Wales head coach Warren Gatland led tributes to George North after his announcement that he will retire from Test rugby following Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash against Italy.
North has decided to call time on an international career that has yielded 120 caps, 47 tries for Wales, four Six Nations titles, including two Grand Slams, four World Cups and two British and Irish Lions tours, when he played in three Tests.
“George has contributed hugely to Welsh rugby in an incredible career, starting as an 18-year-old,” Gatland said.
“The way that he burst on to the scene. I can remember seeing him play and thinking, ‘We need to cap this kid’.
“He has been incredible as a rugby player, but I think the most important thing is how he has contributed to the squad as a person over the years.
“How positive and encouraging he has been within and around the group, things that people wouldn’t have seen in terms of what he has organised off the field.
“George has been outstanding and a credit to himself. He can definitely hold his head high. He and his family and friends can be very proud of everything he has achieved.
“I look forward to watching George play at the Principality Stadium one final time in a red jersey on Saturday and I hope everyone will join me in celebrating him. Diolch George.”
North’s former Wales and Lions team-mate Jamie Roberts described him on X as a “generational player”, while the Lions said that North had enjoyed “an incredible international career”.
And ex-Wales and Lions number eight Scott Quinnell said on X: “Congratulations on an amazing career. One of the very best. Enjoy every minute of Saturday.”
Ospreys centre North will continue playing rugby next season, having agreed a deal with ambitious French club Provence.
The Sacramento Kings delivered their most complete performance of the season as they snapped a long winless run against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Sacramento won 129-94 on Tuesday, defeating the Bucks for the first time since February 2016.
That 15-game losing streak was the longest active such run of any team in the NBA.
De'Aaron Fox led the Kings with 29 points, while Domantas Sabonis had 22 points and 11 rebounds. He has now set a new Kings single-season record, with what was his 47th successive double-double.
As good as the Kings' offense was, however, Fox wanted to praise the defense.
"I think defensively we did a great job," Fox said.
"I think that fuelled our offense. Obviously, we scored 130 points, but even if we didn't play that well offensively, if we have an even below-average game, score 110, we still win this game by 15.
"I think this was one of the most complete games that we've played this year."
Speaking of his teammate Sabonis, Fox added: "Night in, night out, he's come up big for us.
"I think people are immune to it. No one outside of basically us talks about it. But that's obviously a hard thing to do and there's not many people have done it. He comes ready to play every night."
While Giannis Antetokounmpo had 30 points and 13 rebounds, Bucks coach Doc Rivers said his team did not deserve anything but a defeat, and he took full responsibility.
"We deserved it tonight," said Rivers.
"It's my fault. I didn't get them prepared the way I should mentally. At shootaround, guys were talking about planes leaving.
"As a staff, we talked about it after shootaround that if our focus is not better than this morning, it's going to be a long day. And it was a long day. So that's on us."
Six Nations chief executive Tom Harrison insists bonus points are unlikely to be abandoned if it transpires that Ireland win this year’s tournament despite claiming fewer victories than England.
England’s triumph over Andy Farrell’s men on Saturday has brought intrigue to the final day of the Guinness Six Nations, with both sides capable of lifting the crown, while France and Scotland also have mathematical chances of winning.
Ireland are in the driving seat and could retain their title even if they lose or draw against Scotland and England topple France, because they have already accumulated four bonus points.
It would be the first time since bonus points were introduced in 2017 that the team finishing top had collected fewer victories than the side in second, but Harrison has indicated the format is here to stay.
When asked about whether a rethink would be needed if the Six Nations was won in that way, Harrison replied: “Yes, if we think bonus points are a problem.
“But remember why bonus points are there – bonus points are there to promote positive rugby. It’s about fan engagement, right?
“It’s also that the players know. It’s not as though we’re saying ‘You’ve played so well we’re going to award you an extra point afterwards’. No, I don’t think it will change.
“I’m delighted that there is some jeopardy going into the final weekend. It’s great. That’s one of the features of the Six Nations – you genuinely don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Harrison was speaking at the launch of the Women’s Six Nations in London – a competition England are aiming to win for the sixth successive year, with France their closest rivals.
With their rivals investing more money into their national programmes in an attempt to catch up, Harrison is confident the playing field will level out.
“It would be great to have more competitive matches and I think that, through the investments that have happened just in the last 12 months, we will start to see some of that,” he said.
