Christian Horner wants his Red Bull future to be resolved “as soon as possible” as the embattled team principal fights to save his Formula One career.
Red Bull Racing’s parent company Red Bull GmbH announced on February 5 that Horner is being investigated following an accusation of “inappropriate behaviour” by a female colleague. Horner denies the claim.
Horner addressed the media alongside four other F1 team principals on the second day of this week’s three-day test in Bahrain on Thursday. The new season starts in the Gulf kingdom next Saturday.
Asked why he has not moved aside as team principal and chief executive of Red Bull Racing with the investigation under way, Horner replied: “As you are well aware there is a process going on which I form part of, and as I form part of that process, I am afraid I cannot comment on it.”
Horner was then asked if he could provided a timeline as to when the investigation might be over.
The 50-year-old added: “I am dreadfully sorry but I really can’t comment on the process or the timescale.
“Everybody would like a conclusion as soon as possible. But I am really not at liberty to comment about the process.”
Sources have indicated to the PA news agency that there could be a resolution before the opening race on March 2.
On Wednesday, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff called for Red Bull’s probe to be transparent, and said the controversy is “an issue for all of Formula One”.
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown, speaking in the same press conference as Horner on Thursday, echoed Wolff’s comments.
“The allegations are extremely serious,” said Brown. “McLaren hold themselves to the highest standards of diversity, equality and inclusion.
“These are extremely important to us and our partners, and to everyone in Formula One.
“Red Bull Corporation has launched an investigation, and all we hope and assume is that it will be handled in a very transparent way, and as the FIA and Formula One has said, swiftly, because these are not the headlines that Formula One wants or needs at this time.”
Red Bull won all but one of the 22 races last year as Max Verstappen stormed to the world championship.
The Dutch driver, in his heavily upgraded machine, set an impressive pace on the opening day in Bahrain, finishing 1.1 seconds clear of anyone else.
Mercedes’ George Russell said: “Red Bull are definitely the favourites and definitely a step ahead of everyone here in Bahrain. They have had an impressive winter, no doubt.
“Hopefully Red Bull are already in that sweet spot, and we can close the gap, but it is going to take a lot of hard work to do so.”
It is only a "matter of time" until Carlos Alcaraz is the number one tennis player in the world, according to Richard Krajicek.
At the age of 20, Alcaraz has already won Wimbledon and the US Open, becoming world number one in September 2022.
He was defeated in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open to kick off this year's grand slams, though, failing to win any of the three tournaments in which he has played in 2024.
However, former world number four Krajicek believes Alcaraz is on his way to becoming the best, despite dropping to number two in the world rankings.
"His potential is very high," Krajicek told Stats Perform. "I think he's the future number one.
"I'm not saying anything special because he's beaten everybody. He beat Djokovic three times out of the last four times they played. He beat Medvedev from being two sets to love down, which shows how mentally and physically strong he is.
"So for me, it's a matter of time until he becomes number one. I think he can play on all surfaces, maybe clay is his worst surface but all the other surfaces you would say he's a title contender."
With the 'Big Three' of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic already retired or nearing the end of their storied careers, there's been much discussion over who will fill their boots.
Alcaraz has already proved his abilities, while 22-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner claimed Australian Open glory to kick off this year having reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2023.
Krajicek feels those two will lead the way for the next era of men's tennis, saying: "It's difficult to say who the next generation will be, but I think Alcaraz and Sinner will have a good rivalry. They already have played unbelievable matches.
"Of course, Alcaraz has already been number one, won two Grand Slams. Sinner is now slowly coming also to that level. He is number four, maybe number three after this week."
However, Krajicek has reservations over whether the likes of Alcaraz and Sinner can reach the legendary status of the 'Big Three'.
"To really have the same kind of rivalry, I don't know if that's possible," Krajicek added. "I mean, together, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic won 66 Grand Slams. That's incredible. In every Grand Slam, they were in the final or winning. It's just amazing.
"I don't know if it's possible to have two players or three players that basically win every Grand Slam they play. But I believe those two are going to be the two biggest names for the next couple years."
Multiple Group One winner Luxembourg starts his season in the Howden Neom Turf Cup in Riyadh on Saturday, with trainer Aidan O’Brien expecting him to return better than ever this year.
The five-year-old was last seen finishing a close second to Romantic Warrior in the Hong Kong Cup, prior to which he was runner-up in both the Irish Champion Stakes and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.
