
Revitalised by the Julie Camacho team, Significantly was agonisingly beaten in the Portland Handicap over five and a half furlongs at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting, but gained compensation seven days later at Ayr.
He almost missed out again there with Joe Fanning looking for a run with a furlong to go, but when the gap came he quickened up smartly.
While connections were tempted by a crack at the John Guest Racing Bengough Stakes, the fact he would be getting only 3lb from the likes of 113-rated Commanche Falls and the 110-rated Garrus leaves Significantly, still only on a handicap mark of 98, with plenty to find.
“He’s fit and well but I would imagine that unless the race cuts up badly, we’d wait a week and go to York,” said Steve Brown, Camacho’s husband and assistant.
“It just makes more sense to run in a handicap off his current mark. There are some good solid performers in at Ascot. We were entitled to enter and have a look but realistically we might just wait a week – and it’s worth more money.
“The other thing we might have been tempted to go to Ascot had the ground been softer but at the minute it looks like being a decent week weather-wise whereas he thrives when the ground is softer.
“I know there were one or two unlucky horses at Ayr but I think if we’d have got a run earlier he would have been a bit more of a clear-cut winner than he was.
“He’s thriving at home, his confidence levels are high. Karl (Burke, former trainer) always said he had a high level of ability and was a decent horse when he was younger, they are clever people and ran him in some big races, they don’t do that unless they think they are worthy.
“Last season was a quiet one for him, as any horse can havem but I think he’s back to the level he showed for Karl.”
Jonathan Humphreys says that Wales “cannot afford to go off-script” when they tackle Rugby World Cup opponents Georgia in Nantes on Saturday.
Wales need a point from their Pool C finale to win the group, having already secured a quarter-final place through beating Australia by a record 40-6 scoreline nine days ago.
They lost 13-12 at home to Georgia when the countries last met almost a year ago, and Wales assistant coach Humphreys has emphasised a fierce sense of determination in the camp.
“There has been a bit of an edge about training, which is what we want,” forwards specialist Humphreys said.
“We are just keen to continue the progress that we’ve shown. That is a big driving force for us, and we have talked constantly about that.
“I expect them (Georgia) to play a bit, and they are strong up-front – we are under no illusion about that.
“They are a dangerous outfit, and we cannot afford to go off-script.”
Few could have imagined Wales reaching the last eight just 11 months after Georgia triumphed 13-12 in Cardiff, and Humphreys added: “We’ve had five months together. We are more like a club team than an international team.
“We came in earlier than most teams, we know what we wanted to improve and we haven’t deviated from that.
“Probably the messages that went out in May, they haven’t changed at all.
“Every day, it has been working on those fundamentals that we felt were important and would make a difference.”
Wales head coach Warren Gatland has made six changes for the Georgia clash, with Dewi Lake captaining a side that also sees starts for wing Rio Dyer, fly-half Gareth Anscombe, scrum-half Tomos Williams, lock Dafydd Jenkins and flanker Tommy Reffell.
Centre Nick Tompkins will continue his midfield partnership with George North, meanwhile, and look to maintain the form that has made him among Wales’ most impressive performers at the tournament.
“We want no dip in our performance,” Tompkins said.
“We want to get better, we don’t want to take our foot off the pedal – that’s the last thing we want. We want confidence and momentum and to keep on going.
“I want to just keep getting better and keep pushing myself. There are a lot of things I need to improve on.
“I am happy with some areas, but there are some things I really need to push myself on.
“You look at some of the other centres out there and how well they are doing, and you want to emulate that.
“Being together as a squad for five months means you can have those little conversations and make little tweaks.
“You are all looking for little things to tweak and improve. It has been really healthy, and it has been all of us pushing each other.”
Tompkins has also voiced his support for the World Cup bunker system, whereby incidents of foul play can be referred and a yellow card retained or upgraded to red.
“I like it,” Tompkins added.
“Decisions are tough at the moment anyway, referees are under a lot of a pressure to keep the game moving quickly and get the right decision.
