Peter O’Mahony believes Ireland’s current team is the best he has ever played in ahead of a pivotal Guinness Six Nations showdown with England.

Andy Farrell’s men will run out at Twickenham as overwhelming favourites and have the chance to retain the championship title with a round to spare.

Captain O’Mahony has lined up alongside the likes of Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell and Johnny Sexton during his Test career, but feels the class of 2024 is arguably the greatest Irish side of that period.

“Look, I’ve been lucky to play with lots of good players and teams,” said the Munster flanker, who will win his 104th cap in south-west London.

“If I had to nail the colours to the mast I’d have to say yes.

“It’s hard to compare because rugby has moved on and the game is different, but in a short answer, I think it is.

“I think the quality of player, it’s a really, really healthy, good, thought-provoking, enjoyable environment, but obviously the quality of performance and results speaks for itself.

“Hard to compare but yeah, it’s certainly up there anyway.”

Ireland have triumphed in each of the past four meetings with England and will set a new championship record of 12 consecutive wins by extending that run on Saturday evening.

Doing so with a bonus-point will be sufficient to clinch the title, while the extra point would not be required if Scotland fail to beat Italy and score at least four tries earlier in the day.

World Cup semi-finalists England, who are priced at 4-1 to win by bookmakers, are still striving for consistency under head coach Steve Borthwick.

Yet O’Mahony warned Ireland’s pursuit of successive Grand Slams could easily be derailed as he dismissed the significance of the pre-match predictions.

“It’s not something that we really buy in to,” the 34-year-old said of the favourites tag.

“I know you’re probably sick of hearing it from me, but it’s a Test match tomorrow, Ireland versus England. It’s about who plays better tomorrow. It’s not about anything else.

“It’s not about previous form or where you stand, it’s about who plays better tomorrow and that’s something that we’ve always been focused on, our performance.

“We know if we play well tomorrow we’ll be in with a shout. But if we don’t fire this English team has incredible quality and can beat anyone on their day.

“It’s not long ago they were competing in the last two games of the World Cup. We know we’re in for a huge test tomorrow here at Twickenham as always.”

Making Headway bids to provide the burgeoning training partnership of Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero with a significant pre-Cheltenham boost in the Betfair Imperial Cup at Sandown.

The Cheshire-based team will not send many runners to the Cotswolds next week but do have a major bullet to fire in the form of stablemate Iroko, winner of the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Hurdle 12 months ago and this time a serious player in the Turners Novices’ Chase.

Making Headway himself holds Cheltenham engagements in the Coral Cup and the Martin Pipe, but for now all eyes are on this weekend’s Sandown feature, the traditional appetiser to the Festival.

The six-year-old has enjoyed a fine first season over hurdles, with wins at Carlisle in October and Newbury last month sandwiching two creditable efforts in graded company, and Greenall feels he has plenty going for him on Saturday.

“He’s an improving horse who has run in some good races and run well,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s the deepest Imperial Cup there’s ever been, the favourite of Ben Pauling’s (Jipcot) won well at Huntingdon the other day but that was a lesser race, so he needs to step up again.

“We’ve got some good form with some good horses. He’s obviously inexperienced and needs further, but soft ground and the stiff finish at Sandown will suit him.”

Pauling is another trainer who can look forward to sending a small but select team to Cheltenham following an excellent recent run of form.

As well as saddling Jipcot, who carries a 7lb penalty for a comfortable win at Huntingdon last Sunday, the Naunton Downs handler has another leading contender in the form of Bad, who has been placed in four similarly competitive handicaps already this season and is due a change of luck.

“Jipcot has always been a horse who we knew had ability but had just been struggling to get exactly where we wanted him. It looks like the application of a hood and tongue-tie seems to have worked the oracle,” said Pauling.

“It’s quite a quick turnaround, but he didn’t have to do an awful lot to win at Huntingdon and he goes there in good form.

“I’m looking forward to seeing him back in some decent company. I’m not sure the 7lb will be too much of an issue and it’s been a case of getting his head in the right place really.”

On Bad, he added: “I was confident that going up in trip with him was the right thing to do, but with the ground being how it is and how it is going to ride on Saturday, he will be a stout stayer over two miles and I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets on.”

Paul Nicholls is hoping French recruit Sans Bruit can raise his game after what was an underwhelming debut British introduction at Doncaster in January.

“He didn’t quite get the trip at Doncaster where he was a bit keen on his debut for us on his first time since a wind op,” the champion trainer told Betfair.

“He should appreciate stepping back in distance to two miles and he has plenty of decent form on soft ground in France, where he won five times over hurdles.