“Of course, England and France have obviously also upped their game in terms of their performance, and we have had another year of understanding how to become even better.
“Partners are very interested in seeing those improvements and seeing how teams are becoming more competitive.
“And let’s be honest, this isn’t the domination that you might see in Scottish football, for example. We’ve got a couple of years where the gap has widened and I expect that gap to narrow.
“Our role is to provide increased levels of funding for the women’s game because we don’t really get involved in the high-performance space.
“What we can do, though, is ensure those funding streams are healthy, open and exploited to the full extent.”
Fact To File maintained his huge reputation with a straightforward success in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase for Willie Mullins.
Talked of as a serious Gold Cup horse of the future, the JP McManus-owned 8-13 favourite was given a patient ride by Mark Walsh through the early stages, before things tightened up, with the field almost inseparable over the third-last fence.
Around the bend horses started to drop away, however, and nothing could go with the market leader – who was second in the Champion Bumper here last year – as he accelerated clear after the last.
Monty’s Star (Henry de Bromhead/Rachael Blackmore) was three and three-quarter lengths back in second, with Giovinco third at 40-1 for Lucinda Russell.
McManus said: “I was nervous and I thought he got a little warm and on his toes beforehand.
“I think Mark did a great job to get him settled and I think he will learn a lot from that race, I’m just relieved.
“It’s all in front of him and when Willie decided to go straight chasing with him I had no objection, it sounded good to me. It has been vindicated.”
Olympic gold medallist Lauren Price will challenge American Jessica McCaskill for her women’s world welterweight titles on May 11 in Cardiff.
Price will get her shot at McCaskill’s WBA, IBO and Ring Magazine crowns at the Utilita Arena having amassed a record of six straight wins since turning professional in the wake of her triumph in Tokyo in 2021.
Victory would make more history for Price, the first Welsh boxer to win Olympic gold, who would also become the first Welsh woman to land a professional world title.
Price, 29, said: “I’m over the moon for this fight to finally be getting announced.
“The fact it’s in Cardiff is amazing. I’ve not boxed there since I first started out which was a good few years back now. I can’t wait to put on a show in front of my friends, family and Welsh supporters who have been great in supporting me throughout my career.
“Jessica McCaskill is the current champion. She’s game, experienced and strong but I’ll be 100 per cent ready for whatever she brings on the night.”
The experienced McCaskill unified the world light-welterweight titles before stepping up to end Cecilia Braekhus’ long reign as welterweight champion in 2020.
She lost a world lightweight title fight against Ireland’s Katie Taylor in 2017 and lost a light-welterweight unification fight against Chantelle Cameron in December 2022. In her last fight in September last year, she fought a draw with Derby’s Sandy Ryan.
Wales star George North fought back tears as he reflected on an international career that saw him “live a dream”.
The 31-year-old has announced that he will retire from Test rugby after Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash with Italy in Cardiff.
He made his Wales debut as a teenager in 2010, touching down twice against South Africa, and has scored 47 tries for his country – a figure bettered only by Shane Williams.
North is third on Wales’ all-time cap list with 120 Test appearances behind Alun Wyn Jones and Gethin Jenkins, while he played in four Rugby World Cups and helped Wales win four Six Nations titles – including two Grand Slams.
He also toured Australia with the 2013 British and Irish Lions, which included him scoring a brilliant solo try in the first Test and then famously picking up and carrying Wallabies wing Israel Folau during the second game, and New Zealand four years later.
“It has not been an easy decision for me at all,” an emotional North said at Wales’ training base in the Vale of Glamorgan, pausing to regather himself on several occasions during a 20-minute press conference.
“It is the best thing for me and my family and the sacrifice everyone has to make.
“I didn’t think this day would come – I wished this day would never come – but for me it is about being able to go out on my terms and being able to enjoy it like I have for every second of the last 14 years.
“I am going to use this week and Saturday to really take it all in and to live my dream again one more time.
“For me, it has always been about me being the best I can be for Wales and being the best I can be with the Three Feathers on my chest.
“I have loved every second of it and cherished every second of it – the highs and the lows. I couldn’t have written it better myself, to be honest.
“I have been very fortunate to live a dream not many people get to do.”
North, who played the majority of his time with Wales as a wing before moving to centre and will join French club Provence next season, addressed his national squad colleagues on Wednesday.