His season did include a win, however, and a significant one at that, as he landed the Tattersalls Gold Cup at elite level at the Curragh in May.
There had been discussions about starting his campaign in the Saudi Cup itself and experimenting with running the son of Camelot on dirt for the first time, but it was ultimately decided that he would stick to turf for now.
“We’re looking forward to it, we were surprised at the way he got over the (dirt) track,” said O’Brien.
“Everyone’s very excited to see him. He’s a big, powerful, long-striding horse. A good, scopey horse, with a good mind and very sound.
“We think we haven’t seen the best of him yet, all through this year and next year he’s going to be a horse to really look forward to.
“He’s big with a long stride and often those types of horses take until four or five to really become strong enough to use their stride.
“He had a lean enough body, but his body is getting stronger all the time.”
“We were in two minds about it, the Saudi Cup is probably the most exciting race in the world. We were going to go there and take our chance, but then last minute we thought it was the wrong thing for the horse this early in the season.
“It’s the race everyone wants to win and we nearly did it, maybe we thought it might be safer to do it the other way and maybe we could go there with him next year.
“We will experiment, maybe we should have done it this time but we definitely will, he could go to Dubai and it’s very possible he’ll go there on the grass as well.
“Then we might think about switching over for the second half of the year, something like that.”
Also in the race are Daniel and Claire Kubler’s Astro King and Andrew Balding’s The Foxes, with John and Thady Gosden running Jack Darcy and Richard Fahey represented by Bahrain International Trophy winner Spirit Dancer.
O’Brien has a further hope at the meeting in Tower Of London, who lines up in the Red Sea Turf Handicap over a mile and seven furlongs.
The four-year-old was twice a winner last term and was unlucky to miss out on a Group Three success when going down by just a head in the Bahrain Trophy Stakes at Newmarket.
His three-year-old season ended in September, so he returns from a significant break, but his trainer has been pleased with his preparation for the race and expects him to perform well.
“He’s been off a good while and he’s carrying a little bit of weight, but he’s been working very well,” O’Brien said.
“We always thought the trip would suit him well and this type of race would suit him well.
“He has plenty of weight but he’s a classy horse, we think that ridden a little bit patiently and gently we will see a very big run from him.”
Sir Alex Ferguson “never dreamed” that he would have a horse good enough to take on the best in the world on the international stage. But in Spirit Dancer – a horse he bred – that is exactly what he is doing.
The former Manchester United manager has become immersed in the racing world since his retirement, enjoying several high-profile victories in the National Hunt sphere.
To date, his Flat exploits had not reached the same heights. But the Richard Fahey-trained seven-year-old Spirit Dancer has started to change all that.
Winning the Strensall Stakes at York last summer earned him an invite for the Bahrain International Trophy, which he won, and he was last seen finishing a respectable fourth in the Group One Jebel Hatta at Meydan in Dubai.
He now runs in the Howden Neom Turf Cup on Saturday in Riyadh, a race worth almost £1million to the winner.
“One of the great advantages of having a really good horse is international racing. We never dreamed, when I bred Spirit Dancer, that he would end up getting as far as this,” Ferguson told The Saudi Cup.
“We’re so excited about it and after Bahrain we are quite optimistic.
“He had a little problem when he was three years of age, he got over that and he’s just got better and better. He’s not had a lot of racing. That’s what Richard keeps saying, that he can race a lot more than he’s been doing. So we’re getting the benefit.
“The international element is something we didn’t expect. I’d been to Dubai some years back and I was saying to myself I wonder what it’s like to have a horse involved in it – now we’ve got one, I’m enjoying it.
“Competing with the likes of Aidan O’Brien and the Japanese, you know you are up against the best, and we’re enjoying it.”
Ferguson’s racing interests stretch back almost 30 years now, and it is fair to say he is more involved than at any time in his life.
“It was round about 1995 that I remember my wife saying I was going to kill myself because my whole day was absorbed with the (football) club,” he explained.
“One day, I said to my wife ‘shall we go to the races?’. She asked where that had come from and I told her it was her who said I needed to start doing something else.
“We were at the races one day when I met John Mulhern and Dessie Scahill and I got hooked. She once said ‘you want to buy all the right horses’, well, I’m trying!
“I got into breeding by accident, I was in Germany visiting Andreas Wohler and he put the idea in my mind, I bought a horse from him, the mare Queen’s Dream (Spirit Dancer’s dam).
