Owners Andrew and Gemma Brown, whose horses run under the Caldwell Construction banner, have cited the recent sad losses of young horses as the reason for their shock exit from the sport.
Their red and white silks were becoming an increasing familiar sight on Irish racecourses, with all trained by Gordon Elliott.
They enjoyed their first Cheltenham Festival win last March when Jazzy Matty was successful in the Boodles Juvenile Hurdle and have tasted Grade One success this season with Caldwell Potter.
He is a full-brother to the ill-fated Mighty Potter, but will be one of 29 horses up for grabs at their dispersal sale which will take place at Tattersalls Ireland early next month.
Other notable runners in the red and white colours this season include Fil Dor, Imagine and Sa Fureur, while Cesarewitch second Pied Piper is another leading light.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, a statement on the Caldwell Construction Horse Racing account read:
“Further to the sad loss of one of our young horses D B Cooper again as a family we are absolutely heartbroken. Also we lost Smooth Player only just two weeks ago. Having a young family it’s hard to cope with such losses and therefore we feel it is time for a break from the sport.
“We would also like to thank Gordon and his team for their hard work and support the last few years and wish them all the best.”
The Atlanta Falcons have named Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as their new head coach ahead of six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick.
Morris is the first full-time black head coach in the franchise’s history after he filled the same role on an interim basis in 2020.
“This is a historic day for the Atlanta Falcons. Raheem emerged from a field of excellent candidates and is the right leader to take our team into the future,” owner Arthur Blank said.
Belichick left the Patriots after finishing the AFC East season with a 4-13 record, bringing an end to his 24-season reign.
Jannik Sinner announced himself as a grand slam force in stunning fashion by becoming the first player in six years to defeat Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.
The 22-year-old Italian was seen as the most likely rival to stop Djokovic claiming an 11th title in Melbourne ahead of the tournament after beating him twice in two weeks at the end of last season at the ATP Finals and Davis Cup.
But surely no one would have predicted the manner of the first two sets of this semi-final, with an error-strewn Djokovic winning just three games.
He saved a match point in the third-set tie-break to give himself hope but there was no dramatic comeback, with Sinner regrouping impressively and going on to clinch a 6-1 6-2 6-7 (6) 6-3 victory after three hours and 22 minutes.
The fourth seed moves through to a first grand slam final while Djokovic, who had not lost here since a fourth-round defeat by Hyeon Chung amid elbow problems in 2018, must lick his wounds, with a record 25th slam title proving beyond him for now.
The result was, of course, a shock given Djokovic’s incredible record here – this is the first time he has ever lost having made it beyond the quarter-finals – but it was the Serbian’s display that was the most surprising.
He committed 54 unforced errors and did not even make Sinner use his haymaker groundstrokes that often, the Italian instead able to maintain a very high but comfortable level and not facing a single break point.
Djokovic struggled with illness at the start of the fortnight and had a tougher passage through to the last four than usual, losing three sets along the way.
Sinner, the first Italian to make an Australian Open singles final, had not dropped a set all tournament, and he started as he meant to go on, breaking the Djokovic serve to lead 2-0 with a searing forehand followed by a drive volley winner.
By contrast, nothing was working for Djokovic, with routine shots landing in the net or out of court, while he was also struggling on serve.
Sinner broke again to lead 5-1 and wrapped up the first set with just over half an hour gone.
Djokovic is a master at pacing himself in best-of-five-sets tennis and he would certainly not have panicked having lost only two of the last 17 slam matches in which he dropped the first set.
But the pattern of the match continued in the same vein, with more Djokovic errors helping Sinner break for 2-1 in the second set.
Djokovic whipped up crowd support after saving a break point at 2-4 in fine style but Sinner broke anyway two points later and served out the set.
Two years ago at Wimbledon, Sinner led Djokovic by two sets to love only to lose in five, so he knew very well that the match was far from over.
Djokovic, who had barely showed any emotion, clenched his fist after saving a break point in the opening game of the third set, and he at least managed to serve better.
At 5-5 and deuce on the Serbian’s serve, a medical emergency in the crowd forced a delay for several minutes, but Djokovic held his nerve on the resumption.
The world number one knew it was now or never in the tie-break, and he opened up a 4-2 lead, but Sinner surged back, creating a match point at 6-5 but netting a forehand, and a backhand over the baseline two points later gave Djokovic a lifeline.