And he underlined how he wants it to be business as usual when Wales strive for a first victory of this season’s Six Nations against Italy.
“I said (to the squad), let’s not get weird. This week is the same and the preparation is the same,” he added.
“I asked them for nothing to change from what we always do. For us, it is a must-win game and the focus should never be on one individual.”
North is the latest big-name Wales player to step down from the Test arena during a 10-month period that has also seen Jones, Justin Tipuric, Dan Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny call time.
“I was speaking to Becky (North’s wife, who is a double Olympic medallist), and when she stepped away from cycling. The conversation we have had plenty of times is, ‘when you know, you know’,” he said.
“Sometimes that is not the right answer and the answer is a fairy-tale answer or the fairy-tale finish. For me it has been a dream, and in my heart I know it is the right time for me to step away.
“I think my first cap is something that will always burn strong with me. It will put a smile on my face. At the time I said I had a list of goals at the back of my bedroom door, and I knocked out probably 95 per cent in one game!
“To me that really gave me the snapshot and the window to really push on to give me the fuel and desire to do what I’ve done for so long.
“You work until you are content, and that is when you can walk away with a smile on your face.
“I hope people will think of me as a Test animal, someone who would never give in, would give everything and left nothing out there.
“I have had my journey and I’ve loved it, and now it is time for those boys to have theirs and to love it as much as I have.”
North, who was omitted from the Wales starting line-up beaten 45-24 by France last weekend, replaces Joe Roberts against Italy on what his now his Wales farewell, with fellow centre Nick Tompkins returning instead of Owen Watkin.
Two other changes are in the pack, where Harlequins prop Dillon Lewis is preferred to Keiron Assiratti and Cardiff flanker Alex Mann packs down alongside back-row colleagues Tommy Reffell and Aaron Wainwright.
Ballyburn made impressively light work of the Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival.
The 1-2 favourite was one of five runners for the all-conquering Willie Mullins and travelled strongly behind the leaders under Paul Townend.
When the field rounded the final bend there was no question whatsoever as to the outcome, with the Ronnie Bartlett-owned six-year-old strolling away from stablemate Jimmy Du Seuil to win by a yawning 13 lengths.
Another Closutton runner, Ile Atlantique, was a further three and a half lengths back in third. Just for good measure Mullins was also responsible for Mercurey (fourth) and Predators Gold (fifth), but Nicky Henderson’s Jingko Blue was pulled up to continue a testing time for the Seven Barrows trainer.
“It’s the first time he’s wowed me, I thought ‘wow, what a performance’ and to me that was a Champion Hurdle performance,” said Mullins.
“It was really really spectacular. With his size, scope and pedigree our owners might decide to go chasing with him next year, I don’t know. But with that performance he can go anywhere.
“Our team are in flying form, but we are just so sorry for Nicky Henderson that he has had to pull his good horses out. It could be us, so our sympathies go to him.”
He went on: “My heart hasn’t skipped a beat when a horse jumps a hurdle since Annie Power, but it skipped a beat there!
“I thought he was a good horse, but I didn’t view him as the horse that people were saying until today. When he jumped the last and went away up the hill I just thought ‘wow’.
“This fellow could be anything, he could be a Champion Hurdle horse, a Gold Cup horse or both with his size, scope and pedigree. He’s made for fences but looks to have the ability for a Champion Hurdle.
“I didn’t realise we’d had the first five, Michael Dickinson obviously did it in the Gold Cup but it’s nice to do it in a Grade One at Cheltenham.
“I hadn’t even got my licence then, but it was extraordinary to look at a man having so much firepower in one stable and now it looks like we’re in the same position at the moment.
“It’s nice to do that at the Festival.
“I know how good our others are, they would be top-class horses any other year and they deserve to be here, the strength behind him – he blew me away.
“When we saw Slade Steel win yesterday that really franked the form and gave us an even better chance.”
Bartlett said: “He jumped well, we didn’t know how he was going to handle the ground, but that was exciting.
“Let’s enjoy the day and the future is in front of him, so we’ll just keep our fingers crossed.
“He had lots of different options and in typical Willie style he didn’t want to tell us too much, but listen it all came right in the end.”
Ballyburn made impressively light work of the Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival.
