Jonny Bairstow was stranded one short of a dazzling Ashes century and Mark Wood blew a hole in Australia’s top order as England continued their fourth Test domination of Australia.
Bairstow was left high and dry on 99 not out from just 81 balls as England blazed their way to 592 on day three at Emirates Old Trafford, building on Zak Crawley’s 189-run blitz on Thursday.
That gave them a commanding lead of 275 over their increasingly beleaguered rivals, who made an uncertain 113 for four in reply and now find themselves relying on a poor weekend weather forecast to escape with a draw.
Wood, once again hurdling the 90mph barrier to unsettle the Australians, claimed three for 17 as Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith and Travis Head all succumbed.
Bairstow has had an eventful series – falling victim to a deeply controversial stumping at Lord’s, making some costly wicketkeeping errors and even tussling with a Just Stop Oil protester – but put himself in the thick of things for all the right reasons with an outstanding innings.
England were 67 ahead overnight and 120 in front when he arrived at the crease, but his dominant strokeplay piled on the misery for the Australians.
Despite a ring of boundary riders trying to shut him down he hammered four sixes and 10 fours to carry his side to their highest Ashes total at home since 1985.
Bairstow’s controlled aggression was deserving of a hundred but, after expertly managing the strike for the majority of his time with the tail, he found himself stuck at the non-striker’s end after deciding against a risky second that could have got him there.
Last man James Anderson was trapped lbw by Cameron Green’s next ball, stopping Bairstow in his tracks and making him just the third English batter to finish undefeated on 99.
Sir Geoffrey Boycott (1979) and Alex Tudor (1999) are the only others to suffer that fate, but Bairstow was grinning broadly as he left the pitch.
He has been eyeing a measure of revenge ever since his divisive dismissal in the second Test at Lord’s and helped himself to a healthy portion.
Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were both on the receiving end of muscular sixes thrashed into the leg-side, but Bairstow would have taken most satisfaction from the pair of furious blows off Pat Cummins, the Australia captain who refused to withdraw the appeal at Lord’s.
Cummins, who has looked bereft of energy and inspiration this week, ended up with figures of one for 129, the worst analysis of his career.
Bairstow also took liberties against fellow wicketkeeper Alex Carey, the man who threw down his stumps to kick off the ‘spirit of cricket’ rumpus in the first place.
In a bid to shield Anderson from the strike, Bairstow charged through for a bye on several occasions despite the ball carrying cleanly through to Carey’s gloves.
To the audible delight of the crowd, Carey repeatedly failed to hit the target from exactly the same range he had done so two games ago.
England’s day started in typically lively fashion, with a morning session that added 122 runs and four wickets to the scoreboard in just 24 overs.
There were half-centuries for Ben Stokes (51) and Harry Brook (61), and some success for Hazlewood, who finished with five for 126 amid the carnage.
Bairstow was afforded a centurion’s ovation as he left the field, the Manchester crowd overlooking the small matter of a missing single, but did not linger over the moment. His mind was already trained on the next job, with 12 overs to bowl before tea.
Wood was brought on for the 10th and needed just two deliveries to have Usman Khawaja caught behind.
Australia began the evening session on 39 for one, and proceeded to cough up more top-order talent on a pitch that was playing true.
David Warner was first for 28, continuing a poor series by steering Woakes back into his stumps with an uncertain poke outside off.
Woakes thought he had Smith for a duck but saw the TV umpire rule in the batter’s favour when assessing an uncertain slip catch. It looked an extremely close call but the indifferent reaction of the catcher, Joe Root, might have settled it.
In the end it took Wood’s hostility to keep England on the front foot. After bowling just three overs out of the first 28, he returned for a final blast and took Smith and Head with him.
Smith gloved a catch down leg, clearly hurried by the speed, and Head got into an awful position as he fended a rapid bouncer away from his chest and straight to Ben Duckett at gully.
Mauricio Pochettino has continued his Chelsea clear-out with striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang completing his move to French Ligue 1 side Marseille.
Marseille confirmed the signing of the 34-year-old Gabon international on Friday, which brings an end to his miserable time in west London.
Aubameyang scored one goal in 15 Premier League appearances for the Blues and was left out of the squad for the Champions League knock-out stages by then boss Graham Potter in February.