He was still hanging on, though, saving three break points in the second game of the fourth set only to then be broken from 40-0 two games later.
Djokovic forced Sinner to serve it out but the Italian did not waver, clinching the biggest win of his life with a forehand winner.
Joe Root struck in the first over of the day and Tom Hartley claimed a maiden international wicket but England were unable hold India down on the second morning of the first Test.
The home side reached lunch just 24 behind on 222 for three, adding 103 for two in the opening session at Hyderabad’s Ranjiv Gandhi Stadium.
KL Rahul’s 55no and Shreyas Iyer’s 34no left India a healthy position as they looked to build a match-winning lead, but England showed fight in an even first hour.
Concerningly, first-choice spinner Jack Leach managed only two overs in the session and appeared to be suffering from a stiff back.
Explosive opener Yashavi Jaiswal gave the tourists a major headache on Thursday evening with a swashbuckling start to the innings but he added just four to his overnight score to fall for 80.
Ben Stokes had pondered the idea of opening the bowling with Root on the eve of the series, fancying his off-breaks to cause problems for the left-hander, but ultimately favoured his specialist spinners on day one.
Reversing that decision he tossed Root the ball at the start of play and saw him pick up Jaiswal with his fourth delivery, reaching for a caught and bowled off a thick inside edge.
Things almost got even better when Root had new man Rahul nicking two balls later on nought, but Ben Foakes was not able to pull off what would have been an excellent catch behind the stumps. Rahul made the most of it, hitting six fours in his 72-ball half-century, while Iyer also got a strong start.
Debutant Hartley was looking to bounce back from a difficult start to life as a Test bowler, Jaiswal having smashed his first ball for six in a costly maiden spell, but was thrust straight back into the action by Stokes.
Having shipped 63 runs from nine wicketless overs on day one he was much improved at his second attempt, sending down 11 overs for 34. Even more importantly, he opened his account with the scalp of Shubman Gill.
Gill never really got going in his 23 and flicked Hartley off his leg stump and straight to Ben Duckett at midwicket. The left-armer sprinted away in a mix of celebration and relief. England used one short spell from Mark Wood but with Leach seemingly unable to take a full load, lacked an extra option.
Calvin Pickard made 27 saves for his first shutout in over five years and the Edmonton Oilers won their 15th straight game, 3-0 over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.
Connor McDavid scored twice and set up a goal by Zach Hyman as Edmonton became just the fifth team in NHL history to win 15 or more consecutive games.
The Mario Lemieux-era Pittsburgh Penguins hold the NHL record with a 17-game winning streak set during the 1992-93 season, while the 2016-17 Columbus Blue Jackets own the second-longest run at 16 games.
The Oilers are 23-3-0 in their last 26 games and have gone a franchise-record 13 straight games allowing two or fewer goals.
Pickard’s shutout was his first since a 4-0 win over the New York Rangers on Nov. 23, 2018, when he was with Philadelphia.
Chicago tied a franchise record with its 19th consecutive road loss (0-18-1), set in 1953-54 and matched in 2003-04.
Lightning’s Kucherov adds 3 more points
Red-hot Nikita Kucherov had a goal and two assists and Steven Stamkos recorded his 1,100th career point to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 6-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes.
Kucherov, coming off a four-point game in a victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday, raised his season total to a league-leading 83 points, one ahead of Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon. Kucherov also reached 50 assists in fewer than 50 games for the third time in his career, one of only nine players to accomplish that.
Brayden Point scored one goal and set up another to help Tampa Bay win its fifth straight at home. The Lightning have won seven of eight overall.
Stamkos notched his milestone point with an assist on Kucherov’s goal and scored a power-play goal of his own in the second period.
Hurricanes beat Devils to stay hot
Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen each scored one goal and set up another and Antti Raanta stopped 23 shots in the Carolina Hurricanes’ 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils.
Jordan Staal also scored for the Hurricanes, who won a night earlier at East-leading Boston and improved to 10-2-1 since Christmas.
Justin Dowling and Jesper Bratt scored third-period goals for New Jersey, which has lost four of its last six games.
Pascal Siakam notched his first triple-double in over a year and the Indiana Pacers snapped the Philadelphia 76ers’ six-game winning streak, 134-122 on Thursday.
Siakam had 26 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, Myles Turner added 20 points and nine boards and Andrew Nembhard contributed 19 points as Indiana snapped a three-game skid.
