London Irish have been suspended from rugby union’s entire league structure after becoming the third Gallagher Premiership club to collapse this season.
The Rugby Football Union has confirmed that neither Irish’s owner Mick Crossan nor the American consortium planning to buy the club were able to prove they had the finances to compete in the top flight for the 2023-24 campaign.
Furthermore, the outstanding 50 per cent of May’s payroll owed to staff and players has not been paid before the final deadline set by the RFU of 4pm on Tuesday.
It means that Irish join Wasps and Worcester in becoming a casualty of the financial crisis gripping the Premiership, which will now become a 10-team competition.
London Irish have been suspended from the Gallagher Premiership following a failure to provide financial guarantees for next season.
Founded 125 years ago, the Exiles’ future is grim as their demise follows former Premiership rivals Wasps and Worcester entering administration earlier this term.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of Irish’s highs and lows.
Highs
History-making cup of joy
Irish won the first major trophy in their history when they lifted English rugby’s knockout cup by crushing Northampton 38-7 at Twickenham in 2002. The Saints fielded 14 internationals, headed by the likes of Matt Dawson, Paul Grayson and Ben Cohen, but they had no answer to Irish’s brilliance as wing Justin Bishop and centre Geoff Appleford claimed try doubles. It was the second-biggest winning margin in a final during the competition’s 34-year existence as the Exiles followed previous winners Gloucester, Coventry, Bedford, Gosforth, Leicester, Bristol, Bath, Harlequins, Saracens, Wasps and Newcastle.
Making a mark in Europe
Although they did not win silverware, Irish certainly made their presence felt in European rugby union’s premier club competition – the Heineken Cup – in 2008. Irish had never previously reached the tournament’s knockout phase, but they cruised through the pool stage by winning five of their six games and scoring 25 tries. French challengers Perpignan were defeated in the quarter-finals, which secured a last-four clash against tournament heavyweights Toulouse at Twickenham. Irish went down 21-15 but a 30,000 crowd looked on, with the Exiles confirming a place at Europe’s top table.
State-of-the-art training facility
Irish moved into a new £12million training complex – the Hazelwood Centre in Sunbury-on-Thames – on July 1, 2014. The 63-acre site was converted from a nine-hole golf course and was four times the size of Irish’s previous training facility. Comprising 17 pitches, including five full-size ones that also featured an artificial surface, it soon attracted widespread interest. Hazelwood was used as a training base by Wales and Fiji during the 2015 Rugby World Cup, while its facilities have also attracted teams like the New York Jets and Leeds Rhinos.
Lows
Relegation from the Premiership
Irish lost their status as a club in English rugby’s top flight when they were relegated at the end of the 2015-16 campaign. The Exiles won only four of their 22 league games, finishing seven points behind 11th-placed Newcastle. It was the first time since the Premiership began in 1997 that they had been demoted. Chief executive Bob Casey told Irish’s official website: “This is a sad day in the history of this great club. Relegation was not part of our plans but we have to be honest, as hard as the players and management have worked, we haven’t been good enough this season.”
The darkest day of all
Burdened by debts of around £30million, Irish failed to meet an extended Rugby Football Union deadline of Tuesday for either a proposed takeover by an American consortium to be completed or for owner Mick Crossan to prove he could finance Irish for the entire 2023-24 season. All staff must also have been paid the outstanding 50 per cent of wages owed for May, while the club faced an additional hit of an HM Revenue and Customs winding-up petition for unpaid tax. Nine months after the Premiership season started with 13 teams, three have now been lost.
Star names to depart?
A seemingly inevitable accompaniment to Irish’s Premiership suspension will be key players heading through the exit door. Irish have previously flourished by developing one of the most impressive and prolific academies in English rugby, nurturing internationals like Anthony Watson, Alex Corbisiero and Topsy Ojo. That trend has continued through players such as 20-year-old England Test players Henry Arundell and Will Joseph, with Cardiff Met product Tom Pearson, who was last month named Premiership breakthrough player of the season, another richly-talented performer. A significant squad break-up looms.
Jhaniele Fowler, one of the most imposing and skillful shooters in Netball, headlines a strong 15-member Sunshine Girls squad to the highly anticipated Vitality Netball World Cup in South Africa later this year.