Aubameyang has previous experience in Ligue 1 having played for St Etienne for two years from 2011 and 2013 as well as loan spells with Dijon, Lille and Monaco.
The former Arsenal striker joined Chelsea on a two-year contract from Barcelona last September in a deal that saw Marcos Alonso move in the other direction.
But he struggled to settle following the departure of boss Thomas Tuchel and it became increasingly evident that his stay at Stamford Bridge would not be a long one.
Aubameyang follows the likes of Kai Havertz and Mason Mount out of the club this summer while Romelu Lukaku – who preceded Aubameyang in the club’s supposedly “cursed” number nine shirt – Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi are all absent from the club’s current pre-season tour of the United States.
The curse of Chelsea’s number nine shirt claimed its latest victim after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s unhappy 21-game spell was ended by a move to Marseille.
The last dozen players to wear the shirt have struggled to make a prolonged impact – including three club-record signings up front, but also a holding midfielder and a certain Dutch defender.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the “Curse of Khalid Boulahrouz”.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 2022-23
“It’s cursed, it’s cursed, people tell me it’s cursed!” said then-manager Thomas Tuchel last summer, adding: “There was not a big demand for number nine, nobody wants to touch it.”
Aubameyang was not deterred but, after arriving with a broken jaw sustained in a robbery at his Barcelona home and seeing his former Borussia Dortmund boss Tuchel sacked the day after his debut, he failed to establish himself under Graham Potter – he was not even included in the squad for the Champions League knock-out stages, despite scoring two of his three Chelsea goals in the group stage.
Romelu Lukaku, 2021-22
The Belgium striker returned from Inter Milan for a second spell at the club for £97.5million but within months his frustrations became clear in an interview with Sky Sport Italia.
Despite 15 goals in all competitions, it was no surprise when he returned to Inter on loan. He scored 14 goals in the season while wearing number 90 at San Siro and has been left out of Chelsea’s pre-season tour of America.
Tammy Abraham, 2019-21
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was the last inarguably Chelsea number nine but amid almost £250m spent to fill the troublesome shirt in the 18 years since his departure, academy product Abraham produced arguably the most successful spell with 15 league goals and 18 in total in 2019-20. Twelve more the following year earned a move to Roma under former Blues boss Jose Mourinho.
Gonzalo Higuain, 2018-19
The Argentinian’s loan from Juventus yielded five goals in 18 appearances. He was shunted to number 21 on his return to Juve and terminated his contract early the following season to move to Inter Miami.
Alvaro Morata, 2017-18
A then club-record buy for £60m, the Spaniard scored 15 goals in his debut season but fell out of favour, switching to number 29 and adding another nine goals before joining Atletico Madrid.
Radamel Falcao, 2015-16
The Colombian scored once in 12 games in an injury-hit season.
Fernando Torres, 2011-14
The then British-record £50m signing from Liverpool got the longest run at making the Blues’ number nine shirt work for him, wearing it 172 times across three and a half seasons.
He scored 45 goals, including a memorable Champions League semi-final clincher against Barcelona, and set up another 26 but several prolonged scoring droughts saw him move on to AC Milan on loan and then his boyhood club Atletico Madrid.
Franco Di Santo, 2008-09
Fourteen scoreless substitute appearances were all Di Santo had to show for his time in west London.
Steve Sidwell, 2007-08
The former Reading midfielder managed only 24 appearances, scoring once. A largely defensive player, he would have been a glaringly unlikely wearer of the number nine shirt had it not been for his immediate predecessor…
Khalid Boulahrouz, 2006-07
The versatile Netherlands defender was assigned one of the few available numbers after his £8.5m arrival from Hamburg. He lasted one season and 23 appearances in all competitions before a loan to Sevilla and a permanent exit to Stuttgart.
Hernan Crespo, 2005-06
The Argentina striker had already spent a season at Stamford Bridge wearing number 21, scoring 12 goals, and a year on loan at Milan before Mourinho recalled him and gave him number nine as a show of faith. He added another 13 goals and a league title but soon returned to his earlier employers Inter.
Mateja Kezman, 2004-05
Inheriting the shirt from Hasselbaink, Kezman failed to make a similar impact with just seven goals in his sole season.
Archie Watson has some fine sprinters in his care and Action Point signalled himself as another top prospect, taking the Listed Ire-Incentive – It Pays To Buy Irish Rose Bowl Stakes at Newbury.
