Envoi Allen could not make a winning start to his season, as Easy Game continued his dominance of the PWC Champion Chase with a third victory in the Grade Two feature at Gowran Park.

Willie Mullins’ nine-year-old took the same contest in 2020 and 2022, but was not the favourite as Henry de Bromhead’s reigning Ryanair Chase hero Envoi Allen was making an early return to action.

Easy Game (3-1) made the running under Paul Townend with Mouse Morris’ Gentlemansgame in his slipstream and Envoi Allen tracking in third.

As the two-and-a-half-mile contest unfolded there was no change in that order and Easy Game claimed a length-and-a-half victory from Gentlemansgame, with Envoi Allen some way back in third.

“He’s been an unbelievable horse for us. That’s my 10th win on him now,” said Townend.

“The ground was a bit of a worry but when I had a walk around on it I was pleasantly surprised with the way it had taken the rain.

“He just keeps on delivering. We had race fitness and were able to dictate it, but he showed in Listowel a couple of runs ago that he can come from behind too.

“I think the opposition kind of presumes he’s going to make the running now as well. He enjoys jumping and it’s working so we’ll keep doing it.”

Ano Manna was dramatically disqualified from the Tote.ie Handicap at Killarney after it was discovered that the horse was not Ano Manna at all, but another horse altogether.

Johnny Feane had entered Ano Manna for the what was the third race on the day at 3.05 and the horse carrying her owner’s silks and ridden by Leigh Roche duly won with ease as the 7-2 favourite.

However, an objection was lodged by the stewards under Rule 262, which relates to a horse’s identity coming into question.

An inquiry established the ‘winner’ was in fact Feane’s other runner at the meeting, Indigo Five, who had been incorrectly saddled. Ano Manna was therefore disqualified and declared a non-runner. Indigo Five was also declared a non-runner in the 5.20 race, as he had already run.

Senior stipendiary steward Liam Walsh said: “Ano Manna never ran so it is declared a non-runner and from a betting point of view, is declared a non-runner. The inquiry is not over yet and we have to get through the nuts and bolts of the issue.

“It takes time to verify the sequence of events but once the events are established, the raceday stewards have the power to demote, disqualify or declare a horse a non-runner for a breach of these rules.”

He added: “Mr Feane came in and it transpires they saddled the wrong horse, so their other runner Indigo Five is now a non-runner as it already ran.”

As he prepares for his final ride in the race, Frankie Dettori reflected on a kaleidoscope of memories from three decades of riding in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, labelling his 1995 triumph on Lammtarra as his greatest.

But the Italian would not let the ink dry on that revelation without recalling Golden Horn in 2015 as his best ride in the race widely regarded as the greatest in the world.

Dettori drew a blank on his three mounts on the eve-of-Arc-day card, but from the sanctuary of the weighing room looked back into the race’s archive and extracted the name of Lammtarra.

He recalled: “To win the Arc is every jockey’s dream, and so the best memory of my winners has to be the first and that was Lammtarra. He was inexperienced but very good, and we don’t know how good he might have been.

“But the ride that gave me a lot of personal satisfaction was on Golden Horn. I did something out of the box in that, I went out on my own and it worked to perfection. He was a very good horse, and especially on that day which is a special memory for sure.”

His mount in his Arc swansong is the John and Thady Gosden-trained mare Free Wind, carded to start as around a 20-1 outsider.

The rider is taking a realistic approach to her match up with older and younger males without totally eliminating the possibility of an earning display from the George Strawbridge-owned five-year-old.

He added: “I’ve won on her three times, but I’m realistic because she’s had her problems and is coming back. She’s a Group Two winner and she’s worked well and has a good draw. But it’s still a big ask.

“If she gets a place I will be delighted – if she won it would be totally amazing and I’m not sure how I would react.”

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery feels there is a special atmosphere brewing at Villa Park after his side romped to a remarkable 6-1 win against Brighton.

A hat-trick from Ollie Watkins and further strikes from Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz, as well as Pervis Estupinan’s own goal, helped Emery’s side secure a 10th successive league win at home.

Despite Brighton’s Ansu Fati briefly reducing the deficit to 3-1 at the start of the second half, Villa were at their clinical best to leapfrog the Seagulls in the table and extend their winning streak at home.

Emery said: “We have to feel something special at Villa Park and try to create a positive energy between us and the supporters and try to work on the pitch to connect with them.

“We want to compete the same at home and away, we will need time to build the team to be consistent but at home we feel strong with our supporters and the energy the supporters are transmitting to us, we need to keep being consistent at home.

