Penzance bids to put the seal on a prolific winter campaign by securing top honours in the BetUK All-Weather Easter Classic at Newcastle on Good Friday.
A five-race maiden when changing hands for 31,000 guineas last July, the grey has proved another shrewd purchase for trainer Mick Appleby and successful owners The Horse Watchers, with a promising effort on his Wolverhampton debut for new connections followed by four successive victories.
There is no doubt he faces a rise in class on All-Weather Championships Finals Day, but Appleby is confident of another bold showing in Gosforth Park’s £200,000 feature.
“He has just kept improving every time and was really impressive last time, so I think he should have a really good chance,” said the trainer.
“He’s in good order and he would be our best chance of a winner on Friday.
“Every run he’s had, he’s improved and it will be interesting to see how he goes when we switch him to the turf. He’s one to look forward to.”
Part-owner Chris Dixon added: “It will be his most difficult task so far, but he seems to have improved again from his last run. Ali (Rawlinson) has been riding him at home, as well as on the track, and is very happy with him.
“It will be a red-hot race given the money and quality of horse on offer. I don’t think he has reached his cap yet, but there are probably other horses who are in the same boat.”
Penzance’s former trainers Simon and Ed Crisford are represented by both Oh So Grand and Base Note, with the former very much the stable’s first string as she looks to supplement victories in the Winter Oaks Trial and the Winter Oaks at Lingfield.
“Oh So Grand has had a very good winter and remains in good form for this race. She will need to improve again, but we think there is more to come from her,” said Simon Crisford.
“Base Note found life a little tougher in a handicap last time, but he has been working well recently and loves the all-weather.”
Irish hopes are carried by the Adrian Murray-trained Elegant Man, who has won twice at Dundalk either side of chasing home Breeders’ Cup and multiple Group One winner Rebel’s Romance in the Listed Wild Flower Stakes at Kempton in December.
Murray said: “We had him entered to go to Dubai, but it looked like he wasn’t going to get in the race and this was the alternative.
“He’s only had the three runs and he’s an improving horse, I think down the road he’s an exciting horse. It’s a big pot on Friday and down the line hopefully he’ll be going into Group races, we think he’s that category of a horse that is potentially good enough to do that.”
Hooking is an interesting contender from France, not least because he is owned by international footballer Antoine Griezmann, who was named man of the match when Les Bleus won the 2018 World Cup final.
Although considerably older than most of his rivals at the age of eight, Philippe Decouz’s raider has proved himself as good as ever by winning two Listed prizes since the turn of the year.
Decouz said: “Hooking has been in my yard for seven years now, so we have a long history! He is in remarkable condition for an eight-year-old, we have always looked after him and given him breaks.
“He is in top form. The race at Newcastle was a logical choice following his winter programme. He doesn’t go on heavy ground and so there is not a race for him in France at the moment.
“This is a first runner in the UK for his owner Antoine Griezmann and also for me. It is a great challenge.”
Other contenders include the William Haggas-trained To Catch A Thief, Simon Pearce’s Storm Catcher and Teumessias Fox from Andrew Balding’s yard, all previous winners over the course and distance.
Balding said of the latter, who was last seen impressing at Kempton in late January: “He is coming in fresh, which I think is a bonus for him as his record after a break is pretty good.
“The only issue is that he is very high in the weights now for winning last time, so it won’t be easy.”
Dane O’Neill has announced his retirement having failed to recover sufficiently from injuries suffered in a fall at Wolverhampton in July.
O’Neill, 48, had his first rides in 1992 and enjoyed a long association with Richard Hannon senior, before taking the job as stable jockey for Henry Candy until in 2012 he landed the role of second jockey to Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum behind Paul Hanagan.
He remained in that position when Jim Crowley replaced Hanagan in 2016 and while it meant he was often on the second string in big races, he has ridden many of the great horses that sported the famous blue and white Shadwell colours.
O’Neill won the inaugural Commonwealth Cup on Muhaarar, the September Stakes on Mostahdaf and guided Baaeed to his first two victories.
In the fall, O’Neill broke seven ribs and fractured his T6 vertebra.
“I’ve given it a good go but unfortunately it is just not healing. There’s quite a significant gap between the vertebra and there was damage to the other vertebra as well,” said O’Neill.
“It’s filled in a little bit, but not enough and it is mainly filled with scar tissue, so it wouldn’t take another impact.
“But on a positive note, because I broke seven ribs as well, once I healed and it stabilised, I’ve never really suffered any pain and I’m leading a normal life, so I’ve got to be thankful for that.
“I got 32 years out of it, so while it isn’t the way I wanted to end it, it’s a good chunk of time. I was watching some old races back the other day and there’s only John Egan still going now.
“The writing has been on the wall, I’m 48 so I wasn’t going to get another 10 years or anything, but 32 years has been a fair chunk of my life, so I’m thankful.
