Pascal Bary is dreaming of finally getting his hands on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe trophy having seen Feed The Flame become a leading contender for Europe’s richest middle-distance contest.

The son of Kingman grabbed plenty of attention when winning ParisLongchamp’s Prix de Ferrieres with real ease earlier in the campaign and as a result was sent off one of the main players for the Prix du Jockey Club last month.

He was only able to finish fourth in the Chantilly Classic as Jean-Claude Rouget’s Ace Impact stole all the headlines.

However, a step up in trip to 12 furlongs saw him back to his imperious best in the Grand Prix de Paris, where he proved he was a proper Group One performer by swooping late to down Irish Derby runner-up Adelaide River and John and Thady Gosden’s Oaks winner Soul Sister.

“He should do well in the autumn and he will stay at a mile and a half now,” said Bary.

“He doesn’t make any effort during the race, he can go very well and then accelerate.

“The reason he finished fourth in the Jockey Club was he had to fight too early, it was too fast for him. When he has time, he has a very good turn of foot.”

Feed The Flame is a best priced 14-1 for the Arc on October 1 and with Bary envisaging typical autumnal ground at ParisLongchamp as a positive for his charge, he will tune up for his date with destiny by running at the track in the Group Two Prix Niel on September 10.

“He will go for the Prix Niel and then the Arc,” continued Bary.

“In the Prix Niel he will have to fight with Ace Impact and he is a very, very nice horse. Hopefully over this distance we can get our revenge.

“Then in the Arc, I don’t know, we will have to take on Ace Impact and some good horses coming from England and Ireland. He should be a bit better in soft ground.

“It will come quick, it is less than two months, it will soon be tomorrow.”

Stuart Broad became the fifth man to take 600 Test wickets with the scalps of Usman Khawaja and Travis Head in the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford.

Broad joined long-time new-ball partner James Anderson in the elite group and here, the PA news agency looks at how he measures up.

Game-wrecker

Broad’s wickets have come in 166 matches at an average of 27.57, with his Test debut coming back in 2007 against Sri Lanka.

Known for his game-wrecking bursts, Broad has 20 five-wicket hauls and three 10-wicket matches – a best of 11 for 121 against Australia at Chester-le-Street in 2013 and two against the West Indies, at Lord’s in 2012 and Old Trafford in 2020.

He produced a scintillating innings best of eight for 15 at Trent Bridge to help win the 2015 Ashes and has twice taken seven-wicket hauls at Lord’s, in the aforementioned West Indies clash and against New Zealand the following year.

Broad is also the only England bowler with two Test hat-tricks to his name. The first came against India in 2011 as part of figures of six for 46, with the second against Sri Lanka in 2014.

Australia opener David Warner is his favourite opponent with 17 dismissals across seven Ashes series dating back to 2013, including seven in 100 innings in 2019.

He has 11 dismissals each of Warner’s fellow Australians Steve Smith and Michael Clarke and has taken the wickets of New Zealand pair Ross Taylor and Tom Latham and South Africa’s AB de Villiers 10 times each.

Broad’s golden period between 2013 and 2016 also saw him take six for 25 against India at Old Trafford and six for 17 in Johannesburg to bowl South Africa out for 83. Those four years brought him 196 wickets at 25.56, including nine five-fors and four of his best five-innings figures.

He has shown little sign of slowing down with age, though, putting together a similarly impressive stretch dating back to 2019 – the year he turned 33. He has 165 wickets at 23.75 in that time and aside from a down year in 2021, with just 12 wickets in seven Tests, he has averaged 40 dismissals a year and is on course to maintain that with 34 this year.

Among the elite

Anderson and Broad sit third and fifth respectively on the list of all-time leading Test wicket-takers, which is headed by two of the world’s all-time great spin bowlers.

Muttiah Muralitharan’s 800 wickets – 795 for Sri Lanka and five for an ICC World XI – may never be matched, with the late Shane Warne currently the only man within 100 after taking 708 for Australia.

Anderson is closing on 700 with 688, while former India spinner Anil Kumble’s 619 wickets is the next mark in Broad’s sights.