“We are running him in a hood to try to help him relax and he looks to have a nice each-way chance.”

Sans Bruit will be partnered by Harry Cobden, but jockeys’ championship rival Sean Bowen is confident of clawing one back aboard Olly Murphy’s Go Dante.

A winner at Cheltenham in December, he was a respectable third in the Betfair Hurdle last month and goes to post off the same mark.

“It was a very good run at Newbury and he’ll enjoy the track and ground at Sandown,” said Bowen.

“He’s really progressed with each run this season and I’m really looking forward to riding him. He’ll love conditions and everything should suit.”

The sole Irish-trained contender is David O’Brien’s Minx Tiara, who was last seen filling the runner-up spot after leading for a long way in a Listed handicap hurdle at Leopardstown.

O’Brien, who trains around 15 horses at his base in Piltown, said: “Minx Tiara has come out of her run at the Dublin Racing Festival very well and seems in great form.

“The prize money is so good at Sandown and the owners are mad keen for a day out – they are a great bunch of lads and have had a lot of fun over the years. She is nine years old now and there might not be that many more chances to travel with her.

“Hopefully this is a good opportunity for her while she is in such good form. I thought she was well-handicapped, although I am a little bit worried that the English handicapper has given her an extra 9lb compared to her mark in Ireland and she is up 11lb overall for her run at Leopardstown.

“Sean and Danny (Mullins) who have both ridden her said with the form she is in at the moment, there could be a nice prize in her. Hopefully, she has an each-way chance.”

Rory Darge feels Italy’s Stadio Olimpico would be “a nice place” for Duhan van der Merwe to become Scotland’s record try-scorer – but the co-captain stressed that his team’s focus is solely on leaving Rome with another Guinness Six Nations victory.

The Scots have won two of their three championship matches so far to sit second in the table – albeit six points adrift of Grand Slam-chasing Ireland – going into the penultimate round of fixtures.

While the priority for Gregor Townsend’s side is to get the points that will keep them on course for a first top-two finish in the Six Nations era, the fixture has added spice because Van der Merwe goes into it with 26 international tries to his name – one shy of the county’s record-holder Stuart Hogg.

A score or two by the South Africa-born wing on Saturday would see him join or overtake the former full-back, who will be at the Stadio Olimpico to support his old colleagues after completing a charity cycle to the Eternal City in aid of the My Name’5 Doddie foundation.

Back-rower Darge said: “I know one of Duhi’s tries in particular (his second one against England) was off our defensive efforts and then the turnover attack, so if we do get ourselves right, then we can put guys like that in.

“He’s obviously a great finisher. Sometimes you only need to give him half a chance and he comes away with a chance, so it (the record) could happen.

“It would be a nice place for him to do it but I don’t think he’ll have too much of his mind set on that.

“He’ll just be focused on his role, and he might come away with a couple, but we’ll have to wait and see. I’m sure Italy will put us under a lot of pressure.”

Darge insisted Edinburgh wing Van der Merwe has remained as humble as ever in the wake of the Calcutta Cup hat-trick a fortnight ago that put him on the cusp of Hogg’s record.

“Duhi’s always the same,” said the Glasgow forward. “Around training and around camp, he’s always quite laidback but when he gets out there he’s a Test-match animal, and it’s class to be able to play with him.”

Darge’s only previous experience of playing at Stadio Olimpico was a 33-22 victory two years ago in front of a crowd of 41,214.

This time, the famous arena in north-west Rome – used predominantly for football – is set to be full to capacity, with 70,000 tickets having been sold on the back of encouraging championship performances from the Azzurri against England and France.

“Italy are a really good side,” said Darge. “We saw that against France, and they’re obviously playing at home where they’ll have a really good atmosphere and good backing.

“The Stadio Olimpico is different (to other Six Nations venues) but the Scotland fans always travel well for this one, so that will be massive for us.

“It’s a long walk from the changing room but it’s a cool stadium. Inside the changing room, on the walk in, with all the jerseys on the wall and stuff like that, there’s a lot of history behind it, so it’s a cool place to be playing rugby.”

Although growing up in touching distance of Prestbury Park, Noel George will be attempting to land a blow for France when Milan Tino becomes the first horse he will saddle at the Cheltenham Festival.

His father Tom George has sent out both Galileo (Royal & SunAlliance Novices’ Hurdle, 2002) and Summerville Boy (Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, 2018) to strike at the showpiece meeting from the Slad training base where George Jr learnt the ropes.