“I only had three jobs in all that time. I started out with Richard Hannon and I still ride for young Richard now. Henry Candy then made me his stable jockey and he was the first person to congratulate me after I won the Commonwealth Cup on Muhaarar, which was nice – especially as he was second with Limato!
“Then I moved on to Sheikh Hamdan and Sheikha Hissa, who was kind enough to leave things as they were, even when they downsized the operation and they probably didn’t need a second jockey. I was pleased to ride her three Grade Ones in Dubai.”
O’Neill rode his fair share of speedsters throughout his long career, the aforementioned Muhaarar, Candy’s Airwave and out in Dubai Danyah. But one stands out above all.
“I rode Battaash before he got a bit more sensible, I had the early pleasures of him!” joked O’Neill of Charlie Hills’ headstrong sprinter.
“He was exceptionally fast. I rode some fast horses but he was freakishly fast. In the early days, it was just a case of hang on and set him off in the right direction. Don’t fall out with him and you’ll win. He was different.
“Winning the first Commonwealth Cup on Muhaarar came at a nice point in my career for Shadwell and that day he came of age, it was nice to give something back to Shadwell and repay that faith. Unfortunately, I didn’t get back on him!
“I rode Mostahdaf before he hit the heady heights he went on to achieve but another horse I didn’t have a long association with was when Mohaather won the Summer Mile for Marcus (Tregoning).
“He was very good. He was probably the best I rode because when I rode Baaeed he was at a different stage of his career. That day I rode Mohaather, he was exceptional.
“He’d run at Royal Ascot when things didn’t work out, which shows how much luck you need. I went to ride him work and after it I thought the hardest part for me was to make sure Jim’s plans didn’t change and he went to Ascot! I remember ringing Angus Gold (racing manager) and saying he was an aeroplane.”
O’Neill has nothing in the pipeline as yet but expects to stay in the industry.
He said: “I don’t know what I’ll do next but I got my money’s worth out of it. Racing is all I know, there’s not many routes when you leave school at 16, but I’ll be involved in some capacity, I’d hope.”
Room Service will attempt to deliver a tasty early-season treat to Kevin Ryan when he lines up in the BetMGM Burradon Stakes at Newcastle.
A winner of a valuable sales race at Doncaster when last seen, connections cannot help but be buoyed by the way that form has been franked by the horses in behind, with the second, fourth and fifth all scoring since and the third, Aidan O’Brien’s Johannes Brahms, already Group Two placed.
Ryan sees this Listed event as the perfect place to test out the Kodi Bear colt’s capabilities over a mile and, with him holding an entry for the Irish 2,000 Guineas, it will give a good gauge as to whether Classic dreams can begin.
“It’s a good starting point for him and he’s in good form,” said the North Yorkshire-based trainer.
“Obviously the all-weather is an unknown but he’s ready to run. The way the ground is at the moment, he likes soft ground, but I don’t really like starting them off on really deep ground, so I just thought we would have a look at Newcastle and see how he goes on that surface.
“He’s matured the way you would like to see him mature from two to three and we’re very happy with him. We’ll learn an awful lot more on Friday.”
Room Service is just 1lb below John and Thady Gosden’s Orne on official ratings, but the Horris Hill winner has to concede a 5lb penalty to his big-race rival due to landing that rearranged Group Two last autumn.
The Al Shaqab-owned Classic entrant has match fitness on his side having appeared both in Doha and when going down valiantly in Lingfield’s Spring Cup recently – and his team are hopeful his class can see him involved in the finish.
“He’s come out of his race at Lingfield really well and he ran really well from a wide draw there,” said Al Shaqab racing manager Alison Begley.
“He has to carry a penalty, but we think he has a good chance and we think the step up to a mile will help him. He ran well over a mile in Qatar, so we think returning to that distance will help and hopefully he will run well.
“He’s top rated in the race and Kevin Ryan’s is 1lb below him with us giving him 5lb because of the penalty, but having said that, Orne is a horse who is improving and he’s done little wrong in his career so far and we hope he will run a big race.”
A couple of places behind Orne at Lingfield earlier this month was Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Habrdi, who prior to that fifth-place finish had won three on the spin for the Newmarket handler.
He now returns to the mile trip he was successful over at Chelmsford on his penultimate start, with his trainer confident the colt will be sharper for his Spring Cup outing.
“He needed the run in the Spring Cup, as we always had half an eye on this race,” said Chapple-Hyam.
“He had a wide draw and was almost playing catch-up the whole time. He has come forward since then and moving back up to a mile should suit him. He is in a good spot at the moment.”
Charlie Appleby’s Dubawi gelding Silent Age has impressed in two appearances on the all-weather and now takes a step up in grade, while similar sentiments apply to Karl Burke’s Cuban Tiger, who bumped into a well-regarded stablemate of the Godolphin entrant at Kempton last month.
Burke said: “I could not be happier with him. He ran really well at Kempton, proving he gets the mile well, and this race looked the obvious next step.”
There has never been an Irish winner of this contest and Adrian Murray will try to change that when he saddles the raiding Manhattan Dreamer, who opened her account when stepping up to seven furlongs at Dundalk last time.