“I think it is brilliant, I like that model. To cut down the pressure we put on referees, especially, is good.”
Mick Appleby’s Big Evs is revving up for his trip to Santa Anita to take on the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.
The Blue Point colt has been a star of the juvenile sprint division this season, landing both the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot and the Molecomb at Goodwood.
He took a steep step up to Group One level against older horses in the Nunthorpe at York and that did not pay off when he finished 14th, but against horses of his own age he bounced straight back to win the Flying Childers at Doncaster in good style.
The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint was mentioned in the aftermath of the Nunthorpe disappointment and those plans were only further solidified when Big Evs returned to form on Town Moor.
The meeting is this year held at Santa Anita and after a brief break Big Evs is preparing to set sail for America, where he will spend a few days in quarantine before getting accustomed to the track ahead of the meeting.
“He’s in good form, we’ve just freshened him up a bit and he seems in good order,” said Appleby.
“Hopefully he stays that way until he goes, he flies out on October 26.
“He’s got to have 48 hours in quarantine then he’ll be able to go out on track two or three times before the race.”
Big Evs will go for a racecourse gallop on British soil to get to grips with racing around a bend, something he has yet to encounter, but stalls work with the American-style starting bell will take place once he lands in the States.
“We’re going to take him for a racecourse gallop so we can run him around a bend, obviously he’s never raced around a bend before but I don’t think it’ll be an issue,” Appleby said.
“He’s got to do a bit of stalls work with a bell but I think we’re going to do that when he’s out there so he can get used to the stalls there.
“He’s doing very well and hopefully it’s all systems go.”
Jannik Sinner took the advantage in his sparkling rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz after dumping the top seed out of the China Open in the semi-finals.
The pair had shared their opening six matches, including a US Open quarter-final that was arguably the best contest of last year.
The first set in Beijing featured a succession of brilliant, hard-hitting rallies, with 22-year-old Italian Sinner twice coming from a break down to take it on a tie-break.
And Alcaraz, 20, was unable to match his young rival in the second set, the errors beginning to flow in a 7-6 (4) 6-1 victory for Sinner, who struggled with sickness during his quarter-final on Monday.
“Every match against him is very tough,” said the Italian. “We always show great respect. When we play against each other we try to stay on our limits and today I played a little bit better in the important moments.
“Today it was my day and let’s see in the next meeting what’s coming. I always enjoy to play against him.”
In the final, Sinner will take on second seed Daniil Medvedev, who again showed his hard-court prowess in a 6-4 6-3 win against Alexander Zverev.
Britain’s Neal Skupski and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof are through to the doubles final after a 7-6 (3) 6-2 win over Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev and will take on top seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek.
Meanwhile, Australian Marc Polmans was defaulted from his qualifying match at the Shanghai Masters for hitting the umpire in the face with a ball.
Angry at not converting a match point against Italian Stefano Napolitano, Polmans smashed a ball hard towards the stands but struck British official Ben Anderson in a virtual replay of an incident involving Canadian Denis Shapovalov during a Davis Cup clash with Great Britain in 2017.
The umpire on that occasion, Arnaud Gabas, was left with a fractured eye socket. Thankfully, Anderson appears to have escaped serious injury, with a tournament representative saying he was struck on the cheek and nose and had returned to his hotel to rest.
Ali Price feels his enhanced maturity has helped him respond positively to the frustration of losing his status as Scotland’s first-choice scrum-half in the lead-up to the World Cup.
The 30-year-old had made the number nine jersey his own for three years from the start of 2020 to the end of 2022, a period that incorporated a call-up to the British and Irish Lions squad in 2021.
However, Price was dropped at the start of this year’s Six Nations, with the burgeoning Ben White taking his place. He is now effectively vying with his on-form Glasgow colleague George Horne for a place on the bench.
Price admits such a scenario would have “eaten him up inside” a few years back and caused him to react in an unconstructive manner but he has been able to take a more philosophical view on it and is at peace with the situation.
Asked if he had been able to enjoy the World Cup, despite starting only one of the three matches – Saturday’s victory over Pool B minnows Romania – Price said: “Yeah, I really have actually.
