After three grueling rounds of matches in the 24th KPMG Squash League, the teams now look forward to the quarter finals which are slated to start on Tuesday, April 9 at the Jamaica Squash Association's headquarters at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston.
The first set of matches which are scheduled for Tuesday will see Racketeers vs Team Big Shots (LC Court 4, 6pm) - Main Draw, Blown vs Premium Reserve (LC Court 5, 6pm) - Main Draw, while The Juniors vs Squashbucklers (LC Court 6, 6pm) - Plate and JDF vs Youth & Experience (LC Court 3, 6pm)- Plate. (Plate is a description for the losing teams who are playing for placement in the sixteen-team league).
The second set of quarter final matches is scheduled for Thursday, April 11 at the same venue. The scheduled matches will see Fantastic Warriors vs Court Crushers (LC Court 5, 6pm) - Main Draw, Saints vs Rampant Rollers (LC Court 4, 6pm) - Main Draw, AGI vs Bulldozers (LC Court 3, 6 pm) - Plate, and Samosas vs Campion Champions (LC Court 6, 6 pm) - Plate.
Defending champion AGI began their defense positively back in early March when they won all three matches played in the first round 3-0 over Squashbucklers but has since lost round two by a 2-1 score line to Racketeers and in the third round was decimated by Court Crushers 3-0.
Based on the results at the end of the group stage and based on defending champion AGI's results, a new champion will definitely be crowned this year.
The teams currently in the running for a place in the final include Racketeers, Team Big Shot, Blown, Premium Reserve, Fantastic Warriors, Court Crushers, Saints and Rampant Rollers.
The first two quarter final matches will be played concurrently on Tuesday with Racketeers taking on Team Big Shots on Court 4 and Blown facing off with Premium Reserve on Court 5. Both matches will begin at 6:00 pm.
Luke Littler has competition for the hottest young star in darts after 10-year-old Owen Bryceland enjoyed an astonishing weekend on the junior tour.
Bryceland, who makes 17-year-old Littler look like a seasoned professional, won back-to-back tournaments on the Foundation Tour in Coventry.
The Scot beat Mitchell Lawrie 5-1 in the Event 11 final and then Jack Howarth in the Event 12 showpiece to put himself in a strong position to qualify for the JDC Advanced Tour.
Bryceland highlighted the incredible level he is already able to play at as he produced the Foundation Tour’s highest ever average of 104.86 in his last-16 win over Joshua Machin.
As barometer for his standard, world number one Luke Humphries won the World Championship final against Littler with an average of 103.67.
Littler, who has won back-to-back Junior World Championships in 2022 and 2023, has taken the darting world by storm since his breakthrough at Alexandra Palace over Christmas.
He got to the final of the tournament on debut, won his debut events in the World Series, Player Championships and European Tour and currently sits on top of the Premier League table after back-to-back nightly wins in Belfast and Manchester.
Novak Djokovic returned to action at the Monte-Carlo Masters with a comfortable victory but Jack Draper was narrowly beaten while Carlos Alcaraz pulled out through injury.
The Spaniard, recently overtaken as world number two by Jannik Sinner, had been due to face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round after receiving a first-round bye but is struggling with a forearm problem.
Alcaraz wrote on social media: “I have been working in Monte Carlo and trying to recover until the last minute from an injured pronator teres in my right arm, but it was not possible and I cannot play! I was really looking forward to playing… See you next year!”
The 20-year-old won his first title since last summer’s Wimbledon in Indian Wells last month but was then beaten by Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open.
It is an important part of the season for Alcaraz, who is due to defend his titles in Barcelona and Madrid over the next month. He has been replaced in the draw by Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
Djokovic played his first match since Indian Wells after choosing to skip Miami and then parting ways with long-time coach Goran Ivanisevic.
With former Serbian doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic guiding him from the stands, Djokovic, now the oldest men’s singles number one in history, eased to a 6-1 6-2 victory over Russia’s Roman Safiullin.
The 36-year-old said on Sky Sports: “I’m very pleased. Even the games that I lost, I had break points in those games. Really good first match at the start of the clay season. I hope to maintain this rhythm.”