Joel Embiid scored 31 points just three days after setting the franchise record with 70 points. He has scored at least 30 points in 21 consecutive games.
Despite playing without All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers were never seriously threatened in this one. They opened with six straight points, quickly extended the lead to double digits and led by 17 before settling for a 73-61 edge at the break.
Porzingis injured in Celtics’ win
Jayson Tatum scored 26 points and Kristaps Porzingis had 19 before leaving with a sprained left ankle as the Boston Celtics rolled to a 143-110 rout of the Miami Heat.
Jaylen Brown added 18 points and Jrue Holiday had 17 for the NBA-leading Celtics, who registered their most-ever points against Miami, with the 33-point margin their most lopsided win in 172 meetings between the franchises, including playoffs.
Boston made 22 3-pointers, shot 63.8 percent from the field and held a 47-31 rebounding advantage.
Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro scored 19 points apiece for the Heat, who dropped their season-high fifth straight.
Surging Knicks roll over Nuggets
OG Anunoby scored 26 points and Jalen Brunson added 21 as the New York Knicks sent the defending champion Nuggets to their worst loss of the season, 122-84.
Quentin Grimes had 19 points, Julius Randle scored 17 and Donte DiVincenzo chipped in 16 as the Knicks won their season high-tying fifth in a row and improved to 11-2 since Anunoby was acquired from Toronto.
Nikola Jokić led Denver with 31 points and 11 rebounds, but the Nuggets had a three-game winning streak stopped. Their previous biggest loss was a 119-93 defeat to Oklahoma City on Dec. 29.
New York was 15 of 38 from 3-point range, while Denver was 5 of 26.
German Stephan Jaeger jumped 18 spots to take the lead in San Diego after scoring an eagle on the last hole at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Jaeger hit a 64 on the second round of the PGA tournament, finishing the day 12-under par, one stroke ahead of Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard.
The German made a 35 foot eagle on the final hole, saying after the day’s play that ending the round like that was “exciting.”
“I wanted it to kind of go middle of the green and I went right at it. It ended up landing just short of the pin and scooting kind of back fringe,” Jaeger said.
“Had a little downhill right-to-lefter about 35-feet and it ended up curling in. It was awesome to see.”
Jaeger shot one bogey and seven birdies to go with his eagle.
England’s Aaron Rai dropped down three places, shooting a 70 with five birdies and three bogeys.
Belgian Thomas Detry is tied in third place with France’s Matthieu Pavon, two strokes off the lead.
LeBron James has added yet another superlative to his legendary career resume.
On Thursday, the NBA unveiled the starters for the 2024 All-Star Game, with James voted an All-Star for a record 20th time. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar previously held the record with 19 selections.
With the Feb. 18 All-Star Game reverting to its traditional East vs. West format, James will be the West captain and will start alongside Kevin Durant (14th selection), Nikola Jokic (sixth), Luka Doncic (fifth) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (second).
Giannis Antetokounmpo (eighth selection) will serve as the captain of the East team and will start alongside Milwaukee Bucks teammate Damian Lillard (eighth), Joel Embiid (seventh), Jayson Tatum (fifth) and Tyrese Haliburton (second).
Starters were selected by a combination vote, with 50 percent weight given to fans, 25 percent to selected media members and 25 percent to fellow players.
New to this season’s voting was the elimination of the center position designation, with the ballot shifting to three frontcourt spots and two backcourt spots in each conference.
The reserves are voted on by the league’s head coaches and will be announced on Feb. 1.
The 73rd NBA All-Star Game will be played in Indianapolis.
Raheem Morris will be getting a second chance with the Atlanta Falcons.
Multiple outlets reported Thursday that the Falcons will hire the Los Angeles Rams' defensive coordinator as their next head coach following an extensive search that included several high-profile candidates.
Morris returns to Atlanta, where he went 4-7 as the Falcons' interim head coach in 2020 after the team fired Dan Quinn after an 0-5 start. The 47-year-old spent the previous three seasons directing the Rams' defence and helped Los Angeles to a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI in his first season there.
The Falcons opted not to retain Morris following the 2020 campaign and instead hired former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who went 7-10 in three straight seasons before being dismissed on Jan. 8.
Atlanta chose Morris after interviewing over a dozen candidates that included six-time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Belichick and former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who agreed to become the Los Angeles Chargers' head coach on Wednesday.