The Jamaicans, ranked number four in the world, will be hoping to improve on their disappointing fifth-place finish at the 2019 World Cup in Liverpool, with 10 players from that squad being retained for this year’s showpiece, scheduled for July 28 to August 6.
Expectations are high that the formidable mix of seasoned veterans, including Romelda Aiken-George, who recently returned from giving birth, and rising stars, such as Crystal Plummer, Kimone Shaw, Abigale Sutherland and Latanya Wilson, who have proven their mettle on previous occasions, will deliver exceptional results.
They will seek to add a gold or silver to the country’s three World Cup bronze medals won in 1991, 2003 and 2007.
Head coach Connie Francis, who will be assisted by Keyan Murdock, is anticipating a successful campaign with her team.
“All the players have been doing their work and are presenting well. The strength in depth of quality of players we now have at our disposal, fighting to get on court for the Sunshine Girls makes the selectors job very challenging and makes Jamaica a big threat to the top three countries going into the World Cup this summer,” said Francis.
“We have seven ladies currently playing in the Suncorp League and dominating the statistics at both ends of the court and locally we have our attacking core which includes three players who are making their third World Cup appearance,” she noted.
Specialist Coach Rob Wright, who will spearhead the team's strategic preparations, is also a part of the coaching staff.
Netball Jamaica President Tricia Robinson expressed sincere gratitude to all sponsors for their invaluable contributions in ensuring $41 million of the required $51 million for the team’s participation, is already in the bag.
This, she said emphasizes the critical role they play in helping Jamaica's netball team prepare for the World Cup.
“The support of our sponsors enables the team to focus on achieving greatness and represents our collective effort to elevate the sport to its rightful status with an elite world ranked team within the Nation’s sporting greats,” said Robinson.
The team will depart for their final training camp in South Africa on July 14, before bowing into World Cup action on July 28.
Squad: Romelda Aiken-George, Shanice Beckford, Jhaniele Fowler, Shimona Nelson, Rebecca Robinson, Nicole Dixon-Rochester, Crystal Plummer, Abigale Sutherland, Adean Thomas, Khadijah Williams, Kadie-Ann Dehaney, Kimone Shaw, Shamera Sterling, Jodi-Ann Ward, Latanya Wilson
Amateur tennis will return to Jamaica with the start of the inaugural Innovative Invitational Amateur Tennis Classic at the Liguanea Club in Kingston, Jamaica.
The tournament, organized by Llockett McGregor, will take place from June 12-17 feature over 90 players in the following categories: Men’s Open, Men’s Class 2 & 3 and Ladies B.
“I am expecting a very competitive and exciting tournament,” McGregor said at the launch of the Classic on Tuesday. I want to say thank you to all the sponsors who have come on board including the National Commercial Bank, Sandals and Altamont Court to name a few. We’re still working on a few more,” he added.
McGregor, when asked about the motivation behind staging the tournament, said keeping amateurs interested in the sport is a priority.
“This is an amateur tournament. Amateur, in my way of putting it, is the machinery behind the sport. They are the ones who drive the sport behind the professionals and juniors. We have to keep them interested by way of putting on tournaments for them,” McGregor said.
“In addition to that, I am the pro at the Liguanea Club which is a private members club with over 600 members. We have one of the biggest clubs in Jamaica with over eight Tennis courts and we feel it is our duty to give back to the sport of Tennis by putting on these tournaments, not only for our members but for the Tennis population at large.”
Top technology retailer, Innovative Systems Limited, have signed on as main sponsors for the first three years.
“This is the start of a blossoming relationship between Innovative Systems and the Tennis fraternity,” said Garth Walker, Executive Chairman of Innovative Systems Limited.
“This Amateur Classic will form an additional event of the annual Tennis calendar for the next three years. The Innovative Systems team is excited about this tournament, as it provides an avenue for us to aid the development of the sport. Additionally, it gives us an opportunity to foster the growth of the talented athletes who will be showcasing their expertise at this tournament,” Walker added.
The tournament draw will be held on Thursday before action gets underway with first round matches beginning at 5:00pm on Monday.
Novak Djokovic lost his first set of the French Open but battled back to defeat Karen Khachanov and move through to the semi-finals.