Draper took on 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz and for the second year in a row lost a very tight contest.
The British number two forced a deciding set and then broke Hurkacz, champion on clay in Estoril last week, when he served for the match at 5-4 but the Pole played a brilliant tie-break to win 6-4 3-6 7-6 (2).
Draper’s exit ends British interest in singles, with Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans also losing in the first round.
Jerome Reynier’s Lazzat maintained his unbeaten record with a taking Group success at Deauville in the Prix Djebel.
The three-year-old came into the race with a record of three wins from three runs, all of which were at Cagnes-Sur-Mer earlier this year.
No horse had ever got within three and a half lengths of him ahead of the Deauville Group Three and he had a Listed victory to his name having taken the Prix de la Californie last time out.
In a field of seven he was the 4-6 favourite and justified that price when impressing with a straightforward two-and-a-half-length victory over the Aga Khan’s Keran, with the David Menuisier-trained Devil’s Point another five lengths away in third.
“It was a change of scenery with a seven-furlong straight course and he didn’t mind it at all,” said Reynier.
“He doesn’t need anyone, today he went in front and off he goes. He won in good style and the time was much faster than the fillies (in the Prix Impudence).
“He came back and he was not even blowing at all, he’s got plenty left in the tank. He’s a very exciting prospect for this year.”
On next targets for the Territories gelding Reynier added: “There are two Group Threes, either the Prix Paul de Moussac at Longchamp in early June or Royal Ascot for the Jersey Stakes.
“We will see depending on the opposition for the Group race in Paris, because he’s got the French premiums it could be easier to keep him in France and try the easiest option with him.
“He is a gelding and we will see afterwards what we can do, we would be very excited to send him to Goodwood for the Sussex.
“We have Facteur Cheval aiming for the race as well, so we’re going to be like a French invasion coming across the Channel!”
Charlie Appleby’s Romantic Style cemented her French Classic credentials with victory in the Prix Imprudence.
The Night Of Thunder filly won twice as a juvenile, taking a Yarmouth novice and then finishing her season with success in the Listed Bosra Sham Stakes at Newmarket.
She was stepping up to seven furlongs in heavy ground in France, where she also faced a step up in grade when running at Group Three level for the first time.
Neither factor could hinder her, however, and under William Buick she prevailed by half a length from Christopher Head’s well-regarded filly Ramatuelle.
“I’m delighted, she’s a filly that we’d spoken about for this race for a while,” Appleby told Sky Sports Racing.
“Stepping up to a mile will be her maximum trip and we felt that if we had stayed at home and gone to Newbury for an English trial it would have been closer to an English Guineas, but I don’t think she’ll stay a mile over the English trip at Newmarket.
“We thought we’d be better coming here and it gives her more time between now and the French Guineas.
“William was delighted, said she was fresh but travelled sweetly in his hands.
“She did it all the right way round, she did travel but she travelled sensibly in behind a horse there and when she picked up I always felt they were going to be doing enough to stay in front.
“She’s a filly that’s got a natural pace in her pedigree, but she does give herself a chance to stay a mile. Coming back for the French Guineas will be our aim and that will probably be her maximum trip.”
Dujuan ‘Whisper’ Richards was on target twice to help Chelsea U-21s secure a comfortable 4-0 win over Aston Villa U-21s in Premier League 2 action at the Aston Villa Training Ground on Monday.
The 18-year-old opened his account in the 11th minute with a clever chip with his preferred left foot over the onrushing Aston villa keeper James Wright.
The Jamaican then doubled his tally and his side’s advantage with another left-footed finish, this time into the bottom left corner leaving Wright with no chance.
Chelsea’s other goals came from Deivid Washington in the 63rd minute and Tyrique George in the 95th minute.
Richards now has four goals in six appearances for the young blues who are now fourth in the PL2 table with 32 points from 18 games.
The former Kingston College standout has represented the Reggae Boyz on 10 occasions with his lone goal coming against Trinidad & Tobago in the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Jon Rahm insists his competitive edge has not been dulled by his move to LIV Golf as he bids to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters titles.
