Connections of Art Power believe Sunday’s Prix Maurice de Gheest presents the flying grey with his “best chance ever” of striking gold at the highest level for the first time.

Not beaten far when fourth in last month’s July Cup, Tim Easterby’s six-year-old turned out just seven days later for the Group Two Sapphire Stakes and produced a dominant display to extend his unbeaten record at the Curragh to four.

He faces another quick turnaround and a step up in trip for this weekend’s Deauville feature, but confidence is high that he can strike whilst the iron is hot.

Alastair Donald, racing manager for owners King Power Racing, said: “He’s got his favoured ground and he’s thriving at the moment. He seems to love travelling and in French conditions we feel six and a half furlongs shouldn’t be a problem – he actually ran pretty well last year over seven at York.

“The style of racing in France should really suit us as he might be able to dominate and this is possibly his best chance ever to win a Group One.

“We’ve still got a month until the Flying Five back at the Curragh, so he can get a bit of a break after this weekend and he is a six-year-old gelding, so you may as well race them.

“He’s been a great servant and it would be great if he could add a Group One to his CV.”

Art Power is part of a strong British contingent that also includes the Karl Burke-trained duo of Cold Case and Spycatcher.

Cold Case was last seen being beaten just half a length into third place in the Hackwood Stakes at Newbury, while his stablemate Spycatcher returns to Deauville having carried the colours of Highclere Thoroughbred Racing to an an impressive Group Three win at the track four weeks ago.

“The horse is in really good form and he loves this ground and the track. We just thought he deserves to to take his chance,” said Highclere’s managing director Harry Herbert.

“It’s a rather unique race obviously in that it’s run over six and a half furlongs and that would be his ideal trip.”

He added: “We’re really excited. He’s been such a fun horse, he was so impressive last time and having thought he might be retired last year with a little issue he had, he now seems to be better than ever.

“The turnaround has been incredible for his shareholders, he’s been very well trained by Karl and it’s amazing to be heading over to Deauville for a Group One.”

Archie Watson’s Saint Lawrence, the David Evans-trained Rohaan, Andrew Balding’s Sandrine and Brad The Brief from Hugo Palmer’s yard complete the raiding party.

With Aidan O’Brien’s Little Big Bear not declared having been supplemented earlier in the week, the field is completed by Nicolas Caullery’s pair of Fort Payne and King Gold and Egot, trained by French maestro Andre Fabre.

Anthony Joshua’s scheduled rematch against Dillian Whyte has been cancelled after the latter “returned adverse analytical findings” from a random anti-doping test.

The Voluntary Anti-Doping Association said it had informed the Association of Boxing Commissions and the British Boxing Board of Control that a “random anti-doping protocol” undertaken by Whyte had returned the adverse findings, leading to the bout being called off and an investigation being launched.

The fight had been due to take place at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday, August 12.

Fight promoter Matchroom said in a statement: “Today, the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) informed Matchroom, the Association of Boxing Commissions and the British Boxing Board of Control that Dillian Whyte had returned adverse analytical findings as part of a random anti-doping protocol.

“In light of this news, the fight will be cancelled and a full investigation will be conducted.”

England midfielder Katie Zelem admits it was bittersweet to make her World Cup debut knowing close friend Keira Walsh’s injury was the reason why.

Manchester United captain Zelem started in England’s 6-1 victory over China, while Walsh has stepped up her recovery from the knee problem she sustained in the 1-0 victory over Denmark.

Zelem, 27, was not part of boss Sarina Wiegman’s squad to face Brazil and Australia in April and confessed there was a time she did not think she would be on the plane to the World Cup.

She said: “I think it’s a tough situation, to be honest, especially when Keira is one of my closest friends in the team.

“I think you never want to be playing on someone else’s misfortune, but luckily we found out that Keira’s injury obviously wasn’t too long-term or serious, so that is brilliant news.

“To be honest when I found out I wasn’t picked for the April camp I actually thought that was my World Cup dream over.

“I think that was one of the hardest moments to take, especially following the Euros last year when I wasn’t selected.

“It just kind of felt like there’s not another camp before obviously the selection.