“From four years ago, getting injured in the first game and going home, I’ve matured as a person in my outlook.
“This situation a few years ago would have eaten me up inside. I’d have probably been negative about decisions or selection issues.
“At times you have to accept that there are good players playing well in your position. It can happen and other guys take their opportunities and you have to bide your time.
“I think that’s the kind of realisation I’ve come to, the bigger picture. All I can do is focus on myself and get myself to where I want to be.
“I believe that when I’m at my best, I give the coach the hardest challenge of whether to select me or not and that’s all I can control.
“That’s my outlook and it has been for the last couple of years. It means I enjoy it more. I’m doing what I love, I’m with a group of boys I get on with really well.
“That’s the bonus at the end of the week, being selected, but at the same time if I’m not, I’m contributing to those guys going out there and doing the best for the team and that’ll get us the results we need to progress.
“I think I’ve matured in that way in terms of disappointment at not playing when I’d like to be.”
Despite losing his Scotland place, Price feels he is now back “in a good spot” in terms of his overall game and mindset.
“It’s been frustrating at times, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “Everyone wants to play but I feel that during the Six Nations there was maybe a bit of a turning point for me in terms of seeing progress in myself in training.
“I was fit, I was healthy and I was making the most of the opportunities I had on the field.
“The starts have maybe been less than I would have liked or what I had previously but I feel any time I’ve had on the pitch and in training, I’ve got myself slowly back to a place where I’m happy with how I’m performing.
“The game at the weekend was a lot of fun, I think how I facilitated the game and put others into space is one of my strengths. I really enjoyed the team performance we had. I was happy with how it went and I’m in a good spot.”
Price is desperate to get the chance to add to his 65 caps by having some involvement in Saturday’s showdown with Ireland in Paris.
The Scots must get a bonus-point win or deny the world’s top-ranked side a losing bonus in order to reach the quarter-finals.
“It’s huge,” said the scrum-half. “It would be one of the biggest games of my career if I was given the opportunity to play.
“I’ve not had as many minutes as I would have liked to have had this year but I think every chance I’ve had, I’ve shown what I can do.
“I’ve steadily got myself back to where I want to be as a player. It’s a big training week and what will be will be, but everyone is sticking their hand up.”
Shaquille’s participation on Qipco British Champions Day at Ascot may rest on how he comes through a racecourse gallop next week.
Julie Camacho’s Commonwealth and July Cup winner ran no sort of a race when last seen in the Sprint Cup at Haydock, a performance which still has connections scratching their heads.
Having missed the break badly in both his Group One wins, he broke on terms on Merseyside only to be beaten by halfway.
Nothing has subsequently come to light, but should he continue to please on the gallops, then October 21 is likely to have a ring around it on the calendar.
“He’s fine, we’re just taking it one step at a time,” said Steve Brown, Camacho’s husband and assistant.
“He worked on Saturday and we were pleased with him, he’ll work again this week and the following week we’ll go away and have a racecourse gallop somewhere.
“Nothing is decided yet, that will be just to take him to a different environment and see how he handles it and to get him back on a racecourse, get the blood flowing a little bit and then we’ll see from there.”
Reflecting on Haydock, Brown added: “It’s disappointing that we haven’t found an absolute reason that he was so below form at Haydock but as I always say, sometimes you just don’t have an answer. We might like to think we do, but sometimes we just don’t.
“I’ve slightly taken the view that it was just too bad to be true unfortunately. Whilst we were all devastated on the day, the only thing we can do is regroup and look forward.”
Shaquille is one of 23 remaining in contention for the British Champions Sprint, for which last year’s winner Kinross is ante-post favourite following his near-miss in France on Sunday.
In the Champion Stakes, the progressive Horizon Dore heads the market with Coral with Bay Bridge, King Of Steel and Mostahdaf among the 16 contenders.
Paddington and Tahiyra headline 18 in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes with Free Wind, Time Lock and Via Sistina among 26 possibles in the Fillies & Mares.