Rahm’s shock move to the Saudi-backed breakaway competition came after he had previously pledged his loyalty to the PGA Tour and criticised LIV’s 54-hole format, with no cut and a shotgun start as “not a golf tournament”.
The two-time major winner has failed to win any of the five LIV events he has played but travelled to Augusta on the back of finishing fourth in Miami on Sunday and winning the team event at Doral.
“I’ve had a lot of fun playing in those events,” Rahm said. “The competition’s still there.
“Yeah, they’re smaller fields but you still have to beat some of the best players in the world and you still have to play at the same level you have to play on the PGA Tour to win those events.
“I understand there’s less people. I understand the team format’s a little different. I understand we’re going shotgun and things are a little bit different to how they are in a PGA TOUR event.
“But the pressure’s there. I want to win as bad as I wanted to win before I moved on to LIV. Going down the stretch when you’re in contention is the exact same feelings. That really doesn’t change.
“Winning is winning and that’s what matters.”
At this time last year Rahm had played eight PGA Tour events and won three of them, although his last two events before the Masters had seem him withdraw from the Players Championship due to illness and fail to advance from the group stages of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
“If anything, if I had to go based on how I feel today, on a Tuesday, I feel physically better than I did last year,” added Rahm, who started the first round with a four-putt bogey but still shot an opening 65.
“But then once competition starts, it doesn’t really matter. Once the gun goes off, whatever you feel is out the window. You’ve got to go out there and post a score.
“It wouldn’t be the first time we hear somebody not feeling their best and winning. The first one that comes to mind is Ben Crenshaw after he lost his swing coach and to come back after being at the funeral and win it.
“So it’s not something that I have in mind [fewer competitive rounds], but I do feel fresh and ready for it.”
Rahm faced the “quite daunting” prospect of making a speech at his Champions Dinner in front of what he described as an audience of “all the living legends in this game”.
That audience includes fellow LIV players and former champions Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel and Patrick Reed, but a lack of world ranking points for LIV events makes it much harder to earn a place in the year’s first major.
“There’s got to be a way for certain players in whatever tour to be able to earn their way in,” Rahm said.
“I don’t know what that looks like. But there’s got to be a fair way for everybody to compete. They’ll need to figure out a way to evaluate how the LIV players are doing and how they can earn their way.”
Nicky Henderson expects to know by Thursday evening whether his horses are over whatever was ailing them during the Cheltenham Festival, with Sir Gino and Shishkin all set for Aintree.
Henderson endured a miserable week in the Cotswolds and after racing on Wednesday of that week decided discretion was the better part of valour, pulling out all of his high-profile runners.
“Rather like before Cheltenham we’ve kept testing them and just like then, everything is fine – that’s the only worry really. It keeps telling us everything is fine,” said Henderson.
“The horses seem really well in themselves, the last work has all been done, they seem bright and perky and we’re looking forward to it.
“We’re going to know our fate pretty quickly. By Thursday night it will either be happening or it won’t be happening. Obviously we go with a fair amount of trepidation, but things seemed to have improved dramatically from the perspective of their work and everything at home.
“We’ve hardly run anything, but the two reasons we haven’t run anything, for instance at Hereford today I couldn’t make an entry on the card – I couldn’t find a horse who was qualified to run in any race, and of course the ground is desperate, so we’ll start at Aintree.”
After a quiet 10 days the Seven Barrows handler has been building them back up to peak fitness and Sir Gino, who had been odds-on for the Triumph Hurdle, will be first to test the water in the Boodles Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle.
“He was a horse that I honestly couldn’t find anything wrong with him, but we’d lost all confidence and I couldn’t face running a young horse like him,” Henderson told Sky Sports Racing.
“We’ve made no bones about it, we think he’s seriously good and I just couldn’t risk him. Joe Donnelly was wonderful because we had to take Sir Gino, Shishkin and Shanagh Bob out, all his, but there was no point in running them after the first two days.
“I trust in this fellow and he’s going to go out there carrying the Seven Barrows flag and I’m sure everyone is going to watch him like a hawk – I hope for all the right reasons.
