Michael O’Neill is bracing himself for another challenging international window as Northern Ireland’s bruising Euro 2024 qualifying campaign comes to an end this month.
Any hope of reaching next summer’s tournament was virtually extinguished as long ago as June, and with only two wins – both against San Marino – and six defeats in Group H, Northern Ireland would have been forgiven for wanting to fast forward to the end of a campaign ruined by an ongoing injury crisis.
But two games remain and with a trip to Finland, the pot two team in last October’s draw, to come before top seeds Denmark visit Windsor Park on October 20, they are two of the hardest on paper.
O’Neill on Wednesday welcomed back Ciaron Brown and Jordan Jones into his squad but the 26-strong group was another one largely dictated by who is and who is not available due to injury, and the headwinds remain firmly against Northern Ireland.
Finland blew their chance to qualify with back-to-back defeats to Slovenia and Kazakhstan last month, but Denmark are level on points with Slovenia at the top of the standings, looking to finish the job off.
“They will be difficult games but all the games have been difficult,” O’Neill told the PA news agency.
“When I look at the team and I take the results out of it and look at where we are, how we are in possession and a number of other areas, there’s not a lot of difference between all the teams in the group bar Denmark who have been the most dominant.
“We have to look at the positives. We’re not that far behind these teams but we’ve come out on the wrong side of narrow scorelines. We have to learn from that.
“We have been more dominant in possession than some of my previous teams but we’ve not carried the same threat, and obviously we’ve gone behind in games so we’ve not had the opportunity to defend a lead and I think that’s when you’ve seen the best of Northern Ireland, in that situation.”
Although Brown and Jones return, Conor Bradley, Ali McCann and Shayne Lavery all remain unavailable, as do the senior players – Steven Davis, Stuart Dallas, Corry Evans and Shane Ferguson – who have missed the entire campaign.
“It’s a blow not to have young Conor back and to have Ali McCann and Shayne Lavery still out as well,” O’Neill said.
“We’re trying to pick a consistent squad and with the injuries there are still up to seven or eight players who could be involved that aren’t.
“It’s not like there’s a number of players on the periphery we could select ahead of those we have selected. The lads we’ve picked are the ones playing more regular football at their clubs and who merit their place at this moment in time.
“We’re trying to grow a team, to develop a team and we have to continue to do that. With the older players we don’t know what involvement they will have going forward, that’s a decision they have to make.
“The backbone of the squad is very, very young and we have to get as much international experience into them as possible and hopefully that experience is as positive as possible as well.”
Daniel Ballard is fit again after a calf injury, while Shea Charles retains his place in the group although the Southampton player will miss the trip to Helsinki through suspension, having been sent off in last month’s 1-0 home defeat to Slovenia.
Eighteen-year-old striker Callum Marshall is in the squad again after some excellent form for West Ham Under-21s, and will hope for another chance after being denied a debut goal away to Denmark in June when his late equaliser was disallowed.
Knickerbockerglory has the Unibet Greatwood Handicap Hurdle in his sights following his commanding victory at Ascot on Saturday.
Making his seasonal return just 1lb higher than when a brave second in the Imperial Cup in the spring, Knickerbockerglory thrived in his favoured soft ground, coming home with real authority and over four lengths clear of his nearest pursuer Altobelli.
It was the gelding’s first victory since switching back to hurdles from the larger obstacles and Mark Speelman, who purchased the horse in January 2021 and remains an integral part of the Knickerbockerglory team, is hoping there is more to come from their progressive operator.
“It was a great performance in ground that he loved,” he said.
“He ran some very promising races last year. We started over fences but just felt the opportunities for him were better over hurdles and he ran a hell of a race in the Imperial Cup at Sandown where he was second. He led up until the last and was just caught up the run-in.
“He was entitled to win a race of this nature but it was great to see him do it.”
Knickerbockerglory is now set to take his chance at Cheltenham on November 19 providing he recovers sufficiently from his Ascot exertions.
The seven-year-old is a 10-1 chance with sponsors Unibet for the prestigious handicap in which trainer Dan Skelton has a stellar record and connections are dreaming of once again seeing soft appear in the going description for their mud-loving contender.