The third seed looked like he could be in trouble when he was pushed to a second-set tie-break after dropping the opener, but he won seven straight points and pulled away to win 4-6 7-6 (0) 6-2 6-4.
Djokovic said: “He was the better player for most of the first two sets. I was struggling to find my rhythm. I came into the match a bit sluggish, but I played a perfect tie-break and then played a couple of levels higher.
“It’s a big fight, it’s something that you expect, quarter-finals of a grand slam. You’re not going to have your victories handed over to you. I’m happy to overcome this big challenge.”
Djokovic struggled to deal with the power game of Russian Khachanov in the opening set and made some unexpected errors as he dropped serve in the fifth game.
Khachanov, who made the semi-finals at both the US Open and Australian Open, had another chance to break in the ninth game and, although Djokovic managed to hold this time, his opponent comfortably served out the set.
The momentum slowly began to switch in the second set as Djokovic, who was engaging in repeated dialogue with his support camp, began to apply some pressure to the Khachanov serve.
He did not manage to break but, not for the first time this fortnight, played a flawless tie-break and then benefited from a lucky netcord to win a long opening game of the third set on the Khachanov serve.
The only blip after that came with a loose game that saw him lose his break advantage at 4-3 in the fourth set, but Djokovic regained it straight away and served out the victory.
The Serbian is through to his 45th slam semi-final, one behind Roger Federer and seven adrift of Chris Evert’s all-time record, and now only two victories away from a record 23rd slam title.
Players expressed shock, surprise and a sense of betrayal at the news the PGA and DP World Tours were merging their commercial operations with the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series.
More than a year of contention and litigation between LIV and the established Tours and the players who joined the new competition ended in the most astonishing and abrupt fashion on Tuesday with the announcement that the three bodies had set up a new commercial entity to “unify golf”.
One American player, Wesley Bryan, replied to the PGA Tour tweet confirming the merger by writing: “Love finding out info on Twitter. This is amazing. Y’all should be ashamed and have a lot of questions to answer.
“I feel betrayed, and will not not be able to trust anyone within the corporate structure of the PGA TOUR for a very long time.”
The move came as a huge surprise to many professionals, with Canadian Mackenzie Hughes tweeting: “Nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour that we said we’d never do that with.”
Fellow pro Ben An wrote: “I’m guessing the LIV teams were struggling to get sponsors and PGA Tour couldn’t turn down the money.
“Win-win for both tours but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years.”
Six-time Major winner Phil Mickelson, one of the players who joined LIV Golf, described the merger as “awesome news”.
The new entity will be powered by Saudi Arabia’s financial muscle, with the statement confirming the merger saying that the Middle Eastern country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) would “make a capital investment into the new entity to facilitate its growth and success”.
The PIF would also have the exclusive right to further invest in the commercial entity, the statement said.
Amnesty International expressed concern at what it saw as a further attempt by Saudi Arabia to launder its human rights record through the vehicle of sport.
“While this may have taken some golf fans and commentators by surprise, it’s really just more evidence of the onward march of Saudi sportswashing,” Amnesty UK’s Felix Jakens said.
“It’s been clear for some time that Saudi Arabia was prepared to use vast amounts of money to muscle its way into top-tier golf – just part of a wider effort to become a major sporting power and to try to distract attention from the country’s atrocious human rights record.”
R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers welcomed the news of the agreement, writing in a statement: “We care deeply about golf’s future and are committed to ensuring that the sport continues to thrive for many years to come.
“This agreement represents a huge step toward achieving that goal for golf and we look forward to working with the new entity for the benefit of the sport globally.”
British teenager Isabelle Lacy claimed the biggest win of her fledgling career by knocking out third seed Madison Brengle at the Lexus Surbiton Trophy.
The 16-year-old came through qualifying and overcame a rankings gap of more than 750 places to see off American Brengle 7-6 (2) 5-7 6-1.
Brengle has been as high as 35 in the world and, although aged 33 she is now down at 95, this was a hugely impressive performance from Lacy, who already has a wild card into Wimbledon qualifying courtesy of winning the British Under-18 title.
A few more performances like this one may just see that upgraded to a full wild card.
Dan Evans took a wild card into the men’s event after his first-round loss at the French Open and he joined Andy Murray in round two with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Australian James McCabe.