“I think for a couple of days I really thought I’ve worked so hard all season, and it’s just not meant to be, but we had some really important games at Manchester United, obviously fighting for the league title and the FA Cup final.

“I think that really helped shift my focus to being the best I can for club and hopefully whatever I did was enough.”

Walsh joined her team-mates at the Central Coast Stadium on Friday, though the Champions League winner took part in an individual programme while the remaining 22 Lionesses trained on the pitch.

On Sunday they will travel to Brisbane ahead of Monday’s last-16 meeting with world number 40 side Nigeria, who emerged from Group B while Olympic champions Canada – 33 places above them in the global rankings – were sent packing alongside debutants the Republic of Ireland.

Wiegman, who before this tournament had the reputation of being unfailingly consistent – starting the same XI for every match of England’s Euro 2022 triumph – has now shown she is willing to switch between players and systems to optimise the Lionesses’ chances of winning against sides with vastly different philosophies and approaches.

The decision to switch to a 3-5-2 against China turned out to be an inspired choice, while new connections numerous players insisted were forming in training seemed to really start clicking as England played with more fluidity.

On the flip side, even in the absence of Walsh, a regular place for someone like Zelem, who made not just her World Cup debut but earned her first senior England start in the final game of the group stage, is nowhere near a given.

She said: “As much as we’re all pushing each other and fighting for the starting 11 spot, I think it really is a team effort.

“You can see when different players come on and when different players start the sort of impact they make.”

Stephen Robinson stressed the importance of the work ethic at St Mirren as he looked forward to the cinch Premiership opener against Hibernian on Sunday.

The Buddies travel to Easter Road on the back of their most successful league finish since 1985 – last season’s sixth-place finish.

The Paisley club’s boss, who will assess defender Charles Dunne as he hopes to recover from a calf injury which initially was believed to have kept him out of the start to the league season, spoke of the key criteria  – “discipline, hard work and being hard to break down” – for what he hopes is another successful season.

The Northern Irishman said: “Before the  top-six split, we didn’t concede loads of goals, I think we had one of the best defensive records in the league.

“We were the highest pressers in the league outwith Celtic. Those things we have to maintain.

“There are other aspects and statistics we look at and ask what we can be better at.

“But first and foremost the work ethic from top to bottom of the football club has to be high to compete at this level.

“To bridge the gap in the financial disparity in the league, you have to be disciplined, you have to work hard and you have to have good characters and I believe we have got that.

“There is a real core of players who were here last year that believe in what we are doing.

“We are trying to tweak it, change and makes things better as we go while not coming away from our core values of the hard work and organisation.

“The fans believe in the team and there is real togetherness at the football club.

“You can achieve if you stick together, you can achieve many good things and that’s what we aim to do.”

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is sure Arsenal will be a greater force this season for the players they have acquired over the summer.

The Gunners, managed by Guardiola’s former assistant Mikel Arteta, topped the Premier League for much of last season before ending up five points behind treble-winners City in second place.

They have since brought in Kai Havertz from Chelsea, Declan Rice from West Ham – who City had been looking at signing themselves before ending their interest after Arsenal bid £105million for him – and Jurrien Timber from Ajax.

And when Guardiola was asked ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield clash with Arsenal if he thought that trio would take them to the next level, he said: “Definitely.

“They didn’t buy players to make the squad bigger, they buy starting XI players. Really good, all of them.”

He added: “I could not expect differently – Newcastle have done it, Liverpool maybe less but I think with (Jordan) Henderson and Fabinho gone they will go to the market again, and (Manchester) United do it again.

“It’s normal. Every season, the teams want to make the team better, not just Man City.”

Guardiola said City – whose summer incomings have been Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea and, this week, Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig – were “not in the best, best way” heading into Sunday’s season curtain-raiser at Wembley but is hopeful of how they might fare.

“Of course we are going to try, but knowing how we are right now, we finished two weeks later than Arsenal and started two weeks later, so we are not in the best, best way,” he said.

“Always we struggle to restart every season, but it is a final and hopefully our mentality can help us to be there and compete, like we have to compete against them and try to win the title.”

On Arsenal as Premier League title challengers and the task ahead for his own side, he said: “Arsene Wenger installed Arsenal in that position.

