Joel Embiid had 23 points, 15 rebounds and six assists and the 76ers beat the visiting Miami Heat 105-104 on Wednesday in an Eastern Conference play-in game.
With the victory, Philadelphia secured the seventh seed in the East and will face the second-seeded New York Knicks in a first-round series beginning on Saturday.
The Heat, who made last season’s NBA Finals as a play-in team, will face an elimination game Friday against the Chicago Bulls for the eighth seed and the right to play the NBA-best Boston Celtics.
Embiid’s availability against Miami was uncertain after the reigning league MVP tweaked his surgically repaired left knee Friday and sat out the regular-season finale two days later.
He played 38 minutes and stepped up down the stretch with eight points in the final three minutes and dished out a clutch assist.
With the game tied at 96, Embiid found Kelly Oubre Jr. under the basket with 36 seconds to play, and he was fouled while making a layup for a three-point play to put Philadelphia ahead for good.
On Miami’s next possession, Nicolas Batum blocked Tyler Herro’s potential game-tying 3-point attempt.
Batum provided a spark off the bench with 20 points and hit five of his six 3-pointers after halftime to help Philadelphia battle back from a 12-point deficit at the break.
Tyrese Maxey added 19 points for a 76ers team that made 21 of 23 free throws.
Both Herro and Jimmy Butler struggled with their shots for the Heat, who led by as much as 14 late in the second quarter.
Butler injured his right knee in the first quarter and said after the game that he would need an MRI, putting his availability for Friday in question.
Herro finished with a game-high 25 points but was just 4 of 14 from 3-point range, while Butler had 19 points on 5-of-18 shooting.
White erupts for career-high 42 in Bulls’ win
Coby White scored a career-best 42 points on 15-of-21 shooting and Nikola Vucevic added 24 points and 12 rebounds as the Chicago Bulls rolled to a 131-116 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
White, who surpassed his previous career high of 37 points, had nine rebounds and six assists as Chicago advanced to a Friday matchup at Miami for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.
DeMar DeRozan had 22 points and nine assists and Ayo Dosunmu added 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting after missing the final four regular-season games with a bruised right quadricep.
The Bulls shot 56.8 percent from the field and 42.3 percent (11 for 23) from 3-point range to go with a 47-34 rebounding advantage.
Dejounte Murray led the Hawks with 30 points and Trae Young and Clint Capela each had 22 as Atlanta’s season came to an end after it closed the regular season with six straight losses.
The Hawks were within 88-85 but Vucevic’s 3-pointer ignited a 17-2 run to put the Bulls up 105-87 with 1:27 left in the third quarter.
Miami Heat star guard Jimmy Butler says he will need an MRI on his right knee after he was injured in the first half of a play-in tournament loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
Butler sustained the injury in the first quarter when he tried to fake out Kelly Oubre Jr. on a basket, only to have his knee buckle. He fell to the floor and Oubre appeared to land on top of him.
“I fell, he landed, and my knee just didn’t do well, I guess,” Butler said. “I don’t know. It’s not a good feeling, I can tell you that.”
Butler sank the free throw, exhaled, and missed the second one. He stayed in the game and finished with 19 points on 5-of-18 shooting in a 105-104 loss.
The Heat will host the Chicago Bulls on Friday night, with the winner getting the No. 8 seed and a playoff matchup with the league-leading Boston Celtics.
“We just need to get one and then we’ll worry about the next one,” Butler said.
It’s unknown whether Butler will be available to play that game.
“It felt like I couldn’t do much, which sucks with the timing of the game and everything,” Butler said. “I hope that I’m fine. I hope that I wake up tomorrow and can still stick-and-move. Right now, I can’t say that’s the case.”
Butler averaged 20.8 points in 60 games this season for the Heat, tied with Tyler Herro for the team lead.
Aaron Judge capped a four-run ninth with a two-run single to rally the New York Yankees to a 6-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday to avoid a three-game sweep.
The Blue Jays took a 4-2 lead into the ninth with Erik Swanson making his season debut after opening the season on the injured list.
Giancarlo Stanton led off with a home run to make it a one-run game and Gleyber Torres singled before Alex Verdugo doubled. After Oswaldo Cabrera grounded out, pinch-hitter Jose Trevino singled into right-center off Tim Mayza to tie it.
Anthony Volpe fouled out for the second out, but Juan Soto walked and Judge drilled a 3-2 pitch down the left-field line for a 6-4 lead.
Soto’s home run in the eighth drew the Yankees within 4-2. He had three hits, two RBIs and reached base five times.
Daulton Varsho hit a pair of home runs for Toronto, which had won four straight.
Padres’ King takes no-hitter into 7th in tough luck loss
Michael King pitched no-hit ball for 6 2/3 innings, but Blake Perkins singled home the game’s only run as the San Diego Padres topped the Milwaukee Brewers, 1-0.
King went a career-high 7 2/3 innings and threw 109 pitches, striking out 10 and walking two. He didn’t allow a runner past first base until the eighth inning, when Bryce Turang singled with one out, stole second and scored on Perkins’ hit to left.
Milwaukee snapped a three-game losing streak and ended Pittsburgh’s three-game winning streak.