The 1-2 favourite was one of five runners for the all-conquering Willie Mullins and travelled strongly behind the leaders under Paul Townend.
When the field rounded the final bend there was no question whatsoever as to the outcome, with the Ronnie Bartlett-owned six-year-old strolling away from stablemate Jimmy Du Seuil to win by a yawning 13 lengths.
Rory McIlroy accepts he both “needs and wants” a strong performance in the Players Championship as he targets an end to his major victory drought.
McIlroy began the year with second place in the Dubai Invitational and victory in the Dubai Desert Classic seven days later, but has finished no better than 21st in each of his four events on the PGA Tour.
The world number two will seek a second victory at Sawgrass this week and also contest the Valero Texas Open immediately before the Masters at Augusta National, where a first major win since 2014 would make McIlroy just the sixth player to complete a career grand slam.
Asked if his recent form meant he needed or wanted a good week at PGA Tour headquarters, McIlroy told reporters: “Both probably.
“They’ve been middle of the road [finishes], 20th places or whatever it is. I’m not missing cuts but, at the same time, with how I’ve driven the golf ball the last three weeks I should be contending in the tournaments that I’ve played.
“I have this amazing feeling with my woods at the minute, but when I try to recreate that feeling with the irons, it starts left and goes further left.
“I have a swing thought for my woods and I need a different swing thought for my irons, and that’s what I’ve been working on over the last couple days. I feel like every other part of the game is in great shape.”
McIlroy has recorded 19 top-10s in major championships since winning the 2014 US PGA at Valhalla, which will host the event again from May 16-19.
However, the 34-year-old’s dismay at his failure to add to his four major titles was recently captured in the second season of Netflix documentary Full Swing as he reacted to Brooks Koepka’s fifth major win in the 2023 US PGA.
“I feel good enough to f****** top-10 in my head, but not good enough to win,” McIlroy vented in the locker room at Oak Hill.
Speaking on Wednesday, McIlroy said: “Look, I’m under no illusion that the clock is ticking and it has been 10 years since I’ve won one of them, and I’ve had chances, and those just haven’t went my way.
“I just need to keep putting myself in those positions, and sooner or later it’s going to happen.”
McIlroy believes his spell on the PGA Tour’s policy board took a toll on his time, rather than his golf, but despite no longer being in that position, he was still inundated with questions about the current state of men’s professional golf.
After expressing his support for under-fire PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, McIlroy conceded that the top stars may have held the Tour “to ransom” when he and Tiger Woods led a players-only meeting in Delaware in 2022 which led to the creation of the controversial “Signature Events”.
The eight, limited-field events each have a prize fund of 20million USD (£15.6m), but have come in for severe criticism.
Despite being eligible for them, former US Open champion Lucas Glover told Golfweek they were “selfish and it’s a money grab”.
McIlroy said he understood the concern over a loss of playing opportunities for players, but added: “The Tour has been a certain way for so long, but I also think that the Tour hasn’t necessarily evolved with the changing times to make it a more compelling entertainment product and fit in with the modern media and sports landscape.
“I think back to that meeting in Delaware, and I think, OK, did we push too hard, did we hold the Tour to ransom too much, the top players?
“I think the Signature Events really worked last year and, for whatever reason, they’re not quite capturing the imagination this year.
“I think it’s because fans are fatigued of what’s going on in the game, and I think we need to try to re-engage the fan and re-engage them in a way that the focus is on the play and not on talking about equity and all the rest of it.”
Teahupoo will look to strike when fresh in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle for Gordon Elliott at the Cheltenham Festival.
The seven-year-old was beaten just three-quarters of a length in the same race last year and returned to action this season in good form to take the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle ahead of Impaire Et Passe at Fairyhouse in early December.
He has not run since then and is expected to benefit that as he is proven to go well after a brief break.
“We’re looking forward to Teahupoo in the Stayers’ and he seems in really good form,” said Robbie Power, racing manager to owner Robcour.
“It was a very good performance in the Hatton’s Grace and we’ve changed things up this year coming straight here.
“The big thing for him is he’s a better horse when he’s fresh and all his runs after a 50-odd day break he has won. We think that is the key to him.
“He didn’t get the rub of the green in the race last year and hopefully if things go well this year he will take plenty of beating. He deserves to win a Stayers’ and we’re giving him every chance.”
Elliott also runs reigning champion Sire Du Berlais, who followed up last year’s victory with success in the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree.