Trueshan, Kyprios, Courage Mon Ami and Coltrane are all still among 17 in the Long Distance Cup.
Shouldvebeenaring’s owners were delighted after they saw their late entry for the Prix de la Foret pay off with a gallant run at ParisLongchamp, but they could now face a similar conundrum with regards to Qipco British Champions Day.
The Richard Hannon-trained grey was supplemented for the French Group One after the ground, which is usually soft in Paris in autumn, turned out to be rather quicker than expected.
Ridden by Sean Levey, the colt held his own at the level once again, finishing third behind Kelina and Kinross in a field of 14 to justify the decision to add him to the line-up.
“Vindicated and relief are the two words that spring to mind! Spending €25,000 to go in comes with a little bit of pressure, so to see him run so well, we were absolutely thrilled,” said Tim Palin of owners Middleham Park Racing.
“Every day as the week went on it was drying up and then they were breaking track records, we knew it would play into his hands because he is best on the top of the ground.
“It was a great ride from Sean and there was a thrilling moment there when you thought he was coming to win, but of course the two class acts were just a length or two in front of him.
“For all that we got there, we couldn’t quite go past but to even finish in the same postcode as Kinross is a real feather in our horse’s cap, a real testament to his tenacity and his durability.
“He’s danced pretty much every dance this year, there’s only one month that he’s not run in this year.
“I think one of the beauties of him is the way that he switches off in his races and the way that Sean rides, it just means that he only ever has to sprint for two furlongs in his races. He’s not a make-all, eyeballs-out horse who is on the speed and in the thick of it from start to finish.”
The gamble also paid off financially as his prize-money well exceeded his supplementary fee, and similar calculations could now justify another late entry – this time for the British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot.
Again the ground will prove pivotal with quick going preferred, meaning connections will keep a keen eye on the weather forecast as they weigh-up the Ascot race with the Challenge Stakes at Newmarket just over a week beforehand.
Palin said: “There’s a couple of options – he is in the Challenge Stakes, a week on Friday, the Group Two, that’s seven furlongs at Newmarket and he’d probably go there with a favourite’s chance. We’ll have to talk to Richard and Sean and give him a breeze next week to see if he’s over his exertions.
“That would be on the agenda, but that’s only about eight days before the Champions Sprint at Ascot. We’d need to look at the weather forecast to see whether we’d dare wait another week for the rain not to arrive or the heavens not to open.
“He’s not in there, realistically because at the time of entry you’re assuming it’s going to be soft or heavy ground. A bit like the Foret, he was never in that, we took the decision to wait and supplement and of course it paid off.
“Being second at Haydock in the Sprint Cup meant that he earned £91,000, so that gave us a little bit of financial wiggle room to be able to play the supplementary game. It cost €25,000 to go in the other day and he earned €40,000, so there’s plenty of money in the kitty if we need to supplement for that.
“The weather gods might shine on us, literally, in that week coming up to it but we’ll have to make a decision before we truly know – declarations for the Challenge Stakes will be on the Wednesday and it’s another 10 days to the Champions Sprint.
“It’s going to be a precarious weather watch to see which way we go.”
Danny Care believes hybrid contracts would be beneficial to English rugby if they succeed in keeping the nation’s stars in a financially viable Gallagher Premiership.
The Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby are at an advanced stage of negotiations to introduce an arrangement that would give England head coach Steve Borthwick greater control over a reported 20 members of his squad.
Apart from allowing Borthwick a say in how a player is managed and conditioned while on Premiership duty, the watered down form of central contracts would help clubs retain their England internationals in the face of the higher wages on offer overseas.
Extending Twickenham’s influence in this way would be a significant adjustment to the way the club-country partnership has worked since professionalism was introduced in 1995 – and Care can see the advantages.
“Is there one available for me?! Not sure I’ll see one!” scrum-half Care, 36, said from England’s World Cup camp in Le Touquet.
“We want to see English players playing in England, I’m definitely right in saying that.