Retired seamers Glenn McGrath and Courtney Walsh are the only other bowlers to take even 500 wickets – McGrath 563 for Australia and Walsh 519 for the West Indies.

Injury deprived Australia’s Nathan Lyon (496) of the chance to add his name to that list during the Ashes, while fellow spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (486) also has it in his sights.

Only Kumble of the current 500 club has a higher average than Broad, the Indian taking his wickets at 29.65. McGrath’s 21.64 edges out Muralitharan (22.72) for the best average.

Broad surprisingly has the fewest five-wicket innings among the septet, though on 12 of those 20 occasions he has gone on to take at least six – including two sevens and that eight-wicket blitz.

Moeen Ali made an important breakthrough on the first afternoon as England battled to keep their Ashes prospects alive at Emirates Old Trafford.

After sending Australia in to bat in increasingly placid conditions, Ben Stokes saw the tourists reach 187 for four at tea on day one in Manchester.

With rain predicted to be a factor over the weekend, that just about keeps the home side in touch as they look to force the win they need to take the series to a decider at the Kia Oval next week but the margin for error is slim.

Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes took care of Australia’s openers in the morning, the former moving to 599 career wickets, but Australia’s middle order threatened to drag the game away after lunch.

Mark Wood successfully removed Steve Smith to check that progress but a stand of 63 between Marnus Labuschagne (51) and Travis Head (47no) was beginning to become a major headache.

Then, 10 minutes before the interval, Moeen found enough spin to turn one past Labuschagne’s inside edge and win an lbw decision via DRS.

Labuschagne had just celebrated his first half-century of the series and was starting to show flickers of the form that, until recent weeks, saw him occupy top spot in the ICC’s world batting rankings.

The suggestion of early spin from Moeen also had the effect of casting question marks over Australia’s team selection, having dropped Todd Murphy and gone in without a specialist spinner for the first time in 120 Tests.

Leigh captain John Asiata insists he always believed his side could do “something special” as they prepare for their Challenge Cup semi-final against St Helens.

The loose forward has been part of the team which have shocked Super League this season, winning 12 of their last 13 games in all competitions and setting up the chance to reach their first Challenge Cup final since 1971.

The former NRL star, who played for North Queensland Cowboys and Brisbane Broncos, brings a wealth of experience to the Leopards, having won the NRL grand final in 2015 and the 2016 World Club Challenge.

Now, the Australian has a different task at hand as he aims to continue Leigh’s stunning run with a Wembley appearance at stake, and he always believed his side could do the unthinkable.

Asiata told the PA news agency: “I said it at the beginning of the year that I trust this group and we are going to do something special this year.

“We are doing that at the moment and now we have to just keep going. Coming here, I did not understand why I was coming here but it was a door that God opened for me and since I’ve been here it’s been nothing but great things so I’m very happy.

“This year is all about making history and this is another opportunity to do that.”

Asiata has been one of Super League’s standout performers this season, leading the way for the most carries with 441, but he has also received help from a number of other key players such as Tom Briscoe and top try-scorer Josh Charnley.

The skipper hailed the team effort which has seen Leigh climb to second in the league and helped them recently come from 12 points down to beat Salford away 24-22 for the first time since 1981.

He continued: “As a group we set some goals in the beginning of the year but we have created a bunch that believe in each other’s ability to do the job.

“No matter where you are on the field, no matter how tired you can be, there is going to be someone else just as tired as you and we’ve built a very solid foundation for the new guys to jump on board.

“It’s just been awesome to see the boys achieve what they have done so far and we have a coach that is leading the way and helping us do that.”

Leopards earned a 20-12 victory over Saints in their meeting earlier in the season and sit two places above their semi-final opponents in the league.

Despite their superiority this season, Asiata insists Leigh have no mental advantage over St Helens and believes Saints are still the favourites heading into the game at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

He said: “It’s a whole different ball game when it comes to semi-final footy. It’s going to be a whole different Saints team that we are playing.

“They have been there and done that and are world champions for a reason but I am excited for the challenge because if you want to be the best you have to beat the best.