However, the younger George has swapped the Cotswolds for Chantilly, where alongside Amanda Zetterholm he has formed a formidable Anglo-Swedish training partnership that is taking French racing by storm.

It is the exploits of superstar chaser Il Est Francais that first alerted a British audience to George and Zetterholm’s training talents, but the JP McManus-owned juvenile Milan Tino is the source of the duo’s Cheltenham dreams as he prepares for a shot at the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle on the opening day of Festival action.

George said: “He did his last piece of work on Tuesday and worked very nicely. He is heading over on Sunday and we’ve got our fingers crossed for a good run.

“It’s our first Cheltenham Festival runner and it’s a real dream. The fact we are coming over from France with one with a live chance is really exciting.”

Milan Tino is no stranger to Cheltenham having visited twice already this season, each time finishing third and only having Triumph Hurdle favourite Sir Gino and the highly-talented Burdett Road ahead of him in his most recent trip to Prestbury Park on Festival Trials day.

He has also finished in the money in competitive juvenile heats at Auteuil and George is hoping the handicapper has given the four-year-old a real chance of what can be classed as a rare Festival success for France.

“To start with he was off 136 because of his French form and the handicapper seems to think off his English runs he is now 126, so I hope we have a few pounds in hand I guess,” continued George, with Milan Tino a best price of 8-1 at Cheltenham.

“Sir Gino I knew before from when he ran in the Prix Wild Monarch and he has always been a bit special and Burdett Road is also obviously a very good ex-Flat horse, so we go there with a live chance and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Jamie Snowden is excited to see Ga Law strut his stuff at the Cheltenham Festival after connections paid the required supplementary fee to add him to Thursday’s Ryanair Chase.

The eight-year-old is a dual winner over fences at Prestbury Park, landing last season’s Paddy Power Gold Cup and another lucrative handicap on his most recent visit in late January.

Ga Law was not beaten when fifth behind Envoi Allen in last year’s Ryanair and as Snowden feels he is in a better place mentally and physically this time around, he was added to the field at Friday’s confirmation stage at a cost of £15,000.

“The original entries for the Ryanair came out before Trials day at Cheltenham in January and he was very impressive that day, winning off a big weight. The handicapper has now put up to a point where it makes sense to have a crack at this,” said the trainer.

“We were fifth in the Ryanair last year when we were perhaps not in the same sort of form that we’re in now. We obviously won the Paddy Power that winter, but we took a nasty fall in the Sky Bet Chase and he probably wasn’t in the same kind of form that he’s in now 12 months ago and he still ran a belter.

“We do feel he’s in far better order now and hopefully he can go a few places better.

“Obviously Envoi Allen won it last year and the reports are that he’s in great order this time around as well. It certainly looks a competitive race, but forgetting the opposition, we hope that we’re coming into it in far better form than we did last year.”

Ga Law and Envoi Allen are among 12 horses in contention for the Ryanair, with Banbridge, Star Star and Capodanno also among the leading contenders.

Willie Mullins has confirmed El Fabiolo for the two-mile-five-furlong contest, but he is expected to line up as a hot favourite for the Queen Mother Champion Chase the previous afternoon.

The other feature on day three of the Festival is the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle, with Gordon Elliott’s ante-post favourite Teahupoo one of 18 confirmations.

Elliott has also left in Irish Point, but has raised the possibility of him being switched to Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle, while Flooring Porter is on course to bid for a third Stayers’ Hurdle after his trainer Gavin Cromwell confirmed his intention to switch his stable star back to the smaller obstacles.

Grand National hero Noble Yeats (Emmet Mullins) is another major challenger from Ireland, while the home team includes 2019 Stayers’ Hurdle hero Paisley Park (Emma Lavelle) and his Long Walk conqueror Crambo (Fergal O’Brien).

Grey Dawning (Dan Skelton), Ginny’s Destiny (Paul Nicholls) and Iroko (Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero) are the three chief British-trained contenders for the opening Turners Novices’ Chase, with Willie Mullins leaving in Facile Vega, Gaelic Warrior, Il Etait Temps and Sharjah.

The Ryanair Mares Novices’ Hurdle, meanwhile, promises to be one of the races of the week, with Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead, the Mullins-trained Jade De Grugy and O’Brien’s Dysart Enos all set to put their unbeaten records over obstacles on the line.

Warren Gatland has underlined Wales’ desperation to end their losing Six Nations run this season and claim what would be a statement victory over France.

Even though Les Bleus have produced nowhere near their standards of last year, highlighted by a comprehensive defeat against Ireland and home draw with Italy, they have claimed four successive Six Nations wins at Wales’ expense.

