Johnny Murtagh is planning to pitch the lightly-raced Cadeau Belle into Group One company in next week’s Coolmore America ‘Justify’ Matron Stakes at Leopardstown.

The three-year-old looked progressive in winning her first two starts, in a Gowran maiden and a Navan Listed heat, before being upped to Group Three level for the Valiant Stakes at Ascot in July.

Sent off the 15-8 favourite that day, Cadeau Belle was keen from the off and eventually finished last of the nine runners in the mile affair.

Murtagh hopes the application of a hood can help manage her eager attitude and is favouring sending the daughter of Harry Angel for the top-level event, rather than taking up her alternate entry in the Group Two Dullingham Park Stakes.

He said: “I’m not sure what happened to her the last time, I really fancied her going to Ascot. (Jamie) Spencer said she was too keen and boiled over at the start, she has a hood on now so I think we might go for the Matron.

“I know it’s going to be a good race, but it’s the kind of race I had in mind all the time. We will probably let her take her chance there.

“She’s been working well again, the hood is on and that should help her relax.”

Ladies Church could also fly the Group One flag for the yard in the Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Flying Five Stakes.

The four-year-old was a Group Two winner last year but has yet to sparkle in three runs this term, with Murtagh thinking soft ground had gone against her twice while last week’s Nunthorpe had a lightning early pace.

The trainer said: “I ran her on soft ground twice this year and she didn’t really like it. I fancied her a little bit going to York last week but they went so fast she never really got on the bridle. She will go for the Flying Five.”

Mashhoor recorded a hat-trick earlier in the season, taking the notable scalp of Al Riffa in the Group Three International Stakes, but he found it tough going in the York Stakes on his latest run, coming last of five – albeit beaten just four lengths by Alflaila.

The five-year-old will now switch back up in trip for the Paddy Power Stakes.

Murtagh said: “Mashhoor is going to run in the mile-and-a-half Group Three at Leopardstown. He has a 3lb penalty and I know it will be tough, but he’s in good form and came out of the race at York really well.”

Angels Wrath and Take Heart are both in the mix for the Irish Stallion Farms EBF ‘Northfields’ Handicap over 10 furlongs, with Murtagh rating the latter as one of his best chances of victory at the two-day Irish Champions Festival.

He said: “Take Heart is a nice horse in the mile-and-a-quarter Northfields Handicap at the Curragh. I think he’s rated 92, he’s a three-year-old who might sneak in at the bottom of it. I think he’d be one of our better chances – he’s really going well at the moment.

“Angels Wrath will run in the mile-and-a-quarter handicap on the Sunday. She’s been Listed-placed and we’re trying to get a stakes win with her, it’s just tough. She’s 96 rated and I think maybe the mile-and-a-quarter handicap will suit her well.”

Kerkiyra holds an entry over the big weekend, but Murtagh has another target in mind for the four-year-old, who won the ‘Northfields’ last year.

He said: “I was going to run in the mile-and-a-quarter handicap but I might keep her for the Group Three the following week in Gowran, the Denny Cordell Lavarack & Lanwades Stud Fillies Stakes.

“She stayed to try to get a stakes win with her. She ran well the first time but it knocked the stuffing out of her a bit and it’s taken a while, so she’s coming back and is hopefully capable of winning a Listed race.”

Shartash, winner of last year’s Railway Stakes, is another who will be looking away from the Irish showpiece event, with a Curragh trip later in September on the cards after he fluffed the start in the Phoenix Sprint recently.

Murtagh said: “Shartash messed up the last time in the stalls, I thought he might win the last day and then go to the Haydock Sprint Cup. We might keep him for the Renaissance, a Group Three.”

Graeme Souness believes Michael Beale should get time to get it right at Rangers following Champions League failure, but thinks the Gers boss cannot afford to lose Sunday’s Old Firm game.

The Light Blues were thrashed 5-1 in the second-leg of the play-off against PSV Eindhoven in Netherlands on Wednesday night to exit on a 7-3 aggregate and drop down to the Europa League.

Beale, who was assistant to former Gers manager Steven Gerrard, took over the Ibrox hot seat last November and an inquest into his tactics, selections and signings – he has recruited nine new players – began in the wake of the Dutch drubbing and ahead of the visit of Celtic, who lead Rangers by one point in the cinch Premiership.

In a talkSPORT interview, Souness, 70, player-manager of Rangers between 1986 and 1991, said: “It was a tough one to take last night. I’m a Rangers supporter and it was a hard watch.

“We’ve got a new manager and he’s obviously trying to implement new ideas on the group he is working with and he’s got several new faces.