Andrew Balding’s Sayedaty Sadaty, Yokohama (John Butler) and David Menuisier’s Chelmsford scorer Louis Quatorze complete the field at Gosforth Park.
St Helens head coach Paul Wellens insists there is no need for hype when world champions Wigan roll into town on Good Friday for a clash that could go some way towards shaping the new Betfred Super League season.
The sport’s biggest domestic showdown throws up plenty of added interest with the visitors eager to stretch an unbeaten start that includes emulating Saints’ World Club Challenge win over NRL champions Penrith.
Apart from a surprise home defeat to Salford, Saints have also reverted to their unfamiliar role as challengers with aplomb, and two successive wins over Leeds at Headingley has set them up well for a game in which a victory will shift the narrative of the campaign so far.
Having faced off with his side’s biggest rivals more than 50 times in his stellar career as a player, Wellens does not need reminding of the magnitude of a fixture which will once again have the ‘sold out’ signs hanging outside the Totally Wicked Stadium.
“It’s Wigan on Good Friday – it sells itself,” said Wellens.
“Fans and players can’t wait for the game to come around. It’s the fixture you draw a circle around at the start of every year, and we are always excited about the challenge.
“It’s two teams who have achieved a lot of success in recent history, and a lot of that comes from knowing how to handle big games and big moments, and how to channel your emotion in the right way.
“This is the big game in British rugby league. We have Grand Finals and Challenge Cup finals, but after those showpiece occasions, I think Saints against Wigan on Good Friday is the game everyone wants to watch.”
Wellens hopes key men Tommy Makinson and Lewis Dodd will be fit to return from recent injuries, while Mark Percival is also available after suspension. However in-form forward James Bell is banned.
Wigan, whose superb start to the season fell a little flat last Friday when they were forced to fight to see off determined Championship side Sheffield Eagles in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup, hope to welcome back Willie Isa and influential full-back Jai Field.
Warriors head coach Matt Peet may not be able to match his Saints counterpart in terms of a top-level playing career, but having battled his way through his club’s coaching ranks he too knows only too well what the match means to each local community.
“It’s a completely unique game,” said Peet.
“Rugby league fans understand it, people in the two towns understand it. Whether the teams are flying high or having indifferent seasons, it sells itself because of the history behind it.
“It’s about striking a balance between the two. You can’t shy away from the emotion of it, but you’ve got to get the rugby side right.
“I think a lot of the motivation is already there. You don’t have to remind the players that it’s a fantastic fixture.
“Both teams are used to playing in these kinds of games. The players know how to handle it, and they can put it to the back of their minds and play their best game.”
Andrew Balding and Oisin Murphy will attempt to go back-to-back in the BetMGM All-Weather 3 Year Old Championships Handicap with recent Kempton scorer Fire Demon at Newcastle on Good Friday.
The Kingsclere handler and his long-time jockey linked up with Desert Cop when the race was run as a conditions event 12 months ago, but look to have a strong hand once again with the six-furlong shootout now taking place as a handicap.
The Juddmonte-owned son of Dark Angel produced some solid form figures as a two-year-old but has really begun to take shape since dropped back to six furlongs from the turn of the year.
He has won two of his last three at that distance and arrives at Gosforth Park with connections hopeful of a bold bid.
“He’s been very consistent and had just one little blip this winter when he ran at Lingfield and Ryan (Moore) just felt the track didn’t suit him that day at all,” said Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon.
“He bounced back nicely on his last start and I think the track at Newcastle will suit him well.
“He’s going there with a live chance and it’s great prize-money and a nice race – and if we could catch it, then it would be lovely.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Balding, who added: “It was nice to see him bounce back at Kempton and win well, as he got very unbalanced at Lingfield the time before that.
“On a conventional track like Newcastle again, I think he goes there with a sporting chance.”
Fire Demon’s jockey will know plenty about one of his mount’s chief rivals Blue Prince, having ridden him to finish on the premises at Lingfield the last twice.
Prior to that, David Evans’ Blue Point colt was seen getting the better of Sommelier over course and distance and his handler feels he could make a return to the scoresheet in the north east.
Evans said: “I thought he was a bit unlucky in the trial at Lingfield. He has come out of it in good order and I think he has a nice chance.”
Meanwhile, Sommelier has been kept fresh since that half-length reversal to Blue Prince on New Year’s Day, with Marco Botti’s charge meeting his old adversary on much better terms despite having to shoulder the burden of top-weight.
“His preparation has gone to plan and we are very happy with him,” said Botti.
“We wanted to bring him here fresh after his run in the trial. It is going to be a tough race, especially carrying top weight, but he has already proven himself at the track.
“We have booked Rossa Ryan and he has been lucky for us in the past.”
Karl Burke saddled El Caballo to land this prize two years ago and has two chances this year, with the consistent Media Shooter given precedence over stablemate Bazball by the odds compilers.