Hollie Doyle was positive from the start of the six-furlong heat and the son of Blue Point was always happy on the front end, travelling sweetly.
Though the 14-1 shot was tracked by the well-supported Asadna, with the former George Boughey-trained colt making his debut for Alice Haynes, the 5-4 favourite failed to pick up when Oisin Murphy asked the question two furlongs out.
Action Point, who had won on his Kempton all-weather debut in April, but had been drawn on the wrong side when 15th of 23 home in the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot, kept finding more and had plenty in the locker to fend off Shagraan, who made late headway to snatch second from Asadna.
Cogitate may have caught trainer Charlie Hills by surprise, yet signalled himself a smart prospect after producing an eyecatching debut, sparking Doyle’s double on the card.
The 14-1 chance took the first division of the R &M Electrical EBF Novice Stakes with some aplomb.
The son of Churchill travelled well throughout and picked up long-time leader and eventual third Maximum Dividend with ease inside the final furlong, and went on to beat the staying-on Boiling Point by two lengths.
Hills will now target the Acomb Stakes at York, a race the Lambourn yard has won three times with Auction House (1998), Dutch Connection (2014) and Phoenix Of Spain (2018).
He told Racing TV: “He took everything well in his stride, in the preliminaries, went down nice, jumped good and it was a little bit muddling, a little bit messy mid-race, a few horses a bit green, but he got into a good rhythm and the gap opened. He was a little bit green for a couple of strides and then he picked up nicely.
“I wasn’t quite expecting him to do that today. He qualifies for races like the Acomb now, so York, that could suit him well and we have won that a couple of times before. That could be a race we have in mind – that’s a nice gap until then. He’s going to make a lovely three-year-old.”
Warm Spell was a warm order to land the second division and the 8-11 favourite duly obliged under a hand-and-heels ride from David Egan.
Runner-up to the smart Thunder Blue at Goodwood on debut, the Roger Varian-trained Mehmas colt had clearly learned plenty for the experience and Egan was keen to settle him in behind early, before producing a withering run to coast past debutant Skukuza, with Thyer staying on nicely for third.
Varian was in two minds about jumping up to seven furlongs so quickly and said: “David did a good job, he settled in straight from the stalls, he travelled nicely through the race and showed a nice turn of foot. Hopefully he’s a nice horse going forward.
“I think now we’ve gone over seven (furlongs), I think we’ll stick to seven.
“We’ve always felt he’s quite a nice horse and there are some nice two-year-old races coming up and he probably is a horse where we can dip our toe into something nicer, but quite what that is, we’ll have to see what fits.”
Irish raider Night Sparkle (9-2) showed plenty of determination under Dylan Browne McMonagle to take victory in the Uhy Ross Brooke Chartered Accountants Fillies’ Handicap for trainer Michael O’Callaghan.
She followed up her cosy Fairyhouse success last month in fine style, fending off the late thrust of Flash Bardot to score by a comfortable neck in the extended 13-furlong contest.
O’Callaghan may look to York for her next run and said: “It was great and a nice pot to win. She is progressive.
“Dylan is a great young rider and gave her a great ride. He picked her up early in the straight as after riding her at Fairyhouse, he knew all she’d do was stay.
“She stays all day – that’s her asset. We might possibly look at big staying handicaps. I thought earlier in the year she might be one for the Irish Cesarewitch, but maybe we might just look at the Ebor consolation race. We’ll see.
“You just don’t know where these improving mares might stop. She’s won that off top weight and is possibly capable of getting a bit of black type.”
Georgina Nicholls sent out her first Flat winner in almost 20 years as Betties Bay took the bet365 British EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes under Joshua Bryan, beating Bourgeoisie by a nose.
A drop in grade helped the Sir Michael Stoute-trained grey Fox Journey (11-8 favourite) to victory in the Quickmove Handicap under Jim Crowley, his stamina proving too much for Sovereign Spirit.
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 July 21.
FootballEngland defender Lotte Wubben-Moy started her Doodle Diary again.
Another nice bit of artwork.
Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe reflected on her country’s World Cup opener.
Nigeria forward Deborah Abiodun apologised for her red card against Canada.
Burnley once again got creative with their transfer announcement.
Tottenham continued their tour.