“He won at Auteuil and as everybody knows, if you can handle that you can handle most things, and it was pretty soft on Trials day (at Cheltenham).”
Shishkin will then get his chance to shine in the Aintree Bowl having missed the Gold Cup.
“The last week seems to have been great, Nico (de Boinville) rode him in his last piece of work on Saturday and said he felt fantastic and he’s looked up for it all this week.
“I just think everything has gone right, but he’s had a funny old year. He didn’t start, then he threw away the King George and then he won the Denman. Whatever anybody’s opinion of the King George doesn’t matter, he was still running a great race. The Denman was more than an ideal preparation for the Gold Cup, but here we are in the same place so hopefully all systems go.”
Henderson also runs the mares Luccia and Marie’s Rock in the William Hill Aintree Hurdle.
He said: “Luccia was the one bright light at Cheltenham. The Champion Hurdle had fallen apart as far as we were concerned without Constitution Hill, but Luccia ran a fantastic race when she was a very close third.
“The only thing here is we are going up half a mile. We haven’t thought about it a lot and always felt she wouldn’t stay, but one day you have to try and if she does stay from next season’s point of view it gives her so many more options. The alternative was to wait for Punchestown and walk into Lossiemouth.
“Marie’s Rock is between here and the three-miler, but in this sort of ground two and a half will be plenty for her. She’s got stamina and goes in the soft, but it’s a very tough race.”
Carlos Alcaraz has withdrawn from the Monte-Carlo Masters with a right forearm injury.
The Spaniard, recently overtaken as world number two by Jannik Sinner, had been due to face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round after receiving a first-round bye.
Alcaraz wrote on social media: “I have been working in Monte Carlo and trying to recover until the last minute from an injured pronator teres in my right arm, but it was not possible and I cannot play! I was really looking forward to playing… See you next year!”
The 20-year-old won his first title since last summer’s Wimbledon in Indian Wells last month but was then beaten by Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open.
It is an important part of the season for Alcaraz, who is due to defend his titles in Barcelona and Madrid over the next month.
He has been replaced in the draw by Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
Philippe Clement said Rangers faced a “crazy situation” as they prepared to travel to Dundee still unsure whether Wednesday night’s game would go ahead.
The cinch Premiership clash at the Scot Foam Stadium at Dens Park was rescheduled after it was contentiously called off 90 minutes before kick-off last month.
Dundee’s home game against Motherwell on Saturday was allowed to take place after a second pitch inspection, with the Fir Park club stating before their 3-2 comeback win they were “deeply concerned for the welfare of all players”.
Dundee managing director John Nelms told Sky Sports he was as “confident as we can be” the Rangers game would go ahead but pointed to April 16 or 17 as a contingency plan.
Gers boss Clement, whose side will leapfrog Celtic at the top of the table with a win, would prefer an early decision and said he was comfortable with the game being switched to a neutral ground to get it played before the split, saying: “In these circumstances it can be a logical choice.”
“It is a crazy situation in a top league that you don’t know the day before if the game is on or not,” said the Belgian, who confirmed Ridvan Yilmaz remained out with a knock and midfielder Ryan Jack had had a setback with a calf problem that could end his season.
“So that is a really weird situation. Okay, it can happen in extreme circumstances, but I don’t think it has happened in the last few years in all the top leagues.
“But now there is a problem every time it is raining in Scotland and it’s not that there are normally a lot of sunny days in Scotland.
“It is a bad situation for the league and for Dundee themselves, I don’t think they are happy with the situation.
“I haven’t seen the pitch, but it was clear when we were there the last time that it was dangerous for both sides and it was not playable, but I am not the one who decides, it is the referee who decides.
“I want a decision today because you want to prepare, but both clubs and the league are in talks about that.
“If it is not possible you want to see what the alternative is. We don’t have much time because there is a split in the league. These things give a bad image to the league and it needs to be solved.
“If you want to play in Dundee next week, what is going to happen if it rains next week? Strange for me because every time it rains there is a problem.”