“A friend of mine then put the idea in my head about buying the stud in Hemel Hempstead. I said we’d have a go and it’s been great. They are fantastic people there, we had a foal there last week by Stradivarius, so it’s great.”
It is Ferguson’s second trip to Saudi Arabia, the first was in 2008 when Manchester United played in a testimonial to honour local player Sam Al Jaber, who played over 150 times for his country.
“We came to Saudi about 15 years ago to play in a game to celebrate a famous player who had 150 international caps. The King bought 80,000 tickets and gave them all away to the people and it was fantastic,” said Ferguson.
Spirit Dancer is co-owned by bookmaker Fred Done and Ferguson’s big friend, Ged Mason, with whom he is involved with most of his horses – and who initiated a rather painful celebration in Bahrain.
“Ged broke my rib celebrating in Bahrain, I won’t mind him breaking another if it means we win!” said Ferguson.
Mason is loving being involved in the ride and is thrilled at the enjoyment Ferguson is getting from the game.
“When he came round the bend at Bahrain, it was a fantastic sight and the way he pulled away was a pinch yourself moment, to be honest,” said Mason.
“He got the invite to Bahrain because he’d produced the goodies at York. I’m so proud for Sir Alex because he bred him and he’s out of Frankel.
“I think our first venture into ownership was What A Friend and what a friend he was to us, he got our appetite for winning. Clan Des Obeaux won King Georges and Irish Gold Cups, it’s been a fantastic journey and we don’t want it to stop.”
Formula One’s second morning of testing was cancelled after a loose drain cover struck Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
Both Hamilton and Leclerc hit the debris at Turn 11 in Bahrain, and the running was red-flagged with one hour and 40 minutes remaining.
Circuit officials attempted to repair the track, but after a delay of nearly 40 minutes, it was announced that the running would not resume.
The one-hour lunch break, was brought forward by an hour. The afternoon session will now run for five hours, instead of four, starting one hour earlier than planned at 2pm local time (11am GMT).
Ferrari said the impact caused damage to the floor of Leclerc’s Ferrari, which has since been replaced.
It is unclear at this stage how extensive the damage was to Hamilton’s Mercedes.
Both Hamilton and Leclerc were unharmed in the incidents.
Last November, a water valve cover broke free from the newly-laid tarmac of the Las Vegas street circuit and tore into the underbelly of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari at 210mph.
Speaking at the time, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur called the incident “unacceptable”.
Hamilton, competing in his final season for Mercedes ahead of his switch to Ferrari, is scheduled to be behind the wheel of his new machine all day. He was sixth when the red flag was deployed.
Max Verstappen finished fastest on Wednesday. The test concludes on Friday ahead of next Saturday’s first round of the season, also in the Gulf kingdom.
Formula One’s second morning of testing was cancelled after a loose drain cover struck Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
Both Hamilton and Leclerc hit the debris at Turn 11 in Bahrain, and the running was red-flagged with one hour and 40 minutes remaining.
Circuit officials attempted to repair the track, but after a delay of nearly 40 minutes, it was announced that the running would not resume.
The one-hour lunch break, was brought forward by an hour. The afternoon session will now run for five hours, instead of four, starting one hour earlier than planned at 2pm local time (11am GMT).
Ferrari said the impact caused damage to the floor of Leclerc’s Ferrari, which has since been replaced.
It is unclear at this stage how extensive the damage was to Hamilton’s Mercedes.
Both Hamilton and Leclerc were unharmed in the incidents.
Last November, a water valve cover broke free from the newly-laid tarmac of the Las Vegas street circuit and tore into the underbelly of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari at 210mph.
Speaking at the time, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur called the incident “unacceptable”.
Hamilton, competing in his final season for Mercedes ahead of his switch to Ferrari, is scheduled to be behind the wheel of his new machine all day. He was sixth when the red flag was deployed.
Max Verstappen finished fastest on Wednesday. The test concludes on Friday ahead of next Saturday’s first round of the season, also in the Gulf kingdom.
The weather appears set to dictate if Salver will be handed a shot at the JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham next month.
A comfortable winner of his first two starts over obstacles, he romped to a 21-length success in Chepstow’s Grade Two Finale Juvenile Hurdle over the Christmas period to announce himself as one of the UK’s best juvenile operators.
He enhanced his unbeaten record over timber at Haydock when claiming the Victor Ludorum Juvenile Hurdle in easy fashion and is as short as 10-1 for Grade One glory at Prestbury Park, with only heavy favourite Sir Gino and a handful of Willie Mullins-based contenders ahead of him in the betting with most bookmakers.