Spigot Lodge number one Clifford Lee agrees and has elected to partner recent Kempton scorer Media Shooter, who was a little over a length adrift of Fire Demon on his penultimate start.
Bazball, meanwhile, will have to snap a five-race losing run if she is to hit her sprinting rivals for six.
Burke said: “Bazball is coming off a bit of a break, albeit she has a low weight.
“Bazball has won at the track and they both have chances, but I think Media Shooter goes there with stronger claims.
“Media Shooter has performed really well on the all-weather and is probably going to be a bit sharper than her.”
Sprint king Mick Appleby is also double-handed in the race with G’Day Mate and Daring Legend, as the Oakham handler continues his quest to be champion all-weather trainer for a fifth straight season.
“I don’t think there will be much between them,” said Appleby. “G’Day Mate has more speed, so it will be a question of whether he gets home over the stiff six, while it was a bit of a rush to get Daring Legend qualified. I think they both have chances.”
There has never been an Irish winner of this particular Finals Day event, but Andrew Slattery will be bidding to change that with Dundalk regular Tarsus, who arrives off the ferry fresh from a success over all-weather veteran Harry’s Bar last month.
Slattery said: “Everything seems good with Tarsus. He has surprised us in some ways by how much he has come forward in recent months, although we thought he was a nice horse last year and he disappointed us.
“Declan McDonogh rode him the last day and said he would stay seven furlongs, so the stiff six at Newcastle should not be a problem.”
Sir Alex Ferguson has said it is “an honour” to have bred a horse good enough to run in a race such as the Dubai Sheema Classic with Spirit Dancer, who is chasing an overseas treble.
Trained by Richard Fahey, the seven-year-old has been a real late bloomer and a plan hatched after a victory in a Group Three at York has well and truly come to fruition.
Victories in the Bahrain Trophy and the Neom Turf Cup in Saudi Arabia have propelled the Frankel gelding into the highest company and he is now taking on the likes of dual Derby and Breeders’ Cup winner Auguste Rodin and Japanese filly Liberty Island.
“He’s looking great, I think he’s enjoying it out here actually, who wouldn’t, the climate is fantastic,” Ferguson told the Dubai Racing Club.
“It’s been success all the way, there’s been improvement every race. We’re honoured to be here, the type of race he’s going to be in, it’s outstanding opposition.”
It will be Spirit Dancer’s first run over a mile and a half but it is something Fahey has been keen to try for some time.
Ferguson added: “We’re quietly confident. In fairness, Richard has said all along that he thinks he’s a mile and a half horse. His Frankel pedigree suggests he should be able to cope with it, so we’re hopeful in that respect, but we don’t know.
“It’s an honour to have a horse in a race of this magnitude that you’ve bred yourself.
“When he won at York, Richard told us we were going to Bahrain and I said ‘Bahrain! What do we want to go there for?’ – and he said there was a great race there for him, so he’s the architect and we’re not going to argue with what he’s doing.
“We’ve enjoyed it, we’ve had a few days in Bahrain, a few days in Saudi and now a week here. It’s fantastic.”
It has been one success after another for Ferguson, who as well as enjoying victories abroad with Spirit Dancer, celebrated a Cheltenham Festival double earlier this month.
Charlie Appleby is likely to point last season’s Doncaster Futurity winner Ancient Wisdom at the Qipco 2000 Guineas as a stepping stone to a crack at the Betfred Derby.
The Moulton Paddocks handler feels the Newmarket Classic – for which the Aidan O’Brien-trained City Of Troy is the red-hot favourite – is more attractive than the longer Dante Stakes at York to give the son of Dubawi a trial for Epsom in early June.
He explained: “Ancient Wisdom won the Futurity on very soft ground and has been held in high regard from very early in his career.
“After getting beaten at Ascot he progressed physically, as you would expect from a Dubawi.”
Appleby is concerned that the Dante is closer to Epsom than ideal and added: “It’s possible there will be slow ground for the Guineas, and we will take a look at that with the view that a mile and a half will prove his forte.
“If I waited for York and the ground was soft, there’s not much time left until Derby to put things right should they go wrong, and it would be a more ambitious route to take.”
Appleby also had news on his unbeaten Classic-bound filly Dance Sequence.
He said: “Dance Sequence has done well. William (Buick) sat on her the other day and was delighted. We will take her to the Nell Gwyn and then the English Guineas.”
Former Wales and British and Irish Lions wing Louis Rees-Zammit is reportedly set to join reigning Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs.
The 23-year-old stunned the world of rugby in January by quitting the sport in an attempt to secure a contract with an NFL team in 2024, and his dream could soon come true.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some other multi-talented sports stars.
Denis Compton (cricket and football)Compton played 75 Test matches for England, making his debut in 1937 aged 19 and scoring his first century the following year against Don Bradman’s touring Australian side.