As his squad got ready to travel to their hotel near Dundee on Tuesday afternoon, Clement asked for a decision to be made the day before the scheduled kick-off.
He said: “If we cannot play tomorrow, when are we going to play? Thursday?
“If it is Thursday I would like to know today so we can train tomorrow.
“If the decision is made tomorrow evening, we have one afternoon, evening in a hotel near to Dundee for nothing.
“I understand that games are cancelled in the last minutes, last hours in special weather circumstances, but this is something that is repeated every time it is raining so I think you can make an assessment today.”
Clement said there was a “big chance” long-term absentees Danilo and Oscar Cortes would not return before the end of the season.
Eric Dier believes he is playing the best football of his career and warrants a place in England’s Euro 2024 squad.
The 30-year-old has been a regular for Bayern Munich since his eye-catching loan switch in January, having dropped down the pecking order at Tottenham where he made only four appearances under Ange Postecoglou.
Dier has impressed for the German giants but Southgate overlooked the 49-cap England defender for March’s final camp before naming his Euros squad.
The centre-back has not played for the national team since their World Cup last-16 win over Senegal in December 2022 but believes he deserves to be in consideration to go to a fourth major tournament.
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“Obviously, I want to be a part of the England set-up and I believe that I should be a part of it, that I’m that level of a player,” Dier told The Overlap podcast.
“I haven’t spoken at all to Gareth Southgate, but you try and play as well as possible for your club and then the decision is out of your hands.
“Since the World Cup, I wouldn’t say that I’ve had any dip in form, I’m playing the best football of my career since (Antonio) Conte came (to Tottenham in 2021) and I’ve carried it on since I’ve been here, and I think I’ve shown that.
“People think that I’m 37 or something, but I’m 30 years-old and am nowhere near the end of my prime and imagine that this will be my prime.
“When I look around the players I’ve played with in my career, like (Mousa) Dembele, (Jan) Vertonghen, (Toby) Alderweireld, (Hugo) Lloris – all these guys, they were 31, 32 and were playing their best football at Tottenham.”
Dier went to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as well as Euro 2016, but had to watch England’s run to the final of the last European Championship three years ago from afar.
Southgate was asked at March’s squad announcement about overlooking the former Sporting Lisbon player for the friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.
“Clearly he’s a player we know really well,” the England boss said of Dier. “He’s only had seven starts this season.
“Bayern have had a mixed period but it’s good to see Eric playing. It’s a great move for him, playing for such a big club.
“He’s a player that if we felt he was the best for that role, he could slot easily back in ahead of the Euros.
“I think there is more value for us at the moment in looking at a (Jarrad) Branthwaite, who we haven’t worked with before because we know about Eric.
“If Eric is playing well and is playing better than all the others by the end of the season, we can bring him in. I’m also mindful he’s stuck on 49 caps and that’s nearly as uncomfortable for me, given what he’s given us, as it is for him!”
Fans have criticised UEFA’s decision to allocate a “paltry” 50 per cent of tickets for the Europa League final in Dublin to supporters of the two teams involved.
The match in the Irish capital could yet be an all-English affair, with quarter-finalists Liverpool and West Ham on opposite sides of the draw.
Fans’ group Football Supporters Europe welcomed the fact that the 58 per cent allocation to the Champions League finalists at Wembley this summer was the highest in a decade, but called for a rethink for the continent’s second-tier competition finale on May 22.
“Football Supporters Europe (FSE) today shares its serious concern that the finalists’ allocations at the 2024 Europa League Final in Dublin will reach just 50% of the stadium’s total capacity on the day,” a statement from the group read.
“Further, FSE calls on UEFA and the local organisers to do right by the supporters and increase these allocations.
“A paltry 50 per cent of capacity for Europa League finalist clubs is, simply, not good enough and falls well short of FSE’s demand to provide at least 66 per cent of tickets for all European finals to supporters of the teams involved. Fans of competing teams need to be given clear priority over public sale options.
“Based on previous experiences, a higher allocation of tickets for general sale will significantly fuel black market ticket activity, exploiting fans’ loyalty in the process.”