However, having shown a real liking for testing conditions, Moore has always suggested his Festival participation will hinge on a wet forecast during the second week of March.
“He’s fine after Saturday and if this weather keeps up he’ll be going to Cheltenham, but if it doesn’t I don’t know what I will do,” said Moore.
Other options for Salver include holding fire in hope of a wet few days in Merseyside during Grand National week or a trip to France for one of their big end-of-season juvenile events.
But being seen as a horse for the future, Moore would have no qualms if his charge did not run again this season.
He continued: “There’s the possibility he could go to France but that is very unlikely though.
“He’s still a big, weak, immature horse and I’m not sure he is ready for France yet. We could always look at Liverpool as well but that would depend on ground and be weather permitting.
“If he doesn’t run again this year, he’s done more than his fair share and it wouldn’t matter.”
Auston Matthews scored his 50th and 51st goals of the season to become the fastest to 50 in 28 years and the Toronto Maple Leafs won their fifth straight, 6-3 over the reeling Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.
Matthews, from nearby Scottsdale, Arizona, reached the milestone in his 54th game of the season to become the fastest to 50 goals since Mario Lemieux accomplished it in 50 games with Pittsburgh in 1995-96.
Wayne Gretzky holds the record, scoring his 50th in his 39th game for Edmonton in 1981-82 on his way to a record 92 goals. Matthews is the fastest to 50 among U.S.-born players.
Matthews, who added his 51st of the season in the second period, is on pace to surpass 70 goals, which hasn’t been done since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny each had 76 in 1992-93.
William Nylander also scored twice and Mitch Marner had three assists as the Maple Leafs won for the ninth time in 11 games (9-0-2).
The Coyotes lost their 11th in a row and have allowed at least five goals in five of their last seven contests.
Bruins edge Oilers in overtime
Charlie McAvoy scored in overtime and the Boston Bruins snapped the Edmonton Oilers’ eight-game home winning streak, 6-5.
McAvoy was the sixth different goal scorer for the Bruins, who got three assists from Mason Lohrei to extend their road point streak to 10 games (7-0-3).
Warren Foegele had a pair of goals for the Oilers, who hadn’t lost at home since a 5-1 defeat to Florida on Dec. 16.
Flyers beat lowly Blackhawks
Samuel Ersson stopped 22 shots and Travis Konecny and Garnet Hathaway scored third-period goals to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-1 win over the league-worst Chicago Blackhawks.
Travis Sanheim had the other goal as the Flyers improved to 5-1-1 in their last seven games.
Colin Blackwell scored the lone goal for Chicago, which has lost 10 of 11.
Arvid Soderblom made 30 saves to lose his 12th consecutive start. He is 0-11-1 since defeating Toronto on Nov. 24.
Tyson Fury beat Deontay Wilder by seventh-round stoppage to win the WBC world heavyweight title in Las Vegas, on this day in 2020.
Fourteen months on from his controversial draw with Wilder in their first bout – when he out-boxed the champion only for two knockdowns to deny him victory – Fury had vowed to take the fight to the American.
He did just that, flooring his opponent twice and completely dominating the action before Wilder’s corner threw in the towel to save the bewildered champion from more punishment.
A right hand which landed near Wilder’s left ear saw the American go down heavily in the third and a right to the head and left hook to the body in the fifth had a tired Wilder down again.
Fury said: “Big shout-out to Deontay Wilder. He came here tonight, he manned up and really did show the heart of a champion.
“I hit him with a clean right hand and dropped him and he got back up and battled on into round seven. He is a warrior, he will be back, he will be a champion again.
“But I will say, the king has returned to the top.”
The rivalry concluded with a third fight the following year when it was Fury’s turn to take punishment, getting knocked down in the fourth round, only to rise off the canvas and produce a storming comeback and retain his title.
The Briton has since continued his unbeaten record with victories over Dillian Whyte, Derek Chisora and Francis Ngannou but recently pulled out of a fight with Oleksandr Usyk after suffering a cut in the build-up.
Australian tennis player Thanasi Kokkinakis has beaten Britain’s Daniel Evans to advance to Mexico’s ATP Los Cabos quarter-finals.
Kokkinakis advances with back-to-back top-60 victories after his 6-4 6-2 win against the world number 42 Briton.
The win, which took just over two hours, marks his second consecutive win against a British opponent.
The Australian defeated world number 53 Jack Draper earlier in the week.
