Nicky Henderson is unconcerned that Jonbon is heading for his big clash with El Fabiolo in the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase on the back of a defeat.
For a horse who has won 12 of his 15 races under rules, the Seven Barrows handler also reads nothing into the fact that all three of his defeats have come at Cheltenham.
Stablemate Constitution Hill beat him in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle two years ago, while El Fabiolo saw him off in the Arkle last term. Most recently, in a performance littered with jumping errors, he was beaten in the rearranged Clarence House Chase as the 1-4 favourite.
He did begin this season with a comfortable win at Cheltenham, though, and that is why Henderson sees no reason to worry.
“He’s schooled this morning, AP (McCoy) was here to see him. He’s in good form, very good,” said Henderson.
“We’ve done nothing different (since the Clarence House). You just put it down as one mistake. You’ve got to. He schooled this morning and jumped more than he will in the Queen Mother.
“He won the Shloer, that proves he goes around Cheltenham, I’ve no worries on that front.”
With Alan King’s Edwardstone looking a reformed character having adopted front-running tactics in the Game Spirit Chase, Henderson feels the Queen Mother will be run to suit Jonbon.
He said: “They’ll go some gallop and I think that suits him. It looks as if Edwardstone has come into pace-making duties and he looked good at Newbury, but in some ways, I don’t think that is a bad thing for us. But I would have been happy to make the running.
“AP thought he was very good (Thursday morning) and would love to ride him himself – of all the horses, I know he’d love to ride him because he would suit him. AP has watched him school so many times.
“There’s one fence in our row of five he always meets on the wrong stride but he is so quick sorting his feet out. I think AP would love the challenge of him. While Constitution is straightforward, he is a bit the other way, he tests you, we call him fidgety.
“He did well really last time (to get back on terms), the thing that cost him was the last fence, not the mistake down the hill. If he’d met it on a better stride, it would have been game over, but he landed in a bit of a heap and the other horse just got away from him.”
A step up in trip had been discussed at the end of last season but he was not even entered in the Ryanair this year.
“We discussed it but never put him in the Ryanair. I would have no problem going over two and a half,” said Henderson.
“If you go back to last year, he was going to go over two and a half at Aintree and it was only because the two-mile novice chase was miles weaker that he ran in it, so we stayed at two and he winged round Aintree.
“A fortnight later, we took him to Sandown against his elders to find out and he winged round there, so we said he was a two-miler. I’d be surprised if one day he doesn’t go over further. We’ll find out between now and the end of the season, let’s see how it all goes.”
The rematch with El Fabiolo was all set for the original Clarence House at Ascot but when the race was moved to Cheltenham, Willie Mullins decided to keep his chaser at home.
“I was really looking forward to Ascot and the clash with El Fabiolo, we were in absolute tip-top shape and I was very confident for that, we were very prepared for it,” explained Henderson.
“He’s the one horse, when you’ve wound up the clock, a week was a long time for him, I couldn’t wind him up any more and it gave us a headache of a week.
“People might say what difference does a week make, but to something like him it does. With Constitution Hill, you could hold him for a month, but Jonbon is a bit different to anybody else.
“He might have had a harder race than we imagined from the betting, but until he made that mistake down the hill, everything had gone really nice.”
Constitution Hill has one more serious piece of work left to complete as Nicky Henderson builds up National Hunt racing’s superstar performer for the defence of his Unibet Champion Hurdle crown.
With just under three weeks to go before the Festival in the Cotswolds that has become ever more consuming in recent years, Henderson has had far from a straightforward season with the unbeaten seven-year-old.
He was supposed to begin his campaign in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle but that meeting was abandoned due to frost and while the race was rescheduled for the following week at Sandown, very testing ground persuaded Henderson to opt against running him.
That meant he went to Kempton on Boxing Day for his first – and so far only – run of the season, where he won effortlessly, but any thoughts of going to Cheltenham on Trials day were scuppered by a dirty scope.
Speaking at a Jockey Club-organised press morning which took place in pouring rain, Henderson’s annoyance at the wet winter was referenced.
He said: “This weather is frustrating. What we would normally do, and would like to do, is being dictated to by the weather, which is rather boring. We like to do a lot of our work on grass and that is not so easy at the moment, there’s no pleasure in all this racing in heavy ground.
“The only horse that has got any major work left to do is Constitution Hill because he hasn’t run since Christmas, which is exactly the same as last year, but we had a couple of weeks off in the middle when he wasn’t quite right.
“Consequently, I’d like an away day, but nothing else needs one as they’ve been running.