View this post on InstagramSheffield United’s new man is a dab hand at other sports too.
Happy birthdays.
Liverpool turned the clock back.
CricketA rubbish day for Australia.
GolfMatt Wallace’s shirt in the second round of the Open caused a stir.
Richie Ramsay went for orange and black…
….another one to consider.
Justin Rose was optimistic.
Formula OneDaniel Ricciardo was excited to make a return with a new helmet at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
And his fans were pleased to see him back too.
Boyband credentials for the top three in practice.
George Ford says England’s players have been teasing Marcus Smith about using rumoured interest from Racing 92 as “leverage” to negotiate his new contract at Harlequins.
Smith this week ensured he will remain available for Test selection for the foreseeable future by agreeing an extended deal with the 2021 Gallagher Premiership champions.
French club Racing, who will be coached by former England boss Stuart Lancaster next season, were reportedly lining up the 24-year-old as a potential replacement for Bath-bound Finn Russell.
“There has been a fair bit of joking going on,” Ford said of his fellow fly-half.
“Whatever the rumours were about Racing a few weeks ago, everyone was saying, ‘you were always going to stay at Quins, you were just using that as a bit of leverage’.
“I’ve spoken to him, obviously he’s delighted to be staying, it’s his club and the influence he has on that team is incredible so I’m sure everyone at Quins will be buzzing for him to stay.
“I can only speak for myself but when you’re English and you want to play for England, you’ve got to play for an English club.
“It means a lot to play at club level and international level for us all, it’s no different for Marcus.”
Ford and Smith are currently working together at England’s Surrey training base as part of a 39-man preliminary World Cup squad.
Steve Borthwick is fine tuning plans for the forthcoming tournament in France, with four warm-up matches scheduled next month.
The head coach was given less than nine months to prepare for the game’s greatest competition after replacing Eddie Jones on December 19.
While Australia, who subsequently appointed Jones in January, and Wales have also recently changed coach, Ford warned England must be the “fastest-learning team” in order to be up to speed in time for their Pool D opener fixture against Argentina on September 9.
Yet the 30-year-old Sale player also believes the situation could prove beneficial.
“I think we’re in a unique place in terms of that,” said Ford, who is preparing for his third successive World Cup. “It’s a great opportunity.
“In terms of the timeframe, we’ve got to be the quickest and fastest-learning team, it’s just the nature of where we’re at.
“At the previous World Cup, we had four years together and it was quite consistent in terms of squad, coaches et cetera but this is a lot different.
“I still think there is a massive opportunity here and one that I don’t think is going to hold us back if we get it right. I think it could be a massive positive for us.
“Sometimes, in a funny way, when you’ve got less time to get somewhere, you’ve got less thinking and less messing around to get there.
“You’ve just got to go and I think that’ll help us as a team.”
Max Verstappen handed his rivals the slimmest of hopes that he could be beaten at Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix after he finished only 11th in practice.
The dominant Dutchman, who has won eight of the 10 rounds so far and six in succession to establish a 99-point lead in the standings, has mastered all conditions this season.
But Verstappen unusually ended the sole dry running here six tenths back from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with McLaren’s Lando Norris – fresh from his impressive second place at the British Grand Prix – 0.015 seconds adrift of the scarlet car.
Lewis Hamilton was 16th with Mercedes team-mate George Russell 20th and last on a topsy-turvy day at the Hungaroring.
Despite Verstappen being off the pace, times in practice must be treated with a degree of caution as different setup and fuel loads are trialled.
It is also worth noting that a number of the top teams will have held back fresh rubber following the reduction of tyre allocation from 13 sets to 11 here.
Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez took two wins from the opening four, but the Mexican has been on a torrid run since, and his bad form continued when he crashed out of first practice.
The opening one-hour running of the weekend was dry and barely a few minutes old when Perez – on his first lap – lost control of his Red Bull and ended up in the wall.
The Mexican put two wheels on the grass under braking for the fifth corner, sending him into a pirouette and into the tyre barrier.
Perez was unharmed in the accident but he sustained significant damage to the front of his machine. It also denied the rest of the field any dry running as the heavens opened with the red flags deployed to recover Perez’s wounded machine.
The 33-year-old is under increasing pressure at Red Bull following five-consecutive qualifying sessions in which he has failed to make it into Q3. On each of those occasions, Verstappen has scored pole position in the other Red Bull.