Kokkinakis made it to his first tour-level quarter-final since the beginning of 2023, securing a win with five aces compared to three for Evans.
Evans hit three double faults during the match, while Kokkinakis had the better of the clutch moments, saving four out of the five break points against him.
The loss also marks Evans’ third loss to the Australian.
In the next round, Kokkinakis will play world number six Alexander Zverev and the top seed at Los Cabos.
Ali Carter held his nerve to beat top seed Judd Trump 6-4 and book his place in the Players Championship semi-finals in Telford.
Trump went close to levelling the match at 5-5, but a potential frame-winning break ended with just the colours remaining and after 11 minutes of cat and mouse, Carter sank the yellow and closed out the match.
The world number eight will now face Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen or Gary Wilson, who won the BetVictor Welsh Open on Sunday, for a place in the final.
Trump made a break of 115 to level the match at 3-3, but Carter moved 5-3 up thanks to a score of 82 in the eighth frame. Although Trump responded with his fifth half-century to make it 5-4, it was not enough.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mark Selby reeled off four frames in succession to beat Barry Hawkins 6-3 and set up a quarter-final clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Hawkins dominated the early stages of the match, easing into a 2-0 lead and edging back in front with a break of 91 in the fifth frame after Selby had fought back to level the scores at the mid-session interval.
However, Hawkins made an increasing number of mistakes as the match wore on and Selby took full advantage with breaks of 56, 66, 75 and 67 to advance.
“Barry was getting on top of me from the start, I started off slow and Barry’s had a good season so far,” four-time world champion Selby told ITV4.
“It was a tough game for me because you’re playing one of the top players on form and he’s also a good friend so it’s hard to try to overcome both of them.”
Looking ahead to Thursday’s quarter-final with O’Sullivan, Selby joked: “It gets easier next game doesn’t it?
“I cherish every game I play against Ronnie so I’m really looking forward to that. If I play like I did after the interval with that authority and that confidence, then I’ll go into the match with a chance.
“You know what you’re going to get with Ronnie, he very rarely plays to a bad level.
“It’s either very good or unplayable so it makes your job a lot easier going into the match because you know you have to turn up and, if you don’t, you’re going home.”
The quarter-final line-up was eventually completed when China’s Zhang Anda edged past Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham 6-5 in a contest lasting more than four and a half hours.
Zhang, who came from 5-4 behind and sealed victory with a break of 65 in the decider, will face John Higgins in the last eight.
In a bid to unearth potential curling talents for Jamaica's international representation, Vice President of Curling Jamaica, Robert Richards, outlined three key avenues during the launch of Curling Jamaica at the Jamaica Olympic Association's headquarters in Kingston.
A former president of the Jamaica Badminton Association and national badminton champion, Richards expressed his commitment to Curling Jamaica's mission, especially with President Ian Anderson's ambitious goal of securing Olympic gold by 2040. Speaking at the launch on Monday, Richards emphasized the three areas from which they aim to identify and develop curling talents.
"The development of this sport is going to come from, of course, those based overseas, and there are three avenues that we're going to take on to actually have the sport developed," said Richards. The first avenue involves Jamaicans based overseas, particularly those waiting for an opportunity or currently participating in another sport. Richards sees potential among young Jamaicans in colleges, not only in Canada and the US but also in Europe.
The second avenue focuses on students leaving Jamaica to study abroad. Traditionally, sports like football and track and field have been the primary choices, but with the establishment of the Curling Association, students now have an additional option. This diversification allows talented youngsters to explore new avenues and consider curling as a viable sporting path.
The third avenue involves collaboration with the Canadian team to identify potential curling talents in Jamaican schools. The vision includes sponsoring selected youngsters to attend the Curling Academy in Canada, covering their accommodation and training expenses. This initiative aims to nurture talent from an early age and potentially pave the way for scholarships and further opportunities in the sport.
Earlier, JOA Secretary General and CEO Ryan Foster welcomed Curling Jamaica to the Olympic family during the launch.
Foster highlighted the significance of Jamaica's expansion into winter sports, citing the growth in disciplines like skiing, ice hockey, figure skating, and now curling. He commended Curling Jamaica for contributing to the country's multiplicity of representation in the Winter Olympics, opening avenues for potential medals.
Foster assured Curling Jamaica of the Jamaica Olympic Association's support in fostering a holistic approach to sports governance, including educational perspectives, coaching development, equipment resources, and infrastructure support. He expressed pride in the association's open-minded approach to sports, expanding from 36 to 52 sporting disciplines.