He had made his Arsenal debut in 1936 and went on to win the league title in 1948 and FA Cup in 1950 with the Gunners, the same year in which he helped Middlesex win the County Championship.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias (athletics, golf)Zaharias also excelled at basketball and baseball, but initially made her name in track and field, winning two gold medals and one silver in the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Zaharias won the javelin comfortably, took the 80 metres hurdles in a world-record time and finished equal first in the high jump before losing the title when her technique was deemed illegal.
A latecomer to golf, she won more than 50 titles, including the US Women’s Open three times, and co-founded the LPGA.
Lottie Dod (tennis, golf, archery)Lottie Dod remains Wimbledon’s youngest women’s singles champion, winning the first of her five titles at just 15 years and 285 days old in 1887.
Later turning her attention to golf, she won the 1904 British Ladies Amateur title and four years later won a silver medal in archery at the Olympic Games in London, where her brother Willy claimed gold in the men’s event.
Jim Thorpe (athletics, American football, baseball, basketball)The first Native American to win gold for the United States in the Olympics, Thorpe won both the pentathlon and decathlon in Stockholm in 1912.
He lost his titles after it emerged he had previously been paid for playing semi-professional baseball, but they were eventually reinstated by the International Olympic Committee.
Thorpe played six seasons in Major League Baseball and for six NFL teams, as well as enjoying a less-well documented spell in professional basketball.
Victoria Pendleton (cycling and horse racing)Two-time Olympic champion track cyclist Victoria Pendleton announced in March 2015 that she had set her sights on riding in the following year’s Cheltenham Festival.
She made her competitive debut in August 2015 and won her first race, on March 2, 2016, on 5-4 favourite Pacha Du Polder at Wincanton.
Pendleton then achieved her stated aim of riding in the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham and finished fifth, describing the result as “probably the greatest achievement of my life”.
Former Wales rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit has signed for Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs, according to a report in the United States.
Rees-Zammit is set to join the Chiefs’ practice squad, having impressed during his time on the NFL’s international player pathway.
The 23-year-old’s signing is expected to be confirmed on Friday, with running back and wide receiver his designated positions.
The move comes after he visited several NFL franchises, including the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos.
Rees-Zammit’s next goal is to win a place on the Chiefs’ final roster for the new season, joining their star players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce in targeting a third-successive Super Bowl.
The Gloucester, Wales and Lions wing stunned the world of rugby in January by quitting the sport in an attempt to secure a contract with an NFL team in 2024.
That dream moved a step closer when he impressed during last week’s pro day that forms part of the international player pathway.
Rees-Zammit clocked 4.43 seconds in his 40-yard dash, a 9ft 7in broad jump and 29-inch vertical jump.
Annie Sharp is only half-joking when she predicts she will be the only rower as excited about starting the Boat Race in close proximity to the Thames’ new ‘super sewer’ as she is about the chance to snap a six-year winless stretch for Oxford’s women.
The 24-year-old’s enthusiasm for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, a £4.5 billion, 25km-long sewage structure which saw its final piece lifted into place this week, makes more sense when you learn that Sharp is a MSc water science, policy & management student at St Antony’s College.
Oxford last won the women’s Boat Race in 2016, the same year work began on the sewer, but might not be able to partake in the traditional celebratory dip should they win the 78th women’s edition this Saturday after high levels of E. coli were found along the Championship Course.
Speaking before the findings were announced, Sharp, who will occupy the six seat, told the PA news agency: “We are working with water and unfortunately against it sometimes with the flooding that we’ve had at Wallingford this year.
“I’m a massive water advocate, and (for) the energy that we can also get back from renewable energy.
“British Rowing released their environment and sustainability programme (this month), some of the athletes are leading programmes and pushing for athletes to be more involved.
“I think absolutely, as role models they are massive for people trying to learn how to row and progress, so them using that platform I think is super important. Ultimately we all need to do our bit, but you do need the top-down approaches that really lead those decisions.”
Rowers have been issued safety guidance, including tips around covering cuts with waterproof dressings, taking care not to swallow river water, wearing suitable footwear and cleaning all equipment thoroughly.
Tideway, the company building the super sewer, has now completed the full 25km, 7.2m-wide main tunnel, a 4.5km connection tunnel in south-east London, and a 1.1km tunnel in south-west London.
It claims that, once fully opened in 2025, it should “almost completely” reduce “tens of millions of tonnes of storm sewage” that makes its way into the Thames annually.
British Rowing, meanwhile, launched a new sustainability policy on the same day Sharp and the 35 other athletes taking seats in the Blue Boats this Saturday were announced.
The national governing body cited the latest State of Our Rivers report from The Rivers Trust which revealed that not a single river in England or Northern Ireland was considered ‘in good overall health’.
As part of its new initiative, a partnership with River Action, The Rivers Trust and Aquascope, British Rowing will be announcing a funding programme which will enable clubs – over 30 of which sit along the Boat Race course – to test their water, clean up litter and tackle the increasing problem of invasive species.
Olympian Imogen Grant, a two-time Boat Race winner with Cambridge who came up 0.01 seconds short of lightweight double skulls bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Games and will try again this summer in Paris, has long advocated for sustainability within her sport and beyond.