Despite several promising moments in defeats to Scotland, England and Ireland, new-look Wales are nil from three heading into Sunday’s Principality Stadium clash.

They have not lost all five games of a Six Nations campaign since 2003, with Italy – conquerors of Wales in Cardiff two years ago – arriving next weekend.

Wales’ recent overall Six Nations record is poor, having claimed just two victories from the last 14 starts, beating Scotland in 2022 and Italy last season.

“We need to win, and that is what Test match rugby is all about,” Wales head coach Gatland said.

“We desperately want to win. We feel we have been going OK and we want to try and put a complete performance together.

“We know we are on a journey, but we are trying to fast-track things as quickly as possible. A win on Sunday would be a good stepping stone for that.

“Whether they (France) come here to throw the ball around or play an off-loading game, or whether they go for being a bit more brutal upfront and play for territory, we have just got to make sure we are prepared for anything.

“We are desperate to get that win. We know we are not quite there and there is a lot of work to do, but we have put ourselves in games and put teams under pressure.

“They (France) have got a huge pack, but that is the challenge for us, it is about moving their pack around. We saw what happened to them against Italy, that they do tire and that creates opportunities.”

Wales were edged out by a point against Scotland, then two points at England’s hands, and captain Dafydd Jenkins added: “Obviously, we are extremely disappointed to lose games, especially with the tight ones.

“But in terms of staying composed, I think we have built game on game and I feel like we’ve got better.

“We are looking at the quality in the room we have, and we should be winning games, so that is really what we are striving for.”

Gatland’s main selection talking point has been a new centre combination of Joe Roberts, who makes his first Six Nations start, and Owen Watkin.

George North, Wales’ most experienced Six Nations squad member with 120 caps, and Saracens’ Nick Tompkins were the midfield pairing during the World Cup and in two Six Nations games this term.

Gatland said: “We just wanted to give Joe an opportunity. He is a left-foot (kicking) option as well, and he has been training well.

“I thought they (North and Tompkins) were outstanding during the World Cup. Again, it is a chance for us to look at a few other players.

“George and I have had some honest discussions about whether he gets through to the next World Cup (in 2027). He started at a very young age, I think at 18 he was playing for Wales.

“Part of our discussions were about how we manage him, how do we look after him going forward?

“We’ve just got to make sure we have got some depth in that 13 position. That is why Joe gets an opportunity.

“I must say how the two boys (North and Tompkins) have responded after the disappointment of being left out this week. They has been fantastic in the way they have trained and helped the team.”

Mother and daughter Georgie and Olive Nicholls team up at Sandown on Saturday for what would be a famous success with Thank You Ma’am on Mother’s Day weekend.

The five-year-old has acquitted himself well under rules so far, placing third in a bumper and finishing the runner-up in his last three hurdle starts.

On each occasion he has met with and been beaten by a smart-looking rival, with Paul Nicholls’ Fire Flyer defeating him at Wincanton and Harry Derham’s Fourofakind finishing half a length ahead at Hereford last time out.

Champion trainer Paul is Nicholls’ ex-husband and Derham is her nephew, and the rivalry with the former will be reignited as Fire Flyer also runs in the European Breeders’ Fund Betfair ‘National Hunt’ Novices’ Handicap Hurdle Final.

The race is run over two and a half miles and is worth over £45,000 to the winner, with Fire Flyer set to carry top-weight and Thank You Ma’am under a bottom-weight further reduced by the 7lb claimed by his rider Olive, daughter of both trainers in question.

“He’s been a bit unlucky, he’s been second in his last three races and each time he’s just bumped into a really nice horse,” Nicholls said of her runner.

“One trained by Paul, my ex-husband, and the other trained by Harry Derham, who is my nephew, so if I could get rid of my own family he’d have won twice!

“He’s been running very consistently, he’s stepping up to two and a half (miles) and he’ll appreciate that.

“He’s not too fussy on the ground, it’s going to be very testing but he’s getting plenty of weight off the top horses and Olive takes another 7lb off his back.

“I had quite a funny conversation with Paul, I called him and said ‘well, we’ll end up getting 21lb off you’ and he said ‘mine’s rated 127 and I think he should be rated 137’. I said ‘well that’s not helpful, thanks for that!’. We did have a giggle.

“Sandown is a stiff track, the ground will be testing and they’ll need to get every bit of the two and a half. Weight is definitely even more advantageous when you’ve got testing ground.”

Thank You Ma’am is named in honour of the late Queen and is owned by a syndicate named The Posh Pundit Racing Club who know the gelding as Leroy.