In closing, Foster welcomed Curling Jamaica to the Jamaica Olympic family, expressing hope that the organization would manage the sport with enthusiasm, providing hope to athletes and embodying the national motto, "Out of Many, One People." He pledged the JOA's unwavering support in Curling Jamaica's quest for achievement, emphasizing the shared commitment to success in the Winter Olympics.
Sean Marks says the Brooklyn Nets must improve their "level of compete" after head coach Jacque Vaughn was fired.
Vaughn was dismissed on Monday after the Nets lost 136-86 to the Boston Celtics last week, leaving Brooklyn at 21-33 and 11th in the Eastern Conference heading into the All-Star break.
The Nets had made the postseason in the last five seasons, but a 6-18 run has left the team with it all to do if they are to keep their playoff streak going.
Nets general manager Sean Marks pointed to a perceived lack of effort as one area that must be fixed by the new head coach.
"It's about the level of compete," Marks told reporters. "We're not going to be the most talented team in the league. I'm not an idiot. I totally understand that.
"But at the same time, this is a talented group of young men out there. And my expectations, and I think their expectations, should be to hold each other accountable to do the little things. The effort plays, the loose balls, the contested shots and so forth, diving on the floor.
"These are things that should be expected when you're in a place that we're at right now, where we're clawing and grappling for every single thing we can. That's what I would hope to see over these next 28 games, and that's probably, to be quite frank, some things I haven't seen. The level of effort and the level of compete has not always been there."
Many pointed to the Nets' 144-122 defeat against the Milwaukee Bucks as the reason for Vaughn's firing. The Nets were fined $100,000 for violating the NBA's player participation policy after choosing to both rest and sit a number of key players.
However, Marks said the Bucks drubbing was not the reason for Vaughn's exit, commenting: "I don't think we lost the team that day.
"I appreciate the fact that players want to play. They want to play night in and night out.
"Again, I don't think there was one decision that ultimately affected the record or [making] this decision this day. I think a lot of things went into that."
Tiger Woods’ son Charlie will attempt to qualifying for next week’s Cognizant Classic, PGA Tour officials have revealed.
The 15-year-old will compete in Thursday’s pre-qualifier at Lost Lake Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida, which is one of four pre-qualifying sites.
Approximately 25 players and ties will advance to the full qualifier on Monday, February 26, from which four players will earn places in the Cognizant Classic from February 29 – March 3 at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens.
The tournament has a prize fund of £7.1million and boasts a field which includes the likes of Rory McIlroy and Ryder Cup team-mates Shane Lowry, Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick.
Charlie Woods has competed in the last four editions of the PNC Championship alongside his father, who was forced to withdraw from the Genesis Invitational last week due to illness.
Charlie also competed in last year’s Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship, with his father acting as his caddie, and finished tied for 17th in the boys 14-15 division.
Danny Care has revealed the unconventional secret behind his career longevity as he closes in on becoming England’s sixth Test centurion – cookies and saunas.
Care will make his 99th international appearance in Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash with Scotland and even at 37-years-old the high-tempo Harlequins scrum-half is in the form of his life.
On top of showing the persistence needed to emerge from a three-and-a-half-year spell in England exile, he has taken his own approach to making sure he can perform at the highest level.
View this post on Instagram
And unlike former Red Rose team-mate Jonny May, who is famed for his dedication to training and preparation, Care takes a more unorthodox route.
“I’m definitely not like Jonny May! I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum to Jonny May. More cookies. Cookies and saunas. And why not if it works? Everyone is so different,” Care said.
“I’ve always been quite lucky in that I’ve not been massively into nutrition or believe fully in it, which the nutritionists hate me for!
“I don’t think I’ve cracked it, but I’m 37 and I like to think I’ve shown an alternative way of doing it. Rather than all the protein and the supplements every day…
“I’ve definitely put a bigger emphasis on my recovery in the last few years but I feel better now than I did four or five years ago.
“The team hotel is also an amazing five-star spa, which helps. The sauna and the ice bath are our best friends.
“It’s amazing when you’ve got that on your doorstep and have the time to do it. When I’m at home I can’t just nip out for a couple of hours to ‘recover’, my wife would… well, she wouldn’t be my wife any more!
“But when you’re here and you’ve got the best S&C guys, nutritionists, everyone and it’s all for you. You can be selfish in that way and that helps me a lot.”