Grant, one of four athletes comprising British Rowing’s sustainability working group at Caversham, told PA: “We spend three or four hours out on the water every single day. I’ve been rowing for nine years now and I’ve seen the impact of the climate on the rivers during that time. There’s been more flooding, races are cancelled due to strong winds, bad weather, things that would have been unforeseeable a decade ago.
“Something like the climate crisis can feel so overwhelming, but rowers, we know water, we know wind, we know that space, so starting with change there is a really great way to empower people.
“We’re so well placed as sports people to do this. It’s what we do every day. We love to root for an underdog. We love to choose a goal and work towards it, and that’s exactly what we need to do with our rivers’ health.”
One of the UK’s fastest deaf swimmers has spent more than 1,000 days campaigning against “discriminatory” policies that deny him funding.
Nathan Young, a holder of seven national records, is not entitled to any Government or National Lottery money to support his ambitions.
The reason is that UK Sport, the agency which allocates funding on behalf of those entities, is focused solely on Olympic and Paralympic sports.
As deafness on its own is not a discipline in the Paralympics, Wirral-based Young, 24, falls outside its criteria.
He is eligible to compete in the Deaflympics – the multi-sport event for deaf athletes sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee – but Great Britain does not financially back its entrants, unlike some other countries.
The only central funding available for solely deaf athletes is at grassroots level, with nothing for elite competitors such as Young.
That has left him needing to work and fundraise alongside his training to ensure he is able to meet the huge outlay needed to compete on the global stage.
For most of the last three years, he has also spent a large amount of his time running a campaign to get the parameters for funding changed, believing the current rules to be unfair.
“At the end of the day it’s discrimination,” said Young, whose campaign passed the 1,000-day mark in February.
“It’s completely isolating a whole disability. If I was a Paralympic swimmer, I would have been getting paid since I was 16 or 17. It could have been a career that I could have had.
“Right now, I train, I go to the gym but all the other things I should be getting as what you would class as an elite athlete, I don’t get any of it.
“Others have the best treatment available to them to keep them going mentally, physically and in every aspect. I should be getting physio, doing strength and conditioning but I get none of that.
“When I’m training right now, I’m thinking I should be working. It’s not what I should be thinking about.”
Young’s campaigning has involved giving numerous speeches and interviews as well as writing many letters and articles. He has also contacted MPs and, as part of a wider campaign with UK Deaf Sport, has even visited Parliament.
With UK Sport funding for recent Olympic/Paralympic cycles being around £300million, it is a source of frustration for Young that not even a relatively small amount can be found for Deaflympians.
“What we’re asking for is so little,” said Young, who might need to find around £3,000 to fund a trip to next year’s Deaflympics in Tokyo.
“UK Deaf Sport only asked for £4million for us (deaf athletes), which is so little when there’s £300-and-something million for Olympic and Paralympic sport.
“We’re getting the same responses. We keep pushing it and pushing it but it’s been over 1,000 days now and it’s been an exhausting journey.”
A UK Sport statement read: “UK Sport’s remit is specifically focused on investing in sports and athletes who are eligible to compete at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“The Deaflympics falls outside of Olympic and Paralympic sport. We are therefore unable to fund athletes targeting this event.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: “This Government is dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone, including deaf people.
“Sport England has committed £1.2million between 2022 and 2027 to boost deaf sport at the grassroots level through widening participation and supporting the development pathway for talented athletes.”
LeBron James knows he is no good to the Los Angeles Lakers if he is not healthy, as the 39-year-old said he will prioritise his well-being over a playoff push.
The 39-year-old has been nursing an ankle issue for much of this season, though he returned from a one-game absence in emphatic fashion on Wednesday.
James finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists – his fourth triple-double of the season – to help the Lakers to a 136-124 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
"I got to be smart with it," said James, who has missed 10 games this season.
"If I'm not healthy, or [anywhere] close to being healthy, then it's not good for our ballclub anyway. It's not good for me."
James said he would have played in the Lakers' win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, had he been willing to take any risks.
"I mean, I would've probably tried to play yesterday [in Milwaukee] if that was the case," he added.
Explaining his thought process behind his load management for the rest of the season, James said: "Just be very strategic.
"Obviously, understanding and seeing how my ankle and my foot are feeling. But just being very smart about it, obviously.
"We are where we are, but our health has always been the most important for our ballclub. Not just one individual.
"But for me looking out for myself when it comes to injury and knowing my foot and knowing my ankle and how it reacts, and how it's been over the last couple of years, it's just always keeping a hefty eye on it."
The Lakers are on a five-game winning streak and occupy ninth in the Western Conference with nine regular-season games remaining.
Anthony Davis sat out of Wednesday's win with a knee issue, with coach Darvin Ham saying the Lakers would assess the situation further on Thursday.