“I’d say we’re exactly where we were this time last year, his weight is good, his mind is good – his mind is always good.
“I thought he worked exceptional last Saturday, admittedly it was very foggy, but I thought he moved beautifully. The ground was beautiful, and that is what we want – it was last week, but it won’t be tomorrow.
“When he was wrong, we had to leave him alone for three weeks. You could obviously do without it but he was very fit going into it.
“He had a course of antibiotics and a couple of quiet weeks. He had three different scopes. It’s the sort of thing that happens to all horses all the way through the season. It was probably only a two out of 10, but you can’t ignore it.”
Henderson has often referenced Constitution Hill’s rock-solid temperament and it is for that reason the fact he has only run once this season is of no concern to a trainer who is chasing a record-extending 10th Champion Hurdle.
The Seven Barrows maestro added: “Nothing worries him, he’d run on Friday the 13th if he had to. We’re in good shape, I’d be pretty happy that we are where we were this time last year, or coming into Christmas. He’s in good form.
“At Christmas, he was very ready, as he should have gone to Newcastle, so he was very well prepped for the Christmas Hurdle, but he is again here because straight after Christmas he was back in work because we were trying to get him ready for Trials day, but he hasn’t really missed anything.
“I would still like one good away day, though.”
Last year, Constitution Hill was nine lengths too good for State Man and while Willie Mullins’ chestnut has been mopping up more Grade Ones in Ireland this season, Henderson is content in the knowledge that he has a lot of ground to make up.
He said: “Willie and I have plenty of fun, we’re all good mates. I don’t know what they’ll do (differently), the main thing is we know what we are trying to do.
“So, we can concentrate on what we’re doing, there’s no point concentrating on what everyone else is up to. They’ve got their plans to make and we’ll concentrate on ours.
“State Man looked the same horse to me; he’s a very good horse, there’s no doubt about it, he gets his job done every time.
“But we’ve beaten him once, so let’s hope we beat him again. He only beat First Street a length in the County Hurdle, and we were giving him weight – we know where he is!”
Henderson had mooted running three in the Champion Hurdle but it now appears First Street will step up in trip for the Coral Cup. Luccia will join her stablemate on the first day, however,
“It sounds like Luccia is going to run. Paul Stanley is a real enthusiast, he’s been in the game for years and he’s very keen to run her. Ratings tell you it’s not a great idea but there’s a lot of prize-money,” said Henderson.
“Poor old First Street got put up 4lb for his run behind Lossiemouth, as if he wasn’t high enough in the first place. We’ve just been chasing prize-money with him but he keeps going up in the weights, he wants another half a mile (Coral Cup).”
Shishkin has been unshackled and is ready to make his mark in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup, with Nicky Henderson having no fears about either the stamina-sapping trip or tackling the might of defending champion Galopin Des Champs.
Henderson has come to the defence of his blue-riband contender, who he believes has been treated like a “criminal let out of prison” at times over the course of the current season.
However, despite failing to start at Ascot and cruelly unseating Nico de Boinville with the King George at his mercy, he heads to Prestbury Park as Britain’s leading hope of Gold Cup glory and with a fine chance of handing the master of Seven Barrows his third success in the highlight of the meeting.
“It’s funny how going into Newbury the other day he was treated like a criminal who was let out of prison,” said Henderson.
“People were saying if he doesn’t turn up today, where is he? He did nothing wrong and the King George wasn’t his fault. He didn’t fall, he just knocked his leg and anyone can do that, it’s just pure bad luck.
“I’ve got to say Ascot was his fault and he was a naughty boy, but that doesn’t make him a criminal and that’s what it felt like heading into Newbury.”
Shishkin produced a foot-perfect performance in Newbury’s Denman Chase and having navigated that Gold Cup prep with flying colours, it is full steam ahead to the Cotswolds.
He has also resisted the temptation to repeat his Ascot misdemeanours at both Kempton and Newbury, with the master of Seven Barrows confident there will be zero issues at the start of the Festival’s feature contest.
“If he turns round, he will always go left and at Cheltenham if he does that, there is nowhere to go,” continued Henderson.
“We had to be mindful at Kempton he could and Newbury he was no bother, he just walked straight in.”
Many questioned whether the application of first-time cheekpieces played a part in Shishkin’s refusal to start on his seasonal return at Ascot and although the thought of reapplying the headgear for the 10-year-old’s Gold Cup tilt has crossed Henderson’s mind, he reveals it was Ruby Walsh who first put the idea into his head.
“I won’t say I haven’t thought about cheekpieces and we’ve thought about it since Newbury, but I would say it is very unlikely. I can’t see us doing it,” added Henderson.