Abner Uribe earned the win with a scoreless eighth, giving up a leadoff triple to Matthew Batten before he retired the next three hitters.
Homer-happy Orioles sweep Twins
Cedric Mullins belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Baltimore Orioles to a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins and a three-game sweep.
Gunnar Henderson and Anthony Santander also went deep as the Orioles homered at least three times for the fifth consecutive game. Baltimore had a streak that long only twice before in franchise history, in 1987 and 1996.
Albert Suarez pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his first major league appearance in seven years for the Orioles. The 34-year-old right-hander was called up from Triple-A Norfolk to take the place of Tyler Wells, who went on the injured list on Tuesday.
Minnesota has been outscored 26-12 during a four-game losing streak.
Emma Raducanu claimed an emphatic 6-2 6-1 win over former two-time champion Angelique Kerber in the last 32 of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
Fresh from helping Great Britain reach the finals of the Billie Jean Cup at the weekend, Raducanu continued her promising form on clay by breezing past the home favourite.
Both Raducanu and Kerber were playing as wild cards in Stuttgart, with the Briton tumbling down the rankings after time out to undergo three surgeries.
Meanwhile former world number one Kerber only recently returned from 18 months out on maternity leave.
Raducanu got off to a flying start by breaking Kerber in the opening game and despite an immediate response from the German, the 2021 US Open champion took control and claimed the first set in 41 minutes.
Kerber was broken again at the start of the second set and although she managed to haul back level, Raducanu stepped up a gear and shrugged off a brief visit from the trainer to wrap up an emphatic win.
Also in Stuttgart, reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff rallied from 4-2 down in the deciding set to overcome fellow American and world number 134 Sachia Vickery 6-3 4-6 7-5.
And Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur finally snapped a five-game losing streak to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 2-6 6-3 7-6 (1), telling reporters: “I thought about withdrawing so many times because I couldn’t take another loss.”
In Rouen, Naomi Osaka’s return to clay was cut short by a 6-4 6-2 first round defeat to Martina Trevisan.
Like Kerber, Osaka only recently returned to the tour following maternity leave, and was competing as a wild card.
In the Oeiras Ladies Open in Portugal, Britain’s fifth-seeded Harriet Dart suffered a 6-3 6-1 defeat to home player Matilde Jorge.
Former world champion Neil Robertson will miss out on the Crucible for the first time in 20 years after losing in the final round of World Championship qualifying.
The 42-year-old Australian, who won the title in 2010, was beaten 10-9 by Welshman Jamie Jones, whose break of 60 in the decider was enough to take him through for the sixth time.
Robertson last missed out on the Crucible in 2004 but a desperate season, in which he has reached just one tour semi-final, sent him out of the world’s top 16 and into the qualifying stages.
Robertson had looked set to pull away and book his place in Thursday’s first-round draw after winning four frames in a row to lead 8-5.
But Jones responded by reeling off the next three and went on to claim his first win over Robertson after heavy defeats in all seven of their previous meetings.
Jones said: “Neil has buried me every time I’ve played him, so I haven’t got good memories of playing him before but I stuck with him.
“I don’t know what it is about this tournament but there is something that just brings out the best in me.”
The New Orleans Pelicans will be without injured leading scorer Zion Williamson when they host the Sacramento Kings in Friday’s Western Conference play-in tournament elimination game.
Williamson starred in his NBA postseason debut Tuesday, scoring 40 points while adding 11 rebounds and five assists in over 36 minutes of action against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The two-time All-Star, though, missed the final three minutes of New Orleans’ 110-106 loss after injuring his left hamstring.
Williamson tied the game at 95 with 3:19 remaining in the fourth quarter on a driving layup, but he left shortly after and headed to the Pelicans’ locker room.
His huge performance caught the attention of Lakers superstar LeBron James.
“He's a generational player, a generational talent. He's going to continue to get better and better,” James said. “Tonight was just a small microcosm of how great he can be, his ability to get downhill, finish vs. smalls, finish vs. bigs, taller guys, shorter guys, doesn't matter.
“One thing about him, he's not afraid to compete. So, that's a great thing. He's a star.”
Williamson missed plenty of time due to various injuries in his first four seasons after New Orleans selected him No. 1 overall in the 2019 NBA Draft, but he was healthy throughout the 2023-24 campaign.
Williamson appeared in a career-high 70 contests and led the Pelicans with 22.9 points per game while averaging 5.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists.
The winner of Friday’s matchup between New Orleans and Sacramento will capture the No. 8 seed in the West and move on to play the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs.
Scottie Scheffler insists he will not be taking things easy in the RBC Heritage in the wake of his second Masters title in three years.
Scheffler justified his billing as pre-tournament favourite with a four-shot victory at Augusta National on Sunday, after which he made a brief trip home to Dallas before heading to Hilton Head.
It was the world number one’s third victory in his last four starts and increased his lead over Rory McIlroy at the top of the rankings to more than six points, but the 27-year-old has no intention of just making up the numbers this week.
“I won the tournament last week and now we’re here and it’s Wednesday and we’re all even par again,” Scheffler told a pre-tournament press conference.