Jalen Green scored 37 points and Dillon Brooks hit a pair of 3-pointers in overtime to lift the Houston Rockets to their 10th consecutive victory, 132-126 over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
Amen Thompson had 25 points and 15 rebounds and Brooks finished with 20 points for the Rockets, who remained one game behind Golden State in the race for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference.
Houston’s winning streak is its longest since an 11-game run late in the 2017-18 season.
Josh Giddey tied a career high with 31 points and Jalen Williams added 23 and 10 assists for the Thunder, who remained tied with Minnesota and one-half game behind Northwest Division-leading Denver.
Oklahoma City played without All-Star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who sat out with a bruised right thigh.
Brooks got Houston going in overtime with consecutive 3-pointers and Green’s 3 with 64 seconds left extended the Rockets’ lead to 126-120. Isaiah Joe nailed a 3 for the Thunder five seconds later, but Green made a layup and Thompson dunked with 26 seconds to go.
Streaking Lakers ride LeBron’s triple-double
LeBron James had 23 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists and Rui Hachimura scored 32 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to their fifth straight win, 136-124 over the Memphis Grizzlies.
D’Angelo Russell had 23 points and Taurean Prince added 15 for the Lakers, who stayed hot without Anthony Davis (knee) and pulled within 2 ½ games of idle Dallas for sixth in the Western Conference.
James returned after sitting out Tuesday’s double-overtime win over Milwaukee with a troublesome ankle and notched his fourth triple-double this season and 111th of his career.
Clippers get disputed win over 76ers
Kawhi Leonard completed two 3-point plays late in the fourth quarter and made a block at the rim on the final possession to give the Los Angeles Clippers a controversial 108-107 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Leonard stuffed Kelly Oubre at the rim with five seconds left and the Clippers holding a one-point lead.
The officiating crew after the game said a foul should have been called on the play that would have sent Oubre to the line with a chance for the winning points.
Leonard bounced back from a 1-for-8 shooting first half to finish with 17 points and 10 rebounds and Paul George scored 22 points. James Harden had 16 points and 14 assists in his return to Philadelphia.
Tyrese Maxey scored 26 points for the 76ers, who dropped their fourth in five games.
Defending champion Daniil Medvedev saw off a late challenge from Nicolas Jarry to book a Miami Open semi-final rematch with Jannik Sinner.
Medvedev beat Sinner in last year’s Miami final, but the Italian came from two sets down to claim the Australia Open title in January.
World number four Medvedev cruised through the first set against Jarry 6-2 but had to battle his way through a tie-break win in the second set as the Chilean fought his way back into the match.
“The first set I thought I was playing a good level, not doing anything extra, just enough to win,” Medvedev said.
“Then he started to play much better and it was tough rallies, tough points. He served better and it was just a matter of a few points in the tie-break.”
Sinner reached his fourth semi-final of the year as he eased past Tomas Machac 6-4 6-2 in 91 minutes.
“Physically I feel good. I’m just happy to compete,” Sinner said.
“We practise very hard to be in these positions and I’m really happy I can play once again in the semis here at such a special tournament.
“It’s special for me, I made my first Masters 1000 final here, so I’m really happy to be back in the semis.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 23 shots and Nikita Kucherov scored to take over the NHL scoring lead as the surging Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins, 3-1, on Wednesday.
Mitchell Chaffee and Brayden Point also had goals for the Lightning, who improved to 7-0-1 in their last eight games to move within two points of Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division.
Point, who has six goals and two assists in the last four games, and defenseman Victor Hedman both returned after missing one game with lower-body injuries.
Danton Heinen had the lone goal for Boston, which lost its third in four games and missed an opportunity to jump over the Rangers and take over the league lead in points.
Kucherov’s empty-net goal capped the scoring and gave him a league-leading 124 points, one more than Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.
Senators score 5 in 1st in win over Sabres
Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists and Joonas Korpisalo stopped 34 shots as the Ottawa Senators rolled to a 6-2 rout of the Buffalo Sabres.
The Senators scored five times in the first period to chase starter Ukko-Pekka Luukonen, who allowed the first four goals on nine shots. Devon Levi stopped 31 of 32 shots the rest of the way.
Artem Zub, Boris Katchouk, Drake Batherson, Jakob Chychrun and Brady Tkachuk all scored in the opening period to help Ottawa win its third straight.
JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton had second-period goals for the Sabres, who have lost three of four and remained eight points behind the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
The Philadelphia 76ers entered play Wednesday with 10 games to go before the post-season.
They believe they'll have reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid back on the court before they begin their play-off run.
76ers coach Nick Nurse said before Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers that it's likely the seven-time All-Star will be back before the end of the regular season.
"I think there's a very good likelihood that he will return before the play-in/play-offs," Nurse said.
Embiid has missed 27 games since suffering a meniscus injury in his left knee on Jan. 30 against the Golden State Warriors.
The injury required surgery on Feb. 6.
"He's doing lots of skill work and things like that and just trying to continue to advance and that stuff," Nurse said.