“It had nothing to do with why he didn’t start at Ascot, despite what may have been written.
“He races a little bit behind the bridle sometimes and Ruby was at me the whole time that I had to put cheekpieces on this horse. He was telling me the whole time and I did what Ruby told me to do and look where it got us!”
If the Festival’s most successful rider was playing the role of mole in the camp for the Festival’s most successful trainer Willie Mullins, then Henderson is unperturbed.
The Lambourn handler recently went on a scouting mission to the Dublin Racing Festival to watch the defending Gold Cup champion in the flesh and although suitably impressed by what he witnessed, he is willing to concentrate solely on his own horse in the build-up to Friday, March 15.
Henderson said: “Galopin Des Champs is very solid and sometimes I don’t think he’s as flashy as some. He’s a big, fine, good-looking horse and he’s very classy. He gets the job done. There are moments (in a race) when you wonder, but he’s one of these horses.
“When Constitution Hill is doing his real thing – and I hope he will do it again – he’s commanded the performance from beginning to end really. Shishkin doesn’t do that and a lot of them don’t.
“But Galopin Des Champs has won a Gold Cup, he’s come into it via some good prep races and I think we just need to concentrate on what we’ve got, rather than anyone else.
“You’ve got to have a tactical plan and going into the race we invariably will, but those often get thrown out the window after a furlong and you have to be doing something different, but we won’t be riding Shishkin any differently because of Galopin Des Champs – he’s going to do his thing and we are going to do ours.
“I’m sure Willie will have his plan and we’ll have our plan and the jockeys will probably have a completely different plan and not listen to either of us!”
Shishkin undoubtedly ticks many boxes ahead of his tilt at racing’s most treasured prize, but the former two-mile champion will have to prove he stays every inch of the lung-busting Gold Cup trip when he takes his stamina reserves past three miles for the very first time.
It is ultimately a question that will not be answered until the race itself, but Henderson is taking comfort from the mid-race move made by Shishkin’s big-race pilot De Boinville in the King George as proof the three-and-a-quarter-mile yardage will be well within his compass.
He explained: “It was interesting that if you go back to the King George, good old Frodon is bashing away at the front there and he goes a good gallop.
“I don’t think he’s the old Frodon, but Nico saw fit to actually go and push things along halfway down the back straight and often Frodon will still be in front when they are turning in.
“Nico was happy to let him rock and roll from halfway down the back and he was in command from there – he had beaten the others.”
Multiple Group One winner Luxembourg starts his season in the Howden Neom Turf Cup in Riyadh on Saturday, with trainer Aidan O’Brien expecting him to return better than ever this year.
The five-year-old was last seen finishing a close second to Romantic Warrior in the Hong Kong Cup, prior to which he was runner-up in both the Irish Champion Stakes and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.
His season did include a win, however, and a significant one at that, as he landed the Tattersalls Gold Cup at elite level at the Curragh in May.
There had been discussions about starting his campaign in the Saudi Cup itself and experimenting with running the son of Camelot on dirt for the first time, but it was ultimately decided that he would stick to turf for now.
“We’re looking forward to it, we were surprised at the way he got over the (dirt) track,” said O’Brien.
“Everyone’s very excited to see him. He’s a big, powerful, long-striding horse. A good, scopey horse, with a good mind and very sound.
“We think we haven’t seen the best of him yet, all through this year and next year he’s going to be a horse to really look forward to.
“He’s big with a long stride and often those types of horses take until four or five to really become strong enough to use their stride.
“He had a lean enough body, but his body is getting stronger all the time.”
“We were in two minds about it, the Saudi Cup is probably the most exciting race in the world. We were going to go there and take our chance, but then last minute we thought it was the wrong thing for the horse this early in the season.
“It’s the race everyone wants to win and we nearly did it, maybe we thought it might be safer to do it the other way and maybe we could go there with him next year.
“We will experiment, maybe we should have done it this time but we definitely will, he could go to Dubai and it’s very possible he’ll go there on the grass as well.
“Then we might think about switching over for the second half of the year, something like that.”
Also in the race are Daniel and Claire Kubler’s Astro King and Andrew Balding’s The Foxes, with John and Thady Gosden running Jack Darcy and Richard Fahey represented by Bahrain International Trophy winner Spirit Dancer.
O’Brien has a further hope at the meeting in Tower Of London, who lines up in the Red Sea Turf Handicap over a mile and seven furlongs.
The four-year-old was twice a winner last term and was unlucky to miss out on a Group Three success when going down by just a head in the Bahrain Trophy Stakes at Newmarket.
