Kim Bailey’s has paid handsome tribute to his Grade One-winning chaser First Flow after announcing his retirement.
The 12-year-old was last seen winning the Godstone Handicap Chase at Lingfield during the Winter Million meeting, carrying top-weight to a length-and-a-quarter victory over Saint Segal.
That run will be his last as the decision has been been made to retire Bailey’s stable stalwart after a career that saw him win 12 races and amass over £300,000 in prize-money.
A €4,500 Tattersalls purchase with a pedigree that offered little insight into his ability, First Flow became a smart novice hurdler who won his first three starts over obstacles after a brief bumper career.
He then went novice chasing in the autumn of 2019, acquitting himself well when winning four times and never finishing out of the top three in eight starts in his opening season over fences.
The following term he won three successive starts and shone at the top level when landing the Clarence House Chase at Ascot, defeating the likes of Defi Du Seuil and Politologue.
Reaching a career-high mark of 166, he was subsequently sixth in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the 2021 Festival and from there was consistently placed in graded chases from two miles and a furlong to two miles and six – including a second-placed finish behind Hewick in the Oaksey Chase at Sandown.
“He was a unique horse and a complete star for the yard,” said Bailey.
“It’s very sad to see him retire but it’s something I expected to happen last year and he’s done another season, I’ve got no races to run him in so I think it’s a good time to stop.
“We’ve very much run out of options, he isn’t good enough for Grade One races anymore and he’s carried top-weight in handicaps three times this year.
“He was very tired after the last one and you can only go to the well so many times.
“I probably should have retired him there and then, but emotionally I couldn’t cope with that idea.
“He is a freak of nature, I think most good horses are, it’s been an interesting journey the whole way through because he’s such an interesting character – if he was a human being you would enjoy a night out with him!
“I hope we can find him a home close by so I can keep an eye on him, he is quite special to me.”
Five-time Olympic champion Dame Laura Kenny has only a “slim chance” of competing at the Paris Games this summer, according to British Cycling performance director Stephen Park.
Britain’s most successful female Olympian outlined her ambition to compete at a fourth career Games last November, only a few months after giving birth to her son Monty in July, her second child with husband and seven-time Olympic champion Sir Jason Kenny.
The 31-year-old admitted then it would be a tall order to get back up to speed in time and, as she has not raced competitively since the arrival of Monty, she does not yet have the points required to qualify for Paris, let alone earn selection for a squad that won the world team pursuit title last year.
View this post on Instagram
With Kenny not in the frame to compete at this month’s Nations Cup in Hong Kong, her final chance to earn those points would come at the final round in Milton, Canada, in April.
“She has a slim chance of being in Paris,” Park said. “The first challenge is for her to be in a position where she feels she is going to be competitive and… put her hand up to be selected for events that would allow her to qualify herself, as well as to qualify in the team.
“Both of those are fairly significant hurdles because you need to get to the right events on the individual level to qualify and secondly she’s got to be competitive in a team that’s more competitive than it’s ever been.”
Kenny is yet to return to regular training at the Manchester velodrome as she follows her own programme and Park said the more likely target for her would be the UCI Track World Championships in Denmark in October.
“We’ve got ongoing and continuing dialogue with Laura and we are supporting her and have been supporting her in terms of her return to training,” he added. “She is still optimistic around the World Championships as the primary event and that was what she has always said she would do.
“The first big piece is her having the confidence she can get to the place. Nobody knows better than Laura what you have to do to win a medal in women’s track and I’ve no doubt if she was going to put her mind to it and felt she was physically and mentally in the right place to make that she would do.”
Kenny won Olympic gold in both the team pursuit and omnium at the London and Rio Olympics. In Tokyo, four years after the birth of her first son Albie, Kenny won a fifth Olympic gold in the Madison alongside Katie Archibald, having also won team pursuit silver.
At last year’s World Championships in Glasgow, Archibald teamed up with Elinor and Meg Barker, Josie Knight and Anna Morris to win gold in the team pursuit and they will head to Paris among the favourites to take the title.
“(Kenny) knows what she needs to do to be competitive and ride at the pace, with the efforts, that she needs to be competitive,” Park said.
“But she’s also conscious as well that she’s getting back into the place and she doesn’t want to be in a situation where she’s affecting the training of the others.
“She’s really conscious of the progress the others are making too and she wants to make sure as and when she’s ready… she is in a place to step into that environment and not hold the others back.”
Former England captain Sarah Hunter has hailed World Rugby’s high performance academy as a “brilliant initiative” for the women’s game.
Hunter was among 16 aspiring female coaches to emerge through the inaugural programme last year, which saw them being embedded with their respective nations before and during the WXV tournament in New Zealand.