“He’ll need to be at his very best but we’d love to see him put a good run in, it’s a really fun syndicate with a nice bunch of people,” said Nicholls.

“He’s a lovely horse and he’ll provide a lot of fun for them.”

Olive is her mother’s assistant as well as an amateur rider and is particularly fond of Thank You Ma’am, aboard whom she will aim to supply an early Mother’s Day gift.

“I’ve promised mum for Mother’s Day we’re going to take Leroy to the next level and hopefully he’ll get a taste for winning as he’s got the ability,” she said.

“He is the yard favourite and is the perfect horse for the club as he has buckets of ability and is unbelievably social.

“In fact he has even been to the pub a couple of times to celebrate winning the locals a huge sum after coming third at 125-1.”

While Lewis Hamilton must wait until 2025 to race for Ferrari, British teenager Ollie Bearman will make his Formula One debut for the team at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend.

With Carlos Sainz sidelined with appendicitis, the 18-year-old Bearman will step up from his role as Ferrari reserve driver in Jeddah.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at five of the most notable Britons to formerly race for the Maranello marque.

John Surtees

Starts: 37
Wins: 5

Surtees is the subject of a pub quiz question to this day as he remains the only man to win world championships on both two and four wheels.

His F1 title came during a four-year stint at Ferrari, where he won the championship in 1964.

More success probably would have followed had he not quit the team after just two races of the 1966 season following a public spat resulting from his omission from Ferrari’s team for the Le Mans 24-hour race.

Eddie Irvine

Starts: 65
Wins: 4

Ferrari’s hopes of a first drivers’ championship in two decades had seemingly been resting solely on the shoulders of Michael Schumacher.

That all changed when he broke his leg in a crash at Silverstone in 1999, jettisoning Northern Ireland’s Irvine into a title showdown with the McLaren of Mika Hakkinen.

Having joined Ferrari in 1996, Irvine was very much the number two in the team, although victories in Australia, Austria, Germany and Malaysia saw the championship race go down to the wire but – even with Schumacher back from injury and playing a supporting role, he fell short by two points and quit for Jaguar in 2000.

Nigel Mansell

Starts: 32
Wins: 3

Already a world champion, Mansell would forever be bestowed with the honour of being the last driver hand-picked by Enzo Ferrari to race for his eponymous marque.

Mansell had endured a terrible season at Williams in 1988 but won in Brazil in 1989 – his first race behind the wheel of a Ferrari – and later in Hungary, too.

Reliability issues hampered the remainder of his debut year with the Prancing Horse and 1990 proved even worse in that regard as Mansell retired from seven grands prix, winning in Portugal but falling out with the team and returning to Williams the following year.

Mike Hawthorn

Starts: 24
Wins: 3

Hawthorn became the United Kingdom’s first Formula One world champion when he took the title with Ferrari in 1958.

Having driven for the team earlier in the decade, he returned to take the crown after winning in France and finishing second in Belgium, Britain, Portugal, Italy and Morocco.

He retired after winning the championship having watched team-mate Peter Collins die at the German Grand Prix months earlier – Hawthorn himself would die in a road accident in January 1959 at the age of 29.

Peter Whitehead

Starts: 8
Wins: 0

Whitehead may have raced in Formula One but it was with a Ferrari, rather than for the team itself.

The Englishman became the first private racer to convince Enzo Ferrari to sell him a car, which he duly painted in British racing green.

He was entered into one race by the works Ferrari team – but failed to qualify for the 1950 Swiss Grand Prix.

British teenager Ollie Bearman finished 10th in final practice after being thrown in at the deep end as a last-minute replacement for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Bearman, 18, will become Britain’s youngest driver to take part in a Formula One race at Saturday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the time sheets in Jeddah in the concluding running ahead of qualifying, with Charles Leclerc second and Sergio Perez third.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and ninth respectively for Mercedes.

All eyes were on the Ferrari garage with Bearman to become only the 12th British driver to race for Ferrari – and the first Englishman since Nigel Mansell in 1990 – following Sainz’s withdrawal with appendicitis.

The Spaniard, who is making way at Ferrari for Hamilton next year, requires surgery.

Bearman, from Chelmsford, Essex, who doesn’t turn 19 until May, will usurp McLaren’s Lando Norris as the youngest driver from Britain.

And in his first outing for the famous Ferrari team, he finished a respectable 10th, seven tenths adrift of Leclerc in the other scarlet machine.

Verstappen won last Saturday’s season-opening round in Bahrain – and despite the ongoing controversy at Red Bull – he looks set to extend his winning streak.

He finished two tenths ahead of Leclerc and half-a-second clear of Perez.

