A tilt at Group One glory in the Nunthorpe at York is on the agenda for Regional following a clear-cut victory in the Sky Bet Achilles Stakes at Haydock.
Placed on multiple occasions last season, including a runner-up finish in a valuable race in Qatar before finishing third in the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood, Ed Bethell’s speedster made a successful start to his five-year-old campaign in handicap company at York last month.
He faced a rise in class in this five-furlong Listed event, but proved more than up to the task in the hands of Callum Rodriguez.
The 5-1 shot blazed a trail down the centre of the track and while Frankie Dettori did his best to get 3-1 favourite Equilateral on terms against the stands’ rail, Regional was ultimately well on top as he passed the post with a length and a quarter in hand.
“He’s a really fun horse and fast ground and flat tracks are his thing, so we’ll just try to keep him at that now,” said Bethell.
“We took him to Qatar last winter and finished second and he never really came back the same horse after that. I appreciate he came second at Doncaster and third in the Stewards’ Cup, but he wasn’t the same horse he is this year.
“We gave him a winter out and he’s just thrived. He’s enjoying his racing and Callum is riding out of his skin for me.”
With Regional not entered at Royal Ascot later this month, the North Yorkshire handler plans to give his stable star another run elsewhere before sending him back to York in August.
The trainer’s father James saddled Moss Gill to finish third in the Nunthorpe three years ago and Bethell junior is keen for Regional to head down the same path.
He added: “I’d imagine we’ll look at the Nunthorpe, that looks like a logical target. What we do in the meantime is between me and the guys (owners). We’ll sit down and have a chat, but I’m just delighted for everyone at home.
“They’re very different types of horses. Moss Gill had the most economical stride I’ve ever seen in our yard, whereas this fellow doesn’t have an economical stride at all, he’s just quick!
“It’s very exciting for everyone to be involved in a horse like this. He’s not entered at Ascot. He was in the Wokingham, but is probably too quick for that so I took him out.
“I could tell the owners they could supplement (for the King’s Stand), but it’s probably quite a lot of money, it’s a deep race this year and I think the Nunthorpe is more his race.
“In the interim I might go to York for the City Walls with a penalty and I might enter him in the King George sprint at Goodwood, those are two options.
“What I want to do is make sure there is a good gap between his next race and the Nunthorpe, that’s the imperative thing.”
Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour will attend the Champions League final on Saturday evening.
Club sources have confirmed to the PA news agency that the sheikh will be present in Istanbul as City face Inter Milan bidding to win Europe’s top club prize for the first time.
It will only be the second game he has attended since his investment vehicle, the Abu Dhabi United Group, purchased City in 2008.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak was also due to be at the showpiece match at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium.
City have risen to become the dominant force in the English game under Mansour’s stewardship with the club having won seven Premier League titles in the past 12 years and five of the last six.
Victory in Turkey on Saturday would also see them become only the second English side to win the treble having already retained their domestic title and won the FA Cup.
City also now sit at the heart of a global network of 13 clubs known as the City Football Group.
A decade may have passed since Justin Rose won the US Open, but unsurprisingly memories of his momentous achievement at Merion quickly come flooding back.
“It turned into a magical week and there were so many factors in play,” Rose told the PA news agency in an exclusive interview.
“It was one of the first majors that I really identified as a huge opportunity and I really went out of my way to prepare for, really did things a little bit differently that week.
“There was some great preparation mixed in with kind of a mystical side of it being Father’s Day, me feeling like my dad was watching down and being very much a motivating factor for me that week.”
Yet it was a week which could easily have turned out so differently.
The preparation Rose alluded to was three full days spent at Merion the week before the championship, only for the conditions to change significantly following a downpour caused by the remnants of tropical storm Andrea.
With torrential rain continuing to fall on the East Course, plans were even put in place to use two holes on the West Course, while Ian Poulter offered an illuminating response when asked whose game would be suited to the test.