Katie Boulter and Katie Swan were both convincing winners on the women’s side – Boulter beating Olivia Gadecki of Australia 6-2 6-1 while Swan saw off Canada’s Carol Zhao 6-2 6-0.
Eden Silva and Sonay Kartal also reached round two but Heather Watson was edged out 2-6 7-6 (3) 7-6 (6) by Australian Maddison Inglis and there were losses for Mark Whitehouse, Billy Harris, Dan Cox and Harry Wendelken on the men’s side.
Liang Wenbo and Li Hang have been banned from snooker for life after an investigation into match-fixing charges.
Eight other Chinese players have been suspended for between five years and four months, in the case of Lu Ning, to one year and eight months for Zhao Xintong.
Yan Bingtao, Chen Zifan, Zhang Jiankang, Bai Langning, Zhao Jianbo and Chang Bingyu are the other players banned.
Jason Ferguson, chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, said: “It has been heart-breaking to see some young, talented players fall foul of the WPBSA conduct regulations through pressure exerted by two senior players (Liang and Li).
“This behaviour has been recognised as wholly unacceptable by the imposition of two lifetime bans from participating in recognised snooker in any way.
“This outcome must be taken as a lesson to those who think they can avoid detection. If any player is involved in fixing a snooker match, they will be caught and will face severe penalties.”
Joe Saumarez Smith will continue in his role as British Horseracing Authority chair after announcing he has been diagnosed with lung cancer and will start treatment later this month.
Saumarez Smith took on the role in June 2022 after previously joining the BHA board as an independent director in December 2014.
“In the interest of transparency and openness from the BHA, we thought it was best to confirm this news publicly,” said Saumarez Smith.
“It is obviously not ideal to have this diagnosis, but I am confident I can keep working with all our stakeholders to deliver the strategic priorities that were agreed last September.”
Julie Harrington, chief executive of the BHA, said: “While we are of course concerned for our friend and colleague, we know Joe will fight this illness with all the determination and resilience that has been a feature of his career to date.
“It is testament to him that he is keen to continue in his role for as long as the treatment allows. He has the full support and best wishes of everyone on the BHA board in doing so.
“I am sure I can speak for everyone at the BHA and across the industry in wishing him good luck during his treatment.”
David Jones, the senior independent director of the BHA, will be available to substitute for Saumarez Smith at industry events if he is unable to attend, as well as other BHA board members if required.
Aryna Sabalenka came out against Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko after returning to the French Open press room and facing another barrage of off-court questions.
The Australian Open champion refused to speak to the general tennis press after her third and fourth-round matches following tense exchanges with a Ukrainian journalist.
She changed that stance after beating Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-4 6-4 in the quarter-finals amid more boos from the Roland Garros crowd and immediately was pressed further on her political stance.
Sabalenka has previously been pictured with Lukashenko and, asked if she still supported him, the 25-year-old said: “It’s a tough question. I don’t support war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko right now.”
Sabalenka said she had struggled to sleep after the incidents in the previous press conferences, which she claimed left her feeling unsafe, but did not regret her decision to step away from the press room.
“I always really respect press conferences,” she said. “I’m always open in my answers. I really felt bad not coming here. I couldn’t sleep. Like all those bad feelings were in my head.
“I don’t regret the decisions. I felt really disrespected, and I felt really bad. I mean, grand slam, it’s enough pressure to handle, and I just tried to focus on myself, on my game.
“I’m always open. You can ask whatever you want. You will get all the information. But, in the last press conference, I felt like my press conference became a political TV show, and I’m not an expert in politics. I’m just a tennis player.”
Sabalenka also came under scrutiny for her conduct at the end of the match against Svitolina.
Ukrainian players have been resolute in their stance of not shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents but Sabalenka stood at the net apparently waiting for the gesture she must have known would not come.
Svitolina, who had given a thumbs up to previous Russian opponents Anna Blinkova and Daria Kasatkina, walked straight past her and was loudly booed, with more jeers accompanying her as she walked off court.
Svitolina was distinctly unimpressed, saying: “I don’t know what she was waiting (for), because my statements were clear enough about the handshake.