“It seems like to me in my head that everything starts over each week, so it doesn’t matter what I’m ranked going into the week. It only really matters kind of where you sit at the end of the week.
“So going into this week it’ll be a bit more challenging than it was last week just because I think playing in contention at majors and especially winning takes a lot out of you.
“There’s a lot of stuff that goes on after the Masters on Sunday and you get home very late and emotionally I think I’m a bit drained.
“But we’re starting at even par, so I’m going to go home this afternoon and get as much rest and recovery as possible and show up tomorrow ready to play.
“I was on a radio show earlier today and Colt [Knost] asked me if I thought about withdrawing and I said, no, I committed to this tournament and I’m not showing up here just to walk around and play a little golf.
“I left my pregnant wife at home to come here and play in a golf tournament. I am here to play and hopefully play well. I’m not here just for fun.”
Scheffler stressed how keen he was to get home to his wife Meredith during his post-victory media duties, so much so that a picture of him wearing the green jacket at a bar in Dallas on Sunday evening warranted an explanation.
“I don’t know if I’d actually been to that place before,” Scheffler said.
“There was another tavern around the corner that I’d been to a few times and it’s a nice place but shockingly it wasn’t open Sunday at 1:30 in the morning. This place was open.
“On the plane ride home I was with my manager Blake and my coach Randy and then I had four of my good buddies with me, and I don’t remember who suggested it but it seemed like a good idea.
“When Meredith picked us up at the airport it still seemed like a good idea and Meredith was down so we went for probably 20 minutes and went home.
“Took a few photos, had a drink and then went home and went to bed.”
Michael Owen is dreaming of bigger days having seen his homebred It Ain’t Two get on the scoresheet in the bet365 EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes at Newmarket.
Trained by Hugo Palmer, her half-brother Balon D’Or hit the target at the first attempt last season, but odds of 18-1 perhaps told the true tale of expectation as the daughter of Calyx showed plenty of ability in the five-furlong event.
Balon D’Or would go on to run at the former England international’s beloved Chester May Festival and It Ain’t Two could now follow suit.
Owen said: “Her brother won first time out at this time last year and we’ve obviously come to a trickier place in terms of quality, but you would have to be delighted with that, it’s a nice surprise.
“Lots of horses were fancied before the race, so we weren’t that confident, just because of what people were saying about theirs, but she’s a homebred filly and you have to start thinking of black type now. It will be interesting and a nice surprise and it will have us thinking in a different way.
“Normally with one of mine, I’m thinking maiden, Lily Agnes and Ascot. That’s the dream passage but we’ll see and, as she is a homebred and I have the mare at home, we may have to think of something else. It’s nice problems to have.”
The “something else” the former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker references could be the Marygate Stakes at York, with It Ain’t Two’s trainer eyeing an immediate step up into Listed company.
“We took her for a racecourse gallop at Wolverhampton about a month ago and she got lapped, so I thought I best run her as soon as possible,” said Palmer.
“We came here for some nice ground, as it was going to get called off at Redcar!
“Now she’s a winner, I guess we will go to York and try and finish in the top three in the Marygate.”
The Each Way Extra At bet365 EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes has been won by some useful operators over the years and Kevin Ryan’s Bolsena could have more to come after opening her account at the fourth attempt in the hands of Ryan Moore.
Moore was also in the saddle aboard Juddmonte’s Kalpana, who showed a clean pair of heels to surge clear of her rivals in the Price Promise At bet365 Handicap.
The Andrew Balding-trained 11-2 winner could now have a return to the Rowley Mile on her agenda, before connections consider even bigger assignments in the future.
“She has had two very good runs and the horse who beat her the last day of Kevin Ryan’s (Inisherin) could be potentially a very, very good horse,” explained Barry Mahon, European racing manager for the owners.
“We were a bit disappointed that day, but today’s performance shows we probably bumped into a very good horse.
“Andrew has liked her all the time and we thought a step up to 10 furlongs (next time) might bring about improvement and Ryan just said there, she might be a filly who could get 12 furlongs later in the season. We were hopeful of a good run and she definitely did well.
“We will maybe look at the Pretty Polly. She handled the track well and Ryan thought she would be versatile enough ground-wise, so we will look at that if she comes out of this one well.
“We’ll take small steps and if she showed up well in the Pretty Polly, we could consider the Oaks, but we’ll go small steps and see how we go.”
The opening race of the day went the way of Richard Hannon’s Dark Thirty, with the versatile operator proving as consistent as ever when notching up his fourth career success.
“He’s a genuine Saturday horse and one that is very useful. He will win us races every year and it gives us a lot of pleasure.” said Hannon.
Dan Skelton edged further ahead of Paul Nicholls in pursuit of Willie Mullins, as the battle for the jump trainers’ championship continues to look like it will go down to the final day of the season.
Skelton picked up a 113th victory of the season, with Doyen Quest winning the Kingston Stud Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham, and then saw Nicholls’ Rare Middleton just headed close home in the concluding Cheltenham Pony Racing Authority Graduates Handicap Hurdle.
Skelton picked up a winning prize of £13,007.50 with that win and Nicholls now trails his former assistant by just under £80,000.