“Someone who can use flippers and snorkel the best,” Poulter replied.
“That was fortuitous that the bad weather came in and I wasn’t around for it, but in some ways it made me doubt my preparation because I’d seen Merion in a certain way,” Rose recalled.
“The course was playing fantastically and it was a US Open so you build your game plan in a way to think, ‘How can I get round this course without making mistakes and shoot even par?’
“Then all the rain came down and softened up the course and all the Golf Channel pundits are saying it was going to be a bloodbath, birdies everywhere and double digits under par was going to win.
“I was like, ‘Oh well, that was a bit of a waste of time then,’ but it was too late to change my game plan so I stuck with it and, lo and behold, one over par won the golf tournament.”
That winning total belonged to Rose following a dramatic final round played out alongside Luke Donald, the English duo starting the day two shots behind Phil Mickelson, who was celebrating his 43rd birthday.
Mickelson double-bogeyed the third and fifth to limp to the turn in 39 before holing out for an eagle on the short par-four 10th, only for Rose to immediately respond with birdies on the 12th and 13th to reclaim the lead.
Two bogeys in three holes from both players left Rose one ahead on the 18th tee, from where he hit a perfect drive to within a few yards of the plaque which commemorates Ben Hogan’s one-iron to the 72nd hole of the 1950 US Open, which helped get the American into a play-off the following day which he went on to win.
“I hit probably the best shot of my life at the right time which ultimately ended up missing the green, which shows you how hard that shot is in there,” Rose laughed.
“I left myself in the perfect spot really to make an easy four which I hoped was going to be good enough.”
After tapping in for par, Rose raised his fingers to the sky in tribute to his father Ken, a massive influence on his career who died from leukaemia in 2002.
“Being a father myself by that point in my life, it was very special,” he said.
“My coach at the time, Sean Foley, sent me a really great message the morning of the final round making it clear what a good day would look like.
“It wasn’t necessarily based upon the result, it was more about going out there and carrying myself in a way that would make not just my dad proud, but my kids, being a role model for them and showing them how to carry yourself in pressure situations.
“Obviously I had to wait for the final groups to finish, so there was some nail biting going on because I felt like I had done enough and you can almost taste victory at that point.
“I would have hoped it would have been the catalyst to go on and win some more majors, but that obviously isn’t the case yet.
“Having that monkey off the back was a huge relief at that point in my career. It came before there were any questions on being the best player not to have won a major – it was nice to take care of business and I hoped the freedom of that would have kicked me on to win more.
“I’ve had a few opportunities and that’s where majors are hard to win because yes, you have to play great golf, but you also need that little moment of brilliance or luck right at the end that gets the job done.”
Australia continued their push towards victory in the World Test Championship final against India, taking their lead to 374 on the fourth morning at the Oval.
Despite Shardul Thakur declaring that his side would back themselves to chase 450, the Test record fourth innings chase at Surrey’s home ground stands at 263, leaving Australia as huge favourites.
At lunch Australia had moved to 201 for six, having scored 78 in the session for the loss of overnight pair Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green.
Labuschagne, the world’s number one ranked batter, failed to add to his existing score of 41 and was sent on his way in the third over of the morning as he drove at Umesh Yadav outside off stump. The edge flew hard at Cheteshwar Pujara in the slips, but he held on well.
That was the quick breakthrough India needed to lift their spirits, but the scale of the task ahead was pressed home immediately as new man Alex Carey steered his first ball for four to take the lead past 300.
Green and Carey set about firming up the Australian position, playing carefully on a pitch that has continued to misbehave throughout the match.
Green was struck on the shoulder by Mohammed Siraj, no mean feat with the all-rounder’s 6ft 6in stature, and later gloved a bouncer down to the fine-leg boundary as it climbed towards his rib cage.