Flooring Porter landed the race in both 2021 and 2022 before finishing fourth last season, after which he switched to jumping fences in the first half of the current campaign.
He was not without success as a chaser but connections ultimately decided to return to the Stayers’ Hurdle in a bid for a third triumph and veto the alternative option of the National Hunt Chase.
“He’s in good shape and we’re looking forward to it. I hope the ground dries out a little bit, I hope it’s not too deep, so we’ll see what happens,” said trainer Gavin Cromwell.
“He’s had a few schooling sessions over hurdles and they’ve gone well, he’s a very intelligent horse so I don’t see it (switching from fences) being a problem.
“When you see what Corbetts Cross (facile National Hunt Chase winner) did on Tuesday I’d say we dodged a bullet there and we’re happy to be running in the Stayers’ again.”
The British challenge is led by Fergal O’Brien’s Crambo, winner of the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot when last seen.
The seven-year-old beat Paisley Park, Dashel Drasher and Champ on that occasion and looks to be on an upward trajectory in a career that has already yielded seven wins from 10 starts.
“He’s in great form, I’m very happy with him and he has trained very well,” said O’Brien.
“We’ve had a great preparation, he’s just improved and improved for us.
“He doesn’t show a lot at home, everything he’s shown us is what he’s shown on the track and we couldn’t be more pleased with him.
“He’s won on everything, he won on good ground at Ascot and he’s won on heavy at Sandown last year so I can’t see that as an issue for him.
“We’ve our fingers crossed he can get his head in front.”
Jeremy Scott runs the hugely popular Dashel Drasher, with Emma Lavelle also set to saddle a fan favourite in the 12-year-old Paisley Park.
Winner of the race in 2019, he has run every year since and finished in third place in both 2021 and 2022.
Willie Mullins has three chances, with Sir Gerhard seemingly the leading hope as the mount of Paul Townend, while Asterion Forlonge will be ridden by Patrick Mullins and Janidil by Jody McGarvey.
Emmet Mullins’ Noble Yeats, the 2022 Grand National hero, will be partnered by Harry Cobden again after the duo beat Paisley Park to land the Cleeve Hurdle in January.
Joseph O’Brien runs Home By The Lee, with the field of 12 completed by Paul Gilligan’s Buddy One, three times a winner already this season.
“He seems to like this course and he has travelled over really well,” Gilligan said.
“He seems well in himself and although it is a big step up, I’m very happy with him and I think he will run with a lot of credit. I think he will run very well.”
Wales centre George North has announced that he will retire from international rugby after Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash against Italy.
The 31-year-old, who has won 120 caps, has been recalled to the Wales team for what is a wooden-spoon decider.
He wrote on X: “I’ve decided that the game on Saturday will bring my international career to an end.
“After 14 years it feels like now is the right time to step away. I have loved and cherished every second in a Welsh shirt and been able to play alongside some fantastic team-mates.”
Excelsior Community College Eagles defended their Intercollegiate rugby league 9s title on Saturday by defeating the University of West Indies Pelicans 18-4 in the finals at the University of Technology grounds.
The win concluded a flawless campaign for the Eagles, who finished with a perfect 6-0 record. National player Akeem Murray led the team with 10 points, scoring a try and kicking three goals. He was supported by Daniel Barham and Antwon McKane, who each scored a try. The Pelicans' only score came from national player Hakeem Richard with a consolation try.
The finalists had contrasting paths to the championship game. Earlier in the semis, EXED comfortably got past Caribbean Maritime University Spartans 14-4 whilst the Pelicans dug dig deep to carve a 16-10 win over perennial rivals and hosts UTECH Knights. Despite not making the top four, Mico University Crocs showed plenty improvements in their group games.
INTERCOL Rugby League Chair Romeo Monteith remarked, “Hearty congratulations to EXED on defending their title, they played excellent rugby league over the two Saturdays of competition and are deserving winners. All the teams gave excellent accounts of themselves, and we were thrilled to see several national players take the field for various teams. Next season should be even bigger and better for intercollegiate rugby league as institutions continue to rebuild their programs."
Ben Earl is unsatisfied with his rampaging display against Ireland as his pursuit of becoming world class demands he develops into the complete back row.