Hamilton, who complained about the bouncing in his Mercedes, was almost nine tenths off the pace and only marginally ahead of countryman Bearman.

The session was suspended for 13 minutes after Stake’s Zhou Guangzhou crashed out at high speed through Turn 8.

The Chinese driver was unharmed in the accident, but his team will face a race against time to repair his car for qualifying, which gets under way at 8pm local time (5pm GMT).

Jane Chapple-Hyam could saddle her first Cheltenham Festival runner on a rare foray to the National Hunt scene if Stavvy sneaks into the Weatherbys Champion Bumper.

Although most commonly associated with big-race success on the Flat, Staavy earnt his shot at Prestbury Park glory when cruising to a nine-length success at Southwell last month.

That was his handler’s first ever victory under National Hunt rules and the intention is for the four-year-old to be declared for the Grade One event, even though his spot in the final line-up is not guaranteed, with a safety factor of 24 meaning seven of the 31 confirmed entrants could miss out.

Chapple-Hyam is hoping for some good fortune at declaration time on Monday to enable herself and her staff the chance to experience the Festival for the first time, having enjoyed plying their trade amongst the jumps fraternity with Stavvy this winter.

She said: “I haven’t got a runner just yet as he needs two not to declare, so I’m going to have to wait and see!

“The plan is to run but we have a ballot number and we need two not to run, so it’s not certain just yet.

“The staff have enjoyed it and it has been good fun. It’s been a wet winter and it has given the yard a bit of flavour and something to enjoy which has been good.

“He won well at Southwell considering there was an odds-on shot in the field. It was heavy ground and that shows that if Cheltenham was to go slow or dead, then he is able to handle that.”

“The owners have enjoyed watching him progress and he was bought to be a Flat runner, but he is showing us enough to have a go at this. If he gets in, he won’t let us down.”

Stavvy was ridden to victory at Southwell by Bryony Frost, who has also encroached on Flat territory recently to put the big-race outsider through his paces at home in Newmarket.

Chapple-Hyam is hoping the 28-year-old will be available to do the steering if making the cut for Wednesday’s Grade One event – with the gelding available at odds of 100-1, the same price Mudawin was when landing the Ebor for the Australian native in 2006.

She added: “Bryony is jocked up at the moment but it all depends what Mr Nicholls does with his three entries and he obviously has first call – so that’s another thing I will have to sit and wait on and I just have to wait for her agent to let me know if she is available or not.

“As long as the horse stays fit and well until Wednesday, we hope to be competing and I hope Bryony is available to ride him because she has sat on him twice (on course) and has come and ridden him here at home in Newmarket.

“Mudawin won the Ebor at 100-1, so it’s never say never.”

Danny Care was presented with his national academy report in anticipation of his 100th cap and the England scrum-half jokes that the assessment made two decades ago is still accurate now.

Care will become the sixth England men’s Test centurion if he steps off the bench in Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations match against Ireland with his extended family, including his wife Jodie and three children, all present at Twickenham.

When the squad gathered on Thursday to celebrate the occasion, they were read out the 37-year-old’s hand-written Under-18 report that had been obtained by attack coach Richard Wigglesworth.

“Wiggy got handed it at our training camp in York last week and was asked to give it to me. He said ‘there’s no way I’m giving it to him yet. I’m going to have some fun first’,” Care said.

“He did a little bit of a montage of good and bad bits from my career. The report said ‘he lacks a bit of physicality, box-kicking is slightly inconsistent’. I’d say 18 years later it’s still the same!

“The cool line at the end of it was ‘future England player’. There was also ‘he tries a bit too much and makes a few mistakes, but he’ll have a crack’.

“Wigglesworth had a bit of fun with that and it’s come a full circle. I’m still quite similar, I’d say.”

Care’s passage to the milestone has been far from plain sailing after being dropped by Eddie Jones in 2018, resulting in four years spent in the international wilderness until his dazzling form for Harlequins forced a recall.

Back in the saddle for the 2022 tour to Australia, he was then hauled off before half-time of the Sydney decider and once again he appeared to have been frozen out.

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But upon Steve Borthwick’s appointment as Jones’ successor in time for the 2023 Six Nations, the Test odyssey of England’s most attacking scrum-half was given a new lease of life.

“As a parent you want to inspire your kids and if they can maybe have a look at my career and go ‘dad didn’t give up, he kept trying’, then maybe there’s a message out there for them to believe in yourself and keep going,” he said.

“Because it would have been quite easy for me to sack it off and not want to do it any more.