Mullins leads the title by around £50,000, with this weekend’s Scottish Grand National meeting at Ayr and the season-ending Sandown fixture pivotal for the destination of the crown.
Doyen Quest was two lengths down heading to the final hurdle along the stand side rail, but shifted inside after clearing the obstacle.
Harry Skelton then kicked for home on the six-year-old and got up to land the race by half a length from Whatsupwithyou at 4-1, backing up his victory at Newbury from last month.
Nicholls’ Lallygag was prominent throughout but weakened after clearing the final hurdle, coming home 12th of the 15th finishers.
In Excelsis Deo justified favouritism at 3-1 to land the feature Matt Hampson Foundation Silver Trophy Handicap Chase for Harry Fry and Jonathan Burke.
The Nicholls-trained Il Ridoto was pulled up by Harry Cobden, while Skelton’s Sail Away and Our Jet both finished well down the field.
In Excelsis Deo gained two lengths on Hang In There and Scarface going over the final fence and galloped clear up the hill to win by four and three-quarter lengths.
Skelton’s Grade Two-winning Proschema returned after nearly a year off the track in the Safran Landing Systems Handicap Hurdle but finished out of the money down in eighth, as Zain Nights (9-2) took top honours for Lucy Wadham and Bryony Frost.
Nicholls clawed back some prize-money in the final race on the card, with Rare Middleton prominent throughout and having the beating of 13-8 favourite Our Champ up the run-in, only for the fast finishing 11-1 shot Tintintin to come up the rail to collar him on the line.
Skelton’s pair A Law Of Her Own and In This World finished out of the money, alongside Nicholls’ other runner Wild Max.
Stephen Curry is set to make his Olympic debut for the United States at the age of 36 after being named in the 12-strong men’s basketball squad for Paris on Wednesday.
The Golden State Warriors guard joins three-time Olympic champion Kevin Durant and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer LeBron James in an experienced squad named by national team managing director Grant Hill.
Durant, 35, helped Team USA to gold at each of the last three Olympics, while Los Angeles Lakers forward James, 39, will make his first appearance since London 2012, having also won gold in Beijing in 2008 and bronze in Athens in 2004.
Besides the Phoenix Suns’ Durant, four other members of the Tokyo squad return with Miami Heat centre Bam Adebayo, Phoenix guard Devin Booker, guard Jrue Holiday and forward Jayson Tatum – both of the Boston Celtics – included.
Los Angeles Lakers centre Anthony Davis will, like James, make his first Olympic appearance since London 2012.
Making their debuts on the biggest international stage alongside Curry will be Minnesota Timberwolves swingman Anthony Edwards, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard and Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player.
The United States have won gold at each of the last four Olympics and 16 in all, but finished a disappointing fourth at last year’s World Cup.
Curry’s Golden State coach Steve Kerr will lead the team in Paris.
The United States are due to start a training camp in Las Vegas on July 6 before a series of exhibition games that includes tilts against South Sudan and Germany on July 20 and 22 in London. Their opening game in Paris will be against Serbia on July 28.
Rafael Nadal’s latest comeback bid came to an end as he was well beaten 7-5 6-1 by fourth seed Alex de Minaur at the Barcelona Open.
The 37-year-old was playing just his second tournament in 15 months after suffering another hip problem at his comeback event in Brisbane in January.
And having intimated that this will be his final year before retirement, Nadal’s defeat was likely to mark his final appearance at a tournament he has won 12 times.
Having overcome Italian Flavio Cobolli in the opening round, Nadal faced a much sterner test against the in-form De Minaur and was sent scampering around the court in a tight opening set which was edged by the Australian.
De Minaur went on to step up a gear, securing a double break over the Spaniard and racing over the line behind a strong service game on which he did not drop a single point in the second set.
Jack Draper made the most of a rain delay to defeat wild card Rudolf Molleker and reach the quarter-finals of the BMW Open in Munich.
German Molleker, ranked 179th, had been the better player in the first set but a brief stoppage ahead of the second set changed the momentum of the contest.
Draper began to assert his powerful game after the resumption and lost only two more games, pulling away to claim a 4-6 6-1 6-1 victory.
In the last eight the British number two, who is ranked 46th, will take on either third seed Taylor Fritz or Spanish qualifier Alejandro Moro Canas.
Speaking in an on-court interview, Draper said: “I think Rudy played an amazing level in the first set. The conditions were very rainy and very slow. In the second and third, the sun comes out and I start feeling better. I’m really proud of the way I played.”
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the pinnacle of National Hunt racing, but it is perhaps unfair to let two Fridays in March, six years apart, define the career of Paddy Brennan.
Brennan hit the ultimate height in 2010 when Imperial Commander took advantage of the fall of Kauto Star to storm up the Cheltenham hill and beat off the other Ditcheat legend of the era, Denman.
However, the fences got their own back in 2016 when Brennan and the smooth-travelling Cue Card came to grief as a mouthwatering battle with Don Cossack was about to come to a head.
It was also at that obstacle where Cue Card was to fall in his final appearance in the Gold Cup in 2017, but 2016 was the year the nose-banded Colin Tizzard superstar was primed to a peak.