“I watched both games and in the first game they (Rangers) got away with it.

“PSV were a good team on the front foot, not so good at defending, they’ll get beat up a few times in the Champions League by the better teams I would think.

“It was just a step too far for this Rangers team. He’s brought new players in, (it) is still very early to pass judgement on them in terms of how they will do in the Scottish Premiership.

“He’s been there before with Steven Gerrard so he knows the pressures that come with being in the hot seat at Rangers.

“Getting beat up in midweek isn’t good for him, and if they came unstuck on Sunday that will put him under a hell of a lot of pressure.

“He is a relative newcomer to the hot seat. I’ve been there, I have managed big football clubs and Rangers is as big as any. The pressures that come with that job are enormous.

“You’ve got to batten down the hatches and take it on the chin because he will be we getting a lot of criticism this morning, and keep believing in what he’s doing.

“Do I believe in him long term? I wouldn’t be critical of him. I think it’s a hard job, I know how difficult that job is and we’ve got to give him time to get his team thinking the way he wants them to think and play the way he wants them to play. But it’s not an easy job he’s got. It’s a must-not-lose game I think.”

Equality is headed to the Curragh after holding his own when finishing sixth in the Nunthorpe at York.

The five-year-old, who is trained by Charlie Hills, was a 50-1 shot on his first attempt at Group One level and was far from outranked when beaten just over three lengths.

The Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Flying Five Stakes on September 10 is now the aim as the bay has proved himself to be at home alongside the top sprinters over five furlongs.

Sam Hoskins, racing manager for owners Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds, said: “We were delighted with him, he ran a great race for sixth. He was probably just on the wrong side of the draw and not near enough to the pace on the far side, but he hit the line really strong and Danny Muscutt was very complimentary about him.

“The one thing it did prove is that he was up to the Group One level, so hopefully he can take the syndicate to more Group One races going forwards.

“I don’t think there’s that much between them at that level over five furlongs at the moment.

“The plan is to go to the Flying Five at the Curragh next time and that might not be totally dissimilar to the test he faced at Sandown when he won the Coral Charge.

“A stiff five furlongs might just suit him well and if he gets a better draw there, then he should have an each-way squeak.”

Hills had a sprint winner at the meeting in Equilateral, who took the Sky Bet And Symphony Group Handicap aged eight to prove the trainer’s ability to keep seasoned sprinters sweet.

Hoskins said: “Charlie showed earlier in the with Equilateral that he can keep those sprinters going on for a while.

“Hopefully there’s lots more fun to come for us, he’ll stay with us forever and it’d be great to think that we could dream of winning a Group One one day.”

Runaway York winner Dragon Leader has another valuable sales race waiting for him after his taking victory in the Goffs UK Harry Beeby Premier Yearling Stakes at the Ebor meeting – his third win from three runs.

The Clive Cox-trained son of El Kabeir has the Weatherbys Scientific £300,000 2-Y-O Stakes at Doncaster in his sights now, a race in which he will carry a light weight as the concept of the contest is to assign runners a burden that corresponds to the median price of their respective sires’ yearlings sold at auction in 2022.

“It was thrilling, absolutely thrilling,” Hoskins said of the success.

“He’s been coming along nicely and won those two races early on, but that was amazing last week.

“There were lots of syndicate members up there and they were over the moon, it’s what we dream of.

“Our syndicate was set up in the late 1980s to try to win the Cartier Million sales race, so it’s kind of a full circle to win a big sales race – that was absolutely brilliant.

“The plan is to go for the big Weatherbys Scientific two-year-old sales race at Doncaster, because he’s by El Kabeir he’s got quite a low median price so he’s actually got bottom weight in the race which is really exciting.

“You’d hope he’d have a strong chance in a good field, then we can just see how we get on in that and decide what’s happening in the future.”

David Luiz rejoined Chelsea from Paris St Germain in a £32million deal on this day in 2016.

The Brazil international returned to familiar territory as then Blues boss Antonio Conte shuffled his pack with full-back Marcos Alonso also arriving from Fiorentina as midfielder Juan Cuadrado joined Juventus on loan.

Luiz, then 23, had initially joined Chelsea from Portuguese side Benfica in a deal worth up to £25million in January 2011.

He had arrived at Stamford Bridge on the same day as striker Fernando Torres, who cost the reigning champions £50million – a record transfer fee between British clubs – when they lured him away from Liverpool.

The defender made 143 appearances in his first spell and won the Champions League, Europa League and the FA Cup before Paris St Germain paid £50million for his services in June 2014 with then Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho preferring to use Gary Cahill and John Terry at the heart of his rearguard.