“I think Saints will be favourites which I don’t mind being the underdogs. If you look at the beginning of the year, nobody gave us a chance to do anything and that’s the good thing about our game.”

Tottenham’s new Fan Advisory Board has unanimously stated its opposition to the club’s plan to increase match-day ticket prices for the 2023-24 season.

Spurs announced in April that season-ticket prices would be frozen for the forthcoming campaign, the second year in a row they had kept prices the same with the cost-of-living crisis cited as a reason behind the decision.

However, earlier this month the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust was informed about an increase in match-day tickets, while there is now set to be six Category A fixtures – the most expensive ticket – with Newcastle bumped up from Category B.

THST described the increase as “excessive” and expressed its frustration over a lack of dialogue with the club, which has been echoed by Spurs’ FAB members.

The 10 FAB members, which include Stephen Cavalier of THST and Proud Lilywhites’ co-chair Chris Paouros, met with Tottenham executive director Donna-Maria Cullen for the first time last Monday and expressed their objection to the match-day ticket prices.

“FAB members stated their opposition to the price increases,” the minutes from the first Tottenham FAB meeting read.

“SC (Stephen Cavalier) felt there should have been consultation with the Trust and discussion with the FAB before any decision.

“SC believed there should have been more transparency making clear that prices were increasing, a point supported by CP (Chris Paouros).

“The club had briefed the Trust ahead of the announcement and had responded publicly to media enquiries.

“CP felt that the club’s approach on this issue had not been fan-centric, something the FAB is supposed to be, and that there is a significant risk to match-day atmosphere if fans aren’t able to attend matches regularly due to the cost of tickets.

“CP also explained that a number of Proud Lilywhites members had contacted them to say they would now be priced out of attending matches.”

Drama has not been in short supply off the course in recent times as men’s professional golf suffered a seismic split before an equally shocking possibility of peace.

On the course, in this year’s majors at least, that has not been the case as Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Wyndham Clark won the Masters, US PGA and US Open respectively with relatively little final-round fuss.

All that could be about to change if the R&A get their way in the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, where changes made since Rory McIlroy’s victory in 2014 are intended to produce a dramatic climax to the year’s final major.

Most significantly, a new par-three – the 17th – has been created as part of a re-routing of the closing stretch which could play a large role in deciding who is left holding the Claret Jug on Sunday evening.

“One of the sentiments that was felt after 2006 and 2014 was that the course could do with more drama,” R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said.

“It was actually the club that came to us and said there was a lot of talk around flipping what was the 15th up on to the dunes. We came and looked at it and we thought, ‘Yeah, that could really add some drama’. There is a lot of jeopardy there.

“I think it fits well. It also enabled us to reconfigure the final bit around there. So the final four holes will be a 610-yard par five, 480-yard par four, 136-yard par three and a 620-yard par five.

“A lot of things could happen on that (stretch) and I think that drama will unfold come Sunday.”

A finish similar to Sunday’s Scottish Open would certainly be welcome, McIlroy defying strong winds to birdie the last two holes and defy home favourite Robert MacIntyre the title at the Renaissance Club.

It completed the ideal preparation for the world number two as he bids to end a major drought which stretches back to the 2014 US PGA, victory at Valhalla coming just seven days after winning the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Even the weather seems to have turned in McIlroy’s favour as a hot spell gave way to wetter conditions which have always suited his powerful game and high ball flight.

“I was expecting it to be more like 2006 when I was looking at it five, six weeks ago, and I was excited about that,” Slumbers added. “But every time I get excited about a nice brown golf course, mother nature comes in.

“But on the other side of it, the rough has come up. When it was brown the rough had burnt out and it was a different golf course. My worry is now what the forecast is for Saturday and Sunday. It’s going to be wet or it’s going to be very wet. We’ll see.”

With McIlroy cancelling his formal pre-tournament press conference for the second major running, it has fallen to other players to speak about his chances, with two-time Open champion Padraig Harrington asked if a return to Hoylake could be the missing link to major success.

“Yes, of course it could,” Harrington said. “He’s got to like the golf course. He’s got to be familiar with the course. Everything seems to be setting up nicely in terms of conditions and what we are expecting.

