Sports stars and clubs across the world continue to provide an insight into their lives on social media.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the best examples from August 23.

Burnley continued to be the kings of the signing announcement.

The FA remembered a magical Glen Johnson moment on his birthday.

Kevin Pietersen was predicting a late change to England’s World Cup squad after Harry Brook’s stunning Hundred ton.

Open champion Brian Harman swapped sports in an American sporting tradition.

Tommy Fleetwood was also in attendance ahead of the Tour Championship.

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After initially losing his cue in transit, things didn’t get much better for Neil Robertson. He lost his match 5-3.

Gregor Townsend has called on Scotland to take their game “up to another level” in their final World Cup warm-up match against Georgia on Saturday as he dismissed any notion of wrapping his key men in cotton wool ahead of the looming global showpiece.

The head coach has made six changes to the XV that started the narrow defeat away to France last time out.

Blair Kinghorn, George Turner, Richie Gray, Pierre Schoeman and the suspended Zander Fagerson are the only players not involved this weekend who are expected to start Scotland’s pool opener against South Africa in Marseille on September 10.

“We certainly want to give players another chance to build on the performances so far,” Townsend said.

“As a team, we have to take our game up to another level as we move towards the World Cup, so playing as many of those combinations that we believe will play against South Africa in two weeks’ time is really important.

“Not only do you get to play the game, you get to train in the build-up to the game – the starting team trains together – so another week of that to build cohesion is crucial for us so that we play close to our best rugby in that game against South Africa.”

Asked if there was any temptation to keep his key players on the sidelines this weekend in order to avoid pre-tournament injury or suspension, Townsend said: “No. Getting players to the World Cup is just one thing, getting players in their best form and the team playing its best rugby is what is important here.

“We’re hoping to beat the world champions – the number three team in the world – in our first game, so we’re not going to do that if players haven’t had match experience and, as a team, we haven’t had another opportunity to improve.

“Yeah, there are some changes to the team from the last France game, and that’s us either looking at more minutes for other players or looking at other combinations, as we finalise in our minds what that final 23 will be come September 10th.”

The most notable inclusion in the starting XV is scrum-half Ben White who admitted recently that he feared his World Cup dream was in jeopardy when he limped off with a “really concerning” ankle injury in the home victory over France two and a half weeks ago and missed the rematch in Saint-Etienne the following Saturday.

“He’s recovered really well,” said Townsend. “It’s great that he gets an opportunity to play minutes. He didn’t play that long against France and obviously missed the second game against them.

“Just to have him playing again will give him confidence as we go to the World Cup. He’s trained fully this week and looks back to where he was going into that home game against France.

“He’s even said that his ankle feels better than it did back then so it’s a real positive sign.”

Townsend reported that full-back Kinghorn is now fully fit despite being excluded from this weekend’s 23-man squad due to a minor injury.

“Blair had a niggle after the game in Saint-Etienne, so he didn’t train last week with the group. He didn’t train this Monday either but is now fully fit,” he explained.

“We had two days of training last week with a team in mind to start against Georgia. If we had left the decision a bit later, he would have been in the mix for this weekend.”

Townsend, whose side have beaten Italy and France in their two previous home Tests this summer, is hoping this weekend’s match serves as a rousing send-off for the Scots ahead of the World Cup.

“Playing in France two weeks ago was fantastic, the atmosphere was amazing, but to play here when the players will have their families and we will have a big support behind us, that’s a great way to end three months of training and hard work,” he said.

“It will be nice at the end of the game, if we have played well and get the win, for the players to get that time with their families and the support, to really connect again before we head off.”

Mostahdaf provided Frankie Dettori with a fifth domestic Group One of the season and in the process helped him become the most successful jockey in the history of the Juddmonte International at York.

In drawing away from Lester Piggott with a sixth win in York’s best race, Dettori created yet another record in a career that is set to end later this year.

But when you see him at his best, as he was once again from the front on John and Thady Gosden’s five-year-old, you have to wonder why he is retiring at all.