Brennan has ridden over 1,500 winners over jumps and has been in the weighing room for nearly a quarter of a century.
One of the characters among the riding fraternity, he cut his teeth at the cut-throat finishing school of Jim Bolger. And it was a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire when moving to the UK at the turn of the century, joining Paul Nicholls as a conditional.
His time at Ditcheat was followed by a move to Philip Hobbs, where he rode as second jockey to Richard Johnson and was champion conditional in 2004/05.
It was during that season that Brennan recorded his first Grade One success when partnering Kevin Bishop’s Ashley Brook to a 16-length romp over War Of Attrition in Aintree’s Maghull Novices’ Chase.
Before triumphing at Aintree, the duo had finished second in the Arkle at Cheltenham and it was a further 12 months before the Irishman broke his duck at racing’s Olympics when landing the Fred Winter with 40-1 shot Shamayoun.
A move up north to become Howard Johnson’s stable jockey brought further Festival glory in 2007 when Inglis Drever won the second of three World Hurdles in the gold and black silks of Graham and Andrea Wylie.
Brennan’s time trawling the northern circuit was brief, as he was cut adrift by Johnson after one season with the County Durham handler.
But a safety net was provided by Nigel Twiston-Davies and so began a four-year partnership that would take both men to the very top of the sport.
He passed 100 winners in a season during his first campaign as the Twiston-Davies number one – but the Brennan era at Naunton Downs will forever be associated with Imperial Commander.
They first hit the headlines when landing a gamble in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham and in the spring an inspired Brennan produced a majestic ride as Imperial Commander claimed the scalp of Voy Por Ustedes in the Ryanair.
That signalled a Gold Cup mission for the 2009-10 season and the first stopping point on the journey back to Cheltenham was Haydock, where Ruby Walsh picked Brennan’s pocket in the dying strides on Kauto Star to prevail by a nose.
Back at his favourite course at Cheltenham in March and with Kauto Star struggling when falling, Brennan and Imperial Commander stormed up the Cheltenham hill for a second successive Festival win – and this time in the blue riband itself.
Imperial Commander’s Gold Cup was leg one of a memorable treble for the Twiston-Davies team on the final day of the 2010 Festival and Brennan brought up his own Gold Cup day double when his beloved Pigeon Island landed the Grand Annual that drew the action to a close.
Around this time, Brennan was also forging a partnership with Tom George’s bold front-running grey Nacarat. The pair combined twice for big-race success, with their finest hour coming when making all to win the Bowl at Aintree’s Grand National meeting in 2011.
The emergence of Twiston-Davies’ son Sam as one of the weighing room’s hottest prospects saw Brennan jump before he was potentially pushed in April 2011, although the handler was said to be shocked by the decision.
Although he was never far away from Naunton Downs, as he helped Fergal O’Brien set up his fledgling base on the same gallops used by his former employer, Brennan spent four years in the big-race wilderness before being handed the call-up to ride Cue Card by Colin Tizzard.
Despite the earlier mentioned lows in the big one, there were plenty of highs, with the dynamic duo linking up for victory six times from the 15 occasions they were united on course.
Taking over from Daryl Jacob at the start of the 2015-16 season, Brennan and Cue Card got off to the perfect start when winning Weatherby’s Charlie Hall Chase.
Cue Card then went on to claim the second of three Betfair Chase wins at Haydock before the duo made it a hat-trick of victories when an inspired Brennan hauled Cue Card home to down Vautour in the King George – a triumph that was to be the combination’s finest hour and one of the rider’s most notable achievements in the saddle.
A decisive victory in the Aintree Bowl in 2016 offered some consolation to their Gold Cup despair, as the pair continued to pick up Grade One staying chases – including another Betfair Chase in November of that year and an Ascot Chase in February 2017.
The upward curve of the O’Brien stable has seen Brennan make regular appearances in the winner’s enclosure during the latter stages of his career and a further Grade One was added to the CV when he drove home Poetic Rhythm for his great ally in the 2017 Challow Hurdle.
However, that was the last top-table success for five years until the battle-hardened juvenile Knight Salute took the Irishman back into the limelight at Aintree in April 2022.
Initially, Knight Salute had dead-heated with Gordon Elliott’s Pied Piper following a thrilling finish, but was then awarded first place outright in the stewards’ room, despite Brennan’s protestations that there was no case for Davy Russell aboard Pied Piper to answer.
That sportsmanship has been the hallmark of Brennan’s latter years in the saddle, along with a steadfast loyalty to both his colleagues in the weighing room and trainer O’Brien.
Scriptwriter followed in Knight Salute’s footsteps with a Triumph trial success and Dysart Enos ensured Brennan remained a big-race player right until the very end of his decorated career when landing the Grade Two bumper at Aintree in 2023, before making a successful switch to novice hurdling.
O’Brien’s Kamsinas was another late Grade Two victor for Brennan at Haydock last November and the jockey reached 1,500 winners on Teorie at Catterick the following month, having passed the 1,000 milestone just over seven years earlier.