“And the other thing is that he can clearly win any week, so you have two things going for him.

“There’s no doubt that pretty much everybody will look at the leaderboard to see how he is getting on. He’s a person of interest.”

Billy Boston has described a statue of him and fellow Welsh rugby greats Clive Sullivan and Gus Risman in his home city of Cardiff as among the “highlights of my life”.

Boston celebrates his 89th birthday next month and was in the Welsh capital to see three of rugby’s ‘codebreakers’ honoured with the first statue in Wales to feature non-fictionalised, named black men.

“What a day this is,” said Boston, who scored 478 tries in 487 matches for Wigan after making the rugby switch from union to league in 1953.

“Coming home to Cardiff has always been a pleasure and this is one of the highlights of my life.

“To be up there alongside such magnificent men as Gus Risman and Clive Sullivan is simply amazing. I feel honoured to be singled out for this remarkable tribute by the people of Cardiff.

“Let’s face it there aren’t many left who have ever seen me play for Wigan or Great Britain. So to be remembered in this way is truly wonderful.

“Cardiff and Wales have always held a very special place in my heart, Wigan adopted me and became my home from home. The people of that town became my second family and have been wonderful to me for almost 70 years.

“But all of a sudden, as I look up and see my arms around Gus and Clive on this statue, I feel very much at home.

“I may have been a Wiganer for the past 70 years but it looks as if I’m home to stay now.”

Risman and Sullivan also left Cardiff to make their names as professional rugby players in the north of England at a time when black players were ostracised by the amateur Union code in Wales.

Sullivan, who scored 250 tries for Hull and another 118 for Hull Kingston Rovers, became the first black player to captain any Great Britain side and led his country to 1972 Rugby League World Cup glory.

Risman – the son of Russian immigrants who settled in Tiger Bay – scored 4,052 points in 873 games for Salford and Workington and played in five Ashes-winning series for Great Britain.

Sullivan’s son Anthony, a dual code international for Wales who also represented Great Britain in rugby league, said: “It’s really important for the family that we were well represented here as it’s such a momentous occasion.

“It’s amazing for the three men to be represented like this, people talk about them as men and that’s really important.

“They wanted to act as inspiration, not only what they achieved in sport but as people. The way that people talk about them in such glowing terms is something that should not be lost.

“They may have been forgotten a bit here in Wales but not in the rugby league community.

“That sense of community, belonging and togetherness, and struggling for achievement which is something our sport is synonymous, and I think it’s nice that it’s represented in the men that are up there.

“To be recognised in their home country and, as everyone has said they are home now, would have been really important to them.”

The ‘One Team. One Race: Honouring the Cardiff Bay Rugby Codebreakers’ project behind the statue was established in 2020, being inspired by calls from the Butetown and wider Cardiff Bay community.

The statue, which was created by Yorkshire sculptor Steve Winterburn, stands on a prominent part of Cardiff Bay.

Drama has not been in short supply off the course in recent times as men’s professional golf suffered a seismic split before an equally shocking possibility of peace.

On the course, in this year’s majors at least, that has not been the case as Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Wyndham Clark won the Masters, US PGA and US Open respectively with relatively little final-round fuss.

All that could be about to change if the R&A get their way in the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, where changes made since Rory McIlroy’s victory in 2014 are intended to produce a dramatic climax to the year’s final major.

Most significantly, a new par-three – the 17th – has been created as part of a re-routing of the closing stretch which could play a large role in deciding who is left holding the Claret Jug on Sunday evening.

“One of the sentiments that was felt after 2006 and 2014 was that the course could do with more drama,” R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said.

“It was actually the club that came to us and said there was a lot of talk around flipping what was the 15th up on to the dunes. We came and looked at it and we thought, ‘Yeah, that could really add some drama’. There is a lot of jeopardy there.

“I think it fits well. It also enabled us to reconfigure the final bit around there. So the final four holes will be a 610-yard par five, 480-yard par four, 136-yard par three and a 620-yard par five.

“A lot of things could happen on that (stretch) and I think that drama will unfold come Sunday.”