Yes, he has achieved almost everything in the game, but on the big occasion and when it matters the most, there really have been very few better.

Up against the potential Horse of the Year in Aidan O’Brien’s Paddington, who had beaten Dettori and Emily Upjohn in the Eclipse, he was determined his younger rival was not going to have things all his own way.

In a complete change of tactics from Ascot, when Mostahdaf had been so impressive in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, Dettori bounded out of the stalls into an early advantage and it was one he would not relinquish with the Italian hailing him as the best 10-furlong horse around.

With his Ascot partner Jim Crowley suspended for his winning ride in the King George, Dettori for once was in the role as super-sub.

He still held a two-length lead two furlongs out but it was then a matter of what was left in the tank, however, by then Paddington was also beginning to paddle and it was the winner’s stablemate Nashwa closing in.

There might not have been much in the locker at the finish, but as he so often has in his storied career, Dettori had ridden the perfect race.

“He’s run over a mile and a half, so he stays a mile and a quarter really well. The key was to get the fractions right, not too slow and not too fast and thankfully after 36 years I got it right,” said Dettori.

“I knew I had got it right because when I looked round I still had two lengths rope, I expected them to be on my quarters and when they weren’t I knew it would take a good horse to catch me now.

“This is my last Ebor meeting, my wife has come along and to be the first jockey to get six Juddmonte Internationals, beating Lester, I couldn’t ask for more.

“This was a real team effort. I have to thank Angus Gold and Richard Hills (Shadwell’s racing managers), Sheikha Hissa for giving me the ride and John and Thady – and especially Jim, it’s his ride. We all came up with a plan to beat this great horse Paddington. We wanted to bully the race from the beginning. It takes a good horse to do that and he was.”

Connections of Mostahdaf had admitted in the build up to the race that his achievements had somewhat gone under the radar, his Ascot performance looked too good to be true and yet he backed it up again.

“What he did at Ascot, people thought it was put on a plate for him but today he did it on his own,” said Dettori, who, when asked about his impending retirement replied: “I’ve got seven weeks and three days left – not that I’m counting!

“We were having to give 7lb to the favourite, but for a reason – we are an older horse and stronger, but that is valuable weight and quite an advantage. Because of that I didn’t want to have to chase him, when you are giving a horse weight you want them chasing you, not be chasing them.

“There’s a limit you can go, you don’t want to go too fast but at the same time you can’t go too slow.

“He’s a super horse, he showed that at Ascot. Because we know he stays a bit further, we wanted it to be a test and I could be aggressive.”

Dettori has ridden greats like Halling, Swain, Sakhee and Authorized to success in this great race and he feels Mostahdaf sits comfortably in their company.

“Undoubtedly he is the best mile-and-a-quarter horse around after this performance. I suspect John will find some good races for him at the end of the season but unfortunately for me, I’m not likely to be on him, but I’ll just take it as it comes,” he said.

“Equinox beat this horse a good few lengths over a mile and a half, which isn’t his best distance while it might be for Equinox. This lad is right at home over a mile and a quarter.

“To be the first jockey to win this six times means a lot.”

Aidan O’Brien blamed himself for pulling “the elastic band too long” with Paddington after his star colt’s remarkable winning run came to an end in the Juddmonte International at York.

The son of Siyouni has arguably been the star of the season so far, winning each of his previous six races including Group One triumphs in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, the St James’s Palace, the Coral-Eclipse and the Sussex Stakes.

As was the case at Goodwood three weeks ago, Paddington Bear was in attendance on the Knavesmire as his namesake aimed for a fifth top-level success in the space of three months.

Ridden by Ryan Moore, the 4-6 favourite did his best to keep tabs on the front-running Mostahdaf and Frankie Dettori.

But try as he might, he could never quite get on terms with with John and Thady Gosden’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes hero and in the end he was pipped to the runner-up spot by the winner’s stablemate Nashwa.