Care refuses to put a timeframe on his retirement but knows this will almost certainly be his final visit to Murrayfield and is hoping to have clarity on his club future after the Six Nations.
He was among those dropped by Eddie Jones after the ‘black hole game’ against Japan in 2018, so called because the dismal performance spelt the end of several Test careers.
But having compelled Jones to reconsider on the basis of his swashbuckling form for Harlequins, he continues to be an important part of the England set-up under Steve Borthwick.
“I feel more liberated, I feel more free, I feel like I can just enjoy it. You never know which one is going to be the last one so in a way that gives me freedom to just be myself and really enjoy it,” Care said.
“That’s something that is hard to do when you play for England because you’re constantly on the edge of being judged and want to do well and stay in.
“There are also so many other lads who people think should be playing instead of you, but I don’t care about any of that any more, which is nice.”
Wales will face world champions South Africa at Twickenham in June due to Taylor Swift’s Principality Stadium concert.
The Springboks’ first game since their World Cup triumph in France will take place on June 22 as Wales prepare for their summer tour to Australia.
And the Qatar Airways Cup clash will be followed later the same afternoon by the Barbarians tackling Fiji at English rugby headquarters.
Twickenham last staged a Wales versus South Africa fixture during the 2015 World Cup, when the Springboks won a tense quarter-final 23-19.
Wales’ normal home in Cardiff is unavailable as Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ continues there on June 18, followed by the Foo Fighters the following week.
After playing the Springboks, Wales then have two Tests against Australia, meeting the Wallabies in Sydney on July 6 and then Melbourne seven days later.
Were a Welsh region to reach this season’s United Rugby Championship final, then Wales would be without those players as it is scheduled to take place on the same day as the Springboks encounter.
Ospreys are the highest-placed Welsh region in seventh spot, with the top eight of 16 teams reaching the play-offs. Cardiff, Scarlets and Dragons are further adrift.
And the same situation would apply to South Africa in the event of securing a URC finalist. Bulls and Stormers are currently second and sixth, respectively.
“I am incredibly excited about the fixture list for Wales this summer,” Wales head coach Warren Gatland said.
“To have the opportunity for our young squad to test itself against the world champions at a neutral venue is an extremely important experience, and something that we will relish.
“We are also excited for the opportunity we have with our two Tests in Australia in July.
“We know the Wallabies will be hurting after the Rugby World Cup (Australia made a pool stage exit), but we are expecting a fired-up side led by new head coach Joe Schmidt.”
Andy Murray’s future will come under further scrutiny after he lost in the second round of the Qatar Open to teenager Jakub Mensik.
Murray has repeatedly said he is not about to retire after a horror run of form but the fierce competitor inside him will not be able to put up with too many more defeats like this, at one point appearing to shout to his team: “this game is not for me any more.”
Murray, whose first-round win over Alexandre Muller on Tuesday was his first victory since October, was beaten 7-6 (6) 6-7 (3) 7-6 (4) in over three hours by the 18-year-old.
The Scot will have nightmares about a volley he missed on set point in the first-set tiebreak and then the way he lost the final-set tiebreak after fighting back will frustrate him.
Murray will consider Mensik an opponent he should not be losing to, especially has he had already won eight games on the ATP Tour by the time the Czech was born.
But he handed the advantage to his opponent in the third game of the first set when two successive failed drop shots allowed the Czech to break serve.
Mensik, just 18, had played some scintillating tennis in the first set but lost his nerve when he tried to serve it out at 5-4, with Murray breaking back.
It went to a tiebreak and Murray will be going to bed thinking of the simple volley he missed when he had two set points.
Instead of putting it into an empty court he dumped it into the net and went on to lose the next four points and the set.
The second set went on serve, with Murray fashioning a break point at 5-5 which would have left him serving it out.
However, he hit a short ball into the net and vented his frustration to his team.
To his credit, he recovered to send the second set to a tiebreak and this time he did not mess about to level up at one set all.
Murray appeared to have thrown it away as his level dipped at the start of the third and Mensik broke twice to lead 5-2 on the decider.
But the 37-year-old, who is playing with a metal hip, unlocked prime Murray mode and won four successive games, including two where Mensik was serving the match.
The youngster stopped the rot to send it to a deciding tiebreak and picked himself up off the canvas to claim a memorable scalp.
Will Biddick is set to get the leg-up on Kilbeg King at the Cheltenham Festival after Anthony Honeyball stated his intention to go for the National Hunt Chase with his Reynoldstown runner-up.