“England need to have their best players in England and if there are ways that we can do it, which might help the club game and help the clubs be more sustainable, then I think the players would be on board with that. Hopefully that can be sorted.”
Borthwick is the driving force behind the plan to establish hybrid contracts as he looks to revive England’s fortunes.
Care insists elements of the plan that would form part of the new professional game agreement, such as joined up conditioning programmes and player development, began soon after he replaced Eddie Jones in December.
“Steve and the coaches are doing that already behind the scenes and they have been doing it since Steve took over the job,” Care said.
“If there was more structure to it that might help everyone but I know Steve is working hard behind the scenes to make sure the clubs are aligned and do the best thing for the players. The wheels are already in motion for that.”
The financial crisis gripping the English game has resulted in Wasps, Worcester and London Irish going out of business in the Premiership and Championship title holders Jersey Reds collapsing in the tier below.
While catastrophic for everyone directly affected, it has also presented the opportunity for the top flight to be restructured in a way that provides some benefits.
“With the club game going down to 10 teams it’s automatically going to be less games for the lads,” Care said.
“I’ve always pushed and been an advocate for Premiership games not to be played during the Six Nations window. Fans, clubs and everyone wants that.
“You want your best players playing and clubs want to have their best players available which helps everything in terms of TV revenue and fans coming to the stadium.
“Fans want to see Owen Farrell playing for Saracens as many times as he can. If there are ways and structures to do that, then I am all for them.
“I’ve said a few times that there are a lot clever, smarter people than me hopefully working on these decisions. Hopefully they get it right and the game in England can flourish.”
Luca Cumani, the man credited with launching the career of Frankie Dettori, has pinpointed a defining moment for his fellow Italian which he believes was key in helping him reach the top of the tree.
Dettori was just beginning to make a name for himself in the UK having replaced Ray Cochrane as Cumani’s stable jockey.
However, the young rider had decided to accept an offer to ride in Hong Kong at the start of 1993, without consulting Cumani, sending his boss into a tailspin.
“That was a major turning point in my life, in his life and it still causes me great sadness what happened then,” Cumani told OLBG.
“He had been riding for a year or two as my number one jockey and in those days, there was no all-weather in the winter and then after the November Handicap, jockeys would disappear off the face of the earth.
“They would go on holiday, go and ride in America, Australia, Hong Kong, wherever. I remember about January or February I was getting calls from the press asking if it was true that Frankie had signed to race in Hong Kong.
“It took me totally by surprise, I said I couldn’t believe it and said he wouldn’t be doing something like that at all. But it carried on, the press ringing up all the time and I kept saying it wasn’t true but I couldn’t get hold of him. We didn’t have mobile phones, I didn’t know where he was.
“Come the middle of February, there is a knock on my door and Frankie walks in with a big grin, we hug, we go and sit down and he says ‘I am going to ride in Hong Kong’. I felt the blood just drain from my body, completely. I couldn’t believe it.”
Cumani went on: “Here was this great talent, who had everything in front of him, being a big-name jockey in Europe and throughout the world in time, was going off to go and ride in what – at the time – was a bit of a backwater racing nation, Hong Kong.
“I tried to dissuade him, we spoke for hours and hours and he was determined and said he was going, and then I lost my cool. I said to him ‘If you don’t change your mind then I will never speak to you again’. I was so angry. So we left on very bad terms.”
However, Dettori never did get to Hong Kong as he had planned, after receiving a caution for possession of a small amount of cocaine.
Cumani believes that course of events was a major turning point in Dettori becoming one of the most famed riders of all time.
He explained: “But then, Frankie has always been a very lucky person. He was lucky to come to England and then he went to an Arsenal game, because he was an Arsenal fan, with some friends and luck – or bad luck – would have it his car got stopped by the police and they found a minute amount of cocaine in the car.
“It hit the news and that got to Hong Kong, and they cancelled his contract straight away. That was the biggest stroke of luck for Frankie. If he had gone to Hong Kong then we would never have known Frankie as we do now.