“Ollie Watkins is committed to the club, he is very happy here and we are very happy with him, he works hard every day and tries to learn every day. He did very good work scoring goals and working defensively to help the team.

“We have to be very demanding and try to improve every day, each match is going to demand different things, we have to be ready and be strong in our work to be successful.”

Villa blew Brighton away with three quickfire goals in the first half as Watkins scored the opener on 14 minutes with a close-range finish before netting again on 21 minutes with a low effort past Jason Steele at his near post.

Estupinan’s own goal on 26 minutes put Villa in command before Albion responded when half-time substitute Fati scored his first goal for the club five minutes into the second half.

However, Watkins completed his hat-trick on 65 minutes with a deflected effort before Ramsey curled home on 85 minutes and Luiz rounded off the scoring seven minutes into injury time to inflict a heavy defeat on the Seagulls.

Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi said: “Everything [went wrong], we played very bad.

“It’s not a problem of our physical condition, first and foremost when we lose this type of game it’s my responsibility. If you lose 6-1, the biggest responsibility is of the coach.

“We are not ready to compete and to play every three days, I’m trying to manage in different ways to keep the physical energy [up].

“The physical energy is not enough, in football you have to be ready to give your all and your best in the head in the mentality. We can’t lose every tackle, every duel and every second ball otherwise you lose the game in this way.

“But I believe in my players because I have big confidence in the people inside of my dressing room, we are suffering a lot for this defeat but this can happen sometimes if you are not ready and you have to adapt quickly.

“We have to learn. We are suffering, it’s a very bad day but maybe one of the most important days – we want to reach this level.”

Daniel and Claire Kubler’s Astro King pounced late to land the bet365 Cambridgeshire under top-weight at Newmarket.

The six-yar-old gelding was a 20-1 chance under Richard Kingscote and travelled on the inside as the 34-strong field split into several groups down the Rowley Mile.

At one stage the race looked to be happening on the other side, but as Greek Order, the smooth-travelling 5-2 favourite, accelerated down the centre as a gap finally came for Harry and Roger Charlton’s hotpot, he took with him the Kubler challenger.

In the final strides the two locked horns and it was Astro King that just put his head down to seal a valuable triumph by half a length under the burden of 9st 12lb.

Napoli emphatically ended Lecce’s 100 per cent home record in Serie A with a 4-0 victory at the Stadio Via del Mare.

Goals from Leo Ostigard and substitutes Victor Osimhen and Gianluca Gaetano had the visitors in control before Matteo Politano converted a penalty in added time.

Both teams started the day in the top six with 11 points from six games but Rudi Garcia’s men were good value for their fourth win of the campaign to maintain the pressure on the Milan clubs.

Garcia made three changes following the convincing 4-1 defeat of Udinese in midweek, with Mathias Olivera, Giovanni Simeone and Jesper Lindstrom coming in for Mario Rui, Osimhen and Politano.

Napoli had early control in sunny Puglia with Lecce, the season’s surprise package, struggling to make an impression.

The visitors’ early enterprise was rewarded in the 16th minute when they took the lead, central defender Ostigard heading in Piotr Zielinski’s free-kick from the left unchallenged at the far post.

Lecce won only three home games last season but had already beaten Lazio, Salernitana and Genoa this time around and falling behind sparked them into life.

Roberto D’Aversa’s men, who saw their best start to a Serie A season end on Tuesday with a 1-0 loss at Juventus, threatened in the 25th minute when Nikola Krstovic brought a low, diving save out of goalkeeper Alex Meret.

Central defender Marin Pongracic then wasted the Salentini’s best first-half chance on the half hour, firing over from seven yards after a corner on the right.

However, Napoli finished the half strongly and could have led by more than one goal at the interval.

In the final five minutes of the first half, Simeone saw a powerful right-foot shot go just wide, Wladimiro Falcone saved from Zielinski, then Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was narrowly off-target with a free-kick.

Osimhen replaced Simeone for the second half, and within six minutes of his introduction he had doubled Napoli’s lead with his fifth goal of the season, a header off the post from close range following Kvaratskhelia’s cross.

Gabriel Strefezza had the ball in the visitors’ net in the 57th minute with a close-range header but it was ruled out for handball in the build-up by Krstovic.

With a Champions League match against Real Madrid coming up on Tuesday, Garcia rotated his players, first replacing Lindstrom and Kvaratskhelia with Giacomo Raspadori and Politano.