His three-year-old season ended in September, so he returns from a significant break, but his trainer has been pleased with his preparation for the race and expects him to perform well.
“He’s been off a good while and he’s carrying a little bit of weight, but he’s been working very well,” O’Brien said.
“We always thought the trip would suit him well and this type of race would suit him well.
“He has plenty of weight but he’s a classy horse, we think that ridden a little bit patiently and gently we will see a very big run from him.”
Sir Alex Ferguson “never dreamed” that he would have a horse good enough to take on the best in the world on the international stage. But in Spirit Dancer – a horse he bred – that is exactly what he is doing.
The former Manchester United manager has become immersed in the racing world since his retirement, enjoying several high-profile victories in the National Hunt sphere.
To date, his Flat exploits had not reached the same heights. But the Richard Fahey-trained seven-year-old Spirit Dancer has started to change all that.
Winning the Strensall Stakes at York last summer earned him an invite for the Bahrain International Trophy, which he won, and he was last seen finishing a respectable fourth in the Group One Jebel Hatta at Meydan in Dubai.
He now runs in the Howden Neom Turf Cup on Saturday in Riyadh, a race worth almost £1million to the winner.
“One of the great advantages of having a really good horse is international racing. We never dreamed, when I bred Spirit Dancer, that he would end up getting as far as this,” Ferguson told The Saudi Cup.
“We’re so excited about it and after Bahrain we are quite optimistic.
“He had a little problem when he was three years of age, he got over that and he’s just got better and better. He’s not had a lot of racing. That’s what Richard keeps saying, that he can race a lot more than he’s been doing. So we’re getting the benefit.
“The international element is something we didn’t expect. I’d been to Dubai some years back and I was saying to myself I wonder what it’s like to have a horse involved in it – now we’ve got one, I’m enjoying it.
“Competing with the likes of Aidan O’Brien and the Japanese, you know you are up against the best, and we’re enjoying it.”
Ferguson’s racing interests stretch back almost 30 years now, and it is fair to say he is more involved than at any time in his life.
“It was round about 1995 that I remember my wife saying I was going to kill myself because my whole day was absorbed with the (football) club,” he explained.
“One day, I said to my wife ‘shall we go to the races?’. She asked where that had come from and I told her it was her who said I needed to start doing something else.
“We were at the races one day when I met John Mulhern and Dessie Scahill and I got hooked. She once said ‘you want to buy all the right horses’, well, I’m trying!
“I got into breeding by accident, I was in Germany visiting Andreas Wohler and he put the idea in my mind, I bought a horse from him, the mare Queen’s Dream (Spirit Dancer’s dam).
“A friend of mine then put the idea in my head about buying the stud in Hemel Hempstead. I said we’d have a go and it’s been great. They are fantastic people there, we had a foal there last week by Stradivarius, so it’s great.”
It is Ferguson’s second trip to Saudi Arabia, the first was in 2008 when Manchester United played in a testimonial to honour local player Sam Al Jaber, who played over 150 times for his country.
“We came to Saudi about 15 years ago to play in a game to celebrate a famous player who had 150 international caps. The King bought 80,000 tickets and gave them all away to the people and it was fantastic,” said Ferguson.
Spirit Dancer is co-owned by bookmaker Fred Done and Ferguson’s big friend, Ged Mason, with whom he is involved with most of his horses – and who initiated a rather painful celebration in Bahrain.
“Ged broke my rib celebrating in Bahrain, I won’t mind him breaking another if it means we win!” said Ferguson.
Mason is loving being involved in the ride and is thrilled at the enjoyment Ferguson is getting from the game.
“When he came round the bend at Bahrain, it was a fantastic sight and the way he pulled away was a pinch yourself moment, to be honest,” said Mason.
“He got the invite to Bahrain because he’d produced the goodies at York. I’m so proud for Sir Alex because he bred him and he’s out of Frankel.
“I think our first venture into ownership was What A Friend and what a friend he was to us, he got our appetite for winning. Clan Des Obeaux won King Georges and Irish Gold Cups, it’s been a fantastic journey and we don’t want it to stop.”
The weather appears set to dictate if Salver will be handed a shot at the JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham next month.
A comfortable winner of his first two starts over obstacles, he romped to a 21-length success in Chepstow’s Grade Two Finale Juvenile Hurdle over the Christmas period to announce himself as one of the UK’s best juvenile operators.
He enhanced his unbeaten record over timber at Haydock when claiming the Victor Ludorum Juvenile Hurdle in easy fashion and is as short as 10-1 for Grade One glory at Prestbury Park, with only heavy favourite Sir Gino and a handful of Willie Mullins-based contenders ahead of him in the betting with most bookmakers.