“He changed many things in English football I would say. His influence was massive, one of the greatest, maybe the greatest in terms of coming from aboard and bringing something new that maybe wasn’t here, install a culture.

“Maybe the last years (it) dropped, and Mikel brought them again to the position Arsenal was all the time.

“Everybody knows – at the start of every season I say the same, but it is my feeling – there is not one or two, there are a lot of teams that are going to fight for everything, and the challenge is massive for us.

“So how we will be mentally, and how we can grow as a team and football-wise, and sustain that level. It is almost impossible, you cannot win more than we won. But the challenge is that. How starving still we are, how hungry, how we have desire to defend what we won.

“And yeah, we will see during the process of 11 months, in the lower moments – of which we will we have many, I would think more than ever – how we overcome and come back.

“I know they (his players) are incredible competitors and we will push each other and challenge each other and I’m sure that we will be there.”

Josko Gvardiol rose to global prominence as ‘the man in the mask’ at the 2022 World Cup but had long since been destined for the top.

The Zagreb-born 21-year-old caught the eye in Qatar, but more for his unruffled dynamism at the heart of Croatia’s defence than for the black face mask worn to protect his broken nose.

Gvardiol, who on Saturday completed a £77.6million to Manchester City, was a stand-out player during Croatia’s run to the semi-finals and emerged as arguably the best young player at the tournament and certainly among the world’s best left-footed central defenders.

Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez received FIFA’s young player award, but Gvardiol was included in a five-man shortlist alongside the likes of Jude Bellingham and Morocco’s Azzedine Ounahi.

Dozens of British media outlets named him in their team of the tournament.

His career had already been on a steep upward curve after making his debut for Dinamo Zagreb aged 17 in 2019 and less than a year later he joined RB Leipzig for £13.8million.

Leipzig loaned Gvardiol straight back to Zagreb for the remainder of the 2020-21 season and he played a key role in his hometown club’s domestic double-winning campaign.

The Bundesliga club beat a host of European clubs to the teenager’s signature, including Leeds, who had offered a reported £19million under then head coach Marcelo Bielsa.

Gvardiol later revealed that he had been close to teaming up with Bielsa, who had regularly phoned him personally to convince him of his project at Elland Road.

But he opted for Leipzig and, in his first season at the Red Bull Arena, Gvardiol won rave reviews, helping them lift the DFB Pokal – their first major trophy – and qualify for the Champions League after finishing runners-up to champions Bayern Munich.

Leipzig also reached the 2022 Europa League semi-finals – they lost 3-2 on aggregate to Rangers – and, with Gvardiol integral to their success, Europe’s big guns moved in.

Chelsea’s reported offer of £77.5m in the summer of 2022 was rejected as Leipzig extended the Croatian’s contract until 2027 and he continued to impress.

He scored his first Champions League goal as Leipzig halted Real Madrid’s 16-game unbeaten start last season in a 3-2 win before the World Cup break, heading the German side into an early lead.

Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic had no doubts Gvardiol was on the path to stardom when handing the then-19-year-old his first senior international start in their opening group defeat to England at Euro 2020.

Gvardiol started in every game at the Euros as Croatia lost to Spain in the round of 16 and Dalic’s admiration grew at the World Cup in Qatar.

Lionel Messi duped Gvardiol when setting up Julian Alvarez for Argentina’s third goal in Croatia’s 3-0 semi-final defeat, but that did not detract from the 6ft 1in defender’s immense contribution overall.

After Croatia reached the knockout stages in Qatar, Dalic said: “Gvardiol is the best central defender in the world. He’s so mature. The way he plays, with the grace he controls the ball – it’s amazing.”

Manchester City will be hoping Gvardiol can live up to such high praise.

James McCann matched a career high with five RBIs against his former team to lead the Baltimore Orioles to a 10-3 win over the New York Mets on Friday.

McCann, traded to the Orioles from the Mets in the offseason, opened the scoring in the fourth inning with a two-run single.

He ripped a two-run double high off the wall in left field in Baltimore’s four-run sixth and added an RBI single to cap a four-run seventh.

The veteran catcher drove in five runs one time previously, on August 12, 2017, while with the Detroit Tigers.