“They have won it with North Hill Harvey and then again with West Cork a couple of years ago, so they know what it takes to win the race,” added Speelman.
“We’re just seeing how he is and how he comes out of Ascot, but all being well that is the plan.
“It’s very exciting. He will carry a 5lb penalty and went up 7lb, so he will be a couple of pounds well in and hopefully he can back up his Ascot performance with another good one at Cheltenham. We will let him take his chance if he comes out of Ascot as well as we hope he does.
“The softer the ground, the better for him. He’s one of those horses who we will only ever run on ground that is very soft as that is where he thrives – he just seems to get through it a little bit easier than some of the others.”
EFL chairman Rick Parry has defended football’s right to benefit from responsible betting sponsorship and accepts there are no “magic answers” to eradicating addiction issues among players.
The sport’s relationship with gambling has been in the spotlight again recently after a 10-month ban was imposed on Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali by the Italian Football Federation late last month.
The player, who is suffering from a gambling addiction according to his agent, is also being investigated over possible breaches of betting rules in England by the Football Association.
The Big Step campaign, part of the Gambling With Lives charity, said the player deserved “empathy and support” rather than a heavy sanction, adding: “Sending someone addicted to gambling into this environment is like sending an alcoholic to work in a pub. If you force young footballers to endorse addictive products then don’t be surprised if they use them.”
Parry, whose organisation signed a new deal with Sky Bet as its title sponsor in June through to 2029, told the PA news agency that betting companies had made “billions” of pounds out of sport since the introduction of the Gambling Act in 2005 and added: “It’s only fair that there is a way of channelling some of that revenue into sport.
“So enabling sport to negotiate marketing agreements to get a share of the billions that are flowing in is something I have no difficulty with whatsoever as a concept.
“We’ve commissioned research, we’ve looked extensively and we haven’t seen any evidence that sponsorship leads to an increase in gambling or gambling harm.
“The values of gambling in England have been fairly steady across the decades and there is no direct correlation between sponsorship and gambling harm.
“Nobody wants gambling harm, nobody wants players to become addicted, or indeed non-players. But it is two different issues that tend to get conflated in terms of what we are doing with players and indeed with the non players.”
The EFL’s partnership with Sky Bet was singled out for praise in the Government’s white paper on gambling reform published in April as an example of the sort of socially responsible agreement sports should strive for.
Since 2018, Sky Bet funding has supported the EPIC Risk Awareness programme which has provided education to players and staff at all 72 EFL clubs. The programme has reached 2,200 players and staff over the past two years.
Sky Bet’s parent company Flutter will also put £20million into wider research, education and treatment this year alone.
“Behaving responsibly is incredibly important,” Parry added.
“Educating players is something that we’ve been doing for at least the last five years and we’ll continue to do more of that.
“(But) that frankly is never going to stop individuals from wanting to gamble. Ten per cent of people gamble – they always will.
“It is a fact of life, prohibition doesn’t work, so what you have to do is have a framework, that you educate, you behave responsibly, you do everything you can to minimise harm, but eliminating it is incredibly difficult.
“If we didn’t have Sky Bet sponsorship we would still have players betting – they always have, they always will.
“Our responsibility is to try to make sure that we support and that we educate – it’s not just about punishment. As we’ve seen pretty graphically in Italy recently, it’s not just been about identifying punishment, it’s identifying that some of the players have genuine addiction problems. It’s how you assist in rehabilitation as well as punishment, and there are no magic answers.
“It’s a problem that will continue to exist. We have to try to tackle it and address it, without in any way pretending it’s not there.
“But that said, that absolutely shouldn’t preclude us from entering into responsible and sensible marketing arrangements when gambling operators are making a huge amount of money out of sport, and have been encouraged to do so by successive governments.”
Sky Bet will also commit £1million a year to the Building Foundations Fund which will support the community organisations linked to the 72 EFL clubs.
This week is a designated ‘EFL Week of Action’ to highlight the social benefit provided by club community organisations in the towns and cities they serve.
Jack Butland says Rangers players have bought into the new attitude to fitness at Ibrox under Philippe Clement.
Immediately after taking over as Gers boss from Michael Beale, the Belgian emphasised his desire for a much fitter and more robust squad.