Daniel Ricciardo’s comeback at Red Bull’s junior team AlphaTauri is also likely to be playing on Perez’s mind, with the Australian admitting he is daring to dream about the possibility of a return to the grid’s all-conquering team.
Perez was able to take part in the day’s concluding action but he locked up and flat-spotted his front-right tyre and could manage only 18th, 1.3 sec slower than Leclerc.
Ricciardo, back in the saddle in place of the sacked Nyck De Vries, has a dozen races to prove he still possesses the prowess which carried him to eight wins.
He finished 14th in his first outing since last year’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, seven tenths back and 10 places behind his new team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
Matej Mohoric won stage 19 of the Tour de France in a photo finish at the end of a furious day’s racing in the Jura.
Mohoric and Thursday’s winner Kasper Asgreen came to the line neck and neck, with Ben O’Connor third, after the trio broke away from a 37-strong breakaway when it broke into several pieces on the final climb some 30 kilometres from the end of the 173km stage from Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny.
A stage characterised by non-stop attacking was raced at an average speed of 49.1kmh over rolling terrain, the fastest stage of this year’s Tour and the fifth fastest ever, but after all that effort it came down to a bike throw on the line.
O’Connor launched his sprint first 400 metres from the finish but knew it was a doomed move against two faster men. Asgreen was the first to come around but Mohoric timed it perfectly to take victory by a tyre’s width.
The front three came in just shy of 40 seconds clear of a chasing group, with Jasper Philipsen repeating his fourth place of 24 hours earlier.
There was no change at the top of the general classification, with race leader Jonas Vingegaard finishing safely within the main peloton almost 14 minutes down, needing now only to survive Saturday’s mountain stage to Le Markstein before he can begin celebrations on the road into Paris.
For a second day running the Tour passed through territory ideal for a breakaway, but such was the fight to get into it that 60km had been covered before a nine-strong group went away.
After Nils Politt broke his chain, their advantage of a minute quickly tumbled and a counter move of 29 riders came up to join them.
Victor Campenaerts and Simon Clarke tried to go off the front but after Clarke cramped up the group exploded on the final climb still with nearly 30km to the finish.
That gave Mohoric, Asgreen and O’Connor their chance to go clear as they went over the top first, and a powerful chasing group could not close the gap on the straight descent into town.
Mohoric had to wait for confirmation of his win, but as soon as it came the emotions poured out of the Slovenian, who paid tribute to some of the unsung heroes of cycling – the mechanics and carers working behind the scenes – while also remembering his late team-mate Gino Mader.
It was a third stage win of Mohoric’s career, and also a third of this Tour for the Bahrain-Victorious team – another opportunity for them to pay tribute to Mader after his tragic death at the Tour de Suisse last month.
“It means a lot because it’s hard and cruel to be a professional cyclist, you suffer a lot in your preparations, you sacrifice your life, your family and you give everything you can to get here ready,” Mohoric said.
“After a couple of days you realise everyone is so incredibly strong, it’s so hard to follow the wheels some days…sometimes you feel like you don’t belong…
“When Kasper went I knew it was the decisive attack, he was so incredibly strong to win the stage yesterday but he has the will and determination to do it again today.
“I knew I had to do everything perfect, I tried my best for Gino and for the team and in the end you almost feel like you betray (your rivals) because you beat them to the line but it’s just the way professional sport is and everyone wants to win.
“If I want to win I have to follow the wheel of Kasper and then try to beat him in the last 50 metres. I just feel so many things right now.”
Anita Asante feels there have been “important steps” taken with regard to the diversity issue in English women’s football but has stressed it will take some time to see them bear fruit.
During England’s run to winning Euro 2022, Asante wrote in the Guardian about the lack of diversity in a squad featuring just three members from black, Asian or mixed heritage backgrounds out of 23, with the player pathway and access to football for girls in schools among the issues the former Lioness pointed to as problems.
In February, the Football Association announced a revamped women’s and girls’ pathway that it said would make the game more diverse and accessible, with up to 70 ‘Emerging Talent Centres’ being established across the country.
In March the Government announced a package to boost school sport and equal access to it, something the FA is set to help deliver, following England’s players calling for change just after the Euros.