Luiz’s time in France proved hugely successful as PSG dominated on the domestic front, but after two seasons at the Parc des Princes, he could not resist the opportunity to renew his acquaintance with English football.

Speaking as his return to the Blues was confirmed, he told the club’s official website: “I’m delighted to return to Chelsea. We had a fantastic story during my first time at the club and I want to help the team and Antonio Conte achieve a lot of success.

“I always had a wonderful relationship with the fans and I am looking forward to wearing the blue shirt at Stamford Bridge once again.”

Over the length of his three-year contract, Luiz added a league title, an FA Cup and another Europa League trophy to his tally before making a shock – and for some, controversial – £8million move to derby rivals Arsenal in August 2019 after indicating his desire to leave.

Luiz spent two seasons at the Emirates Stadium and, now 36, is currently playing his club football with Flamengo in Brazil’s Serie A.

Cody Bellinger’s infield single in the eighth inning scored the go-ahead run and lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday in a key NL Central matchup.

The Cubs won the final two games of the series after dropping Monday’s opener to get back within three games of the Central-leading Brewers.

Chicago moved a season-high nine games over .500 and is three games behind Philadelphia, which owns the top wild card.

The Cubs sacrificed runners to second and third in the eighth, but Christopher Morel was thrown out at home on Ian Happ’s fielder’s choice for the second out.

Mike Tauchman moved to third and scored when Bellinger’s sharply hit ball up the middle glanced off the right ankle of reliever Joel Payamps and to third baseman Andruw Monasterio, whose throw to first was late.

Kyle Hendricks allowed only an unearned run and four hits over six innings while striking out six and walking two.

Adbert Alzolay hit Mark Canha with the bases loaded in the eighth to force in the tying run but worked a hitless ninth to earn the win.

Mariners close out red-hot August

J.P. Crawford delivered a two-run single in the seventh inning and the Seattle Mariners rallied for a 5-4 win over the Oakland Athletics for their franchise-record 21st win in August.

Seattle rallied from 3-0 and 4-3 deficits to finish 21-6 in August, surpassing the previous franchise record of 20 victories in a month.

The Mariners have won 13 of 15 and will head into September tied with Houston for the AL West lead. The last time Seattle entered September with a share of first place was in 2001, the last time it won the division.

Teoscar Hernandez hit a three-run homer in the third inning to forge a 3-3 tie.

The Mariners pushed across two runs in the seventh against reliever Kirby Snead.

Dominic Canzone doubled before Mike Ford singled and Dylan Moore walked to load the bases. After a strikeout, Crawford dropped a soft liner into left field to make it 5-4.

Astros complete first sweep at Fenway

Framber Valdez took a shutout into the sixth inning and the Houston Astros won their fifth straight game, 7-4 over the Boston Red Sox.

Michael Brantley had two hits and two RBIs and Alex Bregman, Jeremy Pena and Martin Maldonado each added two hits and one RBI as Houston earned its first-ever sweep at Fenway Park.

The Astros are tied with Seattle atop the AL West as they seek their sixth division title in seven years. Houston has won two World Series since 2017, added another two AL pennants and twice lost in the AL Championship Series.

Boston lost for the fifth time in six games and dropped 6 ½ games behind the final wild-card spot.

Novak Djokovic is safely into the third round, but there were a couple of big shocks on day three of the US Open.

Seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was knocked out in five sets by Dominic Stricker, a qualifier ranked 128 in the world.

Then, in the night session, fifth seed and last year’s runner-up Casper Ruud fell foul of China’s world number 67 Zhang Zhizhen.

British qualifier Lily Miyakazi’s run came to and end in the second round.

Here, the PA news agency looks back at day three at Flushing Meadows.

Pic of the dayShock of the day

Chocolate-loving Dominic Stricker caused a major upset at the US Open by knocking out seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The chubby-cheeked 21-year-old qualifier from Switzerland, ranked 128 in the world, stunned two-time grand slam finalist Tsitsipas with a 7-5 6-7 (2) 6-7 (5) 7-6 (8) 6-3 victory to reach the third round.

The former French Open junior champion recently admitted his coach had told him to cut down on chocolate and cookies.

Yet it was Athens-born Tsitsipas who was left feeling sour after a four-hour slog on the Grandstand Court.

Brit watch

Miyazaki’s US Open adventure was ended in the second round by Olympic champion Belinda Bencic.

The 27-year-old came through three matches to qualify at Flushing Meadows for the first time and then picked up a maiden grand slam win against Margarita Betova in round one.