This will be Morris' second opportunity to be a permanent head coach, as he guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009-11. The Bucs went 10-6 in his second season at the helm in 2010, but slipped to a 4-12 record the following season and replaced Morris with Greg Schiano.
Morris compiled a 17-31 record in Tampa Bay and is 21-38 overall as an NFL head coach.
Following his dismissal from Tampa Bay, Morris spent three seasons as the defensive backs coach for the Washington Redskins before joining Quinn's staff in Atlanta in 2015. Morris was the wide receivers coach for the Falcons' 2016 NFC championship team that lost to Belichick's New England Patriots in the Super Bowl after infamously blowing a 28-3 lead.
Morris was part of another Super Bowl champion team when he broke into the NFL coaching ranks as a defensive assistant for the Buccaneers in 2002.
The Falcons are the sixth team to fill a head coaching vacancy this offseason, and four of those hires have been minority candidates. Morris, New England's Jerod Mayo and Antonio Pierce of the Las Vegas Raiders are all Black, while new Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales is of Mexican descent.
Two teams, the Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks, are still in the process of hiring a head coach.
Tattersalls Ireland has announced it will hold a dispersal sale for owners Andy and Gemma Brown early next month.
The Browns, whose horses run under the Caldwell Construction banner, count Caldwell Potter among their star horses this term, with the six-year-old having won two of his three hurdles outings including a six-and-a-half-length verdict in a Leopardstown Grade One over the Christmas period.
He is as low as 8-1 for the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and a general 10-1 shot for the Supreme.
Other notable runners in the red and white colours this season include Fil Dor, Imagine and Sa Fureur, while Cambridgeshire second Pied Piper is another leading light.
All are trained by Gordon Elliott, who sent out Jazzy Matty to win last year’s Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle – a first Festival triumph in the Caldwell silks.
The sale is due to take place on February 6 and a post on www.tattersalls.ie said: “Andy and Gemma Brown have entrusted Tattersalls Ireland to manage their dispersal sale, consisting of 29 exceptional lots.
“Clients will be presented with a rare opportunity to purchase a Grade One winner and leading Cheltenham Festival contender, along with several proven Graded winners with immense future potential.”
Jamaica's senior Reggae Boyz are now aware that they will face Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Dominica in Group E in second round action of the 2026 Concacaf World Cup qualification.
Their other opponent will come from the first round playoff tie between British Virgin Islands or US Virgin Islands. It was revealed during Thursday's draw which took place at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland.
With hosts Mexico, United States and Canada, all earning automatic qualification, the qualifiers will be contested among the other 32 FIFA affiliated Concacaf member associations. The second round of qualifiers will see the two first round winners, joining the confederation's remaining 28 participating member associations.
The first round of qualifying will take place in March 2024 between the four lowest-ranked Concacaf Member Associations based on the FIFA Men’s Rankings as of December 2023. These two-legged matchups will see British Virgins Islands opposing US Virgin Islands in Playoff one, while Turks and Caicos Islands and Anguilla will lock horns in Playoff two.
From there, the second round of qualifiers will see the two first round winners, join the confederation's remaining 28 participating member associations to make 30 teams divided into six groups of five teams.
Following single round-robin matches (two home and two away) in the second round, the six group winners and runners-up will progress to the final round (12 teams total).
The Second Round will be played over the course of two matchdays in June 2024 and then another two matchdays in June 2025.
Second Round Grouping
Group A: Honduras, Antigua and Barbuda, Cuba, Bermuda, Cayman Islands
Group B: Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Bahamas
Group C: Haiti, Curaçao, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Aruba
Group D: Panama, Nicaragua, Guyana, Montserrat, Belize
Group E: Jamaica, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Dominica, Winner Playoff 2 (British Virgin Islands-US Virgin Islands)
Group F: El Salvador, Suriname, Puerto Rico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Winner Playoff 1 (Turks and Caicos Islands-Anguilla)
Emiliano Marcondes was given food for thought as he recovered from a long-term injury before joining Hibernian.
The 28-year-old attacking midfielder arrived at Easter Road on loan from Bournemouth this week after being out since last May with a foot injury which required surgery.
The Dane came off the bench to make his debut in the second half of Wednesday’s 3-0 home cinch Premiership defeat to Rangers and was delighted to get back into action.
Asked about what he was looking for from his loan spell in Leith, Marcondes came up with an unusual culinary analogy.
He said: “Obviously to play and some good football as well. I want to have an important role with a great team that plays some good football.