“My initial reaction was like, ‘What are you doing?’ I made multiple statements that I’m not shaking hands, and she played obviously Marta (Kostyuk) as well the first round. So it’s quite simple.”
Asked if she felt Sabalenka had inflamed the situation, Svitolina said: “Yeah, I think so, unfortunately.”
The Belarusian insisted it had not been deliberate, though, saying: “It just was an instinct like I always do after all my matches.”
On the reaction, Sabalenka added: “I think she didn’t deserve all this boos. I’m giving such a big respect to her, what she’s doing after giving birth. It’s impressive and I’m really impressed by what she’s doing.”
In her first grand slam since the birth of daughter Skai last October, Svitolina has enjoyed one of her best grand slams.
A handful of Ukraine flags were evident among a sparse crowd as the match began and Svitolina traded game for game until Sabalenka forced a first break point at 4-4 and crunched away a return off a weak second serve.
Svitolina made a fast start to the second set, moving 2-0 ahead, but could not convert a game point in the next game and Sabalenka began to really make her extra power count, moving into a 4-2 lead.
With the patrons now having finished their lunch and fully engaged, they tried to will Svitolina – who was watched by husband Gael Monfils – into a comeback, but Sabalenka held her nerve.
Despite the defeat, it has been a brilliant fortnight for Svitolina, who will return to the top 100 next week.
“This year was difficult and different on the court, off the court, with you guys here, with your difficult questions, and overcoming difficulties, as well,” she said.
“Even though I’m sitting here dealing with it today, I feel like I won in so many ways.”
Sabalenka is not the only player to have skipped press conferences this tournament, and Svitolina added: “Definitely, I think it should be equal for everyone.
“I faced difficulty also with the question about Novak (Djokovic), about his statement about Kosovo. So I’m not escaping. I have my strong position and I’m vocal about that. I’m not going to try to (make people like me) by betraying my strong belief and the strongest position for my country.”
In the last four, Sabalenka will meet unseeded Karolina Muchova, who earlier defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5 6-2 to reach her second grand slam semi-final.
Muchova, 26, suffered an abdominal injury during her run to the semis at the Australian Open that kept her out for seven months and she was ranked outside the top 200 as recently as September.
With her run here, Muchova is set to return to the top 20, and she said: “It’s been an incredible two weeks and I’m just glad I’m still in the competition.”
Pavlyuchenkova has also found form here after knee surgery kept her out for most of last season but the 2021 runner-up is now set to miss the grass-court season because her ranking was not high enough to get her into Wimbledon.
The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf have agreed a shock merger to provide a “new era in global golf,” according to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.
The stunning announcement came after a year of unprecedented disruption in the men’s professional game following the launch of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit.
Here, the PA news agency looks at what has been announced and what will happen next.
What has been announced?The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), have signed an agreement which combines PIF’s golf-related commercial businesses and rights (including LIV Golf) with the commercial businesses and rights of the PGA TOUR and DP World Tour into a new, collectively owned, for-profit entity.
PIF will initially be the exclusive investor in the new entity and have the right of first refusal on any capital to be invested. The PGA Tour will appoint a majority of the board and hold a majority voting interest, with PIF’s governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan the chairman and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan the CEO.
What does this mean going forward?The deal will lead to a “mutually-agreed” end to all pending litigation between the various organisations. In April, the DP World Tour won its legal battle against 12 LIV players who committed “serious breaches” of the Tour’s code of behaviour by playing in LIV Golf events without permission, but an anti-trust suit against the PGA Tour was ongoing.
In a memo to players, Monahan said the 2023 LIV schedule would continue as planned while a “comprehensive evaluation” of how best to integrate team golf into the professional game takes place.
What about the players?The increased fines and suspensions that the DP World Tour was able to impose after the arbitration verdict prompted Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson to resign their memberships and become ineligible for the Ryder Cup, Stenson standing down as Europe’s captain.
Those players could now return to the fold, with the tours pledging to establish a “fair and objective process” for players to re-apply for membership, although Monahan admits it will be a “complicated endeavour” and it will not be until after the end of this season.
What has the reaction been?Unsurprisingly Phil Mickelson, who took a break from the game in the wake of his explosive comments about the Saudis and their “horrible record on human rights” before LIV Golf was launched, was in celebratory mood, writing on Twitter: “Awesome day today”. However the news went down less well with some of his fellow professionals, who appeared blindsided by the announcement.