There were also a series of online and in-person workshops that apart from rugby also looked at areas such as cultural elements, building relationships and campaign planning.
Hunter is now part of England’s coaching team preparing for the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, which kicks off on March 23.
And World Rugby has a target of seeing women make up a minimum 40 per cent of all coaches involved at the England-hosted 2025 World Cup that sees Twickenham staging the final.
Year two of the Gallagher High Performance Academy will feature 10 sevens coaches, including Saracens full-back Sarah McKenna and Leinster wing Emily McKeown, participating in a programme now extended to all formats of the women’s game.
“Having been part of it, World Rugby and Gallagher have brought to life what they said they wanted to do,” Hunter told the PA news agency.
“It is a brilliant initiative, one that has been about making really positive change and immersing coaches within high performance teams.”
Hunter retired from playing in 2023 after winning a world record 141 caps. She led England to World Cup glory in 2014 and was named women’s world player of the year two years later.
“The last six years of my playing career I was player-coach at Loughborough Lightning, where I looked after the forwards, so I have always had a real passion to try and help people get better,” she added.
“I was probably teeing myself up for some kind of coaching job, but I had no idea it would be the role I am currently doing.
“Having been a very recent former player, I’ve got a good understanding of how players want to be coached because I’ve heard many a time about what was right, what was wrong, what could be better, so I’ve tried to remember that.
“The game has changed significantly, and it is about having opportunities for females. It is such an exciting time for the game, so let’s be really ambitious, keep setting targets.
“Knowing the talent that is out there and having sat as part of the high performance academy, their knowledge of the game is incredible. These people can make a significant difference to their teams.
“A lot of the players have an interest in coaching, and if we are creating more opportunities we are going to be keeping more great people within the game. Hopefully, people can see the impact the academy is having.”
Jo Yapp, who had a 12-year England playing career, recently became the first female head coach of Australia’s women’s rugby union team, and it is that level of progression Hunter believes the academy can help underpin.
“Hopefully, the way in which the academy works, the major outcome goal with that is to transition those candidates who are on it in to those coaching roles,” she said.
“We have already seen something like a 20 per cent uplift of people going into coaching roles in different unions, and it is really important to have ambitious targets.
“It means people have to make change and people have to be seen to be making change, so it puts pressure on governing bodies around the world. Let’s set the bar high and let’s strive for it.
“What would be brilliant is almost changing perception. We’ve got brilliant female coaches out there around the world and they probably just need a bit of a nudge of ‘right, you’re in’. And when they are in, people see how good they are.”
The Jockey Club has announced the opening race on day two of next week’s Cheltenham Festival will be run as the Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle.
The Grade One contest, registered as the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle, has had several different sponsors in recent years, including Neptune Investment Management and Ballymore.
Gallagher, a global insurance broking and risk management firm, joined The Jockey Club as its Official Community Partner in May 2023 and has now agreed to put its name to a two-mile-five-furlong contest that features the brilliant Faugheen (2014), Envoi Allen (2020) and Impaire Et Passe (2023) on its recent roll of honour.
The partnership sees The Jockey Club and Gallagher work together with the collective aim of opening up the sport to young people from a broad range of backgrounds and communities to the industry of racing and encourage them to consider it as a potential career.
Sophie Chambers, managing director of Gallagher’s bloodstock practice, said: “We are thrilled to be expanding our relationship with The Jockey Club by sponsoring the Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival later this month.
“Our partnership has made real progress in our aim to expand the sport to more young people and this is the natural next step.
“Horseracing is a fantastic sport and we want to encourage more youngsters who traditionally would not consider this a career choice to consider coming into the racing and thoroughbred industry.
“There are hugely diverse roles available, beyond just the jockeys we see on the racecourses, all offering great future progression. We hope our series of experience days will open youngsters’ eyes to the opportunities.”
Acting director of partnerships at The Jockey Club, Matt Powell said: “Gallagher has been instrumental in expanding the Junior and Youth experience days which are a hugely important part of our joint efforts to engage communities that the sport doesn’t traditionally reach.
“We are excited to see our partnership grow with the Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle opening the card on Style Wednesday.”
Katie Boulter has set her sights on pushing further up the rankings after winning the biggest title of her career.
The British number one defeated five top-40 players to win the San Diego Open, bringing her a first WTA 500 trophy and elevating her ranking to 27.
With Cameron Norrie slipping to 28, it means Boulter is the highest-ranked British singles player of either gender heading into the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which begins on Wednesday.
View this post on Instagram
The same week a year ago, Boulter was ranked outside the world’s top 150, and she does not have many points to defend until the grass-court tournament in Nottingham in June, where last year she picked up her first WTA title.
“I feel like I’ve started the year very well and I’ve given myself the best opportunity to set myself up for the rest of the year,” said 27-year-old Boulter.