Raspadori’s low left-foot shot was saved by Falcone in the 67th minute, before Jens-Lys Cajuste came on for Stanislav Lobotka with 14 minutes remaining.

Lecce could not find the breakthrough they needed to set up a tense finish and Napoli made it 3-0 when Gaetano, the last of their five substitutes to be introduced, increased the lead with two minutes remaining.

Less than five minutes after his introduction, the attacking midfielder fired home powerfully from the edge of the penalty box.

There was still time for a fourth goal, Politano sending Falcone the wrong way from the penalty spot after Ylber Ramadani had been penalised for fouling Gaetano.

Ollie Watkins scored a hat-trick as Aston Villa recorded a 10th successive Premier League home win with a 6-1 thumping of Brighton.

Watkins netted a first-half brace and Pervis Estupinan put through his own net as Villa scored three goals in the space of 13 minutes before the interval to blow Brighton away.

Striker Watkins completed his hat-trick in the second half and set up substitute Jacob Ramsey for the home side’s fifth goal after Ansu Fati had briefly reduced the deficit before Douglas Luiz completed the scoring deep into added time.

Victory for Unai Emery’s side extended their winning run to three matches, while Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton were denied the chance to go joint top of the table following their heaviest defeat under the Italian since he took charge in September last year.

Brighton spurned a glorious early chance to take lead when Billy Gilmour played a delightful ball into Estupinan, only for Emiliano Martinez to make a crucial save.

And that miss would prove costly as Villa broke the deadlock in the 14th when Watkins finished from close range after John McGinn’s superb pass released Matty Cash down the right.

The home side doubled their lead after 21 minutes as Watkins somehow squeezed the ball past Jason Steele at his near post after latching on to Moussa Diaby’s through-ball down the left-hand side of the area.

Moments later, Villa went close to another as Diaby’s drilled cross from the left was flicked to safety by the boot of Steele.

The hosts continued to pile forward and looked to have put the game to bed after 26 minutes when Diaby’s shot deflected in off Estupinan as the defender ran back towards his own goal, Steele having denied the Villa man moments earlier.

Following a dismal first-half performance, Brighton boss De Zerbi made a triple substitution at half-time as Fati, Joao Pedro and Tariq Lamptey all entered the fray.

The Albion boss was quickly rewarded as Barcelona loanee Fati reduced the deficit after 50 minutes with a close-range finish after Pedro had just kept the ball in play, with the goal awarded following a lengthy VAR check for offside.

However, Villa dashed any thoughts of a fightback after 65 minutes when McGinn’s pass found Watkins on the edge of the area and the striker’s shot deflected in off Adam Webster, with the ball looping over Seagulls keeper Steele.

Albion almost scored a second goal in the final 10 minutes as substitute Simon Adingra’s dipping shot was magnificently tipped over the crossbar by Martinez.

However, Villa scored their fifth after 85 minutes when substitute Ramsey curled a fine effort in off the right-hand post from the edge of the area from Watkins’ pass.

And there was still time for Villa to add to Brighton’s misery as Luiz rolled the ball into an empty net seven minutes into added time after Steele had denied Watkins when one-on-one to round off a superb display from Emery’s men.

St Helens head coach Paul Wellens praised James Roby and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook after the long-serving duo marked the final home game of their respective careers by fashioning a 16-8 play-off win over Warrington.

Roby in particular, making his record 550th appearance for the club, milked the applause of the home fans after a hard-fought win that sends Saints to Catalans in the semi-finals on Friday, and keeps alive his dream of wrapping up his career with a fifth straight Grand Final win.

Wellens said: “There was a big fanfare in the ground today and a huge amount of love for two blokes, and the biggest compliment I can pay them is that they are a little bit embarrassed by it all.

“It just shows how humble and down to earth they are. They deserve every superlative and tap on the back that they get.

“They are two incredible people who have been a massive influence on this team and this club.”

Saints were required to draw on all the duo’s experience after failing to make the most of a dominant first half in which Lewis Dodd’s try and four points from the boot of Mark Percival were all they had to show for their efforts.

A try from Connor Wrench within two minutes of the restart, following a yellow card for Alex Walmsley, set Wire on the way to improbably clawing level, but Saints regrouped and Tommy Makinson’s effort on the hour helped them home.

“It was frustrating that we didn’t nail a couple more of those first-half chances and that’s something we want to improve on because in the big games the opportunities are few and far between,” added Wellens.

“But after Warrington scored then Alex was sin-binned the momentum shifted and that’s when the resilience of the group really showed up.