Clement is unbeaten in five games and, ahead of the Europa League clash with Sparta Prague at Ibrox on Thursday night, Butland spoke openly about the changes he has witnessed.
The 30-year-old goalkeeper said: “He’s bringing everybody in. Sometimes the old ideas of running stupid distances can be a punishment to people, or feel that way.
“He’s made it clear, if people are doing extra running, it’s not as a punishment, it’s to get you up to the standard of the lads who are getting those numbers in week in week out, so when the opportunity comes he will call on those people, because we will need to over the course of the season – they are not a yard off, they’re up to standard.
“When he articulated it in that way, it’s not as if you’re running because you’re not playing or fit enough, you’re doing extra work to get to the levels we need.
“The lads are on board because that works in everyone’s favour. Those guys, it means they are ready and for the rest of the team and club, every player is ready to go when called upon.”
Butland believes Clement’s new fitness methods are part of his aspiration to simplify football at Ibrox.
The former Stoke and Crystal Palace keeper said: “He’s simplified things, he’s made his demands obvious and not clouded.
“There’s been occasions where he wants to improve certain things and aspects, whether it be fitness or whatever, there’s been things that he’s touched on and been sure to come back and give us reasons as to why and backed up his reasons as to why he’s making us do certain things or play a certain way.
“There’s no grey area, I think the lads know what’s expected and he’s included everybody.
“It’s sort of coming together and I guess we’ve seen that in a short space of time. But the way that the manager is and the way that we are with not stopping at anything, we’ve got things that we want to achieve, a lot of work to do and that’s a conscious effort every single day to keep getting better and improve.
“We’ve come a long way I think, still a way to go, but we’re getting towards the team we want to be.”
West Indies Women's A again came up short against their Pakistani counterparts, as they went down by eight wickets in the Twenty20 Tri Series final in Lahore on Wednesday.
Asked to bat first, West Indies posted a paltry 97-6 from their allotment and that was easily knocked off by Pakistan, who got to 99-2 with 25 balls to spare.
Scores: West Indies Women's A 97-6 (20 overs); Pakistan Women's A 99-2 (15.5 overs)
West Indies suffered and early setback as opener Shabika Gajnabi retired hurt with just eight runs on the board.
That brough captain Rashada Williams to the middle earlier than she would have hoped, but together with Qiana Joseph, added 51 to the board. Joseph, who topscored with a 39-ball 35, which included five fours, fell soon after with the Caribbean side at 59-1 in the 11th over.
Gajnabi returned but added only two runs to the board before she was bowled by Saima Malik for 10.
Williams (18) followed shortly after, and from there it was a downward spiral, as they lost wickets at regular intervals, with Zaida James (12), the only other batter to get into double figures.
Rameen Shamim and Omaima Sohail, both ended with identical figures of 2-17 from four overs to lead Pakistan's bowling.
Much like West Indies, Pakistan's run chase started shakily, as Cherry-Ann Fraser combined with Williams behind the stumps to remove Eyman Fatima (5) with the score at 10-1.
However, Shawaal Zulfiqar and Gull Feroza, steadied the innings with a 43-run second wicket stand that pushed the host closer to their target.
So, even when Feroza went leg-before-wicket to Joseph for a run-a-ball 23, which included three boundaries, Pakistan were in no real danger at 53-2 in the ninth over.
From there, it was left for Zulfiqar, with an unbeaten 39 off 38 balls, and Sohail, with an unbeaten 23-ball 20, to see off the remaining runs. Zulfiqar's knock had four boundaries, while Sohail had a solitary four in her innings.
Ben Stokes smashed his first World Cup century as England picked up a consolation win over Netherlands and raised their prospects of salvaging a place at the Champions Trophy.
The 2019 champions arrived in Pune for a bottom-of-the-table clash with a five-match losing streak behind them and the knowledge that another slip up would see them miss out on ODI cricket’s next global event in 2025.
But despite wobbling once again with the bat – going from 133 for one to 192 for six – Stokes had the will and skill to carry his side to a 160-run victory.
He struck 108 from 84 balls, grafting hard to begin with then accelerating sharply, to lift England to an imposing 339 for nine.