UEFA confirmed on Tuesday morning that each of the finalists for the Europa League will receive 12,000 tickets for the match, where capacity at the Aviva Stadium will be 48,000.
The tickets allocated to the fans of the finalists will be the cheapest on offer at 40 euros (just over £34) each, with general sale tickets starting at 65 euros (£55.70) each.
The two teams reaching the Champions League final will receive 25,000 tickets each for Wembley, with those tickets also the cheapest available at £60.
UEFA has been approached for a response to FSE’s statement.
UEFA’s general secretary Theodore Theodoridis admitted last month that staging the Europa League final in Dublin could prove “extremely challenging” and revealed the 82,000-capacity Croke Park had been reserved as a potential fan zone.
At the time he made those comments, there was still the possibility of a final between Liverpool and Rangers, two clubs with large followings on the island of Ireland, but the Scottish side were knocked out in the last 16 by Benfica.
However, a number of challenging scenarios remain, not least an all-Premier League encounter in what would be Jurgen Klopp’s final match as Liverpool boss should the Reds make it.
Trinidad and Tobago’s ace cyclist Nicholas Paul continued his rich early season form as he wrapped up another double gold medal-winning outing at the just-concluded Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Los Angeles, California.
Paul’s medals were won in his customary events, the men's Keirin and Sprint, and followed his fairly successful outing at the UCI Championships in Hong Kong where he recovered from a two-cycle collision in the Keirin to win the Sprint.
The 23-year-old again expressed gratitude for the continued support as he represents the twin island republic with much gusto.
“It is always an honour to represent my country and the Pan American region. Thank you to everyone for all the love and continued support. The Journey continues and the next stop will be the Nations Cup in Milton, Canada. So, I just want to continue putting in the hard work and let it show in my performances,” Paul said.
In the Keirin, Paul topped Colombia’s Kevin Quintero, while another Trinidad and Tobago cyclist Kwesi Browne copped bronze.
However, it took a photo-finish to separate Paul and another Colombian Cristian Ortega for the Sprint crown. Paul bettered his South American rival in the first ride before edging ahead in the second ride on the line by millimeters to retain his title.
Meanwhile, Akil Campbell was also among the medals, as he won a bronze medal in the men's scratch race.
In other results at the meet, Alexi Ramirez finished eighth in the women's elimination race and in the women's scratch race, while Makaira Wallace and Phoebe Sandy placed 13th and 17th in the women's sprint qualification, respectively.
The well-fancied Kitty’s Light appears almost certain to make the cut for Saturday’s Randox Grand National after Gordon Elliott revealed top-weight Conflated will instead run in the Melling Chase at Aintree on Friday.
Conflated was one of 13 Elliott-trained horses still in contention for Saturday’s main event following the confirmation stage on Monday, but owners Gigginstown House Stud later said the prospect of running under 11st 12lb on testing ground over four and a quarter miles was a major concern.
The 10-year-old was also entered for Thursday’s Aintree Bowl over three miles and a furlong, but was not declared on Tuesday morning and is instead set to run over two and a half miles the following day.
“We had the option of the Aintree Bowl and the Grand National, but with the ground going the way it is we are going to run in the Melling Chase on Friday instead,” Elliott said in a stable tour for Attheraces.com.
“I thought he ran great in the Ryanair Chase (at Cheltenham, finished third), he hit the line well and I was very happy with his run.”
Conflated’s anticipated defection means all six horses with an allotted weight of 10st 6lb are now set to get into the final field of 34.
As Glengouly, Galia Des Liteaux and Panda Boy are rated 146, all three were already guaranteed a starting berth, but the same could not be said of Eklat De Rire, Chambard and Kitty’s Light.
As that trio have all been dropped 1lb to an official rating of 145 since the weights were unveiled in February, connections faced an anxious wait and a potential random ballot to decide which two of the three would creep in at the bottom if none of the horses above them were taken out.
Christian Williams, trainer of last year’s Scottish Grand National and bet365 Gold Cup hero Kitty’s Light, admitted to being relieved that barring a late change of mind from Elliott, that will no longer be the case.