“In tough moments in big games, that’s when they’re going to come up and you’ve got to overcome them, and that’s the most pleasing thing about today.”

Wellens’ counterpart Gary Chambers blamed small errors for his side’s defeat but believes incoming Warrington head coach Sam Burgess will have plenty of quality to work with next season.

Chambers, who took on the interim role after Daryl Powell’s departure early last month and managed to nudge his ailing side into the play-offs, cautioned against wholesale changes in the close-season.

“It doesn’t need ripping up – it just needs some tinkering with,” said Chambers, who will revert to his role as Wire’s director of rugby when Burgess arrives next month.

“There’s enough positive things for him to work with. It’s the small things now, and he’ll look at those and address those.”

Chambers bemoaned Saints’ marginal gains that enabled the hosts to withstand Wire’s comeback early in the second period.

“There was plenty of effort but you can’t do some of the things we did in these kinds of games and expect to get a result,” added Chambers.

“It was the finer details of the whole thing. To win these kinds of games you’ve just got to get a little bit more clinical.

“It was a game I expected us to go out and win and we did compete but we just came up a little bit short.”

Europe’s record-breaking pair of Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg were brought back down to earth as the United States attempted to launch a fightback in the Ryder Cup.

Hovland and Aberg thrashed world number one Scottie Scheffler and five-time major winner Brooks Koepka 9&7 in the second day’s foursomes as the home side moved to within five points of retaining the trophy in Rome.

But it was a different story in the afternoon fourballs as the Scandinavian pair lost 4&3 to Sam Burns and Collin Morikawa, the latter having missed a short putt on the 13th to secure an even more comprehensive win.

Max Homa and Brian Harman were also on course for their second win of the day as they led Tommy Fleetwood and Nicolai Hojgaard by three holes with four to play, with the bottom two matches much closer.

Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre were one up on Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth after 11 holes, while Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood were all square with Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark.

Koepka and Scheffler had been five over par for the first three holes in their record 9&7 defeat, the largest margin in any 18-hole match in the event’s history.

Scheffler was pictured fighting back tears and being comforted by his wife Meredith as the enormity of the loss sank in, the previous biggest margin being 7&6.

The PA news agency understands Scheffler lobbied to be given the chance to make amends in the afternoon fourballs but was left out by US captain Zach Johnson.

The only bright spot of the morning session for the visitors came when Homa and Harman secured a first win of the contest, the former chipping in for an eagle on the 16th to see off Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka 4&2.

However, moments later McIlroy and Fleetwood completed a hard-fought victory over Thomas and Spieth, the Northern Irishman holing the winning putt from 12 feet on the 17th to secure his third point.

“Last night we talked about enjoying what we did yesterday but coming out and showing no mercy today and the way Ludvig and Viktor started off set the tone,” McIlroy said.

“I’m delighted to get another point on the board for Europe.”

Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton also had to work hard to secure their second victory together when they lost three holes in a row to Cantlay and Xander Schauffele to be pegged back to all square.

However, Hatton’s birdie putt on the 16th edged them in front again and Rahm then came agonisingly close to making a hole-in-one on the 17th.

Cantlay responded with an excellent tee shot of his own, but Schauffele’s birdie attempt from three feet caught the edge of the hole and span out.

That made the overall score 9.5 to 2.5 and meant Europe needed just five points from the remaining 16 for victory.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers hailed his players’ composure and spirit following their dramatic late victory over Motherwell.

The cinch Premiership leaders looked to have won it when substitute Luis Palma whipped the ball just inside the far post to open the scoring in the 87th minute at Fir Park.

Motherwell levelled five minutes into stoppage time when Blair Spittal slotted home but Matt O’Riley converted Greg Taylor’s deep cross two minutes later to spark wild celebrations and seal a 2-1 win.

Rodgers said: “It was a great response by the players, incredible mentality. I said to them afterwards, this club’s history is built on many late goals, that’s what Celtic does, but you have to have that will and desire to keep going.

“I thought we dominated the game. Credit to Motherwell because they were tight and compact. You are not going to have it all your own way so you have to be patient and work the ball at speed. Probably our only thing was lacking a wee bit of quality in and around the box.

“But once they equalised we stayed clam, kept working the ball and waiting for that moment. We didn’t start lumping it into the box. We worked our way up the pitch, one side to the other, and it was a great cross by Greg Taylor, who showed immense resilience to stay on because he has taken a bad whack on his calf.

“Matty finished and it was brilliant for the supporters, they are starting to see how this team will keep fighting right to the end.”