“Unfortunately, by then we had burned our bridges and so he had to start from scratch again. He got lucky that John Gosden hadn’t been in the country long and didn’t have a jockey at the time, they started linking up and it took off from there and then on to Godolphin and the rest of the story.”
He added: “He and I probably didn’t talk for possibly a year or two and then, one day, he came to see me. He knocked on my door, it was pouring with rain, with a grin he said ‘Can I come in?’ and I said ‘No, you can stay out there and get soaking wet’. It broke the ice and then we started talking again, riding for me on occasions when he was available and we won some big races together, not enough, but big races like the Breeders’ Cup and Japan Cup.”
Dettori will bring his career to a close at the end of this year, although his former mentor believes he could have carried for a few years yet at the very top.
Cumani said: “I was very disappointed when he announced that he was retiring this year because he has been riding so well. In the spring whenever he was winning a big race I would always text him saying ‘What the hell are you doing retiring? You’re better than ever’ and he would come back and say it was decided. It just made me wonder why? He could have two or three more years. Look at Mike Smith in America, he is 56 and is still riding and is at the top of his game.
“I have tried to persuade him not to retire but I can see why, it comes to all of us and we move on to greener pastures. His last year has been fantastic, I am so glad for him and now I am resigned to the fact he is retiring, so he tells me, so all that is left is to applaud his career.
“Everybody can change their mind, Frankie could, but I think there isn’t a cut-off point where he stops riding altogether. I think when he goes to the States for the Breeders’ Cup, he could stay there for the winter and see how far he goes.”
Live In The Dream has been making himself at home in America as he prepares to take on the Woodford Stakes en route to his Breeders’ Cup target.
The chestnut gave connections an unforgettable day when landing the Nunthorpe Stakes at York, a victory that earned him a ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita in November.
In preparation West has flown the four-year-old out to the States to contest the Woodford at Keeneland on Saturday, a five-and-a-half-furlong event worth the equivalent for £175,000 to the winner.
West reports Live In The Dream to have fared well following the journey, as he prepares to do his first piece of work on the turf ahead of the weekend.
“He’s very well, he’s out of quarantine and he took the travelling very well,” he said on Tuesday.
“You can’t do too much in quarantine, he had a little canter on the track for the first time yesterday and he’s breezing on the grass today, then it’ll be a light blow with Sean Kirrane on Thursday.
“We got the draw last night and we’re very excited to be drawn in stall two, which I think will be helpful. There are some good horses in it but Caravel hasn’t declared which is a bit of a relief.
“We should know what our sectionals are and how our form holds up in real life against the Americans on Saturday.”
Though the Woodford is clearly a prize worth winning, the bigger picture is the Breeders’ Cup, and West has been focusing on the meeting since the horse crossed the line on the Knavesmire.
“He was pretty much ready and raring to go before he went out there, as much as I want to win this race I also want to see him bang on for the Breeders’ Cup,” said West.
“I’ll be flying out with the jockey tomorrow and the owners and my assistant trainer, so it will be good to get a picture of it for ourselves.”
Assistant coach Mike Catt dismissed suggestions Ireland could collude with Scotland in Saturday’s pivotal Rugby World Cup clash in Paris in order to send home South Africa.
Complex permutations may come into play if Andy Farrell’s men do not win or draw the crunch Pool B clash at Stade de France.
A bonus-point victory for the Scots by a margin of 21 points or more combined with Ireland collecting a losing bonus point for scoring at least four tries would put both nations in the quarter-finals while eliminating the reigning champions.
View this post on Instagram
Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber insisted rugby is “clean” as he brushed off a potential “match-fixing” conspiracy after being asked about the situation on Sunday following his side’s 49-18 win over Tonga.
Catt says Ireland’s coaches are fully aware of the permutations but, unsurprisingly, gave short shrift to the notion his side are in “cahoots” with the Scots.
“I don’t know what to say about that,” he replied, when asked about Nienaber’s match-fixing comment.
“I think he was asked the question, wasn’t he? He didn’t actually say it was match-fixing, did he?
“That stuff is just white noise in the background. No, we’re not going to go in cahoots with Scotland.