There was to be no fairytale final success at the Cheltenham Festival last month, but Brennan fittingly bowed out at the home of National Hunt racing a month later aboard the O’Brien-trained and aptly-named Manothepeople.
Paddy Brennan announced his immediate retirement from the saddle after steering Manothepeople to victory in the penultimate race at Cheltenham on Wednesday.
The 43-year-old has enjoyed a hugely successful career, with his victory aboard Imperial Commander in an epic renewal of the Cheltenham Gold Cup being the obvious highlight.
Success in the 2007 World Hurdle on the hugely popular Inglis Drever and the 2015 King George VI Chase triumph of Cue Card also feature on a long list of big-race triumphs, while a double at Catterick in December saw him pass the 1,500-winner mark.
After that landmark, Brennan said: “It’s been a dream – it’s been like a holiday destination that’s lasted for so long. Hopefully I haven’t booked a flight home yet, but maybe it’s not too far away.”
Brennan was denied a fairytale final victory at the Cheltenham Festival, but fittingly got his chance to sign off with a win at the home of National Hunt racing a month later, as the Fergal O’Brien-trained Manothepeople (9-1) galloped to a clear-cut win in the Weatherite Air Conditioning Handicap Chase.
The veteran jockey, who was crowned champion conditional at the end of 2004/05 season, stood up in the stirrups and saluted the crowd as he passed the post in front, before being congratulated by fellow riders in the pull-up area and returning to emotional scenes in the winner’s enclosure.
Charlie Appleby expects to have around 12 horses based in America throughout the summer, with Sheema Classic winner Rebel’s Romance among them.
Appleby, who has enjoyed great success in recent years with his forays to North America, is making a more permanent base for his team by setting up a satellite yard.
Along with Rebel’s Romance, who may go via Hong Kong, the likes of Nations Pride and Master Of The Seas, a recent Grade One winner out there, are also to be campaigned overseas.
“There are seven horses there in Keeneland at present and we’re shipping over two more next week,” said Appleby.
“Legend Of Time goes over there along with Nations Pride and then Measured Time will head over there as well and they’re going over in stages really.
“Basically, they are in Keeneland, we’ll have a few runners (Kentucky) Derby weekend, like Master Of The Seas, and then that team will ship to Saratoga when the rest of the team will join up and we expect at least 12 horses.
“Everyone likes to put a label on these things and I suppose it is a little satellite yard, we’ve put that team together and there’s a nice programme out there for those types of horses.”
He went on: “After Saratoga, we’ll give them a little bit of a break and make the call to see if they are Breeders’ Cup candidates or not. You can’t beat the experience out there if they are going to be Breeders’ Cup horses.
“Rebel’s Romance will go over there later, we’re toying with Hong Kong for him. There’s a small chance he’ll go to Saratoga in August.
“It’s nice to go out there, the team out there are great, they help our team and it is always an advantage knowing the facilities going into these races.”
Native Approach could strengthen Charlie Appleby’s Classic hand by providing the trainer with a fourth victory in the last six runnings of the bet365 Craven Stakes at Newmarket.
Subsequent Derby hero Masar was the Moulton Paddocks handler’s first winner of this recognised 2000 Guineas trial in 2018, while Master Of The Seas and Native Trail struck Craven gold in successive years in 2021 and 2022 before filling the runner-up spot in the Guineas less than three weeks later.
Ancient Wisdom, who enjoyed a racecourse gallop on the Rowley Mile on Wednesday morning, and the unbeaten three-time Kempton winner Notable Speech appear Appleby’s two chief contenders for the first Classic of the season on May 4.
But Native Approach – narrowly beaten on his Kempton debut in January before going one better the following month – gets an opportunity to stake his claim on Thursday.
Appleby said: “Like a lot of these horses that come off the all-weather, we’re testing them on the turf now.
“I’m not trying to sit on the fence. He looks great at home but he’s got to go and switch it on on the turf now.
“I’m always one who would rather just sit before I get too bolshy over what they have achieved or what they could achieve – like Notable Speech, he’s doing it at a different level at the moment.”
He added: “At the end of the day, from the outside looking in, the only way you can beat City Of Troy is by an unexposed three-year-old, because what he beat last year, I don’t see anything reversing the form myself.”
Native Approach’s task is far from straightforward, with a number of horses with Group One form also in contention for this Group Three contest.
Andre Fabre’s Alcantor was last seen being touched off by David Menuisier’s Sunway in the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud in October and crosses the Channel for a race his legendary trainer won with Xaar in 1998.
“He’s done well over the winter, I’m pleased with him and I think running him in the Craven will be good experience for him – and for me,” said Fabre.
“He has no plan to come for the English Guineas, the French is a possible option.”
Eben Shaddad is a major contender for John and Thady Gosden on the strength of his third-place finish in last season’s Dewhurst Stakes behind Aidan O’Brien’s brilliant Guineas favourite City Of Troy.
Meanwhile, O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore team up with Cambridge, who rounded off his juvenile year by finishing second in the Group Three Eyrefield Stakes at Leopardstown.
“He has a fair bit to find with the form horses Alcantor and Eben Shaddad, but he followed up his Salisbury win on lively ground for me with a decent second in a Group Three on deep ground at Leopardstown, and hopefully there is plenty of improvement in him at three,” Moore told Betfair.