“I’ve got a free swing, I don’t really have too much pressure. I’m just here enjoying myself and working as hard as I possibly can with a great team. You never know what could happen so I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”
The weekend was made even more special for Boulter by the success of boyfriend Alex De Minaur, who successfully defended his title in Acapulco on Saturday before catching an early morning flight to cheer on the British star.
They join the likes of former couples Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert and Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Clijsters in winning titles on the same weekend, and Boulter said: “I think that is very cool.
“I had no idea other people had done it. To share something with my other half is going to be something that we won’t forget.”
While the two titles both earned their recipients 500 ranking points, De Minaur took home around £325,000 and Boulter just £112,000, highlighting the continuing disparity between the ATP and WTA Tour away from the biggest joint events.
Boulter has mixed feelings, saying: “I’m obviously very happy with my first WTA 500 title, not too many players can say that they’ve won a 500 so I feel very special.
“Regarding the prize money, I feel like there’s a lot of equality in our sport in the biggest events. I really hope that the WTA can continue to help bridge the gap between the other events.”
There is parity in Indian Wells, where the tours come together at a big event for the first time since the Australian Open.
Boulter’s elevation to the top 30 comes too late to earn her a seeding and she will be back in action on Wednesday against dangerous Italian Camila Giorgi.
If she can maintain or improve her ranking through to the French Open and Wimbledon, she will earn herself a seeding, meaning she would not face a player in the top 32 until at least the third round.
“It’s definitely an aim of mine,” said Boulter. “I want to make sure that I can get as close to a seeding as possible. At the moment I’m in but it takes time to build more ranking points and to get myself to that place.
“Every single place in the ranking counts and I’ve just got to do my best because obviously it makes a difference as to who you play in the tournaments.”
Boulter is joined in the Indian Wells draw by Emma Raducanu, who has been given a wild card and will take on a qualifier in the first round.
Raducanu enjoyed one of her best weeks in the Californian desert last year, defying the wrist problems that subsequently forced her to go under the knife to reach the fourth round.
Norrie has a bye in the men’s event as the 28th seed while Andy Murray plays a qualifier, Jack Draper meets Christopher O’Connell and Dan Evans plays Roman Safiullin.
Rafael Nadal returns to the tour for the first time since suffering a muscle injury in Brisbane in January and will take on fellow veteran Milos Raonic, while Novak Djokovic makes his first appearance in Indian Wells for five years following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions.
Jordan Gainford will be reunited with Hewick in next week’s Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The young rider is the nine-year-old’s regular partner, steering him to a hat-trick of big-race victories in 2022 as he landed the bet365 Gold Cup, the Galway Plate and the American Grand National.
However, injuries have meant Gainford has not been on Hewick’s back competitively since his fall two fences from home in last year’s Gold Cup, with Rachael Blackmore steering him to a subsequent win at Sandown and Gavin Sheehan in the saddle for his most recent triumph in the King George at Kempton.
Having been sidelined since suffering damaged vertebrae in a fall at Naas in mid-December, Gainford made his return late last month and after enjoying his first winners since his comeback at Leopardstown on Sunday and Monday, trainer Shark Hanlon has confirmed he will be back on board Hewick at Prestbury Park.
Hanlon said: “Jordan is going to ride the horse. I spoke to Gavin last night to tell him, he’s done nothing wrong and gave the horse a great ride (at Kempton) and he might ride him again one day.
“But Jordan is back and has ridden a couple of winners and in fairness he made the horse for me, so I think it would be only manners to let him ride him next week.
“He was down here yesterday to sit on the horse and at that stage he didn’t know if he was riding the horse or not, but he came down and schooled him. I told him the story, I said we’d have to wait and see and in fairness to him he came down and rode the horse twice in the last week.
“Jordan knows the horse well, the horse travels well for him and I’m delighted to have him on board.”
D'Angelo Russell insisted the Los Angeles Lakers proved their quality by overcoming the Oklahoma City Thunder, in a win he labelled as "no fluke".
Russell was the star of the show for the Lakers in their 116-104 triumph on Monday, sinking five 3-pointers in a 26-point haul.
Anthony Davis backed Russell up with 24 points and 12 rebounds, while LeBron James added 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The Lakers have now won 10 of their last 14 games, while the Thunder were knocked off of their perch at the Western Conference summit.
"They're so well-coached that you can't relax," Russell said of facing the Thunder, who have now lost two of their last three games after going on a six-game winning streak.
"That team has got everything you need to win and to be efficient at this level. You've got to be ready to play against those guys. It's no fluke [to beat them]."
Austin Reaves, who shot four 3s, added: "Obviously, they're coming off a tough back-to-back.
"But any time you can beat a team confidently going into the fourth of that calibre, it speaks to what you did offensively and defensively.