A finish similar to Sunday’s Scottish Open would certainly be welcome, McIlroy defying strong winds to birdie the last two holes and defy home favourite Robert MacIntyre the title at the Renaissance Club.

It completed the ideal preparation for the world number two as he bids to end a major drought which stretches back to the 2014 US PGA, victory at Valhalla coming just seven days after winning the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Even the weather seems to have turned in McIlroy’s favour as a hot spell gave way to wetter conditions which have always suited his powerful game and high ball flight.

“I was expecting it to be more like 2006 when I was looking at it five, six weeks ago, and I was excited about that,” Slumbers added. “But every time I get excited about a nice brown golf course, mother nature comes in.

“But on the other side of it, the rough has come up. When it was brown the rough had burnt out and it was a different golf course. My worry is now what the forecast is for Saturday and Sunday. It’s going to be wet or it’s going to be very wet. We’ll see.”

With McIlroy cancelling his formal pre-tournament press conference for the second major running, it has fallen to other players to speak about his chances, with two-time Open champion Padraig Harrington asked if a return to Hoylake could be the missing link to major success.

“Yes, of course it could,” Harrington said. “He’s got to like the golf course. He’s got to be familiar with the course. Everything seems to be setting up nicely in terms of conditions and what we are expecting.

“And the other thing is that he can clearly win any week, so you have two things going for him.

“There’s no doubt that pretty much everybody will look at the leaderboard to see how he is getting on. He’s a person of interest.”

Kihavah may drop in trip for the Sky Bet York Stakes on Saturday week ahead of a potential crack at the Ebor next month.

Classic-winning trainer Adrian Keatley feels his stable star, who has a handicap mark of 98, may have to win another race to ensure a place in the Sky Bet-sponsored feature handicap.

Having won his previous four races, including once over hurdles, Kihavah finished a game second to Saeed bin Suroor’s Live Your Dream at Newmarket last week.

“We might run Kihavah at York as a prep run for the Ebor as he’s short a couple of pounds on 98, he might need another couple to make sure he gets in,” said Keatley, who won the 2016 Irish 1,000 Guineas with Jet Setting.

“He’s got his confidence back, he had a couple of issues with his wind in the past, which we’ve played around with, and we seem to have found the key to him now.

“It was a massive run last week at Newmarket but the rain came a bit soon as it just made it a bit loose. Half a mile from home I thought he had no chance, but he pulled it out of the bag again.

“He’s a very big horse, he was very lean when I got him but he seems to be holding his condition now and taking his training better. Hopefully if he gets into the Ebor, he could be a good representative for us.

“We were thinking of Market Rasen this weekend, but when you are talking of races like the Ebor being a possibility, we can always go back jumping later.

“He’s very much a top-of-the-ground horse and because the ground got so loose last week it was a harder race than expected, so that was another reason we missed Market Rasen this weekend.”

The Sky Bet York Stakes is on the final day of the Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival which gets under way on Friday at Pontefract and concludes at York on Saturday week.

Michael Dods reports his star filly Azure Blue to be none the worse following her disappointing performance in the July Cup on Saturday.

Having rounded off last season with back-to-back wins at Newmarket, the four-year-old picked up where she left off with a Listed success on the Rowley Mile in early May.

She subsequently got the better of multiple Group One winner Highfield Princess to land the Duke of York Stakes and as a result was among the leading contenders for last weekend’s Group One feature, but could only finish sixth of eight runners.

“She was on the wing, probably racing a bit keenly, but she’s come home fine,” said Dods.

“On the day she probably didn’t run her race, but she’s been fine since she came home anyway.”

The Darlington-based trainer is keen to let the dust settle before committing to future plans. Azure Blue’s big-race entries include the Nunthorpe at York, the Sprint Cup at Haydock and the Flying Five Stakes in Ireland.

“We’ll give her this week and see where we go next – we haven’t made any plans,” he added.

“One of the owners has gone on holiday so we’ll wait until they get back next week, discuss it with them and go from there.”

Tommy Fleetwood hopes to produce a special performance in memory of his late mother as he targets Open victory in his native north west this week.