That was always going to be too many for a Dutch side who lacked the firepower to match Stokes and they wilted for 179 all out.
With two points and a healthy boost to their net run-rate England climbed from 10th to seventh in one jump, overtaking their opponents, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Former Tottenham and Northern Ireland goalkeeper Pat Jennings appeared fit and well as he unveiled a statue of himself in Newry on Wednesday, two days after being taken into hospital.
The 78-year-old was taken ill at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday night ahead of Spurs’ match against Chelsea, but was released later than evening and travelled back to his home city for Wednesday’s unveiling.
Jennings, accompanied by his wife and children, took part in the ceremony to reveal a new bronze likeness of him on Kildare Street in the centre of his hometown.
Former Northern Ireland players Billy Hamilton and Gerry Armstrong, ex-Tottenham captain Ledley King, and former Arsenal and Republic of Ireland midfielder Liam Brady were among those in attendance.
During the unveiling Jennings, who played more than 550 times for Spurs and earned 119 caps for Northern Ireland, said he “couldn’t believe” he was having a statue dedicated to him.
“I’d have seen people who are getting statues unveiled of them and never thought it would ever happen to me,” he said.
“Having said that, I’ve had an unbelievable career in football from leaving here as a 17-year-old to join Watford I never dreamt that I’d be back 60 years later, over 60 years, unveiling a statue…
“This is basically my home city, where I wouldn’t want it anywhere else.”
Jennings played for Newry Town before joining Watford in 1963. He signed for Tottenham in 1964 and won the FA Cup, UEFA Cup and League Cup twice at White Hart Lane before switching to rivals Arsenal, again lifting the FA Cup in 1979.
Jennings’ former Arsenal team-mate Brady said Jennings was a “very special person”.
“He’s been a great friend down through the years, he is probably the best goalkeeper in the world at one time, without any doubt,” he said.
“As you say when he left Tottenham, he came to Arsenal and I wanted to be here today to tell everybody that he is an Arsenal player as well. And it’s just unique because he’s loved by both Tottenham and Arsenal supporters and I think he’s the only one in the world that can say that.”
King said he had been able to get to know Jennings personally since his own retirement 12 years ago.
“First of all, what a gentleman and also an icon and a legend of the football club. I love hearing his stories about the great players that he’s played with and against.
“One of my favourites was when he represented his country at 41 years old at a World Cup in his last cap against Brazil, which is amazing to hear.
“It’s a pleasure to be here and what this statue will hopefully do is inspire young people that no matter where you come from in the world that you can achieve anything and go on to be the best.”
Tommy Fleetwood is relishing the “pretty surreal” chance to write his name into the history books with a third straight victory in the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
Fleetwood defeated Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult on the first play-off hole at the Gary Player Country Club in November 2019, but the Covid-19 pandemic meant he had to wait until 2022 to defend the title.
A closing 67 on a weather-affected final day gave the Ryder Cup star a one-shot win over New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and both men are back in Sun City 12 months on to seek victory in the 66-man field.
Fleetwood, who can join an elite group which includes the likes of Tiger Woods and Sir Nick Faldo in winning the same DP World Tour event three times in succession, said: “Ever since the first time I came it’s got a very special feeling to it driving into the gates of Sun City and it’s such an historic event for a lot of us.
“For my generation I guess, and for people older and younger too, but I remember it as the Million Dollar Challenge so it’s always had such a high value.
“And yet to be going for a third win seems pretty surreal, but we’ll see what we can do.”
Victory last year ended a three-year winless run for Fleetwood and the world number 15 again arrived in South Africa seeking a first win of the season.
“I’ve played really well,” said Fleetwood, who lost in a play-off in June’s RBC Canadian Open and posted eight other top-10s in 2023.
“You should always look at the positives and I think this year has been arguably my most consistent year.
“I am very happy with how I’ve been playing. Yes, there’s not been a win, but I’ve been very, very close. Things could have gone either way in certain events. [I’ve] not won yet, but there’s still a couple of events to go for the rest of the year.”
World number eight Max Homa is the top ranked player in the field and has been making the most of the chance to see the local wildlife, along with Ryder Cup team-mate Justin Thomas.