“He will probably want further down the line but this is a good starting point for him.”
The Richard Hannon-trained Haatem and Jane Chapple-Hyam’s unbeaten pair of Sons And Lovers and Champagne Prince complete the field.
Galopin Des Champs will try to right his only ‘wrong’ of last year when he lines up in the Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup later this month.
The dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner was sent off the 4-11 favourite to complete a spring festival double in the three-mile Grade One 12 months ago, but after mastering British raider Bravemansgame, Galopin Des Champs was swamped by the late flourish of 20-1 shot Fastorslow.
Willie Mullins’ charge heads to Punchestown fresh from his second Cheltenham triumph for his fifth start of the season, with stablemate and Champion Hurdle scorer State Man also on course to chalk up his fifth outing this term in the Boodles Champion Hurdle.
The trainer said: “It’s going to be tough for him (Galopin Des Champs). He got beaten there last year, but I think the two, the Paul Nicholls horse and himself, went at it very early and the other horse came and robbed them. Paul (Townend) might just use different tactics and the horse seems good.
“Galopin Des Champs turns up every day and runs a race and has had many runs this season. I’ve seen horses that are hardy, willing and turn up end up being very good horses because the good ones sometimes get injured and are not able to turn up every day – we’ve seen that this year with one horse in particular.
“State Man turns up every day and wins all those Grade Ones and if you’re the owner, trainer or jockey, they’re the ones you want to be on – good, hardy, sound horses.”
With State Man going for the Champion Hurdle, that leaves Lossiemouth to target the Coolmore N.H. Sires Bolshoi Ballet Irish EBF Mares Champion Hurdle.
The five-year-old added to her Triumph victory of last season when landing the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham with Mullins happy to wait until next term before tackling the open events.
He said: “Lossiemouth will go for the mares’ race, at this point in time anyhow. We’ll let State Man go for the Champion Hurdle.
“I was absolutely delighted with Lossiemouth in Cheltenham and it looks like she’s coming on-song in her bid for the Champion Hurdle next year.
“All those horses have to stay sound, it’s lovely thinking you have two or three for the Champion Hurdle and maybe Constitution Hill will be coming back, but they’ve all got to get there and as we’ve seen they don’t. It’s not a given that you get there.
“When you look at Lossiemouth on the track you think she’s a little grey mare, but when you stand into her you get a fright. It’s always a good sign when you look at a horse and think they’re a normal size but then when you stand in they’re much bigger, it just shows how well proportioned they are.”
Ballyburn routed his Cheltenham rivals in the two-mile-five-furlong Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle and has two options at Punchestown, in the two-mile KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle and the longer Alanna Homes Champion Novice Hurdle.
Mullins said: “He impressed me hugely in Cheltenham – everyone was raving about him after his couple of wins in Ireland and I thought he was a good novice, but I thought he was way more than that when I saw the way he went up the hill at Cheltenham. He can go any trip so we will leave that until later on, we’ll see how the races pan out.
“Ballyburn looks a really good horse – what he did, I would be comparing him to Faugheen or Vautour, that was the sort of performance he put in for me at Cheltenham. A really top-end performance.”
Tullyhill has the same options as Ballyburn as he looks to bounce back from a disappointing run when sent off favourite for the Supreme.
Mullins added: “I imagine Tullyhill will go, he’s a winner round Punchestown and he was in some form on the gallop this morning.
“He was very disappointing (at Cheltenham), Paul said he went out like a light. We didn’t find anything wrong with him but he just wasn’t up to scratch on the day.”
Both Triumph Hurdle winner Majborough and Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase hero Fact To File have signed off for the campaign, but Mullins could field fellow JP McManus runner and impressive Aintree scorer Mystical Power at Punchestown.
Another Liverpool victor, Il Etait Temps, is also pencilled in for a quick return to action in Barberstown Castle Novice Chase having triumphed by nine lengths in the Manifesto.
Mullins said: “I thought in Aintree he settled well and jumped well and he’s becoming more the finished article.
“I just thought when I saw him walking round the parade ring, I’ve never seen a horse move so well. The way he was striding out at a walk, covering so much ground, he impressed me before the race. The break he got after Cheltenham, he just relaxed.
“He obviously performed well twice in Leopardstown and then now in Aintree, so maybe just a flatter surface does do it for him and maybe a little better ground as well, though it was soft enough in Aintree.”
Jasmin De Vaux was a landmark 100th Cheltenham Festival winner when claiming the Champion Bumper and he is in the Race & Stay At Punchestown Champion I.N.H. Flat Race, while Kargese could have another bite of the Grade One cherry in the Ballymore Champion Four Year Old Hurdle after finishing second at Cheltenham and Aintree.
“He is good and has put on a nice bit of condition since he came back. I’m very happy with the way the whole string has put on condition, I was looking at them this morning and looking at the coats they have on them and the flesh they’ve put on since Cheltenham, I was really pleased,” said Mullins.
“Kargese has some engine, she pulls so hard. We’re going to have to change a few things about her as if we can get her to settle in a race, she is a real machine I’d say.