"Anytime you beat a team like that that’s been playing really good basketball, it feels good and it gives you some momentum going forward."
The Lakers managed to keep Shai Gilgeous-Alexander under wraps, limiting him to 20 points, ending a run of eight successive 30-point performances for the Thunder's talisman.
"Our start was good offensively, but our overall sharpness just wasn't there," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault reflected.
"Defensively, we turned them over a bunch of times, and that kept us in it. But certainly not our fastball tonight.
"I just didn't think we were as sharp offensively as we needed to be. A team like that that’s got size and physicality, that's a requirement to hit shots against them, but we just didn't do that enough."
The Thunder were replaced at the top of the West by the Minnesota Timberwolves, who beat the Portland Trail Blazers 119-114.
Rudy Gobert recorded his 43rd double-double of the season, and the Timberwolves have now swept the Trail Blazers in their four meetings with Portland this term.
"We absolutely had to have this one," said Timberwolves coach Chris Finch, whose team had lost their previous two games.
Damian Lillard cited the Milwaukee Bucks' performance without Giannis Antetokounmpo as proof of the team they are becoming.
The Bucks won 113-106 on Monday, despite star man Antetokounmpo missing out due to left Achilles tendinitis.
Despite trailing by 15 points in the second half, the Bucks rallied, with Lillard finishing with 41 points while Bobby Portis contributed 28 and 16 rebounds.
Milwaukee have now won six straight games as they settle in under new coach Doc Rivers.
"It just shows who we're becoming," Lillard said.
"Nobody talked about who wasn't playing before the game. That just shows what's expected, the standard that we're starting to have, and who we're becoming as a team.
"We just trusted each other. Defensively, we've trusted our communication. We've depended on the next guy to do his job, and the same offensively.
"Because our team is seeing the results that we're getting from playing that way, even when it's not going our way at points in the game, we trust it. It's just coming back in our favour."
Portis added: "Guys needed to step up in their roles.
"I just feel like it was one of those times for me just to step up and be a little more aggressive than I probably was before."
Antetokounmpo has only missed three games this season, though Rivers is unsure whether the two-time NBA MVP will be fit to feature against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.
"It's been on and off the last two or three games," Rivers said of Antetokounmpo. "This morning he actually looked good, we'll just figure it out from there."
The Clippers, who will be without Russell Westbrook until April after he fractured his hand against the Washington Wizards last week, have now lost for the third time in five games, though they remain well-placed in the upper echelons of the Western Conference.
"When they went to that zone, I think we got a little jump shot-happy rather than keep attacking the basket and getting into the paint," Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said of his team's failure to hold onto their lead.
"I think we were in the bonus pretty early in the fourth quarter. They did a good job of going to the zone, and then we didn't handle it well."
Damian Lillard poured in 41 points and helped lead a fourth-quarter rally as the Milwaukee Bucks withstood Giannis Antetokounmpo's absence and remained unbeaten since the All-Star break with Monday's 113-106 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Despite Antetokounmpo sitting out with left Achilles tendinitis, the Bucks moved to 6-0 following the break behind Lillard and Bobby Portis, who scored 14 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter after Milwaukee trailed by as many as 15 in the third.
Portis added a season-high 16 rebounds for Milwaukee, which took the lead for good with a 15-0 run that erased a 96-90 deficit with under 5 1/2 minutes left.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Lillard and Patrick Beverley began the spurt, which Portis capped with four consecutive points that gave Milwaukee a 105-96 advantage with under two minutes to go.
The Clippers, who shot just 35 per cent in the fourth quarter compared to Milwaukee's 61.9 per cent, never got closer than five points down the rest of the way.
Los Angeles owned a 74-59 lead just past the midway point of the third quarter, but the Bucks scored the period's final five points and pulled to within 81-73 entering the fourth on Malik Beasley's triple in the final seconds.
The Clippers, who were coming off Sunday's 89-88 road win over the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Timberwolves, got 29 points each from Paul George and James Harden. Kawhi Leonard finished with 16 points, but was held to one in the fourth quarter while going 0 for 4 from the field.
Lakers continue surge, knock Thunder out of first in West
It was a better night for Los Angeles' other team, as the Lakers continued their recent strong play by knocking the Oklahoma City Thunder out of first place in the Western Conference with a 116-104 victory.
D'Angelo Russell recorded 26 points and Anthony Davis had 24 along with 12 rebounds as the Lakers improved to 10-4 since Feb. 1. Los Angeles currently stands in ninth place in the West but is now just two games behind the sixth-place Phoenix Suns, with the top six teams guaranteed a first-round play-off series.