“The safari is life changing,” Homa said. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to explain this to my friends and family. I would never do it justice.
“A running joke between Justin and I is that if I was a guide it would be all made up and just tremendously terrible. But it’s just so cool to spend some time away from the golf course and experience kind of what the world has to offer.
“When I was growing up I watched this tournament and tons of DP World Tour events that I always wanted to play in. With the previous PGA Tour schedule it would be wild to try and do this. You would have to battle jet lag from tournament to tournament.
“But now, with a real off-season for us, I made it a point to play at least one over here. To be able to get a spot here and play has been a dream.”
Philippe Clement declared he wants to build a “machine” at Rangers as he prepares for the Europa League clash with Sparta Prague at Ibrox on Thursday night.
The Belgian is unbeaten in five games since taking over as Gers boss from Michael Beale, with the only blip a goalless draw against the Czech side in Prague last month.
Rangers secured a Viaplay Cup final date with Aberdeen courtesy of a “positive” 3-1 victory over Hearts at Hampden Park on Sunday, and Clement is wanting more.
“It is just the start,” said the former Genk, Club Brugge and Monaco boss, who revealed winger Scott right was a “serious doubt” with a muscle injury but striker Kemar Roofe will return to the squad despite being only able to contribute “five or 10 minutes”.
“For me a good team is a team that does it for months.
“And of course there will be one moment where it will be less (a dip) but the next game there is a reaction.
“Of course I am happy with the way things are going but I am not sitting on the sofa and thinking now we can let everything loose and the machine will go.
“I want to create a machine and I think it is possible with this group to create a machine that goes every time but we are not there yet.
“We are in the building period, not just observing. I don’t know everyone really well at the moment in every circumstances.
“I want to see how players react with the first disappointment or play a really good game and the next game they don’t start.
“I seen that in the semi-final. There were players who played a really good game a few games before (against Dundee) and then didn’t play in the semi-final. How is their reaction?
“So I need an observation period for a few weeks, a few months to get the details of everybody and get the best out of everybody.
“Do I need to slap them more or be nice more? It is different for every player.”
After three Group C fixtures, Spanish side Real Betis sit top on six points with Sparta Prague and Rangers on four and Cypriot side Aris Limassol on three.
Clement said: “European nights are always something special, they have always been.
“I love it and I hope it is a really positive atmosphere in the stadium.
“I always want to win and I want a team that always wants to win, if it is against Prague or Real Madrid, it doesn’t matter to me.
“I want a team who is ambitious and wants to win the game, I am not looking for a draw but it can be that at the end of the section that a draw is also important. But we are going for three points.”
Defenders Leon Balogun and Ridvan Yilmaz were not named in Rangers’ European squad and thus drop out.
Midfielder Nicolas Raskin (ankle) and defender John Souttar (muscle problem) remain out but Clement hopes they will return after the international break.
Jumps fans are served up a midweek treat in Ireland on Thursday as one of the sport’s superstars makes his long-awaited return in the Clonmel Oil Chase.
Willie Mullins has landed seven of the last 10 editions of the Grade Two feature at Powerstown Park, with Champagne Fever (2014), Kemboy (2018) and Douvan (2019) among those on the roll of honour.
This year the champion trainer saddles two of the of declared runners, with Janidil joined by his long-absent and esteemed stablemate Allaho.
The Cheveley Park Stud-owned gelding was spectacular in winning back-to-back renewals of the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham, pummelling his rivals by 12 and 14 lengths respectively, before successfully stepping up to three miles with a 14-length demolition job in the 2022 Punchestown Gold Cup.
He has not been seen in competitive action since the latter of those triumphs 19 months ago, but will nevertheless be a short price to dispatch of his three rivals in the hands of Paul Townend.
“Allaho has been fantastic for us, winning a couple of Ryanairs, a Punchestown Gold Cup and a John Durkan. It’s great to see him back and hopefully he can show us that he’s back to his best,” said Cheveley Park Stud director Richard Thompson.
“He’s nine turning 10 in January, he’s been one of the stalwarts from the bunch of jumps horses we bought and hopefully we’ll still have some good days with him.