“My agent actually said that as a footballer, when you haven’t played for a long period, you are like a cold pasta dish.
“So, no-one wants you and you are not very interesting to eat when you haven’t been playing and have been injured.
“When you are in that situation you have to put yourself in the oven and warm yourself up and that’s how I feel right now.
“I have to put myself in the oven and make myself edible again and make sure I’m wanted again. That is the picture I like to put in my head. I want to make sure I am a nice pasta dish that people want again.”
The former Brentford playmaker added of his time out: “It has been difficult. It is a weird moment for a football player when you are injured and coming back and the transfer window is open.
“It is not often that we, as footballers, really talk about it. But it is a situation when you doubt your future. I have half a year left at Bournemouth.
“But for me, it was important to have focus in every training session, and to make sure I was 100 per cent fit first, and not think too much about the future and my situation but that is easier said than done.
“I have had a great team around me at Bournemouth to help get me 100 per cent fit and get me back in training. I felt very strong in the end. Coming back and playing, I don’t feel like I have been injured for seven months so that is a great feeling.”
Marcondes was introduced just before the hour-mark against Rangers with the visitors leading through first-half goals from Ridvan Yilmaz and Todd Cantwell.
The Denmark Under-21 international said: “It was a great atmosphere and coming off the bench was good.
“By then we were 2-0 behind but I felt that we had a few chances to come back into it and that would have changed the game. But, we didn’t take our chances.
“I felt great, personally and Scottish football is a high level, high tempo, and there is some good quality.”
The Carolina Panthers have agreed to hire Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales to be their next head coach, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Thursday.
Canales will take the reins in Carolina despite having only one year of experience as an NFL coordinator.
Canales will be the seventh head coach for the Panthers since David Tepper took over as owner of the team in 2018.
Carolina fired Frank Reich in late November after a 1-10 start in his first season as head coach and replaced him with special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, who went 1-5 down the stretch.
The Panthers’ 2-15 record was the worst in the NFL, but Carolina does not own the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft because that selection was traded to the Chicago Bears as part of the deal that saw the Panthers move up to No. 1 in last year’s draft.
Carolina took quarterback Bryce Young first overall in 2023, and he will now work with Canales after the 42-year-old helped Tampa Bay win the NFC South title and advance to the divisional round of the play-offs this season.
Canales began his NFL coaching career with the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and remained with the club until joining Tampa Bay in February 2023.
In 2022 as Seattle’s quarterbacks coach, Canales worked with Geno Smith en route to the signal-caller winning the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield is a finalist for the award this season.
Luke Littler claims the “world has gone mad” as he aims to make it back-to-back World Series title in the Netherlands this weekend.
Littler, who turned 17 on Sunday, continued his incredible ascent to stardom last week when he won the Bahrain Masters, winning silverware in his first tournament since his sensational debut run to the World Championship final at Alexandra Palace.
He did it by making a splash in the Middle East as well, firing a nine-dart finish in his quarter-final win before beating former world champions Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen on his way to the title.
Life has changed immeasurably for Littler over the last couple of months, none more so than him being the star attraction in Bahrain.
“I was happy to go out to Bahrain and win it,” he said. “It was a good experience, it was different to Ally Pally, you could hear everything in the crowd and it was good to see so many youngsters at the live draw.
“Eight of us (seeded players) took pictures and signed autographs. The world has gone mad.
“I didn’t expect to beat those players, I know I have got my own ability and I believe in my ability and that is what gets me over the line.
“I said I’d take a slow start and then I hit a nine in the first leg, it’s always a bonus. Even Nath said to me, ‘It’s the first leg and a hold of throw’, I said, ‘I know’.
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“I was just glad to get over the line against Nath and Gezzy and Michael to get the trophy.
It will be a tougher assignment for the teenager in Den Bosch this weekend as the likes of Raymond van Barneveld, Danny Noppert, Gian van Veen and Dimitri Van den Bergh join the field as local representatives.
Littler beat both Van Barneveld and Van Veen on the way to the Ally Pally final so knows they are seeking revenge if they are drawn together in the first round.
“The standard is going to be good once again,” he said.
“All eight of the representatives are good. Maybe Raymond and Gian want revenge, but every first round game is going to be tough for us, so it’s going to be a good weekend.
“It would be a massive bonus if I win it but if I do lose it’s back home and focus on Cardiff in the Premier League.”
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