The National Hunt Chase is a race in which both Honeyball and Biddick have previous, having joined forces with Ms Parfois in 2018, leading inside the final half-furlong only to be pipped close home by Willie Mullins’ Rathvinden.
Although Biddick has a Festival winner to his name as both a trainer and a jockey, Honeyball is still searching for his first strike at the Prestbury Park showpiece and is confident his star novice chaser can play a key part in the marathon event after a fine effort at Ascot when beaten only a head by Ben Pauling’s Henry’s Friend.
“I went to the Reynoldstown with slightly different expectations than I did the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase (when third on Boxing Day) – in my mind and my world he was favourite, so I wasn’t over the moon to finish second at Ascot,” explained Honeyball.
“At the same time, the dream is still alive and he’s run a really good race with reasons to think he could go to the National Hunt Chase and have a really good chance.
“Hand on heart we’re probably not good enough to run in the three-mile novice (Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase) and while we’re not a million miles away, we’re probably right in going for the National Hunt Chase.
“He’s definitely got that bit of class and he would travel through that race, while I think his jumping would be economical and good enough. So I feel he would have a decent chance in that.
“It’s one of those races where he would tick a lot of boxes. He’s a nine-year-old and he’s got that bit of experience. I see no reason why he wouldn’t stay and he’s got what you need really.”
On the booking of Biddick for the nine-year-old, he went on: “I think it’s a race you have to get organised early for and we’ve got Will Biddick provisionally booked to ride him. I think he will be OK (to take the ride) as he often rides for Paul Nicholls in those types of races, but he doesn’t have one in it.”
Not only does Kilbeg King’s Cheltenham Festival bid give both Honeyball and Biddick the chance to correct the record of Ms Parfois’ National Hunt Chase reverse of six years ago, her owner Martyn Chapman is a member of the partnership that co-owns the Grade Two runner-up.
Honeyball continued: “Will was second for us in the race aboard Mrs Parfois when she was beaten by Willie and Patrick Mullins. It was an agonising one as halfway up the run-in she was back in front, but just got nabbed.
“One of the owners of Kilbeg King used to own Ms Parfois so there is a nice bit of symmetry to it as well. We’re looking forward to it and we wouldn’t run him unless we thought we had a decent chance of winning and we think we have.
“We will give it a go and who knows, you need a lot of luck, but we just hope he does everything right and if he does then we should at least be thinking we have a chance turning in, we hope.”
Kilbeg King has built up a wealth of fencing experience in four starts this season and having plied his trade in graded company the last twice, there are plenty of positives for his connections to cling to ahead of his Festival bid.
“His jumping was good in the Kauto Star and his jumping for the most part was good, solid and safe at Ascot,” said Honeyball
“There was just a slight frustration that at both two out and the last he just jumped them OK but landed a bit flat-footed. If he had jumped just one of them OK then that would probably been enough, but it is about jumping and Ascot is a good test.
“It’s good he has come through that and it is good experience under his belt and we’re hoping we can just do a few little things at home now to help him when the pressure is on.
“When he won at Punchestown we thought he fitted the same type of mould as Fountains Windfall and Ms Parfois and we were very much hoping he would end up in races like this.
“He was a good third in the Kauto Star and he’s backed that up with a really good performance in the Reynoldstown.”
Mark Selby reeled off four frames in succession to beat Barry Hawkins 6-3 and set up a quarter-final clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan in the Players Championship in Telford.
Hawkins dominated the early stages of the match, easing into a 2-0 lead and edging back in front with a break of 91 in the fifth frame after Selby had fought back to level the scores at the mid-session interval.
However, Hawkins made an increasing number of mistakes as the match wore on and Selby took full advantage with breaks of 56, 66, 75 and 67 to advance.
“Barry was getting on top of me from the start, I started off slow and Barry’s had a good season so far,” four-time world champion Selby told ITV4.
“It was a tough game for me because you’re playing one of the top players on form and he’s also a good friend so it’s hard to try to overcome both of them.”
Looking ahead to Thursday’s quarter-final with O’Sullivan, Selby joked: “It gets easier next game doesn’t it?
“I cherish every game I play against Ronnie so I’m really looking forward to that. If I play like I did after the interval with that authority and that confidence, then I’ll go into the match with a chance.
“You know what you’re going to get with Ronnie, he very rarely plays to a bad level.
“It’s either very good or unplayable so it makes your job a lot easier going into the match because you know you have to turn up and, if you don’t, you’re going home.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