More recently, an England squad for this summer’s World Cup has been named that has only two players from black, Asian or mixed heritage backgrounds, while a major independent review has said the FA should “urgently address the lack of diversity across the women’s game in both on and off pitch roles”, recommending it audits the existing workforce and uses the data to create a workforce strategy.
Asked for her thoughts on the current picture, Asante told the PA news agency: “I think the main thing is these issues and discussions have been taken seriously for the first time by the FA.
“They launched the emerging talent centres, they’ve got a list of different programmes, and the England girls launched the initiative with the Government.
“I think those were important steps, but this is still a very short-term window we’re looking at in terms of that progress. To see the fruits of that progress I think is going to take a lot longer.
“The review is a welcome one, because it still highlights that that is an issue. It’s about how can the recommendations be implemented for the long-term, to see the changes we want to see.”
The ex-Arsenal, Chelsea and Aston Villa defender added: “If you look at the structures of governance in sport – are the institutions themselves reflective of diverse communities? Because I can talk about this all day long, but I don’t have the influence or the power. It’s people within.
“How important do they feel diversity is? What channels are they using to make things change?”
Asante feels a broad issue at grassroots level feeding into the current situation is that while participation interest has “gone up exponentially” since the Euros, “the infrastructure hasn’t moved on with that” with regard to staff, volunteers and facilities in place.
She has also emphasised her feeling that the FA utilising former players within the pathway, such as England greats Rachel Yankey and Mary Phillip, would be a “powerful tool”.
Asante, who won 71 England caps, has been working as a first-team coach at Bristol City Women since retiring from playing last summer.
And she said: “One of the reasons I took on this role was I felt it was important to give back in the way I could – to give players a different experience by meeting someone like me maybe from my background and journey in the game, and also to try to be a positive role model for others that might want to become coaches or just be involved in football somehow.”
An FA spokesperson said: “We are making progress in improving the diversity of our talent pathway and the wider game.
“However, these are long-term challenges, and they require all of football’s stakeholders to play their part if we are to drive lasting change.”
When her World Cup squad was announced, England boss Sarina Wiegman expressed her hope that ongoing work would lead to “more players from different backgrounds in the national team”, while stressing it “takes a little more time.”
Among the mixed results in the Football Leadership Diversity Code update for 2021-22 that it published in October, the FA reported women’s clubs reaching a 15 per cent pledge of new coaching hires coming from black, Asian or mixed heritage backgrounds.
Epsom runner-up Savethelastdance bids to go one better in the Juddmonte Irish Oaks at the Curragh – in which stablemate and Royal Ascot winner Warm Heart is seen as her main threat.
Savethelastdance, the choice of Ryan Moore, was an unheralded filly through the winter having only finished fifth on her sole start at two.
She reappeared in April on heavy ground at Leopardstown, where she surprised by winning at odds of 20-1 before destroying the opposition in the Cheshire Oaks at Chester by 22 lengths.
On quicker ground in the Oaks at Epsom, she was beaten into second by Soul Sister and trainer Aidan O’Brien expects the more conventional nature of the Curragh to suit her better.
“Obviously the two of them don’t work together, so it’s going to be interesting,” O’Brien said of the clash between his two smart fillies.
“There’s not much between them on the ratings, Savethelastdance is just a little higher.
“We always thought the Curragh would suit her better and the ground was quick enough in Epsom for her, so she’ll probably prefer a bit more of an ease on Saturday.
“She’s been in good form since and she’s had a nice break, too. Everything has gone well since (Epsom).”
Warm Heart stepped up from beating the reopposing Bluestocking by a head in a Newbury Listed heat to extend her superiority over Ralph Beckett’s charge in the Ribblesdale at Ascot.
“We were delighted with Warm Heart in the Ribblesdale because we weren’t exactly sure about her over a mile and a half,” said O’Brien.
“Obviously she got it well and we’ve been happy with her since.
“She definitely improved at Ascot, whether it was the distance or whatever, but she definitely did improve.”
O’Brien also runs Be Happy and Library.
Bluestocking is aiming to give Beckett a second Irish Classic in two years after Westover’s Derby success last year.
She is owned by Juddmonte, who sponsor the race, and their European bloodstock manager Barry Mahon said: “On the formbook she has to improve, but she’s a lightly-raced filly with only three runs, so we feel that there could be some progression there.