The Thunder, who were coming off a 118-110 win over Phoenix on Sunday, shot just 39.4 per cent and fell a half-game behind Minnesota for the West's top spot after the Timberwolves registered a 119-114 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.
All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 20 points but finished 5 of 13 from the field.
The Lakers seized control with a 12-0 run to build a 37-27 lead with seven minutes left in the second quarter, and went into the break owning a 52-43 advantage behind 10 points from Russell and Austin Reaves.
Davis then took over in the third quarter, as the All-Star forward netted 15 points in the period as Los Angeles stretched its lead to 89-72 entering the fourth.
The Lakers' margin grew to as much as 25 points in the final quarter before the Thunder scored the game's final 13 points with the outcome already determined.
Bulls stun Kings with furious late comeback
Coby White put up a career-high 37 points and helped ignite a big second-half comeback that carried the Chicago Bulls to a stunning 113-109 road win over the Sacramento Kings.
Chicago trailed by 22 points late in the third quarter before outscoring the Kings by a 36-18 margin in the fourth to deal Sacramento a third loss in four games. DeMar DeRozan had 19 of his 33 points in the final period, while White tallied 24 of his points in the second half.
After closing out the third quarter on a 10-2 run to cut their deficit to 91-77, the Bulls continued to chip away in the fourth. They outscored the Kings by an 18-5 count over the final 5 1/2 minutes and held Sacramento without a point over the last 2:20.
White's layup off a Sacramento turnover tied the contest at 109-109 with 1:32 left, and after the Kings gave the ball away on their next possession as well, White again drove the lane and scored to put Chicago ahead with 47.6 seconds to go.
The Bulls would miss their next two shots, but got a late offensive rebound before DeRozan was able to seal the victory with two free throws with 3.5 seconds left.
De'Aaron Fox led the Kings with 20 points and 10 rebounds in his return from a two-game absence, while Domantas Sabonis grabbed 21 rebounds to go along with 18 points before fouling out with 2:57 remaining.
Sam Reinhart scored two goals and Ryan Lomberg recorded the game-winner in the third period as the Florida Panthers stayed hot with a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers in Monday's showdown between division leaders.
Anton Lundell sealed Florida's fifth consecutive win and 11th in 12 games with an empty-net goal in the final minute, while Aleksander Barkov and Gustav Forsling had two assists in support of Sergei Bobrovsky's 26-save effort.
The win maintained the Panthers' two-point advantage on the Boston Bruins for first place in both the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division, with the Metropolitan-leading Rangers now four points back of Florida.
After the Rangers tied the game at 2-2 on Chris Kreider's power-play goal late in the second period, the Panthers outshot New York by a 12-6 margin while dominating the third.
Lomberg snapped the deadlock 6:11 into the period when his wrist shot got past New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin, and Lundell put the game out of reach by scoring with 59 seconds remaining.
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead after one period on Will Cuylle's power-play goal, but Reinhart registered his 43rd and 44th goals of the season within a span of 2:45 in the second to put Florida ahead. His first of the night was his league-leading 25th in power-play situations.
Shesterkin stopped 25 of 28 shots for New York, which has now lost three of four following a franchise-record 10-game winning streak from Jan. 27-Feb. 24.
MacKinnon extends home point streak as Avalanche blank Blackhawks
Nathan MacKinnon increased his home point streak to 30 games with a two-goal, two-assist performance that helped the Colorado Avalanche cruise to a 5-0 rout over the badly struggling Chicago Blackhawks.
Justus Annunen stopped 37 shots to record his second shutout of Chicago in five days and send the Blackhawks to a seventh straight loss. The rookie netminder had 24 saves in Colorado's 5-0 win at Chicago on Thursday.
MacKinnon gave Annunen all the help he would need by blasting a shot past Chicago goaltender Petr Mrazek 12:31 in. The Colorado captain's home point streak is the second-longest to start a season in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky's 40-game run with the Los Angeles Kings in 1988-89.
MacKinnon then set up Jonathan Drouin's goal later in the first period before adding another assist on Cale Makar's score with 7:22 left in the second that extended the Avs' lead to 3-0.
Zach Parise made it 4-0 when he redirected a drive from Caleb Jones five minutes after Makar's goal, and MacKinnon capped his four-point night with a power-play tally with 4:25 remaining.
Mrazek finished with 32 saves in Chicago's ninth shutout loss of the season, tied with the San Jose Sharks for the most in the NHL.
Zacha's two goals lead Bruins past Maple Leafs
The Boston Bruins were able to keep pace with the Panthers in the Eastern Conference race by delivering a 4-1 win over the rival Toronto Maple Leafs behind Pavel Zacha's two goals and 32 saves from Jeremy Swayman.
Jake DeBrusk chipped in a goal and an assist and David Pastrnak had three assists to help the Bruins win for the second time in three outings following a three-game losing streak.