“Firstly I’d ask you, would we want Scotland to beat us by 21 points? If you asked any player in this room, any of us, would they want Scotland to beat you by 21 points? No, sorry.
“Andy is fully aware of what’s going and what needs to happen.
“Ultimately, both teams need to win the game. If you do that then you put yourself in a good position. That’s what we will try and achieve.”
Ante-post Club Godolphin Cesarewitch favourite Pied Piper is on course for Newmarket on October 14.
Gordon Elliott’s dual-purpose performer had a spin on the Flat at Killarney in August, where he looked the likely winner only to fade into third close home.
A classy hurdler who was second in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, connections are hoping there is still some wriggle room from his Flat mark earned during his days with John and Thady Gosden.
“He’s in good nick and he’s on course to run in the big race later this month,” said Joey Logan, racing manager for owners Caldwell Construction.
“Killarney was his first run back, Gordon wanted to give him a run and he ran great, he just blew up and hopefully he’ll improve a lot from it.
“There seems to be a lot of jumpers, mainly dual-purpose horses, in there this year and I think the ground will suit him.
“The big thing this year is that he’s had a break. When we bought him the year before we just kept him going, he ran at Cheltenham, Aintree and then Royal Ascot – we did an awful lot with him.
“We decided to give him a good break this year through the summer and hopefully he’ll have got stronger and will be a fresher horse.”
Logan went on: “He’s not massively exposed on the Flat and his run at Royal Ascot was very good when you look back. He had traffic problems and wasn’t beaten all that far by Coltrane who is one of the best stayers around.
“We’d be hoping he should have a very nice run there before he goes back jumping.
“We’ll leave the jockey to Gordon, but he won’t be short of offers I wouldn’t have thought. He’s in good form and we’re really looking forward to it.”
Vandeek is to skip the Dewhurst Stakes and be put away with a sprinting campaign in mind next season.
Trained by Simon and Ed Crisford, the son of Havana Grey maintained his unbeaten record with a scintillating display in the Middle Park at Newmarket at the weekend.
Connections had left the door ajar for him to possibly step up to seven furlongs in the Native Trail’s Dewhurst Stakes on October 14, but after lengthy discussions the decision has been made to end his season and resist the urge to stretch his stamina.
Chris Wall, racing manager for owners KHK Racing, said: “Sheikh Khalid has decided to stick to sprinting.
“We had long discussions last night and that was the way he wanted to go and that is fine, we’re all supportive of it.
“There’s nothing else for Vandeek to run in now so we hope he winters well and he’ll come back with a view to the Commonwealth Cup as his principal early-season target.
“I think he’s all about speed so I think we should play to his strengths rather than ask him to do something out of his comfort zone.”
Sense Of Duty is still on course for her Qipco British Champions Day assignment, as long as trainer William Haggas is happy with both the filly and conditions nearer the time.
The daughter of Showcasing followed a debut defeat by skyrocketing up the sprinting ranks, with a four-race winning run culminating in an impressive Group Three success in Newcastle’s Chipchase Stakes.
She spent the following 455 days on the sidelines, but was seen returning over five furlongs at Newbury last month, finishing an honourable third to race-fit rivals.
That return was always seen as a stepping stone towards her end of season target – the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes – and connections are hopeful of making the Ascot Group One on October 21, where the four-year-old would be returning to the more suitable distance of six furlongs.
“We’re just giving her a chance to come out of the race and then we’ll discuss things nearer the time, but certainly she was always going to need that first race,” said Richard Brown, racing manager for owners St Albans Bloodstock.
“It was the wrong trip, we knew that, but we got the race into her. She was a bit ring rusty and I thought she actually ran OK under the circumstances and as long as she is fit and well, I don’t see any reason why she wouldn’t be taking her chance (at Ascot) as long as there is some give in the ground – I think that is quite important to her.
“Six furlongs up the hill at Ascot is a completely different day’s work and that will be much more to her liking. I think as long as William and his team are happy with her and she’s in good form, then I would hope that we will get there.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