However, having shown a real liking for testing conditions, Moore has always suggested his Festival participation will hinge on a wet forecast during the second week of March.
“He’s fine after Saturday and if this weather keeps up he’ll be going to Cheltenham, but if it doesn’t I don’t know what I will do,” said Moore.
Other options for Salver include holding fire in hope of a wet few days in Merseyside during Grand National week or a trip to France for one of their big end-of-season juvenile events.
But being seen as a horse for the future, Moore would have no qualms if his charge did not run again this season.
He continued: “There’s the possibility he could go to France but that is very unlikely though.
“He’s still a big, weak, immature horse and I’m not sure he is ready for France yet. We could always look at Liverpool as well but that would depend on ground and be weather permitting.
“If he doesn’t run again this year, he’s done more than his fair share and it wouldn’t matter.”
The West Indies Championship second-round encounter between Guyana Harpy Eagles and West Indies Academy is set for an intriguing battle as play resumes on Thursday at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. The match remains finely poised, with both teams showing resilience in their performances.
As the West Indies Academy prepares to continue from their overnight score of 96-4 in response to the Harpy Eagles' total of 175 all out, the balance of the game hangs in the air. Wednesday's play saw Joshua James emerging as the standout player, securing figures of 4-43 to limit Guyana to a total below 200. Johann Layne (2-27) and Joshua Bishop (2-22) also played crucial roles in restricting the Harpy Eagles' batsmen, preventing any significant contributions.
For the Harpy Eagles, RJ Ali Mohammed top-scored with 30, while Matthew Nandu and the duo of Tevin Imlach and Kevin Sinclair each chipped in with scores of 28 and 24, respectively. Despite their efforts, none of the Guyana batters managed to make a substantial impact on the scoreboard.
The West Indies Academy faced a similar challenge when they took to the crease, with Rashawn Worrell leading the scorers with an unbeaten 34. Joshua Bishop will resume his innings on 33, and the pair aims to put their team in a commanding position as play continues on Thursday.
Notably, Kevin Sinclair's impressive bowling performance of 4-32 has played a pivotal role in keeping Guyana in the game.
The Leeward Islands Hurricanes are set to resume their West Indies Championship second-round match against Trinidad and Tobago Red Force at Warner Park in St Kitts, holding a position of strength after an impressive bowling display on Day 1.
As play resumes on Day 2, the Hurricanes find themselves in a favorable position at 105-1, just 32 runs behind the Red Force's first innings score of 137. Kieran Powell, standing strong with a score of 54, and Keacy Carty, with an overnight score of 11, will look to capitalize on the Hurricanes' advantageous position. The only wicket lost on Wednesday was that of Mikyle Louis, who contributed 32 runs.
The Hurricanes' dominance can be attributed to their formidable bowling attack, which successfully restricted Trinidad and Tobago to a modest total of 137. Colin Archibald led the charge with figures of 3-28, supported by Jeremiah Louis (3-38), Daniel Doram (2-32), and Rahkeem Cornwall, who delivered an exceptional performance with figures of 2-5 from the three overs he bowled.
Trinidad and Tobago's batting struggles were evident, with Jyd Goolie top-scoring at 30, while Joshua Da Silva and Terrance Hinds contributed 23 and 22, respectively. Some late resistance from the tail-enders, Anderson Phillip and Jayden Seales, who scored 15 each, prevented Trinidad and Tobago from facing even greater embarrassment.
As the Hurricanes aim to build on their advantageous position, the stage is set for an intriguing continuation of the West Indies Championship match at Warner Park. With a solid batting foundation and a formidable bowling lineup, the Hurricanes look poised to extend their dominance over Trinidad and Tobago in pursuit of a convincing victory.
Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham had a front row seat as star man Lionel Messi put on a show in the Major League Soccer curtain raiser against Real Salt Lake.
The Manchester United and England great flew to Florida for the season opener and will have liked what he saw from Tata Martino’s ambitious team in Wednesday’s 2-0 win.
Messi put in a man-of-the-match display, producing some outrageous footwork, seeing a free-kick cleared off the line and hitting the bar directly from a corner before setting up Robert Taylor’s opener.
The 36-year-old received a half-time hug from Will Smith – one of the stars in attendance at upgraded Chase Stadium – and continued to play with an irresistible swagger.
While Miami lost their way as a team after their dominant first half, they dug deep and eventually killed off vastly improved RSL.