Two-time major winner Collin Morikawa wrote on social media: “I love finding out morning news on Twitter.” Former BMW PGA Championship winner Ben An wrote on Twitter: “I’m guessing the liv teams were struggling to get sponsors and pga tour couldn’t turn down the money. Win-win for both tours but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years.”
The shock announcement of a new commercial entity for golf backed by the financial power of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is “just more evidence of the onward march of Saudi sportswashing”, Amnesty International has said.
The PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour have ceased their ongoing litigation and instead committed to working together on commercial matters, alongside the European Tour, currently called the DP World Tour under a sponsorship agreement.
The news has created shockwaves within the sport, with the heavy level of influence of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in the new venture already very apparent even at this early stage.
PIF governor Yasir Al Rumayyan, will chair the new entity’s board of governors, while the statement announcing the merger said the PIF “will make a capital investment into the new entity to facilitate its growth and success”.
It added that PIF will have the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including a right of first refusal on any capital invested in the new entity, including into the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour.
Amnesty says this is further evidence of Saudi efforts to draw attention away from the country’s human rights record.
“While this may have taken some golf fans and commentators by surprise, it’s really just more evidence of the onward march of Saudi sportswashing,” Felix Jakens, Amnesty International UK’s head of priority campaigns and individuals at risk said.
“It’s been clear for some time that Saudi Arabia was prepared to use vast amounts of money to muscle its way into top-tier golf – just part of a wider effort to become a major sporting power and to try to distract attention from the country’s atrocious human rights record.
“Away from the glamour of the golf courses and the TV cameras there’s been mounting repression in Saudi Arabia, with government critics and human rights activists arrested, a spate of unfair trials, and with the death penalty widely used, including as a tool of political repression.
“The world of golf may be about to put one of its most high-profile commercial battles behind it, but it’s vital that this latest surge in Saudi sportswashing isn’t allowed to obscure the increasingly dire human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.”
American star Phil Mickelson, one of the top professionals who signed up to the LIV Golf series, was much more positive.
“Awesome day today,” he wrote in a quote-tweet about the news of the merger.
Nashwa looks set to bypass Royal Ascot, with a debut trip to Ireland on the cards for the dual Group One winner.
The John and Thady Gosden-trained filly enjoyed a remarkable three-year-old campaign, in which she claimed Classic honours in the Prix de Diane and added further Group One riches in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.
Brave efforts in defeat in both the Prix de l’Opera and Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf followed for the Imad Al Sagar-owned four-year-old.
However, she was beaten on her return to action in the Group Two Prix Corrida at Saint-Cloud, finishing over four lengths behind Above The Curve.
Al Sagar’s racing manager, Teddy Grimthorpe, believes she will miss the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and seek a third top-level prize against her own sex at the Curragh instead.
“She has come out the Prix Corrida fine. She needed it and had a good blow afterwards,” he said.
“Sometimes these older horses do take a little more time to come than we think. It wasn’t quite what we were hoping for, but the main thing is she has come out of it well.”
Though plans are still to be finalised, the daughter of Frankel looks set to go on her travels again, with the possibility of locking horns once more with the Joseph O’Brien-trained Above The Curve over 10 furlongs on July 1.
Grimthorpe added: “The Prince of Wales’s is an option but I would say, at the moment, talking to Imad this morning and to John (Gosden), the preferred option would be the Pretty Polly.
“I hope it might be easier to win! There are going to be other opportunities for her to take on colts, but if I think we can try to get her back on track for the Pretty Polly, I think that would be definitely the preferred option. John and Imad are both happy with that, so I think we will probably aim there.”
Although Nashwa ran well over a mile and a half when placed in last season’s Oaks, she has not subsequently gone beyond an extended 10 furlongs and connections are keen to keep her at similar trips this summer.
“There are some nice problems to have. She is obviously already a dual Group One, Classic-winning filly, so we have to chase those similar big prizes,” added Grimthorpe.
“There is the likes of the Eclipse, the Juddmonte International and the Irish Champion, but equally so there’s the Romanet, the Opera and the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at the end of it, so there are quite a few good options for her, mainly over 10 furlongs and everyone seems pretty comfortable with that (trip) at the moment.