He eventually fell for 25 in 95 balls, a becalmed knock by any measure, losing a battle of wills with spinner Ravindra Jadeja. Having used his pad to block Jadeja’s negative leg-side line, he got defence slightly wrong and allowed the ball to canon into his stumps after ricocheting off the glove.
Carey remained in place, with five fours in a resourceful 41no, with Mitchell Starc in support as India’s chances dried up.
Andy Murray will continue his preparations for Wimbledon by playing at the Rothesay Open Nottingham next week.
The former world number one has taken a wildcard entry for the challenger event after selecting to play there rather than at the Stuttgart Open.
Murray, who has advanced to the semi-finals of the Lexus Surbiton Trophy this weekend, last year chose to play in Stuttgart and beat top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios on his way to the final before losing to Matteo Berrettini.
He had been weighing up a return to Germany, but had said he was tempted by Nottingham as it would cut down on travel, while the playing surface is more similar to Queen’s and Wimbledon.
British number two Dan Evans, who has won the title in two of the last three editions, had already been confirmed for Nottingham.
Murray reached the last four in Surbiton with a 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Australian Jason Kubler on Friday.
Lewis Hamilton won his first Formula One race at the Canadian Grand Prix, on this day in 2007.
The then 22-year-old took first place in only his sixth grand prix after a series of podium finishes in his debut season for McLaren.
Hamilton took pole position over team-mate Fernando Alonso, who qualified second on the grid, and the Briton controlled the race from the moment the lights went out, keeping in front of the Spaniard at Turn One and again on the inside line for Turn Two.
Alonso was hunting down his third world title and may have expected Hamilton to make way but the pair battled again before Alonso ran into the grass and dropped back in among the rest of the field.
Two safety cars were called when Robert Kubica ran his BMW into a concrete barrier after Adrian Sutil crashed his Force India, but Hamilton defended well in both situations to retain the lead and take home his first race victory.
After the race in Montreal, Hamilton said: “I’ve been ready for this for quite some time, ready for the win – it was just a matter of where and when.
“I have to dedicate this win to my dad – without him this wouldn’t have been possible.
“The last few laps were just a case of counting them down and it really was just about enjoying it.”
Hamilton took the chequered flag 4.343seconds ahead of Nick Heidfeld in the BMW, while Williams’ Alexander Wurz crossed the line in third.
Hamilton has since become a record-equalling seven-time world champion and has won the Canadian Grand Prix a further six times during his career to date.
Aaron Gordon provided a huge lift with 27 points and the Denver Nuggets received contributions from several sources in a 108-95 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday to get within one win of the franchise’s first NBA championship.
Nikola Jokic worked around foul trouble to tally 23 points and 12 rebounds and Bruce Brown scored 11 of 21 points down the stretch to help the Nuggets take a 3-1 lead in the series. Denver can wrap up the title at home in Game 5 on Monday.
Jamal Murray scored 15 points on 5-of-17 shooting but had 12 assists. His shooting struggles were offset by Gordon, who was 11 of 15 from the field with six rebounds and six assists. Brown connected on 8 of 11 field goals and his third 3-pointer of the night with 1:21 left pushed the advantage to 108-91.
Jokic went to the bench with 9:24 to play after he committed his fifth foul with Denver holding a 10-point lead. He checked back in just over five minutes later with the Nuggets leading 96-87.
Jimmy Butler scored 25 points and Bam Adebayo added 20 with 11 rebounds, but the Heat had their final lead at 23-20 early in the second quarter. They cut the deficit to 94-87 midway through the fourth before Brown scored Denver’s next eight points to make it 102-91.
Miami appears to be wearing down with its sixth loss in eight games since taking a 3-0 lead over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Denver Nuggets are within one game of claiming their first NBA championship after dismantling the Miami Heat 108-95 in the fourth game of the NBA finals.
The Nuggets return to Denver for game five of the seven-game series, where they will aim to win the franchise’s first Larry O’Brien trophy in their 56-year history.