Messi showed brilliant strength, speed and close control to drive forward through the middle before playing in Luis Suarez, who set up Diego Gomez to score in the 83rd minute.
That moment gave Miami new life and the former Liverpool striker saw a debut goal brilliantly denied by Zac MacMath, who was guilty of allowing Taylor’s first-half strike to squirm past him.
Salt Lake’s goalkeeper also thwarted Messi at the end of an incredible run down the right as the hosts ended a challenging second half on a high.
In truth, the only person able to keep up with the Argentina skipper on Wednesday was his personal bodyguard, who went up and down the touchline tracking the star throughout the game.
Wicketkeeper/batsman Romaine Morris narrowly missed out on a maiden first-class hundred on day one of the 2024 West Indies Championship third round game between the Jamaica Scorpions and the Barbados Pride at Sabina Park in Kingston.
Batting first after losing the toss, the hosts were able to amass 269 all out from 78.4 overs on Wednesday.
Morris, who got a half century in round one against the Windward Islands Volcanoes, came in with the Jamaicans in a spot of bother at 113-5 in the 40th over and batted beautifully to finish 97* off 126 balls including 10 fours and three sixes.
Earlier, opener Carlos brown continued his good form over the last two matches with 40 off 105 balls including seven fours while Kirk McKenzie got his first significant score of the season, also making 40 with his coming off 79 balls and including five fours.
Jomel Warrican finished with 5-62 off 27.4 overs while Jair McAllister took 3-69 off 15 overs.
At stumps, Barbados were 15-0 off seven overs with Zachary McCaskie on 13 and Kraigg Brathwaite on one.
Full Scores: Jamaica Scorpions 269 all out off 78.4 overs (Romaine Morris 97*, Carlos Brown 40, Kirk McKenzie 40, Jomel Warrican 5-62, Jair McAllister 3-69)
Barbados Pride 15-0 off seven overs.
Other Scores:
At Warner Park in St. Kitts
Trinidad & Tobago Red Force 137 all out off 60.2 overs (Jyd Goolie 30, Collin Archibald 3-28, Jeremiah Louis 3-38, Rakheem Cornwall 2-5, Daniel Doram 2-32)
Leeward Islands Hurricanes 105-1 off 29 overs (Kieran Powell 54*, Mikyle Louis 32)
At Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua
Guyana Harpy Eagles 175 all out off 54.3 overs (Ronaldo Ali Mohamed 30, Matthew Nandu 28, Joshua James 4-43, Johann Layne 2-27, Joshua Bishop 2-31)
West Indies Academy 96-4 off 26 overs (Rashawn Worrell 34, Joshua Bishop 33*, Kevin Sinclair 4-32)
At Chedwin Park in Jamaica
Combined Campuses & Colleges 204 all out off 71.3 overs (Demario Richards 46, Damel Evelyn 43, Darel Cyrus 6-72, Gilon Tyson 3-32)
Windward Islands Volcanoes 0-0 off 0.4 overs
Jamaican club Cavalier and Dominican Republic’s Moca FC will be targeting quick starts in their respective 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup Round One campaigns, as they tackle Major League Soccer (MLS) outfits FC Cincinnati and Nashville FC in first leg action on Thursday.
Moca FC hosts Nashville SC at the Estadio Cibao in Santiago de los Caballeros at 7:00pm, while Cavalier will also be at home to FC Cincinnati at the National Stadium at 9:00pm Jamaica time.
Cavalier, who secured their spot in this edition of the Champions Cup by virtue of their runner-up finish in last year’s Concacaf Caribbean Cup, will be hoping to carry their form from the Jamaica Premier League into play and upset the proverbial applecart across the two-leg tie.
The Rudolph Speid-coached side currently head the Jamaica Premier League standings on the back of a 12-match unbeaten run, the last four of which ended in clean sheet victories.
“We have only conceded two goals in 12 (Jamaica Premier League) games, one being an own goal. So, we are on a trajectory and it is something that we plan because we know that we will be up against some good attackers in the Concacaf Champions League, so we try to hone our defence,” Speid said.
While the level of competition on the Champions Cup stage is more formidable that the Jamaica Premier League and the Caribbean Cup, Cavalier have proven that they can compete and, if their rich scoring from the Caribbean Cup, in particular, is anything to go by, then FC Cincinnati will have to put every foot right defensively.
No player had more goals in the Caribbean Cup than Shaniel Thomas, who finished with eight goals, including a pair of hat-tricks. However, Thomas didn’t do it alone as Jalmaro Calvin also scored four goals and was one of the playmakers in attack.
Speid is backing that dynamic duo and others to execute accordingly against an FC Cincinnati team playing its first match of the year.