He said: “It’s great that he’ll get in now, it’s good for the owners. The whole season has been geared towards the Grand National so it’s great that we’ve got in.
“The owners have been looking at it for the last three weeks and had everything upside down. They’ve been thinking about it for the last three weeks and I just stayed out of it.
“I think Gordon declared Conflated for the Bowl this morning, so one of the owners rang me and said ‘brilliant Chris, we’re in’, then Gordon took him back out! Anyway, it sounds like he’s running on Friday hopefully.”
Of Kitty’s Light, he added: “He’s flying, it’s just a shame with the ground because when we had him in a good place last year the ground was good and it looks like it will be heavy on Saturday.
“He might still have won the Scottish National last year if it was soft, you don’t really know do you? You can’t discount him on the ground until he actually goes out there as when we’ve run him on that sort of ground before we didn’t have him in the best of form and it wouldn’t have been his ideal trip.
“When he’s had his ideal trip it’s been in the spring and that’s when the ground has been good. We’ll see how he runs on heavy ground in the spring – there’s only one way to find out.”
Coral make Kitty’s Light a 14-1 shot for the National in their non-runner money back market, with last year’s winner Corach Rambler the 4-1 favourite ahead of I Am Maximus at 7-1.
Scott Dixon was left to reflect on what for him proved an “incredibly strange” last race at Wolverhampton on Monday night, where only two runners eventually lined up after a false start.
The stalls did not seem to open when the starter’s flag fell in the closing Download The Racecourse App Raceday Ready Handicap but then released moments later, causing the starter to wave his flag to signal a false start.
By that point the horses were already a stride or two into the seven-furlong race and though the call to pull up appeared to spread fairly quickly, that was easier said than done for many of the riders.
Sue Gardner’s Kimifive and Dixon’s Mudlahhim were already locking horns and several other horses were reluctant to stop behind them.
The rules state horses are automatically withdrawn if they complete the course after the false start flag is waved, meaning all eight horses that crossed the line could not then partake in the rerun of the race. Oriental Spirit’s trainer Stuart Kittow decided not to take part after his horse ran keenly before being pulled up near the line, adding to earlier non-runner Captain Wentworth.
Eventually only two horses lined up for the delayed running, with Dixon’s other runner A Pint Of Bear losing out by three-quarters of a length to an old stablemate in John O’Shea’s Rose Fandango.
“It was an incredibly rare situation, from what I can gather the stalls didn’t open when they pressed the button,” Dixon said.
“I’ve watched the race back and I think it was all of them, it wasn’t a select few.
“The rule is if you cross the line you’re out and there were some horses that just couldn’t pull up and one of those was definitely mine.
“I had two runners, I had Mudlahhim and A Pint Of Bear. Mudlahhim is an unbelievably keen horse in his home work and he can be in his races. He just thought he was in a race.
“When my assistant and I saw what happened we both looked at each other and said there was zero chance of getting him back before the finishing line.
“Ultimately that’s what happened, him and another horse did another circuit and they were just taking each other on which wasn’t helping matters.”
The matter has been forwarded to the British Horseracing Authority for review after all riders, the starters, the starting stalls team leader, clerk of the course Fergus Cameron and others were interviewed and shown recordings of the incident.
“It was just incredibly strange, and to make it even stranger for me was that the horse we ended up in a match race with, Rose Fandango, I used to train,” Dixon added.
“His last win was with me, so it got even weirder! I ran down to the start and saw A Pint Of Bear myself to make sure he was all right.
“Phil (Dennis, jockey) and I thought he was fine and he was looked at by the vet and he was all good to go.
“It’s not going to be ideal for any of them but he was 100 per cent fine to run, we made the decision to let him have a go and sadly for us we lost the match race.
“All the horses were fine and all the jockeys were fine and that’s all that matters, really.
“It seems like it was a mechanical fault, which ultimately can just happen, and even human error is always going to happen occasionally.
“It’s just one of those things, you’ve got to feel sorry for people with horses that couldn’t run – they have spent the money and taken the time to go, it is very unfortunate but it is just one of those things.”
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