McCann became the first catcher to go 3 for 3 or better with a walk, stolen base and at least five RBIs since RBIs became an official stat in 1920.

Rookie Jordan Westburg hit his second career home run – a three-run blast to centre - as American League-leading Baltimore won for the fifth time in six games to remain two games ahead of Tampa Bay in the East.

Reliever Mike Baumann worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings to become the first in team history to win his first nine relief decisions in a season.

Francisco Lindor had a two-run single for the Mets, who have been outscored 30-11 during a four-game losing streak.

Royals beat Phillies for 7th straight win

Bobby Witt Jr. and Michael Massey homered to lead the Kansas City Royals to their seventh straight win, 7-5 over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Dairon Blanco knocked in three runs and stole three bases for the last-place Royals, who followed three-game sweeps of the New York Mets and AL Central-leading Twins with a series-opening victory for their longest win streak since July 2017.

Witt has keyed the streak, going 17 for 32 with four homers, 15 RBIs, eight runs and four steals in those seven games.

He became the first player in MLB history with 20 home runs and 30 stolen bases in each of his first two seasons.

Braves’ Fried dominates Cubs in return

Max Fried pitched six stellar innings in his return and the Atlanta Braves homered on back-to-back pitches in a seven-run fourth in an 8-0 rout of the Chicago Cubs.

Making his first appearance since May 5, Fried limited the Cubs to three hits with no walks and eight strikeouts while throwing 72 pitches.

Sean Murphy and Marcel Ozuna went deep off Kyle Hendricks on consecutive pitches in Atlanta’s fourth inning and Austin Riley connected in the seventh.

The major league-best Braves earned their sixth win in seven games to increase their NL East lead to 12 ½ games over Philadelphia.

The Cincinnati Bengals have come to terms with linebacker Logan Wilson on a four-year extension worth up to $37.25 million, according to sources.

Wilson, who was entering the final year of his rookie contract, will make an average of $11.2 million over the first two years of the deal.

Wilson has 123 tackles, 2 ½ sacks, an interception and a forced fumble in 15 games last season as Cincinnati captured its second straight AFC North title.

In three seasons with the Bengals, the 27-year-old Wilson has 256 tackles, seven interceptions and 4 ½ sacks in 40 games.

The Bengals have given Wilson and defensive end Trey Hendrickson extensions, and star quarterback Joe Burrow is soon to get what could be the richest contract in NFL history.

Castleford coach Andy Last has been sacked after Friday night’s 28-0 home defeat to Huddersfield left the Tigers bottom of Betfred Super League.

The Tigers were battered by the Giants at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle, with a hat-trick of tries from Sam Halsall helping to consign them to a fifth successive defeat.

Last, who took over in March after Lee Radford stepped down, did not appear before the media following the match.

And the club soon released a statement, which read: “Castleford Tigers can confirm that Andy Last has departed the club with immediate effect.

“The club will make a further statement after the weekend.”

Castleford have won just four of 21 league games this season and are now 12th in the standings, below Wakefield on points difference – with the Tigers travelling to Trinity in their next game.

While the Tigers continue to struggle, Huddersfield were celebrating a fourth win in a row to keep their play-off hopes alive.

The Giants are ninth in the table and just four points off the top six.

“I’m really pleased,” coach Ian Watson said.

“We showed great character. We spoke about starting really fresh and starting really well.

“We wanted to take that pressure away. Our defensive mentality was awesome.

“It’s a week by week proposition for us [making the finals]. We don’t want to get carried away, but it’s put us in a great position. We look a hell of a lot more like us.”

The Giants next face defending champions St Helens on August 13.

“That will be a big game for us. Every game for us is a big game. There’s no point looking two or three games ahead. We have to enjoy it.”

Watson praised the impact of full-back Jake Connor, who set up two tries and constantly troubled Castleford’s defence, and believes the England international is starting to find his feet.

“There’s still things we’ve spoke about, but he’s finding a way,” he said.

“He’s started to turn up in the right places now. Everything comes off our D anyway.”

Andy Murray came up just short in a three-hour marathon against world number nine Taylor Fritz in the last 16 of the Citi Open.