“He ran a great race, he had a tough race the last day and maybe it was a race too many for him,” O’Brien said afterwards.

“Maybe I just pulled the elastic band too long – that’s the reality. He had a tough race in Goodwood on soft ground. He had to fight twice in Goodwood and it just told today.

“He was just a little bit down in himself. Maybe I should have waited and gone to Leopardstown (for the Irish Champion Stakes) to give him a bit more time.

“He’s only a baby three-year-old and Ryan felt he was just a little bit flat. He was in good form and obviously we were happy to come here, but you don’t really know until the speedometer goes to red.

“Frankie went evenly strong all the way and Ryan said he didn’t travel with his usual fluency, but he still ran very well.”

Considering future plans, he added: “We’ll see how he is – everything’s a possibility.

“He definitely won’t go to the Irish Champion after that and it will depend what the lads want to do.

“He is only a baby three-year-old and we have fairly given it to him – we backed him up fairly tough and he did have a tough one the last day.

“I would have to say maybe I shouldn’t have ran him, but that’s the way it is.”

Connections of Nashwa consider her performance a career best as she came home a length behind the winner.

Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner-breeder Imad Al Sagar, said: “We were always confident she was going to run a big race and she really did.

“Everything went pretty smoothly in the race, she absolutely put it to them, and what a race for York and for racing and everybody.

“Nashwa has really been exceptional and I’m sure today was a career-best. If you beat Paddington, you’d have to say it is.

“I think in the back of our minds the Queen Elizabeth II is where we’d like to end up, most probably, as it’s most likely to be on soft ground. She gets a mile and a quarter well, but a mile on soft ground would probably be more her thing.

“Really and truly, you’d have to be really pleased with her today.”

Georgia Stanway believes England “absolutely need” to keep Sarina Wiegman after she guided the Lionesses to the World Cup final – insisting women’s football is not a stepping stone into the men’s game for top coaches.

Wiegman has been linked with a the vacant post as head coach of the United States – or a move into the men’s game – but the Dutch manager has said she intends to honour her contract with the Football Association.

The 53-year-old led England to the Euro title at Wembley last summer but could not mastermind victory over Spain – who won the World Cup final 1-0 on Sunday.

Wiegman had achieved the same record as Netherlands boss, winning the 2017 Euros before falling short in the 2019 World Cup final ahead of taking the reins of the Lionesses.

Such success is bound to lead to interest from elsewhere but Stanway, who returns to training at Bayern Munich next week, believes it is vital that the FA holds on to Wiegman.

“Oh, we need her, we absolutely need her,” Stanway told Sky Sports News when asked about Wiegman’s future.

“She’s done amazing in what she’s done so far, even at the Netherlands and here as well – to be a female coach and obviously paving the way for female coaches.

“I think it’s amazing and to reach four finals in the last four major tournaments. Yeah, it’s class.”

The Netherlands men’s team has been a post Wiegman has been linked with in recent days, while Chelsea manager Emma Hayes is continually touted as being in the running for vacancies in the men’s game having guided the Blues to 13 major honours.

Asked if it was a compliment or a frustration that the best managers in the women’s game could be cherry-picked by men’s clubs, Stanway added: “I think it’s a bit of both.

“I think, as female footballers, we don’t want the female game to be the stepping stone for the men’s game

“We want it to be football and we want people to enjoy the fact that we play football, we enjoy it. And likewise for coaches, they enjoy coaching us and they’re the ones that are getting us to the top.

“We’re not a stepping stone and we’re trying our best to get the women’s game on the map as much as possible and we’ll continue to break barriers and see what we can do.”

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Stanway swapped Manchester City for Bayern after the Euros win last summer and collected a Frauen-Bundesliga medal in her first season in Germany.

England captain Harry Kane has made the move this year, leaving Tottenham for Munich in recent weeks – and Stanway offered him some advice.

“I think we’ll have the same German teacher but I wish him the best of luck with the language,” she said.