Nikola Jokic again proved a mismatch for Miami, wthe Serbian posting 23 points and 10 rebounds.
He was ably supported by Aaron Gordon, who finished with a game-high 27 points in one of the best performances of his career.
Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo combined for 45 points for the Heat, who were ultimately let down by another poor shooting effort from three.
Miami shot just 32 per cent from deep, while the Nuggets drained half of their three-point attempts.
The Heat kept pace with the Nuggets early, maintaining just a four-point deficit at the half.
But Denver exploded for 31 points in the third quarter, claiming an advantage which, despite a rally late in the fourth, Miami were ultimately unable to overcome.
Erling Haaland admits the pressure is on as he prepares for Manchester City’s Champions League date with destiny.
The Premier League winners face Inter Milan on Saturday night bidding to claim the European crown for the first time.
Victory would not only end years of frustration and near-misses in pursuit of the continent’s top club prize but complete a glorious treble.
City’s outstanding season, which has also included winning the FA Cup as well as a fifth domestic league title in six years, has been fuelled by the goals of Haaland.
The prolific Norwegian has scored 52 times in an outstanding first season at the Etihad Stadium and is well aware the club hope he proves the final piece in their jigsaw.
“Of course I feel pressure,” the 22-year-old said. “I would lie if I said I didn’t.
“It’s true – they won the Premier League without me, they won every trophy without me. So I’m here to try to do a thing that the club has never done before and I’ll do my best.”
Winning the Champions League is also the chief reason manager Pep Guardiola was brought to the club.
Victory for him would end a 12-year wait to reclaim the trophy since the second of his two triumphs as Barcelona boss.
“It’s absolutely a dream,” said the Catalan. “What has happened in the past is in the past. It’s an incredible competition.
“Inter Milan is bigger than us in terms of history but what’s important is at 10pm Istanbul time we do the best performance possible and that can make the difference.”
Playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, who left the field injured in City’s final defeat to Chelsea two years ago, admits winning the competition has become an obsession as well as a dream.
“Maybe it’s both,” said the Belgium international. “Every professional player wants to win the Champions League and be on top.
“If you can win the Champions League, you’ve reached one of the biggest things you can.”
City have a fully-fit squad for the clash at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, which was also the venue for Liverpool’s remarkable victory in 2005.
Nerves and tension are likely to increase in the build-up to the match but defender Ruben Dias feels the team are ready to thrive in such circumstances.
“We love the pressure, we love it,” he said. “The pressure will make you run faster, jump higher, be more focused.
“That’s what these kind of games need and we need to embrace it. It’s another time for all of us to step up to the occasion.”
Rory McIlroy boosted his chances of a third consecutive RBC Canadian Open title with a flawless second round of 67 in Ontario.
McIlroy recorded five birdies at Oakdale Golf and Country Club to improve to six under par, three shots off the halfway lead held by China’s Carl Yuan.
The world number three first won the tournament by seven shots in 2019 but it was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. McIlroy carded a closing 62 to win at St George’s 12 months ago.
Asked about trying to win the title for a third time on a third different course, McIlroy said: “I sort of like it.
“I like reacting to what I’m seeing out there and targets. And I’m not a great player at playing a course by memory.
“There’s certain venues on tour that I go back to and I play well, but it’s not really because I remember how putts are breaking or where to miss it. It’s just I feel comfortable at that venue.”
Rounds of 68 and 67 gave Yuan a one-shot lead over home favourite Corey Conners, C.T. Pan and the English pair of Tyrrell Hatton and Aaron Rai.
Hatton, who fired six birdies in seven holes from the seventh in his 64, said: “A lot of putts went in, which was nice.
“The greens were a bit funky this afternoon; I managed to hit my start line, they’d bobble off line and thankfully they bobbled back on line and went in. Just happy to see the ball go in the hole and have a decent day.”
Rai was three over par after six holes of his opening round, but has played the next 30 in 11 under in pursuit of his first PGA Tour title.