“But I’ve always had that drive to wear the shirt again. It might be my last opportunity to wear it at Twickenham, the stadium where I’ve played at a lot of times, so I’m desperate to get out there on the weekend and have some fun.

“I’ve just tried to embrace these moments because it’s not going to last forever. That’s what I’ve been telling the young lads in the team – embrace it and enjoy it.”

“Now I’m still here blagging it! I still think a lot of people can’t believe I’m here – I’m the same.”

It is fitting that Care will reach the century as a replacement having made the role of giving England zip and energy late in games his own. With 56 substitute appearances already made, no Test player has appeared more off the bench.

“Everyone always asks me if I get annoyed being on the bench and I genuinely don’t. It’s not that I prefer it, but I love it,” he said.

“I love that role because you’re on the pitch at the end. You have the ability to help your team win the game and you’re on the pitch for the final whistle. When you’re a starter as a nine, you very rarely play the 80 minutes these days.”

Owner Rich Ricci insists the Mares’ Hurdle remains “Plan A” for Lossiemouth at next week’s Cheltenham Festival, despite the increasing clamour for her to take on the boys in the Unibet Champion Hurdle.

Winner of the Triumph Hurdle 12 months ago, the Willie Mullins-trained five-year-old was so impressive on her reappearance on Cheltenham’s Trials day card in late January that many called for her to take on the mighty Constitution Hill in Tuesday’s feature event.

While the Mares’ Hurdle was immediately put forward as her most likely objective, the subsequent defection of the reigning champion led to Mullins saying he supposed “a conversation will be had” regarding the possibility of switching Lossiemouth to the big one.

However, with Mullins now responsible for the red-hot favourite for the Champion Hurdle in the form of last year’s runner-up State Man, it appears almost certain Lossiemouth will be taking the perceived easier option on the same afternoon.

“We all know that five-year-olds have a challenging record in the Champion Hurdle and we learned a lot last year with Vauban – look how he struggled and he’s a fine horse,” Ricci told Sky Sports Racing.

“This year we said to ourselves ‘let’s just take our time with the mare, she’s very young’ – she had a hard season last year and she didn’t run until Trials day this season.

“The plan was always to run in the Mares’ Hurdle, keep one eye on the Champion in case it cut up, but the intention has always been to run in the Mares’ and hopefully if she’s good enough come back and have a real go at the boys next year.

“I know a lot people would be thinking about running her in the Champion Hurdle, but if you look at her best ratings and times not one of them would have won a Champion Hurdle in the last 10 years, so I think we’re doing the right thing.

“We’ll keep an eye on the Champion Hurdle in case it cuts up further, but I think Plan A is to run in the Mares’ Hurdle.”

Lossiemouth will be tackling two and a half miles for the first time on Tuesday, but Ricci is optimistic her stamina will last out over the extra distance.

He added: “She seems to be maturing and settling a bit, the trip is a slight concern as she’s never won over it, but they all think she’ll get it and on breeding she should get it.

“She’s certainly our best chance of the week, so we’re looking forward to seeing her on Tuesday.”

Another Ricci-owned star set to be in action on the opening day of the Festival is Gaelic Warrior, who is poised to drop back in trip for the Arkle Trophy.

Although the six-year-old has displayed a preference for going right-handed, he has finished second at Cheltenham in each of the past two years and Ricci hopes he can put a disappointing run at the Dublin Racing Festival behind him.

“He’s a nut job and a bit of a knucklehead at the racecourse,” he said.

“He jumps a bit right and prefers going right-handed and probably the easiest thing to do with him is to take him to Fairyhouse and Punchestown, but there’s only one Cheltenham Festival so we’ll take our chance again.

“He’s run there twice and run well twice. We’re leaning at the moment towards running him in the Arkle.

“I don’t know what happened the last day, no one can explain it, he just sort of spat the dummy. He seems to be back in better form and I’m hoping you’ll see a much better performance than you did at the Dublin Racing Festival.”

Monkfish looked a genuine Gold Cup contender after winning the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase three years ago, but subsequently spent two years on the sidelines.

He notched his first win since his return in the Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran Park in late January and while the Stayers’ Hurdle remains an option, Mullins has suggested he may belatedly get his tilt at Gold Cup glory next Friday.

Ricci added: “Willie keeps talking about the Gold Cup, (but) we haven’t engaged much on Monkfish.

“It would appear to me that the natural race would be the Stayers’ Hurdle as he hasn’t jumped a fence in public over the last three years and he was very good the last day in the Galmoy. That being said, if it comes up soft he may go for the Gold Cup, that’s what Willie is intending to do at the moment.