“Because, well, I’ve been there for a year now and I’m waiting for that click. The German teacher keeps saying it’ll click, it’ll click and a year down the line, and I’m nowhere near this click.

“I wish him the best of luck and hopefully, I’ll be able to get down to the Allianz Arena and watch some games.

“The city is lovely. The people are lovely. The German culture is so open and so welcoming and I’m sure he will feel at home straight away.”

Savethelastdance and Bluestocking, who served up such a thrilling contest in the Irish Oaks, meet again in the Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks at York on Thursday.

Second at Epsom to Soul Sister, Aidan O’Brien’s Savethelastdance gained her own Classic victory at the Curragh – but it looked far from likely with a furlong to run.

The race had gone perfectly to plan for Ralph Beckett’s Bluestocking, who hit the front with 100 yards to race.

However, having been caught seemingly flat footed when the pace quickened, Ryan Moore conjured up one last lunge from Savethelastdance and she was able to get her head in front in the nick of time.

Speaking after saddling Continuous to win Wednesday’s Great Voltigeur Stakes, O’Brien admitted underfoot conditions at York may not be ideal for his filly.

He said: “Looking at the ground today is a little bit of a worry. Ryan said the ground is quicker than it was in (Royal) Ascot, so it’s proper quick ground.

“She (Savethelastdance) has ran on it – she ran on it in Epsom. Her best form is in soft ground and obviously she’s not going to get that, but she’s in good form.”

O’Brien has a very capable second string in the shape of Warm Heart, winner of the Ribblesdale at Ascot but a slightly underwhelming fifth in the Irish Oaks.

“Maybe the softer ground just caught her out there, and she got caught further back than ideal off a slow pace,” said O’Brien.

“All those things could have contributed to what was maybe a little bit of a disappointing run.

“Other than that she had a really nice, progressive profile.”

For Beckett, he came within half a length of having won the Irish Derby and Oaks in successive years following on from Westover’s exploits.

Bluestocking remains without a win this year, but her run at the Curragh was another big step forward from her third place in the Ribblesdale at Royal Ascot, behind Warm Heart.

Beckett said: “Bluestocking worked well on Friday and we are happy to go. It’s the right spot for her and at her level there aren’t many alternatives, as she’s Group One placed and so not eligible for the Galtres.

“I was thrilled with her at the Curragh, where everything went right and she just got caught. That was only her fourth race and she’s improved every time, so it’s possible she’ll improve again, but I don’t know how much more we might see at this level. It’s a deep renewal, but I’m really hopeful.”

The Yorkshire Oaks forms part of the Qipco British Champions Series and one filly with a win in the Fillies’ & Mares’ category already is Roger Varian’s Al Husn, who sprang something of a surprise in the Nassau at Goodwood when beating Blue Rose Cen and Nashwa.

Angus Gold, racing manager for owners Shadwell, said: “We wanted everything to be right and the question was always whether this would come too soon after the Nassau, but she did a bit of work last Thursday and everyone is happy with her.

“We are very lucky that she’s got a Group One on the board already, so we don’t have to chase one, and running here instead of in last Sunday’s Prix Jean Romanet gives her an extra four days.

“She hasn’t run over this trip before and nobody has ever said to me that they think she wants further, but she’s so tough and it’s obviously a lovely race. With Sheikha Hissa due to be at York, we are keen to run.”

Karl Burke has two contenders in Lancashire Oaks winner Poptronic and the three-year-old Novakai.

“It’s a very hot renewal but both fillies deserve to take their chance,” said Burke.

“Poptronic is a very strong stayer and she was very good when beating Sea Silk Road in the Lancashire Oaks, so I’d be very hopeful that she can run into a place at least.

“She ran in the Yorkshire Oaks a year ago, and although she finished last she was only beaten around 10 lengths by the Arc winner, heavily eased down. If anything, that gave us the encouragement to carry on with her from three to four. Whether she can win a Group One as strong as this, I don’t know, but she’s certainly capable of placing in one.