“We just want to see what we can get from the two games against Cincinnati,” Speid added.
Cincinnati FC also enjoyed a fruitful 2023 season in MLS, where they won the Supporters Shield as the team with the best regular season record.
Like Cavalier, the Ohio-based club will be making their Champions Cup debut as well but boast both quality and experience within the squad. Attacking midfielder and 2023 MLS Most Valuable Player Luciano Acosta, who had 17 goals and 14 assists in 2023, is no stranger to the Champions Cup, as he enjoyed a stint with DC United in 2015-16 season. Now, almost eight years later, Acosta will get another crack at Concacaf glory.
FC Cincinnati also have great strength in defence, especially in central defenders Matt Miazga and Miles Robinson, both of whom have won a Concacaf Gold Cup with the United States Men’s National team.
A pair of seasoned FC Cincinnati defenders going up against Cavalier’s prolific attack should make for an intriguing first leg.
Moca FC vs Nashville SC
These two teams will also be making their Concacaf Champions Cup debuts, as Moca FC progressed by virtue of their third-place finish in the Caribbean Cup, while Nashville SC, due to their runner-up finish in last year’s Leagues Cup.
Moca used a stifling defence and timely goal-scoring to reach the knockout stage of the Caribbean Cup, as they conceded just three goals in their four group stage games.
In attack, Gustavo Ascona was a headache for opponents defence in scoring four goals, while Victor Sanchez was also threat in notching two goals.
But they are up against an MLS team that boast one of the strongest squads in the Eastern Conference, which makes for a daunting assignment.
Leading the way for Nashville is talented midfielder Hany Mukhtar, who pocketed MLS’s Most Valuable Player for the 2022 season, a feat he followed up with 15 goals and 11 assists in 2023. New arrival Tyler Boyd should also help in attack, after scoring seven goals and contributing four assists last season with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Nashville SC are also quite strong in defence, with United States Internationals Walker Zimmerman and Shaq Moore at the back.
Reggae Boy Ravel Morrison finds himself at the center of attention as Sheffield Wednesday, Bolton Wanderers, and Peterborough United have expressed interest in securing the services of the 31-year-old midfielder.
A free agent since parting ways with Major League Soccer side DC United at the beginning of this year, Morrison is eager to return to regular football action, sparking the interest of clubs across the English Championship.
Sheffield Wednesday, currently grappling with the challenges of a survival fight in the Championship, sees Morrison as a potential boost to their attacking options. The free agent status of the Jamaican international has also piqued the interest of League One promotion hopefuls Bolton and Peterborough, both aiming to strengthen their squads for the crucial final weeks of the season.
Having made his debut for Jamaica in November 2020, Morrison showcased his prowess by scoring his first international goal in a crucial World Cup qualification match against Honduras in March 2022. However, despite his impressive international outings, the 31-year-old has been sidelined from the Reggae Boyz squad since March 2023 due to a lack of club football activity.
Should Morrison secure a contract with any of the three English Championship clubs currently courting him, it could potentially reignite his chances of returning to the national team. The window of opportunity, however, seems tight, with Jamaica's Reggae Boyz gearing up to face the United States in the CONCACAF Nations Cup semi-finals in late March.
The possibility of a move to Sheffield Wednesday adds an intriguing layer to the narrative, considering Morrison's past stint with their cross-city rivals Sheffield United during the 2019-20 season.
With a football journey that has taken him through clubs in six different countries, Morrison stands at a crossroads, contemplating a return to the league where it all began for the talented midfielder, or the prospect of venturing into League One for the first time in his career.
Will Biddick is set to get the leg-up on Kilbeg King at the Cheltenham Festival after Anthony Honeyball stated his intention to go for the National Hunt Chase with his Reynoldstown runner-up.
The National Hunt Chase is a race in which both Honeyball and Biddick have previous, having joined forces with Ms Parfois in 2018, leading inside the final half-furlong only to be pipped close home by Willie Mullins’ Rathvinden.
Although Biddick has a Festival winner to his name as both a trainer and a jockey, Honeyball is still searching for his first strike at the Prestbury Park showpiece and is confident his star novice chaser can play a key part in the marathon event after a fine effort at Ascot when beaten only a head by Ben Pauling’s Henry’s Friend.
“I went to the Reynoldstown with slightly different expectations than I did the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase (when third on Boxing Day) – in my mind and my world he was favourite, so I wasn’t over the moon to finish second at Ascot,” explained Honeyball.
“At the same time, the dream is still alive and he’s run a really good race with reasons to think he could go to the National Hunt Chase and have a really good chance.