Embiid was enjoying another MVP-calibre season before his injury, averaging an NBA-leading 35.3 points per game, 11.3 rebounds, a career-best 5.7 assists and 2.49 blocks.
He won the MVP last season averaging 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.35 blocks.
At the time of his injury, the 76ers were 29-17 and in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
Since then, they've gone just 10-16, sliding into eighth in the East.
After tallying the fewest sacks in the NFL in 2023, the Carolina Panthers have upgraded their pass rush.
The Panthers signed Jadeveon Clowney to a two-year, $20million deal with a max value of $24million on Wednesday.
The top overall pick of the 2014 NFL draft, Clowney has bounced around from team to team the past few seasons as it looked like his best years were behind him.
The 31-year-old, however, is coming off a resurgent 2023.
Playing in all 17 games last season for the Baltimore Ravens, Clowney racked up 9 1/2 sacks - matching his career high from 2017.
He also registered 19 quarterback hits and 79 QB pressures - tied for seventh most in the NFL.
He joins a Carolina team that had a league-low 27 sacks last season and had the NFL's worst record at 2-15.
Clowney, who grew up about 20 minutes from the Panthers' home stadium, spent his first five pro seasons with the Houston Texans before spending the last five seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and Ravens.
From 2019-2022 in his first four seasons since leaving Houston, he totaled just 14 sacks.
In 126 career games, he has 52 1/2 sacks, 128 QB hits and 15 forced fumbles.
Guenther Steiner has warned Red Bull their dominance of Formula One will end just as Mercedes’ did.
Red Bull have won the last three constructors’ championships with Max Verstappen completing a hat-trick of drivers’ titles, in the process breaking the strangleholds imposed by Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton in previous years.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton has endured a miserable start to the new season with his car lasting just 17 laps of Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix as team-mate George Russell crashed out to leave the Brackley and Brixworth-based team 71 points adrift of Red Bull after just three races and pile the pressure on boss Toto Wolff.
But asked about their difficulties, former Haas team principal Steiner said: “Obviously they are struggling a little bit at the moment. For me, they are a good team, I think they’re a good team. It’s just like it’s competition.
“Mercedes was dominating for a long time and you cannot always be dominating, you shouldn’t expect that. Now we say Red Bull is dominating – it will come to an end, like Mercedes came to an end.
“A lot of people are saying, ‘Mercedes is not doing well’ – Mercedes is still in the top four at the moment or top five, they just need to do a little bit better. But it’s how competitive this sport is and you cannot take anything for granted.
“Obviously Toto would love to dominate the sport forever, but nothing is forever. I think it’s good for the sport and shows also how quickly it goes up and down.
“Mercedes is still doing OK, they’re still scoring points. Sometimes you forget there are 10 teams and not only three which are allowed to win. I think all 10 should be allowed to win and those are the things you learn when you are outside of the sport like I am now.”
Hamilton, who is in the midst of his worst start to a campaign, will join Ferrari ahead of the 2025 campaign, leaving a huge gap to plug.
Steiner, speaking after being announced as an ambassador for May’s Miami Grand Prix, was asked if Carlos Sainz – winner in Australia just 16 days after undergoing surgery for appendicitis – would be at the top of his list if he was in charge at Red Bull or Mercedes.
He replied: “Toto has no urgency to sign anybody because everybody is waiting until that seat is filled, but I’m sure a lot of people are speaking to Carlos at the moment.”
Kikkuli could be Juddmonte’s “dark horse for the year” as he prepares for the early stages of his three-year-old season.
A half-brother to the mighty Frankel and by the owners’ Classic-winning sire Kingman, he is the last foal out of Kind and is fittingly trained at Beckhampton by Harry Charlton, the training facility from which Kind blitzed her way to two Listed victories during her on-track career.
With such a regal bloodline, there was plenty of excitement surrounding the colt’s Newmarket debut towards the end of last season, where Kikkuli showed plenty of promise to keep on for second behind subsequent Listed scorer Zoum Zoum.
The third from that seven-furlong maiden, Balmacara, has recently given the form a timely boost and connections are hopeful there is plenty of untapped potential still to be seen from Kikkuli this term.
“Harry is happy with the horse and feels like the horse has done well from two to three, he has got a lot stronger and is training nicely,” said Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon.
“His debut is good form and I think Kikkuli was ready for a day out that day. Harry had said he was far from the finished article.
“It’s good form and we would like to think there could be some improvement to come, so he could be a dark horse for the year.”
Kikkuli is set to stick to calmer waters for the time being with the goal of shedding his maiden status in the early stages of the campaign, while the hope from his team is that he could blossom into a big-race contender by the time Royal Ascot arrives later in the summer.
“We will probably start off low key with him and go for a maiden or a novice and then just see how we go,” continued Mahon.
“If he is going to make into good horse, then it will be probably from Royal Ascot time onwards he will be stepping into those good races.
“But if we can get a maiden or a novice done in the next six weeks or so it would be great and we can just move up slowly from there.”
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