“Novakai is a year younger and less exposed at the trip. She was second in the Fillies’ Mile last year, and we started her off this year at a mile and a quarter because her owner Sheikh Obaid was keen to keep her at that trip to start with.

“She was second in the Musidora and then went to France for the Diane, but it was when we stepped her up to a mile and a half that she really came into her own, bolting up in the Listed Aphrodite Stakes at Newmarket. This is a lot stronger, but she’s a good staying filly and she deserves to take her chance.”

Rory McIlroy can focus fully on claiming a record fourth FedEx Cup title and 18million US dollar (£14.1million) first prize after revealing he is less “emotionally invested” in off-course affairs.

McIlroy was one of the most prominent supporters of the PGA Tour in its battle with LIV Golf and spent part of the build-up to last year’s Tour Championship getting changes to the Tour’s schedule ratified in response to the threat posed by the Saudi-funded breakaway.

However, with the PGA Tour announcing in June plans for a shock deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV, McIlroy has been able to take more of a back seat, especially with Tiger Woods recently joining the PGA Tour’s policy board.

“I think last year, I was probably energised by everything that was going on in the world of golf. I felt like we were maybe in a bit more of a state of flux,” McIlroy said in his pre-event press conference in Atlanta.

“I sat up here at this table this day last year talking about designated events and getting all the best players to play together and all that stuff.

“I remember this time last year being on a board call at 7.30 in the morning on the Tuesday trying to get all that stuff ratified and get it passed through the board.

“I’ve been able to focus a little bit more just on golf and my game and even able to take two days at home between Chicago and here, getting to spend some time with the girls. That’s been really nice.

“(I’m) maybe less emotionally involved. Last year it was to do with how can we make the product of the PGA TOUR better and I think I was really invested in that.

“So when it comes to, like, governance and investment and all that, it’s not that I don’t care about it, but it doesn’t excite me as much as making the product better and how can we make this the most competitive landscape to play professional golf and how can we get all the best players to play together.

“I’m on the board and I have to be involved and whenever something’s brought to the table I’ll vote on it yes or no. But, yeah, maybe just not as emotionally engaged on all of this other stuff.”

McIlroy is the only three-time winner of the FedEx Cup after overturning a six-shot deficit in the final round of the Tour Championship last year.

The 34-year-old had also started the week six shots behind world number one Scottie Scheffler under the handicap scoring system and instantly fell further behind by making a triple bogey on the first hole.

As the player with the most FedEx Cup points from the regular season, Scheffler again starts the Tour Championship on 10 under par, with Viktor Hovland eight under, McIlroy on seven under and Masters champion Jon Rahm six under.

While McIlroy is in favour of the controversial scoring system first adopted in 2019, Scheffler is not a fan of the format, even though it gives him an advantage.

“This tournament is a little bit weird because there’s starting strokes and I wouldn’t say that it is the best format to identify the best golfer for the year,” Scheffler said.

“Jon Rahm played some of the best golf of anybody this year and he’s coming into this tournament fourth and he’s four shots back. And, in theory, he could have won 20 times this year and he would only have a two-shot lead.

“I feel like I’ve joked a decent amount about being (world) number one meaning you don’t get any extra strokes and you show up this week and I do get some extra strokes. So it’s a bit strange, but it should be a fun week.”

Asked what he learned about losing his six-shot lead in the space of seven holes in last year’s final round, Scheffler said: “I don’t know if impatient is the right word, but I just didn’t get off to a good start and after that, I played really well.

“I remember walking down number eight and kind of just having a talk with myself about, you know, this is why you practice, this is why you prepare, just kind of give yourself a little pump-up speech, and then after that I snapped right back in.”

Frankie Dettori produced a brilliant front-running ride aboard Mostahdaf as he lowered the colours of Paddington in a thrilling edition of the Juddmonte International Stakes at York.