“It’s a funny game and you can sometimes be playing great but sometimes be doubtful in the mind and not feel amazing over certain shots,” Rai said.
“You can sometimes be playing quite poorly but then kind of flick a switch in the mind and feel very positive about what you’re doing and what’s to come.
“So I think that was the biggest thing that even on hole number seven (on Thursday), although I was three over I felt pretty calm and pretty settled in the situation we were in. I think that was key for then finishing off the round very strongly.”
Keely Hodgkinson lowered her personal best and British record with a brilliant performance in the 800 metres at the Diamond League meeting in Paris.
Hodgkinson followed the pacemaker before striking for home 300m from the line, eventually clocking a time of one minute 55.77 seconds, taking 0.11secs off her previous best set in winning Olympic silver in Tokyo.
“I am a little bit shocked that I ran so fast,” the 21-year-old said. “Paris next year, I will definitely be back.
“The weather was really nice, so warm. I had heard good things about the track. With this full stadium and the great crowd, it was amazing. I am so happy.
“Now the aim is to stay healthy, we still have to see, I want to keep running fast. The focus is on the summer, on Budapest (the World Championships).
“What is next with such a fast time early in the season? Well, I do not know. Hopefully I will run even faster.”
Hodgkinson’s record-breaking run came just half an hour after Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen smashed the two-mile world record by more than four seconds.
Ingebrigtsen left the field trailing in his wake as he recorded a time of seven minutes, 54.10 seconds.
The previous mark was set by Daniel Komen in 1997, three years before Olympic 1,500 metre champion Ingebrigtsen was born.
Records continued to tumble as Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon set a new world’s best for the 5,000m, just a week after doing the same in the 1,500m in Florence.
Kipyegon produced a blistering last lap to pull away from Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey and clock a time of 14:05.20, taking almost a second and a half off Gidey’s previous mark.
The ideal conditions helped produce another world record in the penultimate event of the evening, Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma taking more than a second off the previous mark with a time of 7:52.11 in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase.
Surrey recorded the fourth highest score in T20 Blast history after running up a massive 258 for six in their emphatic 124-run victory over Sussex at Hove.
Laurie Evans led the way with 93 off 51 balls and shared in a 157-run second-wicket stand with with Sam Curran, who clubbed 68 off 35 deliveries. Jamie Overton maintained the impetus with a rapid 24 before Tom Curran smashed three sixes and two fours in an nine-ball 29.
Sussex were never in a position to challenge despite Tom Clark’s 43 off 23 at the top of the order and they were bowled out in the 15th over as Surrey moved second behind Somerset in the South Group with their biggest T20 win.
The leaders, who hold the Blast record with their 265 for five last season, were similarly comfortable 80-run winners over neighbours Gloucestershire.
Opener Will Smeed struck eight sixes and eight fours in a 35-ball 94 to propel his side to 231 for four, which proved well beyond the reach of their hosts at Bristol.
Essex also enjoyed a convincing victory at Glamorgan after Paul Walter’s career-best 78 off 34 saw them post 226 for nine and despite the hosts’ top three all getting into the 40s they could not maintain the momentum.
Kent dented Hampshire’s hopes of keeping the pressure on the top two as they registered only their second victory of the summer as Daniel Bell-Drummond’s 89 off 55 saw them secure a six-wicket win with three balls to spare at Canterbury.
Ben McDermott (57) and Joe Weatherley (67) put on 85 in eight overs in Hampshire’s total of 177 for seven but Jack Leaning hit the third ball of the final over to the boundary for victory.
Shaheen Shah Afridi saw Notts Outlaws home against Derbyshire with a quick 14 off seven balls – including a towering six off Pakistan team-mate Zaman Khan – as they retained top spot in the North Group.
Chasing the hosts’ 142 for six, Notts looked comfortable at 123 for five in the 17th over but the loss of Steven Mullaney ramped up the pressure until Afridi stepped up.