Morgan Geekie added a goal that put Boston ahead midway through the first period, and Zacha made it 2-0 by converting a power-play chance just under three minutes later.
Swayman came up with 13 saves during a second period in which DeBrusk produced the only goal, though Toronto's John Tavares scored for a second straight game to end the shutout bid 3:52 into the third.
Zacha completed his first multi-goal outing of the season by knocking in a feed from Pastrnak with 9:25 remaining.
Toronto, which had won nine of 10 coming in, received 23 saves from Joseph Woll.
The Russell Wilson era in Denver opened with such excitement and hope for the Broncos.
Just two years later, it's ending with considerable disappointment.
The Broncos announced on Monday that they will release Wilson after the start of the new league year, which begins on March 13.
"On behalf of the Broncos, we thank Russell for his contributions and dedication to our team and community while wishing him the best as he continues his career," Broncos GM George Paton and coach Sean Payton said in a statement released by the team.
"As we move forward, we are focused on building the strongest team possible for the 2024 season and beyond. We are excited to improve this offseason and will have the flexibility to get better through the draft and free agency.”
The decision to cut Wilson allows Denver to save an extra $37million in guaranteed money for 2025, though he is still guaranteed $39million for the 2024 season.
The Broncos paid a hefty price to acquire Wilson in March of 2022, in a deal that will go down as one of the biggest trade busts in NFL history.
Denver sent two first-round draft picks, two second-round draft picks, a third-round selection and three players to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for the nine-time Pro Bowler.
Then shortly before the start of the 2022 season - before he had even played a game for the Broncos - the team signed Wilson to a massive five-year extension worth more than $242million.
The trade looked to be doomed from the start as Wilson struggled mightily in his first season in Denver as the Broncos finished last in the AFC West with a 5-12 record in 2022.
After throwing 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions and compiling a career-worst 84.4 QB rating in 2022, Wilson had 26 TDs and eight picks in 2023 for a 98.0 rating - eighth best in the NFL.
Although he played better this past season, Denver opted to bench Wilson for its final two games with a play-off berth nearly out of reach.
The Broncos split their final two contests and ended up missing the play-offs for the eighth year in a row.
Wilson, who led Seattle to a Super Bowl championship following the 2013 season, will turn 36 in November, and will likely be able to find another starting job after a nice bounce-back season in 2023.
Raddesh Roman has added another milestone to his career by signing with TruShake as their latest brand ambassador.
Roman is the fourth jockey in less than two years to join the TruShake family.
He placed fifth in the 2023 standings and is currently in second place behind Tevin Foster, another TruShake Ambassador.
Lauren Mahfood, Marketing Manager, Trade Winds Citrus Limited, says she is elated to add another brand ambassador to their sporting family.
She noted that, “Horseracing in Jamaica is very popular and as a Jamaican brand it is amazing to be a part of sport that Jamaicans are so passionate about and support our talented jockeys.”
Mahfood went on to say that "TruSHAKE is a great fit for the jockeys who are very mindful of their weight. As a nutrition shake, TruSHAKE can act as a meal replacement or as a snack to complement the jockey’s diet depending on their goal weight."
Roman is pleased to be associated with the company and has set his sights firmly on taking the 2024 championship. He said, "I will do all I can to make this relationship work and will perform at my best at all times."
Roman joined the big leagues when he rode Blue Vinyl to victory in the 2000 Guineas and St Leger Classic races in 2022 and added an elite win on his resume last August (2023) when he rode Runaway Algo for his 100th career winner.
Roman joins the other jockeys 2023 winner, Reyan Lewis, Tevin Foster and Javaneil Patterson; while the other athletes are Olympic bronze medalist in women's hurdles, Megan Tapper and race car driver, Fraser McConnell.
Roman had three wins on Saturday for the SVREL 7th Anniversary.
Denver Broncos have announced their decision to release quarterback Russell Wilson, bringing an end to a hugely disappointing two-year stint.
Wilson was acquired in a high-profile trade from Seattle Seahawks but the Broncos won just 11 of the 30 games he started, and he was benched for the last two games of the 2023 campaign.
Wilson will be released after the new league season begins on March 13.
The Broncos said in a statement: “We spoke with Russell Wilson today to inform him of his release after the start of the league year.
“On behalf of the Broncos, we thank Russell for his contributions and dedication to our team and community while wishing him the best as he continues his career.
“As we move forward, we are focused on building the strongest team possible for the 2024 season and beyond.
“We are excited to improve this off-season and will have the flexibility to get better through the draft and free agency.”
Anthony Joshua has dismissed suggestions that his fight against Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia on Friday should not be taken seriously and says his opponent fully deserves his shot.