“Obviously, these things can change, but I think a mile and a quarter seems to be her best.”
Passenger, who disappointed in finishing 12th of the 14 runners in the Betfred Derby on Saturday, will be given a break by Sir Michael Stoute.
Supplemented at a cost of £85,000 just days before the Classic on the strength of a luckless run when a close-up third in the Dante at York, Richard Kingscote was never at ease aboard the 8-1 shot.
Bidding to give the trainer and jockey a second success in the blue riband in as many years after Desert Crown’s victory last June, the son of Ulysses was keen early and did not see out the mile-and-a-half trip, which he was trying for the first time.
A late developer, he saw the racecourse for the first time in April, scampering to a three-length victory in the Wood Ditton, a maiden over mile at Newmarket.
Passenger, owned by the Niarchos family, made a taking debut when scoring in a mile maiden at Newmarket on April 20.
He was withdrawn from the Dee Stakes at Chester due to heavy ground so connections paid £14,000 to supplement the colt into the Group Two Dante, where he was keen early on and had his path blocked when attempting to mount a challenge approaching two furlongs out.
Now with three runs in the space of 45 days, connections are keen to give him more time to develop before bringing him back, starting over a shorter trip.
The Niarchos family’s racing manager, Alan Cooper, said: “It was unfortunate he used up a lot of energy going up the hill and he was a bit free, so emptied out coming down and that was that, unfortunately. We don’t know why he did, but he did.
“It is hard to know why. One goes forward and we can’t re-do the race. He’ll have a nice break and see what Sir Michael would like to do.
“The horse has had a very quick career with three races since mid-April, so we will give him a nice break and freshen him up, then look at a suitable 10-furlong race and take it from there.
“He is a late-maturing horse and we hope he will develop as he matures.
“A lot of people will be re-grouping after Saturday. I think there were a lot of good horses in the race. Every Derby is a good Derby in terms of winners.”
Heartache Tonight will be given a break following her sixth-placed finish to Soul Sister in Betfred Oaks, with the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe her ultimate aim in the autumn.
The David Menuisier-trained daughter of Recorder has shown a penchant for softer surfaces in the past, but encountered quick ground for the first time in her career at Epsom.
Chris Wright owns the filly with Andy MacDonald and she is a half-sister to Wright’s dual Group One winner Wonderful Tonight.
Having finished a close-up fourth to Jannah Rose on her first attempt against Group One opposition in the Prix Saint-Alary at ParisLongchamp last month, the Pulborough-based handler was far from disappointed with her latest run under Cristian Demuro.
“I can’t say she didn’t handle the course or the ground, because she came down the hill beautifully and what have you. She is not jarred up or anything,” said Menuisier.
“She is like her sister – when they run on that ground, they don’t find the gears that do they when running on soft.
“They do quicken, but they don’t quicken as much as the rest of them. On soft they do find the gears, on this (good to firm) ground, you can’t say they don’t handle it, they are just a stone below. Cristian looked after her as well.”
Heartache Tonight will bypass Royal Ascot, where she holds an entry in the Ribblesdale Stakes, and will now be campaigned towards Europe’s biggest all-aged middle-distance prize.
“She won’t go to the Ribblesdale, she will have a mini-break and we will prepare her for the autumn,” added Menuisier.
“It’s always been the plan. The Oaks we needed to try, just in case. But we have always said she is a filly for the autumn really.
“The main thing we are focussed on is the Arc. She will have to prove she is worthy of that. She has always looked like she needs a mile and a half. She is bred for an Arc – and I’m due one as well!”
The handler’s Royal Ascot team will be a small one this year and much will depend on the ground, with recent runaway Nottingham maiden winner Mysterious Love under consideration for the Sandringham Handicap.
Menuisier said: “If they get a little bit of rain we might run her. We think she is a black type filly, but she wants slow ground, so we will have to be patient with her.
“It is a matter of being patient. It is too easy to do the wrong thing, especially at this time of the year. We could also potentially run Belloccio in the Duke of Edinburgh as well.”
The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf have agreed to merge commercial operations under common ownership, the PGA Tour has announced.