“We won’t talk about it until next week, but the fact that Willie is talking about that, given the level of the competition (in the Gold Cup), means the horse is in great nick and in great form.

“We always thought he was a Gold Cup horse and maybe this is the year he’ll take his chance.”

The Ricci squad also includes Allegorie De Vassy, who will look to go one better than last year in the Mares’ Chase, and popular veteran Sharjah, who has been placed twice in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham and this year looks set to contest the Turners Novices’ Chase.

The owner believes Bialystok has a “great each-way chance” in the County Hurdle and that Mercurey may “outrun his odds” in the Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle.

After making history by becoming the youngest British driver to step foot in a Formula One machine at a Grand Prix weekend last October, teenager Ollie Bearman is moving up another gear with his F1 debut for Ferrari at this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old, who turns 19 in May, has been called up as a last-minute stand-in for Carlos Sainz, who has been diagnosed with appendicitis and requires surgery.

Bearman was barely three months old when Fernando Alonso won his first world championship in 2005 – but on his F1 debut in Mexico City, five months ago – the Essex-born teen finished ahead of the double world champion.

“That was an added bonus,” he said with a broad smile.

Competing for American outfit Haas, Bearman finished 15th in first practice in Mexico, only 1.6 seconds slower than triple world champion Max Verstappen, and three tenths adrift of Nico Hulkenberg – a veteran of 200 grands prix – in the other Haas. He was also speedier than Alonso.

Five rookies were fielded at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and Bearman was quickest of them all.

Raised in Chelmsford and schooled at King Edward VI Grammar, Bearman joined Ferrari’s driver academy, aged only 16.

Bearman had just won both the German and Italian Formula Four championships, and his performances made those at Maranello sit up and take note.

He quit school – despite initial resistance from his mother, Terri – left the family home in Chelmsford and moved to Modena, a dozen miles north of Ferrari’s headquarters in northern Italy. Two years on, and his Italian twang is noticeable.

“Maybe I got a bit lucky not to get the Essex accent,” he joked, in an interview with the PA news agency.

“A lot of people have told me my accent has changed even if I don’t notice it. I spend a lot of time with Italians and to communicate with people where English is not their first language is not easy, so I have changed my word order and ended up with this everywhere accent.

“When I moved to Modena it happened pretty quickly. It was like going to university two years early, but I have loved every moment so far.

“My mum was very pro-school and very pro-education, but we managed to convince her in the end.

“I miss my family, my two dogs – I have an English Bull Terrier and a Boston Terrier and they are very cute – and that is the negative side. But the food in Italy is a big chunk above the English stuff and the weather is better, too.”

Following four victories in his rookie Formula Two season – the feeder series to F1 – Bearman was thrust into the spotlight in Mexico City, eclipsing Lando Norris as the sport’s youngest Brit.

Norris, now in his sixth season, was three months shy of his 19th birthday when he took part in practice for McLaren in Belgium in 2018. Bearman turned 18 last May.

When Lewis Hamilton made his F1 bow, Bearman was only 18 months old. Yet in October, he shared the same asphalt as the seven-time world champion.

“When I heard Hamilton was coming up behind me on a push lap I was like, ‘wow, I will get out of the way’,” he added.

However, it was Hamilton’s former McLaren team-mate, the 2009 world champion Jenson Button, who was Bearman’s childhood hero.

“I heard Jenson was praising me on Sky and that was amazing for me to hear,” he adds.

“I don’t know why, but he was always the guy I loved and really looked up to. It is cool that he recognised my performance in practice and I will try to speak to him here – that is my goal.”

Bearman remains in F2 this season after completing practice for Haas – effectively Ferrari’s B team – four months ago in Abu Dhabi.

But he misses this weekend’s round due to his stand-in responsibilities for Ferrari.

“It is really cool that I have been given this opportunity,” he said. “My whole career has been a pinch-yourself moment, and this is another one.

“Ferrari is such an elusive team. They are an iconic brand, they have an iconic colour and they have the best-looking car on the grid. They are putting a lot of trust in me, and loyalty is an important part of this paddock.

“Of course my goal is to become a Ferrari driver and I need to do that with my performances on track. Today was an amazing moment and one I will savour for years to come.

“It is a shame it was only practice, but it is all part and parcel of the work we have been doing to get to the top.”

This Saturday night, Bearman will become only the 12th British driver to compete for Ferrari and the first Englishman since Nigel Mansell in 1990.

Bearman will get a first taste of his Ferrari in final practice, which gets under way at 1630 local time (1330GMT) on Friday ahead of qualifying at 2000 (1700GMT).