Joshua takes on the MMA star in his first ring appearance since his five-round triumph over Otto Wallin in December as he looks to move closer to linking up a heavyweight title clash with Tyson Fury.
Ngannou gave Fury all the trouble he could handle in October when he knocked the favourite down in the third round and dropped a contentious split decision, and Joshua expects another tough test on Friday.
Joshua told Sky Sports: “It’s not a gimmick, it’s not something that benefits the broadcasters, it’s not just a fight for entertainment purposes.
“This is a serious fight with someone who is prepared and understands the dynamic of boxing and he’s putting up a good fight against the apparently generational great. So, I look at it now as something completely different.
“To be classified as a world-class heavyweight I would say that you have to stay there for a period of time. But I think that he’s an athlete with a lot of potential.”
Joshua admitted that watching Ngannou’s clash with Fury changed his opinion of MMA fighters coming into boxing, which effectively began with Conor McGregor’s defeat to Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas in 2017.
“The whole MMA crossing over into boxing I looked at it as a gimmick, but now I can see that there are certain fighters in the MMA world that can box, and he (Ngannou) is one of them,” added Joshua.
“It’s good news for us fighters and good news for broadcasters because they’ve got me and Ngannou going at it in a few days.”
The Jamaica Squash Association (JSA) and KPMG joined forces recently to launch the 24th KPMG League which will feature sixteen teams. The launch was held at the association's home base at the Liguanea Club in New Kingston.
There was a mood of heightened excitement for this year's staging of the league after last year's successful post Covid-19 return. AGI was the dominant team then but there is one change to their line-up which could make the difference this year.
Karen Anderson, president of the JSA said "we can expect exciting matches. We see some really strong teams that have registered for the event and I think we will see an upset or two and so we are extremely excited to see how the matches will play out over the two months of the event."
The league will run on a handicap system which is used to level the playing field so that everybody will have a chance to play and do well.
The teams will play round robin matches in the first round of four teams per group. The top two teams will go to the quarterfinals where all matches going forward will be played on a knockout basis. The other two teams in the group will play in a plate final or final for the losing teams.
Anderson announced that the association will introduce new software to run the league fully for the first time.
"The association will be running it using the software that we have, the SportyHQ software, which will help us to be a bit more efficient in getting our results out and in the efficiency of the play because now people can follow live. We are trying to be innovative in how we bring new and different to a league that has been running for 24 years."
Additionally, Anderson welcomed new sponsor Wata to provide hydration throughout the league. She thanked title sponsor for this year's sponsorship of five hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This will allow for the association to take up the cost of staging all the matches while relieving the teams of the cost of hosting matches.
Rajan Trehan, country managing partner of title sponsor KPMG credited the league for its continued high contribution to developing young players in the game of squash in the country.
"Over the period (of our sponsorship) it has developed into a very strong league and its one of the major events on the JSA calendar. We are proud because we believe in the development of youth as well as sports and we have adopted squash as one of the sports to make sure that we contribute in the development of squash in particular."
He also said that KPMG will be around for much longer than the 24 years they have been sponsoring the league.
One of Jamaica's best young player Sanjana Nallapati endorsed that league while saying that her game had improved because of her involvement in the league. "It (her game) was definitely better because we had a bunch of matches. Games are usually up to 11 but these were up to 21. Even though it was best of three, it tested our fitness quite a bit and the squash definitely improved quite a bit by the end of it."
Dave Morrison of defending champion AGI (Advantage General Insurance) was upbeat about the league. "Last year was really satisfying. We have never always done well because the nature of the tournament is to ensure that regardless of the quality of players you have, it’s all eliminated or equalized because of the handicap structure. But last year we really came out with a certain level of determination and yes, I had to one or two times, I had to save the team but I will remind them that that's what I did but yes, we had a very, very exciting tournament last year. I really enjoyed it."
The league will serve off on Tuersday evening at the Liguanea Club while it is scheduled to end on April 19 at the same venue.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is reportedly under investigation for allegedly interfering with the result of a Formula One race.
According to the BBC, a report by motorsport governing body’s compliance officer Paolo Basarri to the ethics committee says Ben Sulayem acted to overturn a penalty given to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The PA news agency has contacted the FIA, but it is understood that because matters like this rest with the ethics committee, an independent body, the FIA is unlikely to offer any comment while any due process runs its course.
The BBC report claims a whistleblower alleged Ben Sulayem called Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa – FIA vice-president for sport for the Middle East and North Africa region, who was in Saudi Arabia for the race in an official capacity – and made it clear he thought Alonso’s penalty should be revoked.
The removal of Alonso’s 10-second penalty, imposed for work done on his car while he was serving a previous five-second penalty, returned him to the podium behind Red Bull duo Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen, after the sanction had dropped him to fourth.