“I’d say she’s big enough to go chasing and sometimes those horses settle better over fences.”
Mullins is currently leading the British trainers’ title with the Irish equivalent already in the bag and he admits the prospect of completing that double has made him think twice on Punchestown plans.
He said: “It was amazing coming home from Aintree, the amount of texts and calls I got from my owners to say ‘if you want to bring my horse to Ayr, Perth or wherever do that’. They’re really behind it, they’re part of the team and want to be part of it if it’s going to happen.
“It’s sort of thrown a bit of a spanner in the works for our team, but we still have an A-team to bring to to bring to Punchestown anyway.”
Pretty Crystal held off the late surge of Dance Sequence in the Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket.
Viewed as the first 1000 Guineas trial of the spring, Charlie Appleby’s previously unbeaten Dance Sequence was 10-11 favourite to enhance her Classic claims.
William Buick was briefly short of room on the Godolphin filly and it was just then that Oisin Orr on Pretty Crystal made his decision to set off in pursuit of Brian Meehan’s Kathmandu, who had made a bold bid for home.
As Kathmandu’s stride began to shorten, it was Richard Fahey’s Pretty Crystal who looked the likely winner but Dance Sequence, once in the clear, began to make ground.
The favourite began to roll around upon meeting the rising ground, though, making life difficult for Buick, and that enabled Pretty Crystal (18-1) to come out on top by a neck.
El Fabiolo will bid to aid Willie Mullins’ quest to be crowned Britain’s champion jumps trainer by contesting the bet365 Celebration Chase on the final day of the season at Sandown.
With the Randox Grand National success of I Am Maximus at Aintree seeing Mullins hit the front in the title race, the Closutton is keen to grab what he believes would be a “once in a lifetime achievement” with both hands, as he looks to fend of Dan Skelton and perennial champion Paul Nicholls.
As is usually the case, most of the Mullins big guns are being readied to round off the campaign at the Punchestown Festival between April 30 and May 4.
But star two miler El Fabiolo could forego an outing in County Kildare to instead head back across the Irish Sea the previous Saturday, with the £170,000 Celebration Chase likely to have a major bearing on where the championship ultimately ends up.
Speaking at a press morning at his yard to promote the Punchestown Festival, Mullins said: “El Fabiolo will definitely go to Sandown.
“The Celebration Chase is an important race and it looks like a big race that we have the winning of, which would be huge.
“A lot will depend on what happens between now and Punchestown, (but) looking at it, we’re about £50,000 in front, so if we won that (Celebration Chase), one of the other guys would have to win another feature and probably another race to pass us.
“It’s a three-score game at the moment, but Paul is really a master of winning the championship and he will have his tactics in his head already. He could win the Scottish National and the bet365 Gold Cup and blow us out of the water, but you need a lot of luck to do that too.
“We’re just hoping that we can get one nice prize – and with a bit of luck, it will make it difficult then for Dan and Paul.
“We’re getting huge goodwill, especially from a lot of people across the water. They’re saying it’s adding a bit of spice to the end of the season and it’s a once in a lifetime achievement if we can manage to pull it off, so we’re going to put everything into it.”
El Fabiolo will be on a retrieval mission if he does turn up at Sandown after a bad mistake led to him being pulled up as a 2-9 favourite for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
Mullins revealed the seven-year-old was feeling the effects of his disappointing effort after returning to Ireland, but is confident he is now back on-song.
He added: “He just wasn’t right when he came back from Cheltenham, so I just gave him a break and let him find his feet, so he’s bucking and kicking the last few mornings.
“He just wasn’t himself, but there was nothing to treat when we got home. Sometimes you just give a horse a break and let him recuperate and he’s done that and seems in good form now.
“He’s as fit as a flea and one or two bits of work should see him right for Sandown, I imagine.”
Another horse under consideration for a trip to Sandown is Arkle hero Gaelic Warrior, although the six-year-old does also have the option of Punchestown’s Barberstown Castle Novice Chase.
Mullins said: “Gaelic Warrior always looked very, very good but that form got a huge boost and it would be nice going to Punchestown with that, but I think he holds an entry in Sandown, so we’ll see how things go but I’d like to go to Punchestown with him.
“It’s sort of thrown a bit of a spanner in the works for our team but we still have an A-team I think to bring to Punchestown anyhow.
“It’s not something I like doing (running a novice in open company), but maybe this year we might have to look. El Fabiolo will be there, though, maybe he’d be enough.”
Charlie Appleby’s Ottoman Fleet landed the bet365 Earl Of Sefton Stakes for the second successive year at Newmarket.
The five-year-old was race-fit, having had three runs at Meydan in Dubai, and having won this race 12 months ago, had been racing with credit at a high level in America.
A consistent performer, he falls just short of the top class but in Group Three company, he is a force to be reckoned with.
Having travelled smoothly into contention two furlongs from home for William Buick, he soon took two lengths out of the field and the race was over in a matter of strides.
While he began to get tired late on and Astro King, the Cambridgeshire winner, closed to within a length, the 7-4 favourite was never in any danger.
The disappointment of the race was Roger Varian’s Embesto, who finished a well beaten fifth.
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