England’s number eight was named official man of the match for the second time in this Guinness Six Nations after providing the tip of the spear in Saturday’s 23-22 upset of Andy Farrell’s defending champions.
Using a combination of speed, power and footwork, he carried 19 times for 140 metres and crossed for a vital second-half try as he continues to prove an unstoppable force from close range.
While the 26-year-old Saracen says he is aiming for world-class status, his overall stats after four rounds of the Six Nations are evidence he is already there – more carries than any other player, second behind Ireland’s James Lowe for metres carried and sixth for metres gained.
But as the tournament’s most potent forward in attack, he heads to Lyon for Saturday’s clash with France aiming to elevate another essential part of his game.
“Ben can get a lot better,” said England’s head of strength and conditioning Aled Walters, who described Earl’s ability to move laterally and then “punch forward immediately” as his point of difference.
“He was happy with his performance in attack at the weekend but disappointed with his performance in defence. So his ceiling is way off.
“Ben is striving to become one of those players on the world stage. I remember the term ‘superior discontent’. That is what Ben has. It will be good to watch how he progresses.”
Earl was an outsider for England in the build-up to the World Cup with all 15 of his caps won as a replacement, but by the end of the competition he had emerged as the squad’s standout player.
That form has continued into the Six Nations despite the interruption of a knee injury to the point he is now one of the first names on the team sheet.
“I’m trying to take my game to a place it’s not been before. You have to nit-pick and look at your performance as a whole,” Earl said.
“That’s especially being a back row because it’s not all about what you do with the ball in hand, it’s not all about what you do without the ball, it’s a combination of both.
“I’m trying to get to a point where both facets of my game are at a world class standard. That’s not the case now and it’s certainly something I’m working very hard towards.
“I’ve made no secret to where I want to be in the game. Has wanting to be world class driven me more? Probably not, I think I put a bit more pressure on myself than most. It’s something I’ve just had to live with.
“It just feels like we as a team are just going to get better and better and the more I can contribute to that then the better.”
Self-belief has never been an issue for Earl, according to his former Saracens team-mate and current England attack coach Richard Wigglesworth, who insists an important aspect of his game has gone unrecognised.
“I actually sat next to him in the changing rooms at Saracens from when he was like 18 or 19 coming into the squad,” Wigglesworth said.
“He got essentially booted up the arse every day at training because he had some confidence. At 19 it was not always backed up.
“But he keeps getting into battles. He keeps wanting the ball, he keeps putting himself in great positions.
“And I don’t think he probably gets much credit for his toughness. Because whatever has just happened, he’ll do the next thing to the absolute best of his ability. There’s no going into his shell.
“For Ben, this is years of hard work that are allowing him to flourish at Test level. And he’s got more in him.”
George North has been recalled to the Wales team for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations wooden-spoon decider against Italy.
North, who was omitted from the starting line-up beaten 45-24 by France, replaces Joe Roberts, with his fellow centre Nick Tompkins returning instead of Owen Watkin.
Two other changes are in the pack, where Harlequins prop Dillon Lewis is preferred to Keiron Assiratti and Cardiff flanker Alex Mann packs down alongside back-row colleagues Tommy Reffell and Aaron Wainwright.
Wales captain Dafydd Jenkins, who featured at blindside flanker against France, returns to the second-row alongside Adam Beard, with Will Rowlands dropping to the bench.
Shishkin has not been declared for Friday’s Boodles Gold Cup at Cheltenham following an unsatisfactory scope.
Trainer Nicky Henderson had already ruled out Jonbon from Wednesday’s Champion Chase, among others, after five of his six runners on the first day of the Festival were pulled up.
The form of the stable had been a talking point heading into the biggest week of the season, hot on the heels of his brightest star Constitution Hill working poorly at Kempton and subsequently being pulled out of the Champion Hurdle.
Henderson posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Very sadly it will not be possible for Shishkin to run in the Gold Cup on Friday. He was scoped as have all our potential runners this week, but unfortunately he has shown an unsatisfactory picture on which he couldn’t possibly run.
“He appears to be 100 per cent in himself and has been working and schooling better than ever and we were really looking forward to Friday, it is hoped that along with all the other non-participants this week that they will be back in time for Aintree or Punchestown.
“Regrettably Champ has also succumbed and will not run in tomorrow’s Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle and the equivalent race at Aintree could be on the agenda.”