Deputising for the suspended Jim Crowley aboard John and Thady Gosden’s Royal Ascot scorer, Dettori wasted little time in bouncing the 3-1 second favourite out of the stalls and quickly into stride, he set perfect fractions as the Shadwell-owned five-year-old made every yard of the running.

Although Ryan Moore received the desired response when asking Paddington to close the gap in the home straight, he ultimately had no answer to Mostahdaf who kept finding extra under an ultra-confident Dettori as he registered a length success and followed up the owner’s victory in the Group One contest with the imperious Baaeed 12 months ago.

Stablemate Nashwa edged her way past Paddington for the silver medal late on as the Clarehaven team enjoyed a fabulous one-two, but the day belonged to Dettori who by winning the race for the first time since 2007, moved past Lester Piggott to become the contest’s leading rider.

Ryan Moore produced a sterling ride aboard Continuous as he came from last to first to register an emphatic victory in the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes at York.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien, the son of Heart’s Cry dead-heated for third in the Dante at the track earlier in the season and was putting his St Leger credentials to the test following a fine effort in defeat behind King Of Steel at Royal Ascot.

Sent off the 4-1 second favourite, he answered every question to throw his hat in the ring for the final Classic of the season in tremendous fashion.

Ridden with real patience by Moore as 8-11 favourite Gregory went for home early under Frankie Dettori, Continuous gradually worked his way through the gears and as Gregory’s challenge began to wain inside the final two furlongs, the Ballydoyle colt was just getting started as he powered clear of runner-up Castle Way for an authoritative three-and-three-quarter-length success.

The winner was cut to 4-1 joint favourite from 12s by Betfair for the St Leger on September 16, with the firm also easing Gregory out to 5-1 for Doncaster after John and Thady Gosden’s charge stayed on for third.

O’Brien said: “He’s a lovely horse who is progressing, he has enough class for a mile and a half and could stay further. He’s an exciting horse really.

“He handles an ease in the ground well as he has a bit of a round action, but that was fast ground there today – Ryan said it was quicker than it was at Royal Ascot – and he didn’t seem to have any problem with it.

“He came here in the Dante and needed the run very badly and ran a massive race. I said to Ryan before the race today ‘would any of those other horses have ran as well in the Dante as he did?’ and he said they wouldn’t. A little bit of class usually outs, especially if the pace is even.

“I asked Ryan about that (the St Leger trip). He said he doesn’t need a mile and six but he said you wouldn’t rule it out.”

Charlie Appleby does not view Castle Way as a St Leger candidate following his run, with an American target on the horizon now.

He said: “I’m pleased. The fractions looked very quick and William (Buick) said he was close enough but fair play to the winner, he was the fastest horse in the race.

“The main thing to take out of it is that William did say the mile and six in the Leger will probably stretch him, so where do we go next?

“I think I’ll most definitely put him on the radar for Belmont (Jockey Club Derby) where the quick ground will suit him.

“That will most likely be our next stop. He’s got a great attitude, he tries but he was beaten by a better horse today.”

John Gosden was pleased with the performance of Gregory in third, and feels the extra distance in the St Leger will be in his favour.

“We felt we couldn’t go from Royal Ascot to the Leger so we had to come here, even with a 3lb penalty,” he said.

“They went a strong pace and there were two others forcing it, but what I loved about it was that a furlong out he got going again.

“To me he’s run the perfect trial for the Leger. I did say to the owners before the race that I’d asked the course executive if they could move the stalls back to the start of the Ebor, but they wouldn’t!

“I couldn’t be more pleased as a Leger prep and you can see by the size of him he’s all about next year, one more run in the Leger and then Cup races next year.”