“Hand on heart we’re probably not good enough to run in the three-mile novice (Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase) and while we’re not a million miles away, we’re probably right in going for the National Hunt Chase.
“He’s definitely got that bit of class and he would travel through that race, while I think his jumping would be economical and good enough. So I feel he would have a decent chance in that.
“It’s one of those races where he would tick a lot of boxes. He’s a nine-year-old and he’s got that bit of experience. I see no reason why he wouldn’t stay and he’s got what you need really.”
On the booking of Biddick for the nine-year-old, he went on: “I think it’s a race you have to get organised early for and we’ve got Will Biddick provisionally booked to ride him. I think he will be OK (to take the ride) as he often rides for Paul Nicholls in those types of races, but he doesn’t have one in it.”
Not only does Kilbeg King’s Cheltenham Festival bid give both Honeyball and Biddick the chance to correct the record of Ms Parfois’ National Hunt Chase reverse of six years ago, her owner Martyn Chapman is a member of the partnership that co-owns the Grade Two runner-up.
Honeyball continued: “Will was second for us in the race aboard Mrs Parfois when she was beaten by Willie and Patrick Mullins. It was an agonising one as halfway up the run-in she was back in front, but just got nabbed.
“One of the owners of Kilbeg King used to own Ms Parfois so there is a nice bit of symmetry to it as well. We’re looking forward to it and we wouldn’t run him unless we thought we had a decent chance of winning and we think we have.
“We will give it a go and who knows, you need a lot of luck, but we just hope he does everything right and if he does then we should at least be thinking we have a chance turning in, we hope.”
Kilbeg King has built up a wealth of fencing experience in four starts this season and having plied his trade in graded company the last twice, there are plenty of positives for his connections to cling to ahead of his Festival bid.
“His jumping was good in the Kauto Star and his jumping for the most part was good, solid and safe at Ascot,” said Honeyball
“There was just a slight frustration that at both two out and the last he just jumped them OK but landed a bit flat-footed. If he had jumped just one of them OK then that would probably been enough, but it is about jumping and Ascot is a good test.
“It’s good he has come through that and it is good experience under his belt and we’re hoping we can just do a few little things at home now to help him when the pressure is on.
“When he won at Punchestown we thought he fitted the same type of mould as Fountains Windfall and Ms Parfois and we were very much hoping he would end up in races like this.
“He was a good third in the Kauto Star and he’s backed that up with a really good performance in the Reynoldstown.”
Dual Grade One winner Gala Marceau finished a disappointing third as Hispanic Moon claimed top honours in the Bet Victor Quevega Mares Hurdle at Punchestown.
Gala Marceau locked horns with fellow Willie Mullins-trained mare Lossiemouth on several occasions last season, coming out on top at the Dublin Racing Festival before her esteemed stablemate turned the tables in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham and confirmed the form at Punchestown.
Gala Marceau did though round off her campaign with a top-level win in France, and while she was beaten by another Mullins mare in Ashroe Diamond on her return to action at Doncaster late last month, she was widely expected to get back on the winning trail at Grade Three level on home soil.
Ridden by Paul Townend, the 2-7 shot travelled well for much of the of the two-and-a-half-mile contest, but was being ridden along before the home turn and soon emptied in the ultra-testing conditions.
Saylavee, also trained by Mullins, did her best to make a race of it with Henry de Bromhead’s 11-2 chance Hispanic Moon, but the latter kicked eight lengths clear in the hands of Darragh O’Keeffe.
Coral reacted by trimming Hispanic Moon’s odds for the Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival to 16-1 from 50-1, while easing Gala Marceau to 12-1 from 7-1. Lossiemouth is the 1-2 favourite.
Robbie Power, the winning trainer’s race planner, said: “That was great. She was impressive here back in November and I don’t know what went wrong at Christmas, there was no real excuse for her, she just didn’t run her race for some reason.
“That was much more like it today and Darragh knew himself after jumping two hurdles that she was back to herself. She was a different mare, she travelled and jumped really well. She winged the last and went from there to the winning post with her two ears pricked.
“Hopefully there is a bit more in the locker. She’s in the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham and we’ll see how she comes out of this, we might take a punt.
“You’d have to be tempted after that, she’s beaten Saylavee a lot easier than she did here back in November.”
Of the market leader, Mullins said: “Paul thought she ran a bit keen and she was very disappointing, especially after her promising run in Doncaster.
“I haven’t seen anything wrong with her yet, but she was blowing quite hard when she came in. Unfortunately it’s one of those things.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