But the world number 198 found 15th seed Bencic, of Switzerland, too tough a nut to crack as she bowed out 6-3 6-3.

Miyazaki still leaves New York with the consolation prize of having virtually doubled her earnings for the year with a £98,000 pay day for winning her first-round match.

There were victories in the doubles for Jamie Murray, with Michael Venus, Joe Salisbury alongside partner Rajeev Ram, Lloyd Glasspool with Harri Heliovaara. and British pair Julian Cash and Henry Patten.

Quote of the dayFallen seeds:

Women: Petra Kvitova (11), Victoria Azarenka (18), Beatriz Haddad Maia (19), Magda Linette (24)
Men: Casper Ruud (5), Stefanos Tsitsipas (7), Francisco Cerundolo (20), Chris Eubanks (28).

Who’s up next?

Andy Murray kicks things off on Arthur Ashe against Bulgarian ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov. Fellow Brits Dan Evans, Cameron Norrie, Jack Draper and Katie Boulter are also in action along with Jodie Burrage, who faces the match of her life against second seed Aryna Sabalenka on Louis Armstrong.

Mauricio Pochettino praised the performances of the players given their full Chelsea debuts in the narrow Carabao Cup win over AFC Wimbledon, but would not be drawn on reports that the club are on the brink of signing Manchester City’s Cole Palmer.

It took a first Chelsea goal from Enzo Fernandez in the second half to finally see off the challenge of the League Two side and seal a 2-1 victory, after Noni Madueke had equalised from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.

Earlier, James Tilley’s penalty had given Johnnie Jackson’s side a shock lead after goalkeeper Robert Sanchez raced from his goal and collided with Harry Pell.

The young trio of Mason Burstow, Ian Maatsen and Diego Moreira all started for the first time in an unfamiliar Chelsea line-up, but it took the introduction of Nicolas Jackson and Fernandez for the hosts to finally settle the tie, with a noticeable difference in the manner of their threat once the pair were brought on in the second half.

Jackson provided the kind of incisive running between the lines that had been missing in the first half, whilst it was a first goal in blue for World Cup-winner Fernandez that finally broke Wimbledon’s resolve 18 minutes from time.

Madueke, Chelsea’s best player in the first period before Pochettino turned to his bench, levelled from 12 yards after he had been tripped in the box by defender Alex Pearce.

Pochettino was asked afterwards about the impending arrival of Palmer, with Chelsea and City reportedly having agreed a £40million fee for the forward, but he refused to comment, preferring instead to praise his team’s progression to the third round.

“I don’t know anything at the moment,” he said. “I cannot talk about players that don’t belong to us. What I can say is nothing at the moment. The club didn’t tell me. I don’t want to talk about a player that has still not signed.

“Maybe yes, maybe no (there will be more transfer business). Maybe you know better than me what is going on.”

Of the performance against the Dons, he added: “It was tough. That’s the beauty of the competition, of the cups. I think for the circumstances we have in the squad at the moment, many players that were involved today, I’m happy with the performance. Many players that made their debut here and it’s tough first time.

“Many positive things. Of course, we have a squad and players that were rested and were on the bench in case we needed. They were fresh to go into the game and of course to help the team achieve what we wanted.

“That’s the beauty of the competition for any club, (when you’re) a Premier League club it’s always difficult to play a team like this, that belongs to this level in League Two. Always the motivation and the desire. It wasn’t a penalty for me, (but) that is the beauty of the competition, these things can happen.”

The manager added that Marc Cucurella, who played 90 minutes at left-back despite reports that the club are in negotiations over a sale to Manchester United, remains a part of his plans until the club informs him otherwise.

“I don’t know anything (about Cucurella). All the players that are involved every day on the training ground with us are in our plans. Then, things happen, it’s the decision of both the club and the player, and if something happens in the next few days, we will communicate to you.”

AFC Wimbledon boss Jackson reflected on a brave performance for his side and took pride in having forced Pochettino to turn to his expensively-assembled bench to seal the win.

“So proud of my players,” said Jackson. “We pushed them all the way, gave them a proper game. We’ve said all week that we weren’t just coming for a day out, we wanted to go toe-to-toe with them. A bit gutted we haven’t pushed them all the way to penalties, but I have to be proud of everyone.

“We knew they were on the bench and to be honest I think their manager was hoping he doesn’t have to use them, so I think it’s testament to my team that we got them to a position in the game where he’s had to make those changes, bringing two hundred million pound players (Fernandez and Moises Caicedo) onto the pitch.”

Sean Dyche praised debutant Beto after he came off the bench to inspire an Everton turnaround and prevent an embarrassing Carabao Cup exit to League Two’s bottom side Doncaster.