Nicky Henderson has reacted to his overall poor results on the opening day of this year’s Cheltenham Festival by withdrawing several runners on day two, including Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase hope Jonbon.
Henderson went into this year’s Festival under a cloud following the withdrawal of Champion Hurdle title holder Constitution Hill and a disappointing run of form from his stable as a whole.
Luccia provided the Seven Barrows handler with a boost when finishing third behind State Man in the Champion Hurdle, but his other five runners on Tuesday were all pulled up.
Henderson posted on X: “I’m afraid we have had to make some very tough decisions following the very disappointing performances of all bar one of our horses yesterday.
“It was there for all to see that there is obviously something affecting nearly all our horses and consequently we have reluctantly decided that Jonbon, First Street and Kingston Pride will not run today.
“It is impossible to identify any reason for all the disappointments and none of these horses have given us any cause for concern and all yesterday’s runners were scoped clean post race and I am glad to say all are sound this morning.
“There will unfortunately be further non-runners on Thursday and Friday.
“I hope everybody will appreciate that we have to do this in everybody’s interests, particularly the horses. It is very, very disappointing for everybody.”
Among Henderson’s high-profile entries for the rest of the week are JCB Triumph Hurdle favourite Sir Gino and leading Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup contender Shishkin.
Today’s Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase has been abandoned due to waterlogged ground on Cheltenham’s inside circuit.
Following 11mm of rainfall throughout yesterday, there has been no improvement in the conditions on the Cross-Country course and areas of the track remain unraceable.
The forecast for the remainder of the week continues to look unsettled, with further showers likely on both Thursday and Friday.
There will therefore be insufficient improvement to the Cross-Country course and the decision has been taken not to reschedule the Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase at this year’s Festival.
Due to the abandonment, the revised race times for today are as follows: Race 1 – 1345, Race 2 – 1430, Race 3 – 1515, Race 4 – 1600, Race 5 – N/A, Race 6 – 1650, Race 7 – 1730.
The going on the regulation Old and New courses is described as soft, heavy in places.
World number two Carlos Alcaraz raced into the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open with a straight-sets win over Fabian Marozsan in Indian Wells.
The Spaniard, bidding to become the first player to defend the title since Novak Djokovic in 2016, won 6-3 6-3 in an hour and a quarter.
Hungarian Marozsan, 24, came into the match with a rare winning head-to-head record against Alcaraz, having beaten him on the Rome clay last year in their only previous meeting, one of the shock results of the season.
The Wimbledon champion quickly went about taking his revenge, winning four games in a row from 3-2 down to take the first set.
A solitary break for 4-2 in the second proved enough to wrap up the match and book a last-eight meeting with Alexander Zverev.
“Honestly I was nervous before the match, playing against someone who beat you, let’s say easily, it was difficult for me to approach the game,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.
“But I’m happy with the win. Today I knew better what I needed to do than in Rome.”
Zverev took down Australian Alex de Minaur after he lost the first set before coming back to win 5-7 6-2 6-3.
Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner continued his stellar start to the year, recording his 18th straight win in a victory over American Ben Shelton 7-6 (4) 6-1.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 11th seed from Greece, was on the end of an upset as he slipped to a 6-2 6-4 defeat to Czech youngster Jiri Lehecka.
World number one Iga Swiatek will take on Caroline Wozniacki in the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals at Indian Wells.
It took little more than an hour for Poland’s Swiatek to beat Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva in straight sets 6-1 6-2.
Wozniacki, from Denmark, defeated three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber in 90 minutes 6-4 6-2, advancing to her first WTA 1000 quarter-final since 2019 after returning to the tour.
After her match, former world number one Wozniacki said she will have to play her “best tennis to compete” with Swiatek.
“I think I have obviously commentated some of her matches,” she said. “I know how she’s playing. Obviously she’s playing good tennis, playing powerfully.
“I practiced with her as well a few times after I have come back, during the US Open as well. I know how she plays, but it’s one thing knowing how she plays and also playing against her in a full match.”
Swiatek said on court that she has great respect for Wozniacki.
“I think she’s playing great even after the maternity break. She was fighting to come back.
“I have huge respect. I’m going to prepare like any other, but off the court she’s a great person.”
Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk defeated Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-1, while Russian Anastasia Potapova defeated Italian Jasmine Paolini 7-5 0-6 6-3.
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