Motherwell have now lost by one goal against each of the top three in successive weeks and manager Stuart Kettlewell again felt they deserved more from the game.

“It’s probably as sore a defeat as I have had,” he said.

“We have had a real tough run of games, going to Ibrox and playing against a high-flying St Mirren and then Celtic. But all I can comment on is how my players are acquitting themselves and I hope you see how well they have played again.

“I accept at times Celtic dominate the ball and carve out probably more chances than there have been in the last two games we have had but nobody can deny there was a real identity to our team again.

“We created some real good chances ourselves and showed that character to get back in the game. It’s a bitter pill to swallow yet again.”

Celtic fans spilled on to the track after Palma’s goal with one or two bursting on to the pitch and Motherwell supporters responded by coming on to the park after their equaliser. Celtic’s winner sparked an even bigger invasion and missiles were exchanged between the two sets of fans.

Kettlewell said: “I don’t want to see those scenes, nobody will, but I also think by the emotion of the game and Celtic knowing they were properly in one again, scoring so late, I understand the emotion of the football supporter.

“But that doesn’t vindicate the fact we have got fans streaming on to the park. It does a look a bit ugly.

“You are always concerned about your own players’ safety but Celtic supporters were on to cheer their goal and celebrate with their team so there was no situation where our players were accosted or anything.”

Rodgers added: “I saw people on the pitch and, listen, that is not what we would want. You understand a little bit the lateness of the goals and what that brings to it and you have to think of the context, but I didn’t see anything else.”

Vandeek demonstrated his class with a tremendously impressive victory in the Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket.

The Simon and Ed Crisford-trained Havana Grey colt came into the race unbeaten having landed a Nottingham maiden, the Richmond at Goodwood and the Prix Morny throughout the year.

He was the heavily-backed 5-4 favourite under James Doyle and left the stalls a touch slowly before being tucked in behind rivals in the early stages of the race.

When a gap appeared Doyle guided him through it and from there he accelerated readily to leave the whole field behind him and triumph by two and a quarter lengths from Task Force, with River Tiber a head further back in third.

Ireland will continue to monitor the fitness of absent prop Cian Healy following encouraging progress in his recovery from the injury which caused him to be left out of Andy Farrell’s Rugby World Cup squad.

Healy was certain to be included in Farrell’s 33-man selection for France before suffering a calf problem against Samoa on August 26 in his country’s final warm-up match.

The vastly-experienced Leinster loosehead, who will turn 36 next Saturday – the day Ireland complete their Pool B fixtures against Scotland in Paris, posted a positive update on social media, saying his rehabilitation was “ahead of schedule”.

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Ireland team manager Mick Kearney believes Healy “would be a great addition” for later in the tournament, although he could only be called up if another player departed injured.

“The medics and S and C (strength and conditioning) would be in regular contact with Cian and I’m sure other players back home to see how their fitness levels are,” said Kearney.

“It’s great to see Cian back training and training well.

“Possibly later in the tournament, if we get an injury, Cian would be a great addition, if he was fully fit.

“I would say it’s good to see him back training but it will require an injury to another player for Cian to be able to come in.”

Initial prognosis on Healy’s injury suggested he would be sidelined for between five and 10 weeks.

The lower end of that estimate was reached on Saturday, two days after an Instagram video showed the 125-cap front-row forward working hard in the gym and running on the training pitch.

Healy, whose place in the squad was taken by Munster’s Jeremy Loughman, captioned the footage with: “It wasn’t easy getting here, but happy the body still knows how to recover ahead of schedule.

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“Looking forward to getting back to it and will be forever grateful to those who got me to this point.”

Ireland are on the cusp of the quarter-finals following wins over Romania, Tonga and defending champions South Africa.

Head coach Farrell has so far been fortunate with injuries and had a full complement of players training on Saturday ahead of next weekend’s pivotal Stade de France showdown with the Scots.

Nevertheless, contingency plans are in place.

“There was a lot of conversations with the provinces during pre-season as to how we would keep the players fit that are not in the World Cup squad,” said Kearney.

“And you saw that there’s a mini interprovincial series going on at the moment. Leinster played Ulster the other night and Munster played Leinster as well.

“Whether it be Jamie Osborne or Gavin Coombes, Kieran Treadwell, there’s guys that are getting regular game time which is brilliant because initially I think the provinces might have said ‘we may not start playing pre-season games until a little bit later’.

“So it’s really good from our point of view that these guys are getting game time and will actually be match fit if they’re called in, which is always a possibility.”