“He’s been off the track since April 2022, a good year and a half, so it will be fascinating to see him back and we’ll see how he gets on.
“Before he got injured last season we hoped he might be a three-time winner of the Ryanair and hopefully still can be.”
The biggest threat to the Mullins pair is French Dynamite, who bids to provide Mouse Morris with another big-race win following Gentlemansgame’s victory in the Charlie Hall at Wetherby on Saturday.
Morris said: “He’ll probably take the run and it would be hard to think we’ll beat Allaho, but it’s a good place to start and it will put him right for wherever we want to go afterwards.”
John Ryan’s outsider Grange Walk completes the quartet.
Steve Clarke wants Scotland to use their final Euro 2024 qualifiers against Georgia and Norway to regain their momentum ahead of the finals in Germany next summer.
The Scots initially suspected they might need positive results from their last two games in Group A to qualify so organised a warm-weather training camp in Turkey at the start of next week to give themselves the best possible preparation ahead of their penultimate fixture in Tbilisi on Thursday.
However, after a blistering start to their campaign, they sealed their place at the tournament with two games to spare, so their main priority in the upcoming camp is to spark an upturn in results after successive defeats against England, Spain and France.
“We’ll be doing something similar to what we did when we went to Moldova (in 2021, when they had a warm-weather training camp in Spain), so we’ll leave early, on Sunday night after the games, and we’re going to stop off in Turkey and have a couple of days of hopefully warm weather there to break up the journey,” Clarke said at a press conference on Wednesday after naming his squad for the double-header.
“We identified these two games – Georgia away and Norway at home – as crucial games in the qualification process, but credit to the players, they’ve already qualified, so the games are not quite as crucial.
“But when you strip it back, we’ve lost the last three games, so we want to pick up a little bit of momentum going into the tournament next summer, so these two games are very important for us.
“It will be good to come here to finish the campaign with a home game against Norway and hopefully a good performance.
“It will be a chance for the crowd to thank the players and a chance for the players to thank the crowd. It will be a bit of a poor night if we don’t win the game, so let’s make sure we win the game.”
The 2-0 defeat by Spain in Seville saw Scotland relinquish top spot in Group A on goal difference. Spain finish away to Cyprus and at home to Georgia.
“I think to finish top is going to be very difficult,” said Clarke. “As I sit here now, it’s difficult for me to see Spain dropping any points from their last two games.
“We’ll just focus on ourselves and, if we can finish on the same points as Spain and they manage to top the group by an unfortunate slip from Aaron Hickey in the 2-0 defeat by Spain in Seville, we’ll take that.”
Scotland are missing four established starters for this month’s double-header, with goalkeeper Angus Gunn, captain Andrew Robertson, and fellow defenders Kieran Tierney and Aaron Hickey all injured.
Rangers defender John Souttar and Millwall forward Kevin Nisbet are the other notable absentees following their recent fitness issues.
Uncapped duo Josh Doig and Robby McCrorie, both of whom have been in previous camps, have been included, along with Celtic right-back Anthony Ralston.
“This is probably the toughest it’s been in terms of injuries in the last year or so,” said Clarke. “I remember in September last year we had to go to Ukraine in the Nations League with pretty much a shadow squad, but we dug in and got the result required.
“That’s what we’ll do this time. We can talk about the ones who are not here, but I always prefer to talk about the ones that are going to be here, so fingers crossed there are no more injuries before the squad meet up on Sunday.”
With first-choice Gunn missing with an injury he sustained for Norwich against Leeds last month, Motherwell’s Liam Kelly and Hearts’ Zander Clark, both of whom made their international bows in the friendly defeat by France last month, will vie to make their competitive debuts over the next two games.
“Obviously one of them is going to get a chance to play in the games coming up, so it’s a big camp for them,” said Clarke. “They know they have to impress.
“They’ve been in a lot of squads so they understand it and know the expectation around them. Hopefully they train well and are ready to play.”
Clarke included uncapped Verona left-back Doig after he was initially named in Scot Gemmill’s under-21 squad this week.
“Josh is doing well in Serie A, playing pretty regularly for his club,” said Clarke.