“She’s met Warm Heart twice and been beaten twice so she has a bit to find, but she’s in good form, we feel that she’s learning on the job and we’re hopeful of a good run.
“We saw how green she was at Newbury and Frankie (Dettori) felt she was green at Ascot. She got stuck on the rail and when the gap came, she didn’t really know what to do to get through it, but then picked up and finished off well.
“We hope she’ll be a bit more streetwise on Saturday, the track should suit her, it’s not a big field and a bit easier ground should suit as well. We’re hopeful rather than confident.”
Azazat represents Dermot Weld and the Aga Khan. Weld last won the race in 1996 with Dance Design.
Chris Hayes rides the Munster Oaks runner-up and said: “She is a nice filly, who has progressed with every run. She has handled slow ground and she stays quite well. She is bred to possibly get further and I’m looking forward to her.
“She is very straightforward to ride, uncomplicated.
“That form with Rosscarbery (Munster Oaks winner), to come from a maiden and take on a filly like her with that kind of experience, I thought was a good run. Rosscarbery drifted out a little bit on top of her.
“I think she has come forward for that run and hopefully she can put up a good performance.
“She has handled soft ground and circumstance has just led us to run her that way.”
Rory McIlroy believes he still has a chance of winning the 151st Open despite failing to make a serious move in his second round at Royal Liverpool.
The world number two did not build significantly on his level-par opening round as he shot a one-under 70 on Friday.
That left him nine shots off the clubhouse lead held by Brian Harman but, even though he has much ground to make up, he is not writing off his chances.
“I might be nine back, but I don’t think there’s going to be a ton of players between me and the lead going into the weekend,” said the 34-year-old, who is bidding to end a nine-year wait for a fifth major title by winning for a second time at Hoylake.
“It depends what the conditions are tomorrow and obviously depends what Brian does as well.
“Right now it’s not quite out of my hands. I think if I can get to three, four, five under par tomorrow going into Sunday, I’ll have a really good chance.”
McIlroy produced a strong finish on Thursday by saving par on the par-five fifth after hitting bunker trouble.
He looked to have carried some momentum into his second round with two early birdies but they were cancelled out by bogeys on the back nine.
Yet he got a shot back with another birdie on the 18th and, despite his frustrations, was happy enough with his performance.
McIlroy said: “It played really, really tough. Ten under par is unbelievably impressive out there.
“We’ll see what the weekend holds but I’m actually pretty happy with my two days’ work.
“I don’t think I have to do anything differently. I’m hitting the ball well from tee to green.
“I’ve missed a couple of chances on the greens and the wind got me today.”
Jonny Bairstow was stranded one short of a dazzling Ashes century as England hammered home their advantage on day three of the fourth Test at Emirates Old Trafford.
Building on Thursday’s 189-run blitz from centurion Zak Crawley, England piled up a huge score of 592 – their fifth highest home total against Australia and their biggest against their rivals since 2011 in Sydney.
That established a handsome 275-run lead, with Mark Wood removing Usman Khawaja just before tea to leave the tourists on 39 for one as they clung to the prospect of bad weather saving them over the weekend.
England were 67 in front overnight and 120 ahead when Bairstow arrived at the crease on 437 for five, but he piled on the agony with a fearsome knock of 99 not out in 81 balls.
He hit four violent sixes and 10 boundaries, doing some major damage to both the scoreboard and the ailing morale of the visiting attack.
A brilliant ton was at hand but, after expertly managing the tail for the majority of his innings, he left himself stuck one short at the non-striker’s end after deciding against taking a risky second.
Last man James Anderson was trapped lbw by Cameron Green’s next ball, stopping Bairstow in his tracks and making him just the third English batter to finish an innings undefeated on 99.
Sir Geoffrey Boycott (1979) and Alex Tudor (1999) are the only others to suffer that fate, but Bairstow was grinning broadly as he left the pitch having enjoyed his delayed retribution against Australia.
He has been eyeing a measure of revenge ever since his controversial stumping in the second Test at Lord’s and helped himself to a healthy portion here.
He showed off his mighty ball-striking ability in the afternoon session, flogging Pat Cummins for two muscular sixes and dealing out one apiece to Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, despite a ring of nine fielders nominally protecting the boundaries.