The shock announcement comes after a year of unprecedented disruption in the men’s professional game following the launch of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit.
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said.
“This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA Tour’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model and combines with it the DP World Tour and LIV – including the team golf concept – to create an organization that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners and fans.”
Brian Meehan’s French 2,000 Guineas runner-up Isaac Shelby is on course for the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 20.
Winner of the Group Two Superlative Stakes at Newmarket last July, the Night Of Thunder colt began his three-year-old campaign with a three-length success in the Greenham at Newbury, before being short-headed by Marhaba Ya Sanafi in France.
The St James’s Palace is shaping up into one of the races of the meeting with English and Irish Guineas winners Chaldean and Paddington as well as Charlie Hills’ unbeaten Cicero’s Gift lying in wait.
Though Isaac Shelby initially held an entry in the 10-furlong Coral-Eclipse at Sandown, the Manton handler is keen to keep him at a mile for now.
Meehan said: “He is heading to Ascot and he’s in great form. We have been very happy with him. He goes to the St James’s Palace, but he won’t go to the Eclipse.
“We’ll see how he comes out of Ascot before making any plans. He is in everything, but we’ll play it by ear.
“He’s in good form, we couldn’t be happier with him really.”
Double Olympic 100 metres breaststroke champion Adam Peaty is recovering after undergoing surgery to remove his tonsils.
The 28-year-old revealed he had had the procedure in a post on his Twitter account on Tuesday.
Peaty said: “Tonsillectomy went well and on the road to recovery. Something that was affecting me for quite a long time with a lot of antibiotics to keep under control.
“Thank you to all the great doctors and nurses at Nuffield Leicester Hospital, you were all exceptional.”
Peaty, who won goal in Rio in 2016 and then defended his title in Tokyo five years later, also has six individual world titles to his name.
He has revealed in the past his struggles with depression and alcohol and recently admitted he had been in a “self-destructive spiral”.
Peaty pulled out of the British Championships in April citing mental health issues.
Jockeys Callum Shepherd and Joanna Mason are facing more time on the sidelines, having both recently just returned from injury.
Shepherd, who broke a wrist in November, aggravated his old injury when the Charlie Fellowes-trained Trois Vallees fell in a five-furlong handicap at Nottingham on Sunday.
He said: “I’ll be on the sofa for a little while. The horse sadly had a heart attack and the wrist started swelling up in one place, the same wrist I broke in November.
“It is fractured, but not too bad. The concern was it had opened up the old fracture again, but it hasn’t. I have a radial styloid fracture.
“It is hard to say when I will be back. I spoke to Dr Jerry Hill (the British Horseracing Authority’s chief medical officer), having sent him the X-ray. It is a case of getting a CAT scan to see the full extent of it, but I think it will be a case of weeks, rather than months. That seems to be the expectation at the moment. Hopefully, that will be the case.
“It’s a tough one, but at the same time it could be a lot worse – it’s not your spine or your head.”
Mason, who was sidelined for 10 days last month when kicked in the knee by Jazz Samba following his win at Beverley on May 1, faces a lengthy absence.
She suffered a leg fracture on Monday when three pigeons flew out of bushes adjacent to the gallops at her grandfather Mick and his son David Easterby’s , spooking a filly she was riding and unseating her.
Mason said: “I was riding a filly down the gallop and three pigeons flew out and she was just gone from underneath me.
“I just landed a bit funny on my ankle. I got up, hobbled down the gallop until my granddad picked me up. I put ice on it, went to Jack Berry House and they looked at it.
“I thought it was ligaments or a strain, I wasn’t really in much pain, so I thought I had stretched or whatever, but they said to go to Malton Hospital for an X-ray to rule everything out.
“It is a spiral fracture on my lower (distal) fibula. They say I’ll be off between four to six weeks, but I’m aiming for four.”
Adding insult to injury, Mason missed a winning ride on Menelaus, who took the mile-and-a-half handicap at Thirsk on Monday.
She added: “I was 10 days off after my knee was kicked at Beverley. I was getting on a roll and the horses are going well.
“But I feel like I’ve probably been quite lucky, because I’ve not had many injuries. Maybe it is just my time.
“My knee is still niggling me a little bit – there’s still quite a bit of swelling in it, but that’s the least of my worries now.”
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