“He’s a good, athletic player who gets up and down the line. It will be nice to see how he’s improved and how he fits into the camp since we last saw him last September.”
Clarke insists he has not allowed his attention to turn towards his final 23-man squad for the Euros just yet.
“It won’t be a headache, it will be a difficult choice,” he said. “There’s obviously going to be a lot of people that want to be there.
“For me, it’s about not thinking too far ahead to picking the 23 because as this camp shows, injuries can turn up at any time.
“There’s a long way to go before the final squad is picked. Every game between now and the squad selection for the Euros next summer is a chance for somebody to impress so hopefully they take their chances.”
Gold Cup hero Subjectivist will stand at the Skelton family’s Alne Park Stud next year.
The six-year-old was a brilliant winner of the Royal Ascot showpiece in 2021, adding to his previous big-race victories in the Prix Royal-Oak and Dubai Gold Cup.
A career-threatening tendon injury sidelined Subjectivist for the best part of two years following his Gold Cup heroics, but he did finish an honourable third in his bid for a second victory in the two-and-a-half-mile contest this summer before being retired.
He will now be readied for a stallion career in Warwickshire in 2024 with a stud fee of £4,000.
Alne Park Stud director Grace Skelton, wife of leading National Hunt trainer Dan, said: “The addition of Subjectivist to our stallion roster is a huge leap forward for Alne Park Stud. To stand a stallion of this calibre is an immense honour.
“He will stand at an introductory fee of £4,000. We firmly believe that keeping this exceptional stallion in the UK is a real boost to British breeders and we hope that he will see plenty of support in his debut season.”
Subjectivist was initially trained by Mark Johnston, before his son Charlie took over the licence, and he added: “I always say that, when placing horses, the opposition trumps all other factors. But, very rarely, you come across a horse where the opposition isn’t a factor at all. Subjectivist was such a horse.
“In 2021, I truly believed that there wasn’t a horse in the world that could beat him at two miles or more, in any ground.
“There is less and less need for British NH (National Hunt) breeders to travel to Ireland and, with the incentives on offer in the UK, perhaps the Irish breeders will be thinking of coming over here!”
Porta Fortuna could be aimed at a Guineas trial in the spring following her narrow defeat at the Breeders’ Cup on Saturday.
The daughter of Caravaggio has enjoyed an excellent campaign for trainer Donnacha O’Brien, highlighted by her big-race wins in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Cheveley Park at Newmarket.
Stepping up to a mile for the first time for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, Porta Fortuna was beaten just half a length into second by Hard To Justify and will now be given a well-earned break.
O’Brien said: “She ran very well and we were delighted with her. Obviously she’s had a long season, for her to be holding her form this late in the year shows how brave a filly she is.
“I think she got the trip well, it wasn’t an issue, and we’re going to give her a good break now.
“I’m not sure exactly when she’ll be back out, but we might look at a Guineas trial over seven furlongs to try to get a read on her and see whether we go back sprinting or go back to a mile.
“That would be the thinking for now, but obviously it’s a long way away.”
Gary Moore is keen for a crack at the Ladbrokes Long Walk Hurdle with Botox Has after his winning return at Wetherby.
The game seven-year-old had been off the track since finishing fourth in Cheltenham’s Cleeve Hurdle in January and pulled out arguably a career-best performance to deny Red Risk by a length in the West Yorkshire Hurdle.
That was the second time he has struck at Grade Two level and his handler was thrilled to see him return from 280 days off in such brilliant form.
“It was good to see him back on form, he’s a big-hearted horse who tries really hard,” said Moore.
“It worried me when he made a mistake two out, but he stuck to his guns and won quite well in the end.”
Botox Has holds an entry for the Betfair Exchange Stayers’ Handicap Hurdle at Haydock later this month – a race he won 12 months ago.
However, Moore is keen to stick to the graded route in a division without a standout performer and is eyeing up a first run in Grade One company at Ascot on December 23.
“I hope to train him for the Long Walk Hurdle now, that’s what I hope the plan will be,” he added.
“Whether he won the other day because he was fitter than the rest of them and because he had been trained for that race, I don’t know? He always does run well fresh, but I hope he can improve on that.
“It’s probably not quite the strongest division there is.”
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