At the time there was no suggestion there was anything untoward with the decision after Aston Martin’s sporting director Andy Stevenson had put the team’s case to stewards in a right of review.
Christian Horner staged a face-to-face meeting with Max Verstappen’s representative in Dubai on Monday in a bid to iron out escalating tensions at Red Bull.
The summit was held 48 hours after Verstappen’s father, Jos, said Red Bull would “explode” if Horner remained in his role as team principal.
The PA news agency understands that neither Jos or his son, Max, were present, with Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen acting on the Dutch driver’s behalf.
A source told PA the talks “went well”. Senior Red Bull figures were also said to be present. The next grand prix takes place in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
Verstappen’s victory at the opening round of the season last weekend in Bahrain was overshadowed by continued controversy surrounding Horner.
Following the race Horner said he was “absolutely confident” he would stay on as Red Bull boss for the remainder of the season after overseeing Verstappen lead a one-two finish from team-mate Sergio Perez.
Horner has faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks following allegations made against him by a female colleague. Horner has always denied the claims.
But, speaking to the Daily Mail, Verstappen Snr added further fuel to the fire when he said: “There is tension here while he (Horner) remains in position.
“The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim, when he is the one causing the problems.”
Responding to Verstappen Snr’s comments, a Red Bull Racing spokesperson said: “There are no issues here. The team are united and we are focused on racing.”
Marine Nationale will miss next week’s My Pension Expert Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices’ Chase due to a suspensory strain.
The seven-year-old won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham last year and had been a general 9-4 favourite to supplement his Festival haul in the Arkle.
However, trainer Barry Connell reports his star performer to be in need of a six-week rest, scuppering not only his Cheltenham run, but also any possible engagements at Aintree or Punchestown.
Connell said: “He basically needs six weeks off and he has got a minor suspensory strain.
“We did our final piece of work with him on Saturday and were thrilled with him – it was as good a piece of work he has done in the last year and a half.
“Everything was all ready for Cheltenham and he was all ready to go, but we obviously don’t ride out on Sunday and came in this morning and the horse was lame.
“He has never had a lame step in his life before, so we just put him to one side for the vets to look at him. They went through him in detail and it’s the best possible result we could have hoped for because it’s basically liked a pulled muscle in human terms.
“It is in the suspensory, not a tendon and it’s not a tear, it’s basically a little shadow.
“If we had not caught it and gone on with it, things could have been worse, so the vets say if he gets six weeks’ rest, he will be 100 per cent.”
Marine Nationale has run just twice this term, winning impressively on his fencing bow at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting before suffering a shock defeat at Leopardstown last month.
While his jumps season is over, Connell could yet look for a Flat target in the autumn once the gelding has fully recovered.
He added: “We have missed our spring campaign with him, he’s going to miss Cheltenham and Punchestown, but we’ll get him out early on grass and what I’ve kind of got in the back of my head with this horse is we could give him a go at a Flat campaign.
“That is something we could possibly look to do in the autumn, but the main aim will be to go back to Cheltenham for the Queen Mother Champion Chase next year.
“Given that he has had a truncated season, a Flat campaign is something that could come to fruition in the autumn. I’ve always felt he would be a great horse on the Flat and I don’t know how high he could go, but he could be a horse for maybe the Irish St Leger or something like that.
“One door closes and another opens and the main thing is we have a horse who is going to be 100 per cent in six weeks.
“It’s obviously very disappointing that we can’t go over and win the Arkle this year, but I don’t think there is any National Hunt horse who gets a complete clear run at things and if this is as bad a setback as we get, then we will definitely take it.
“He’s a fresh horse, he’s only had seven runs in his life and he will be as good as new for the Queen Mother next year and in the meantime, we might have a nice go at a few runs on the Flat in the autumn – that’s something we can look at when the dust settles.”
Willie Mullins says a “conversation will be had” as to whether connections reconsider Lossiemouth’s Cheltenham Festival target.
With Constitution Hill ruled out of a Unibet Champion Hurdle defence, Gordon Elliott has already indicated he could switch Irish Point from the Stayers’ Hurdle as a result of his absence.
Lossiemouth is currently the favourite for the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle, which connections stated would be her target after her superb win in the Unibet Hurdle at Cheltenham in January.
Mullins’ has the new favourite for the Champion in State Man but is yet to decide if there will be a change of plan for Lossiemouth, who is one of five remaining entries for the Closutton team.
“It’s tough on Nicky (Henderson) and Michael Buckley (owner),” Mullins said.
“We’ve a week to go and we’re not there yet either, anything can happen in this game.
“I haven’t really thought about whether we’d supplement anything else. We have plenty still in it.
“Lossiemouth is still in it and I suppose a conversation will be had.”
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