It is a year this week since the Southport player’s mother Sue died, and Fleetwood wants to mark the anniversary with a strong showing in front of family and friends at Royal Liverpool.

The 32-year-old will begin his latest Open campaign at 9.47am on Thursday, playing alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler and Adam Scott in the opening round in Hoylake.

“It’ll be different,” said Fleetwood, who is currently ranked 21st in the world, at a press conference. “It’ll be a year on Friday.

“We know that that’s coming up. It would be nice to think she’s watching over.

“It’ll be a special event. I would love to play well and I would love to give myself a chance come Saturday and Sunday and have something to aim for in that sense.

“Everybody is doing really well – I have a great family and a lot of support, and my dad is out here.

“I think the best thing is seeing how well he’s doing and obviously giving him something to enjoy watching this week.”

Fleetwood made his Open debut at Hoylake in 2014 but missed the cut, as he did at St Andrews the following year and Troon in 2016.

He failed to shine in another Open close to home at Birkdale in 2017, when he finished in a tie for 27th, but his runner-up showing at Portrush in 2019 and a tied-fourth placing at St Andrews last year underlined his pedigree.

Fleetwood said: “Winning a major is a dream, or winning The Open is a huge, huge dream.

“No matter where that is, that’s always something I’ve visualised and always thought about but, having the opportunity to do it so close to where you grew up, is something that’s very unique and very special.

“For sure I’ve pictured it a lot and visualised it a lot. I just haven’t done it yet in person, so that’s hopefully the next thing.”

Fleetwood believes his grouping for the opening two rounds will help bring the best out of him.

He said: “The first thing you always do is look at the draw, and I was very happy with the guys that I’m playing with – great golfers, both very, very good at winning tournaments and stuff.

“It’s always good to be around those people that are at the top of the game and make sure you’re always trying to keep pace with them.”

Equality will bid for a hat-trick when he takes a shot at the King George Qatar Stakes during the Qatar Goodwood Festival.

Owned by Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds, the five-year-old speedster dropped back to handicap company when scoring at Windsor on his penultimate start, before adding to his tally at Sandown in the Group Three Coral Charge

Connections were thrilled to get that first Group race victory under his belt at the Esher track and Equality will now head to the Sussex Downs for a contest handler Charlie Hills has won five times in the last six years thanks to Battaash (2017-2020) and Khaadem (2022).

“It’s really exciting and he was fantastic at Sandown,” said Sam Hoskins, racing manager for the owners.

“We kind of felt he had unfinished business at Group level and obviously there wasn’t much choice after his run at Windsor because he was up to a mark of 108.

“After Haydock earlier in the season our confidence was a bit dented, but the handicapper was good and let us drop back into handicap company and luckily he ran the same race as he did at Windsor at Sandown.”

He went on: “The plan is to go for the King George at Goodwood with him.

“He’s got a very high cruising speed and he should really enjoy a race like that, it’s really exciting.

“It’s going to be a hot race, Highfield Princess is probably going and a lot of other good sprinters will be heading there. It will be a red-hot affair”

There is further interest in the race for Hoskins in the form of Clive Cox’s Get Ahead, who also has the Group Two event in her sights.

Owned by Hot To Trot racing, for whom Hoskins also acts as racing manager, the four-year-old filly has enjoyed a fine season, scoring in the Cecil Frail at Haydock before being narrowly denied at Chantilly in the Prix du Gros-Chene.

She finished three lengths behind Equality when last seen in the Coral Charge, but Goodwood is poised to prove a more suitable venue for the daughter of Showcasing.

“She’s a cracking filly and things just didn’t go her way at Sandown,” continued Hoskins.

“She wants top of the ground and she is really interesting for Goodwood as she won over course and distance there last year beating Silky Wilkie.

“She has progressed again this season and will have a big each-way chance there hopefully.”

He added: “Both horses have had this as their aim and at the beginning of the season we thought if things go well and they progress as we hoped they might do, this is the race for them.

“They are not too dissimilar horses despite one being a gelding and one being a filly, and they are both horses with very high cruising speeds. You could run both of them over four furlongs if there was a race at that distance. It’s really exciting.”