The 36-year-old, who was runner-up in Washington 17 years ago, looked on the brink of another of his occasional statement wins since his comeback from hip surgery when he had break points for a 4-2 lead in the deciding set.

But Fritz, the top seed and American number one, managed to repel all three and went on to wrap up his 40th win in 2023, 6-7 (2) 6-3 6-4.

An epic encounter was briefly held up while a group of rowdy protesters who had thrown giant tennis balls on to the court were escorted from the stand.

Murray had already smashed his racket against the floor after dropping serve in the first game, throwing in two double-faults among six unforced errors.

The Scot had been a point away from a 3-0 deficit but improved as the set wore on and broke back for 5-5 as Fritz served for it, saving two set points before converting his first break point with a drop shot.

Murray dominated the tie-break with Fritz now showing his frustration, and he took the set after 87 minutes with an almost dismissive forehand winner.

But Fritz locked straight back in to break at the start of the second on his way to levelling the match.

Fritz survived those break points at 2-3 in the decider and then a Murray double-fault gifted the 25-year-old three chances to break, taking the second when Murray’s backhand drifted long.

In a dramatic final game, Murray brought up three break-back points at 40-0, Fritz survived the lot and then squandered two match points before converting the third.

Dan Evans had lost eight of his last nine matches before arriving in Washington but the British number two made it two wins in two by beating Russia’s Alexander Shevchenko 6-4 6-3.

Evans will have to play his last-eight match later in the day after rain saw his and Murray’s matches cancelled on Thursday.

Che Adams climbed off the bench to score a late winner for Southampton on their Sky Bet Championship return and silence taunts of the Sheffield Wednesday fans.

Adams entered the pitch to a chorus of boos due to his association with Sheffield United but eight minutes later he was celebrating scoring the 87th-minute goal that earned the Saints a 2-1 victory at Hillsborough.

It had looked like the Saints, back in the second tier for the first time in over a decade following last season’s Premier League relegation, would endure a frustrating evening as for large parts they failed to turn possession into goal threat.

They had gone ahead early on through Adam Armstrong’s goal – deflecting in Nathan Tella’s shot – and were in total control at half-time, setting a new Championship record for the most number of passes in 45 minutes as they completed 477.

But they were pegged back after the break when Lee Gregory scored for the newly-promoted hosts from a set-piece and the visitors struggled to find a cutting edge.

But Adams’ late introduction changed the course of the game, sweeping home from close range to give Russell Martin a win in his first game in charge as the Saints, whose squad may yet be weakened before the end of the month, laid down an early marker.

Wednesday opened this Football League campaign just 67 days after bringing the curtain down on last season with their League One play-off final at Wembley, but it has been a turbulent time since.

Manager Darren Moore surprisingly left while chairman Dejphon Chansiri used Xisco Munoz’s unveiling press conference to publicly berate former midfielder Carlton Palmer amid fan unrest at spiralling ticket prices.

And things did not start well on the pitch as Southampton took early control, going ahead in just the eighth minute.

To the naked eye, it looked like Tella had scored the first goal of the campaign in style as he cut inside on his left foot and sent a curling effort into the far corner.

But replays showed his shot glanced Armstrong on the way through and the striker was credited with the goal.

It was total Saints domination as James Ward-Prowse, one of those linked with a move away this month, forced Cameron Dawson into a smart low save while Carlos Alcaraz was just off target with a shot from the edge of the area.

Having been robbed of the goal, Tella tried his best to remedy it and went close with a similar effort that was deflected just over the crossbar.

Callum Patterson was then forced to come to Wednesday’s rescue from the resulting corner as he cleared Jack Stephens’ effort off the line.

It did not take much for the hosts to improve after the break and they levelled nine minutes after the restart as Gregory fired home from Akin Famewo’s header back across goal from Barry Bannan’s corner.

The Saints continued to enjoy almost exclusive ownership of the ball but were restricted to long distance efforts, with Stuart Armstrong twice threatening the goal.

Just as it looked like they might have to settle for a point, Adams had the last laugh by tucking home Ward-Prowse’s centre and the Saints saw out nine minutes of stoppage time to post victory.