As Paul Hanagan bows out after a 25-year career in the saddle, we reflect on five of the dual champion jockey’s best horses:

TAGHROODA

Taghrooda won her only juvenile start and then blazed home by six lengths in the Pretty Polly Stakes to mark herself as a Classic contender. She went to post as a 5-1 shot for John Gosden in the Oaks, making easy work of a near four-length win before exploiting the three-year-old allowance to perfection to follow up in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. Narrowly beaten as the 1-5 favourite in the Yorkshire Oaks, she rounded off her career when beaten just over three lengths into third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

MUHAARAR

The sprint king of 2015, Muhaarar’s ability was evident when winning the Gimcrack the previous season. Trained by Charlie Hills, Muhaarar won the Greenham which prompted a crack at the French 2000 Guineas, but after failing to stay he dropped back to six furlongs and mopped up the Commonwealth Cup, July Cup and Prix Maurice de Gheest before signing off with a British Champions Sprint triumph.

WOOTTON BASSETT

Wootton Bassett was a landmark horse for the Paul Hanagan-Richard Fahey axis, providing the pair with their first Group One success in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere. That victory capped a five-race unbeaten juvenile campaign for the colt, which also included a couple of richly-endowed sales events at Doncaster and York along the way. While he did not win at three, he has gone on to prove a stallion revelation with a welter of Group One winners and a current stud fee of €150,000.

SANDS OF MALI

Winner of the 2017 Gimcrack Stakes, he took the Sandy Lane and finished second in the Commonwealth Cup the following spring, but by the time midsummer came around, it looked as though he had posted his best as he turned in a couple of lacklustre runs. However, soft ground at Ascot in the autumn saw him roar back to form and defy his odds of 28-1 to win the British Champions Sprint on what was his final run in Hanagan’s hands.

MAYSON

At his peak in his four-year-old season, Mayson won the Abernant and Palace House Stakes on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile before successfully switching to the July course to land the July Cup later in the campaign. He had only one more run after that, when edged by a neck in the Prix de l’Abbaye at ParisLongchamp, completing a fine rise through the ranks to bow out with a rating of 119.

Equilateral, running in his first handicap in the UK, defied top weight in the Sky Bet And Symphony Group-sponsored opener at York.

Trained by Charlie Hills, the sprinter is now in the veteran stage as an eight-year-old but is clearly still a force to be reckoned with.

While he had run in handicaps before, they had only been in Meydan, where he won the same event two years running in 2020 and 2021.

Since then he has spent his career dining at the top tables, running in Pattern races with his career-best effort coming behind stablemate Battaash in the 2020 King’s Stand when second.

He had run well earlier in the season to be second in both the Temple and Achilles Stakes at Haydock but was last of 11 at Goodwood behind Highfield Princess last time out.

In a typically helter-skelter affair, York specialist Copper Knight made a bold bid but was swamped close home, with Equilateral and Jamie Spencer beating Alligator Alley by a neck with a head back to Jm Jungle.

Hills said: “He’s a yard favourite, he’s always got his head over the door and the day he does leave will be very sad.

“He loves Dubai, he ran well this year without getting his head in front, hopefully that will give him confidence to go forward and go back into Group class. He loves that fast ground.

“He’s in the Flying Five at the Curragh and that is a definite option. If Khaadem can win a Group One at 80-1 then this fellow can!”

Indian Run announced himself as a youngster on the rise with a stylish display in the Tattersalls Acomb Stakes at York

Trained by Eve Johnson Houghton, he was only third on debut at Newbury, but advertised his potential with a clinical win at Ascot next time.

Always travelling strongly on the outside in the hands of Danny Tudhope, he eased to the head of proceedings heading up the Knavesmire straight and the son of Sioux Nation still had plenty up his sleeve at the business end of the contest to repel the challenge of Ballymount Boy as he finished the Group Three contest full of running.

Owned by the Bronte Collection, made up of connections of leading owner Steve Parkin and including England cricket star Jonny Bairstow, the 17-2 scorer could now be set for bigger things and was trimmed to 12-1 from 16s by Paddy Power to follow in the footsteps of last year’s Acomb winner Chaldean and head for Newmarket’s Dewhurst Stakes.