Bairstow also took some liberties against fellow wicketkeeper Alex Carey, the man who controversially threw down his stumps to kick off a rumpus about the spirit of cricket at Lord’s. In a bid to shield Anderson from the strike, Bairstow charged through for a bye on several occasions despite the ball carrying cleanly through to Carey’s gloves.
To the audible delight of the crowd, Carey repeatedly failed to hit the target from exactly the same range he had done so two games ago.
Anderson’s dismissal left England with 12 overs to begin making inroads and Wood got the job done with his second ball after replacing James Anderson.
Tempting Khawaja into an indiscretion outside off stump, he snared a thin edge which everyone on the field appeared to hear except the batter.
Khawaja called for DRS and watched as UltraEdge confirmed his fate.
England had earlier started the day in typically lively fashion, with Ben Stokes (51) and Harry Brook (61) banking half-centuries in a morning session that contained 122 runs and four wickets in 24 overs.
Hazlewood finished with five-for as he mopped up but conceded 126, while fellow seamers Starc and Cummins shelled 137 and 129 respectively.
Tyrrell Hatton became the latest victim of the difficult 18th hole at Royal Liverpool on day two of the 151st Open Championship.
Hatton was two under par for his round when he walked on to the tee of the 596-yard par five, but ended the hole two over par following a quadruple-bogey nine.
The world number 13 carved two drives out of bounds before pulling his fifth shot so far left it almost found the fairway on the first hole, which runs in the opposite direction.
From there Hatton took two more shots to find the putting surface and two-putted from 20 feet to finish two over par and 12 shots off the clubhouse target set by American Brian Harman.
Harman had earlier taken six shots fewer than Hatton to play the 18th, holing from 15 feet for an eagle in his flawless 65.
Hatton reacted to his nightmare finish by turning to look back down the fairway and using his putter to mimic shooting three times at the tee.
Two-time major winner Justin Thomas had also recorded a nine on the 18th in an opening 82, while Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho fared even worse with a 10 in his 83.
American Brian Harman set a daunting clubhouse target to leave Rory McIlroy with a mountain to climb to end his major drought in the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
Harman carded four birdies in a row on the front nine and holed from 15 feet for an eagle on the 18th to complete a flawless second round of 65 and post a 10-under-par halfway total of 132.
That matched the totals recorded at Hoylake by McIlroy in 2014 and Tiger Woods in 2006, although both men were 12 under on their way to lifting the Claret Jug as the course was a par-72 at the time.
Nine years on, McIlroy will head into the weekend nine shots behind Harman after a third birdie of the day on the 18th saw him add a second round of 70 to his opening 71.
Harman, who is bidding to become just the third left-hander to win the Open after Bob Charles (1963) and Phil Mickelson (2013), said: “I’ve had a hot putter the last couple of days so (will) try to ride it through the weekend.
“I’m delighted with how I’m playing. (I’m) just really focused on getting some rest and getting after it tomorrow.
“(I’m) Just not trying to get too caught up in it. It’s just golf. I think when I held the 54-hole lead at the US Open (in 2017) I just probably thought about it too much.”
The 36-year-old’s superb round came after tournament officials took the unorthodox step of changing the way the bunkers were raked between rounds.
Masters champion Jon Rahm described the course’s 82 bunkers as “proper penalty structures” after having to play backwards out of one during his opening 74, while McIlroy needed two shots to escape sand on the 18th.
In response, the R&A instructed greenkeeping staff to build up the edges of the bunkers to allow more balls to roll back into the centre.
“Yesterday afternoon the bunkers dried out more than we have seen in recent weeks and that led to more balls running straight up against the face than we would normally expect,” the R&A said in a statement.
“We have therefore raked all of the bunkers slightly differently to take the sand up one revet on the face of the bunkers.
“We routinely rake bunkers flat at most Open venues but decided this adjustment was appropriate in light of the drier conditions which arose yesterday.
“We will continue to monitor this closely for the remainder of the Championship.”
Even those players who managed to successfully escape from the bunkers on day one had expressed their concerns, with former champion Stewart Cink speaking out following a bogey-free 68.
“Eventually it’ll catch up with you,” the 2009 winner said. “The bottoms of them are so flat that if a ball comes in with any momentum, it’s just going right up to the lip and stop.
“There’s not a little upslope that helps you at all. They are very penal.”
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