The three-wicket win, their fourth in succession, left Derbyshire still looking for their first victory over their neighbours in this format since 2015.
Moeen Ali, who came out of retirement to rejoin England’s Test squad this week, and Dan Mousley bowled Birmingham Bears to victory over Northamptonshire Steelbacks with three wickets apiece.
Bears failed to complete their full allocation of overs as they were bowled out for 137 – Freddie Heldreich claiming four for 27 – but Northamptonshire were limited to 107 for nine in reply as Birmingham moved into second place.
That was because Worcestershire Rapids came up 26 short in their high-scoring game against Yorkshire, for whom James Wharton scored 111 not out off 56 balls and shared in a second-wicket stand of 159 with Dawid Malan (79) as the Vikings amassed 224 for four at Headingley.
Kashif Ali (48no) and Ben Cox (35) made a game of it with an 81-run stand for the fifth wicket but they could not get their side over the line, finishing on 198 for six as Jordan Thompson took four for 34.
Leicestershire’s second win of the season was not enough to lift them off the foot of the table as they beat Durham by six wickets courtesy of a 149-run second-wicket alliance between Rishi Patel (104 off 49 balls) and Lewis Hill (54 not out).
Australian Ashton Turner had accelerated Durham to 172 for four with a late unbeaten 60 but the Foxes won with 14 balls to spare.
The New York Mets will be without first baseman and Major League home run leader Pete Alonso for the next few weeks due to a wrist injury.
Alonso was placed on the injured list Friday with a sprained left wrist and bone bruise. He will be re-evaluated in three or four weeks.
Alonso suffered the injury when he was hit by a 97-mph fastball during Wednesday's game against the Atlanta Braves.
While X-rays showed no fractures, further testing revealed the injuries that will keep the Mets’ best slugger out for the next month.
The Mets entered play Friday with a 30-33 record and in fourth place in the National League East. They will now be without Alonso, who leads the majors with 22 home runs this season.
The news of Alonso’s absence comes while the Mets are mired in a season-long six-game losing streak.
The Mets called up infielder Luis Guillorme to take Alonso’s roster spot, while duties at first base are expected to be handled by Mark Vientos and Mark Canha.
Alonso is batting .231 this season with an .872 OPS, while his 49 RBIs are the most in the NL.
Since he made his debut in 2019, Alonso has hit 168 home runs and driven in 429 runs, both MLB highs over that span.
The Houston Astros will be without one of baseball's best hitters for the foreseeable future after placing slugger Yordan Alvarez on the 10-day injured list with right oblique discomfort.
The Astros announced the move on Friday and said Alvarez will head back to Houston for further evaluation.
A timetable for a return won't be made until after he's evaluated, though Astros second baseman Jose Altuve suffered a mild oblique injury while swinging a bat on June 2 and ended up missing only four games.
It's possible Houston believes Alvarez's injury is more serious, however, seeing as the team already placed him on the injured list. The recovery time for oblique strains is typically four-to-six weeks.
Alvarez exited Thursday's 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays after experiencing discomfort in his right oblique during his at-bat in the first inning.
He said he initially felt soreness in the oblique on his final swing in the batting cage before the game.
Alvarez ended up grounding out on his first-inning at-bat, ending a 19-game on-base streak in which he slashed .246/.383/.646 with eight home runs, 16 RBIs and 18 runs.
Alvarez leads the majors with 55 RBIs and his 17 home runs trail only New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge's 19 for the most in the AL.
Since the start of the 2021 season, Alvarez's 87 home runs are seventh in MLB.
The 25-year-old won the AL Rookie of the Year in 2019 and made his first All-Star Game last season after hitting 37 home runs - the most ever by a left-handed hitter in Houston franchise history.
Thursday's setback was the third straight loss for the Astros, dropping them to 36-27 - five games behind the first-place Texas Rangers in the AL West.
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