After losing their first three Premier League matches without scoring, the Toffees were staring down the barrel of a humiliating defeat in South Yorkshire.

Doncaster dominated the first half and took a deserved lead through a flicked header by Joe Ironside, who avoided an offside call and sparked wild scenes at the Eco-Power Stadium.

Everton held on and belatedly showed their quality, with half-time substitute Beto levelling intelligently a day after signing, before Arnaut Danjuma wrapped up a 2-1 second-round win.

“Fair play to Doncaster, they took it on in the right way,” boss Dyche said after the Toffees earned a third-round trip to Aston Villa.

“They know that there’s no pressure on them – a free hit at us and all the noise and all the rest of it and they used it wisely.

“We weren’t at the races first half but I must say the goal is three yards offside. I would expect that to be given (offside) but it didn’t.

“It’s a big learning curve for some of the younger players because that’s what it’s like to play for Everton Football Club.

“A lot of expectation regardless, no-one cares about injuries and stretched squads. I say it because I mean it and it’s true, but no one really cares, so that’s a big part of their development.

“It can’t always be rosy, it’s tough and they’re young and they’re learning.

“Second half we put more experienced players on who played very well, I thought, and made a big difference to the performance.

“I don’t think it was as good a performance as the weekend (in the loss to Wolves) but you win a game and that was important.”

Everton return to South Yorkshire on Saturday lunchtime to face Sheffield United, where towering striker Beto will surely lead the line after his man-of-the-match display.

“He’s only got here yesterday, so it’s a lot to ask, really,” Dyche said of the big-money signing from Udinese.

“We only got his clearance this morning, so we’d already set the team up. I had it in my mind to put him on at half-time regardless.

“He’s adapted very quickly, done very well tonight. With all due respect, the Premier League is different, but he’s shown the rawness, the pace and the effect that he can have on a team.

“It gives us something different, which is what we brought him here for.”

Doncaster boss Grant McCann was aggrieved his side did not get a penalty for a Vitaliy Mykolenko handball but his overriding emotion was pride after Rovers pushed Everton close.

“I’m pleased, proud of the boys’ performance,” the League Two strugglers’ manager said. “The levels were good against a top-class team.

“I thought particularly first half we were excellent in terms of what we did.

“The second half was difficult with the changes they made, they seemed to get a lot, lot stronger.

“I think we can see over the last couple of games that we’re definitely improving and we’re only going to get stronger.”

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany felt his side paid a price for their 1-0 Carabao Cup win at Nottingham Forest after Hjalmar Ekdal sustained a serious-looking knee injury.

Substitute Zeki Amdouni volleyed home a last-minute winner to settle a largely forgettable tie and clinch Burnley a third-round clash at Salford.

But Vitinho, Aaron Ramsey and Ekdal were all forced off through injury, with the latter carried off on a stretcher following a second-half goalmouth scramble.

When asked about his players’ injuries, Kompany said: “One I think will be bad. It looked like it. I’ll take anything positive on that of course.

“In terms of Viti (Vitinho), we hope he’s not too bad. Certainly, it cost us a little bit this game.

“From what I’ve seen and watching the images, it looks knee for both (Vinho and Ekdal). There’s different degrees, it could just be a strain, but for Ekdal – we hope it’s not too bad. He was in a lot of pain.

“I really hope he’s not too bad, but there was a cost to this game for sure.”

Switzerland forward Amdouni, signed from Basel in July, was a 78th-minute replacement for Jay Rodriguez and fired home his first goal in English football in his third appearance for the Clarets.

“He’s got a real goal threat,” Kompany added. “I hope that’s one of many for him. That’s one exciting thing about our squad. I’m not saying in year one you’re going to be bursting the net every week.

“But in the future, potentially in our squad there’s a real goal threat. How long it will take I don’t know. Some guys are always dangerous on the pitch.”

Neither side created a scoring chance worthy of note before Amdouni’s late intervention and Forest boss Steve Cooper said his side “got what they deserved”.

He said: “We feel really short with our performance levels, both collectively and individually and certainly with the ball.

“I didn’t think we were going to concede a goal. The game had 0-0 written all over it. It wasn’t a great game obviously. Technically we were miles off it today.”

The introduction of Brennan Johnson and Morgan Gibbs-White midway through the second half failed to spark Forest in to life.

Johnson has been heavily linked with a move to Tottenham but Cooper insisted that was not why the Wales forward started on the bench.

“I know there’s a lot of speculation about him, but it’s not really affecting us at the moment and until we get told different we’ll deal with it and it’s business as usual,” he added.