Kielan Woods will be sidelined for 33 days after being given a hefty suspension totalling 42 days for contravening the whip rules five times in a six-month period.
Woods was one of four jockeys to appear before the British Horseracing Authority’s disciplinary panel on Thursday under the totting-up procedure, with his 42-day ban – of which nine days are suspended for six months – the heaviest penalty incurred.
Jonjo O’Neill junior was given a 21-day ban, with seven days suspended, for his third offence in six months.
Paula Muir was given 35 days, with nine suspended, for her third contravention of the rules, while Marco Ghiani was banned for 25 days, with eight suspended for the same number of misuse charges.
The BHA implemented new whip rules in February over jumps and at the start of the current Flat turf season, cutting the number of strikes allowed to a maximum of seven and six times respectively whilst toughening up the penalty structure.
Initial proposals also included limiting use of the whip to the backhand position only, but after strong opposition from riders, that decision was reversed.
The BHA and the Professional Jockeys Association plan to evaluate the impact of the revised rules in due course, but racing’s regulators feel riders have generally adjusted well to the guidelines.
A spokesperson said: “The BHA is constantly monitoring the data around breaches of the new whip rules and engaging in regular constructive dialogue with the PJA and senior jockeys under both codes. This ongoing dialogue has led to a number of adjustments which have already been introduced to the rules and penalty structure.
“The BHA and PJA have also agreed that, at around the six-month stage following implementation, we would review what has worked well, what is still creating challenges and what further adjustments could be made to the framework.
“Jockeys on the whole have shown that they are able to adapt to the new thresholds and deserve great credit for this. This is best exemplified by the very small number of offences incurred throughout the sport’s main festival events, when jockeys are riding under the most intense of competition.
“While some riders will inevitably take more time to adapt to the new rules, the penalties for multiple referrals are designed to act as a significant deterrent towards jockeys committing multiple offences. They are also an incentive for riders to change their style.
“The core objectives of the new rules include bringing about an overall improvement in riding standards and ensuring races are run fairly and within the rules.”
Charlie Appleby’s 2021 Derby and King George hero Adayar will face a maximum of seven rivals in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot on Wednesday.
The son of Frankel was brilliant in winning at Epsom and Ascot respectively a couple of years ago, but endured an interrupted four-year-old campaign last season, making it to the track on only two occasions.
Adayar readily dispatched of a couple of rivals on his Doncaster comeback before finishing second in the Champion Stakes – and proved his ability remains very much intact when beating subsequent Group One winner Anmaat in last month’s Gordon Richards Stakes at Newmarket.
The five-year-old disputes favouritism for the Group One feature on day two of the Royal meeting with Aidan O’Brien’s Luxembourg.
The Camelot colt is following a tried-and-tested route, having won the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on his most recent outing, his third win at Group One level.
He looks set to renew rivalry with Sir Michael Stoute’s Bay Bridge, who beat Adayar in the Champion Stakes in October and was only half a length behind Luxembourg in Ireland a few weeks ago.
O’Brien’s apparent second string Bolshoi Ballet, the William Haggas-trained pair of Dubai Honour and My Prospero, John and Thady Gosden’s Mostahdaf and Kenny McPeek’s American raider Classic Causeway complete the potential field.
The seven-race card gets under way with the Group Two Queen Mary Stakes, which has attracted 33 speedy juvenile fillies. Leading contenders include Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Born To Rock, Karl Burke’s Beautiful Diamond and Crimson Advocate, a trans-Atlantic challenger for George Weaver.
Joseph O’Brien appears to have a particularly strong hand in the other Group Two on the card – the Duke of Cambridge Stakes.
The Owning Hill handler is responsible for three of the 15 fillies still in contention, with ante-post favourite Jumbly joined by Goldana and Honey Girl.
John Gosden is hoping Laurel can show her true colours in the one-mile contest after disappointing against the boys in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
“I think she somewhat over-raced and was too fresh (in the Lockinge),” he told Sky Sports Racing.
“The Shadwell horse (Mutasaabeq) went a blistering gallop, she didn’t think that was fast enough and started taking Frankie on and naturally paid the price between the two and the one.
“I think having got that behind her now – that exuberance and that freshness – I hope she will run more of a race where she builds a rhythm and finishes strongly.
“She was a filly who was really immature as a two-year-old and only came to herself really late on. She’s a filly who I think has improved again between three and four and I’m hopeful of a big run.”
A total of 33 entries have been made for the Kensington Palace Fillies’ Handicap, while 61 have horses have stood their ground for the Royal Hunt Cup, with Migration heading the weights and the King’s Saga also in the mix.
Arrest, a Derby disappointment for the Gosdens, heads 22 contenders for the Queen’s Vase and 46 go forward for the concluding Windsor Castle Stakes.
Heather Main has booked Australian champion jockey James McDonald for Coventry Stakes hope Zoulu Chief at Royal Ascot.
McDonald is no stranger to success at the Royal meeting and partnered three winners at the fixture 12 months ago.
Aside from his two Australian mounts, Coolangatta in the King’s Stand Stakes and Artorius in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, he will team up with George Boughey and Charlie Hills, and hopes to have about 10 rides over the five days.
Main is thrilled he has agreed to partner Zoulu Chief, who sprang a 150-1 surprise on his second start in a six-furlong maiden at Newbury for the Kingston Lisle handler.
“We are delighted that we have booked James McDonald on Zoulu Chief in the Coventry,” confirmed the American-born handler at Newbury on Thursday.
“It is a tough race, but he is very much entitled to be there. He has been training nicely since winning here and is on really good terms with himself. We are very happy with him and looking forward to him out-running his odds again. What do those bookmakers know anyway?” she laughed.
“The owner is in Singapore, and has horses in Australia as well, so he decided he’ll put him up. We’re delighted to have him, obviously.”
Main is taking a small but select team to the meeting, with stayer Mostly Sunny, who finished runner-up in a two-mile Goodwood handicap, potentially looking well handicapped if he gets into the Ascot Stakes.
Main added: “Mostly Sunny is entered in the Ascot Stakes. I’m hoping he will get in, but if he does, he’ll run well, and he’ll have a low weight.”
Celtic Empress will bid to get more luck than she did in last year’s Kensington Palace, when she finished a close-up sixth to Rising Star, having had her path blocked when challenging.
“Celtic Empress is in the Kensington Palace. She ran really well in it last year,” Main said.
“She finished sixth, but just couldn’t get a run in time. Because she is a hold-up horse, she gets blocked a lot, but hopefully one of these will fall her way soon.”
Al Asifah is set to be supplemented for the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot following her runaway success at Goodwood last weekend.
An impressive winner on her racecourse debut at Haydock in May, the Shadwell-owned Frankel filly successfully stepped up to Listed class with a brilliant display on the Sussex Downs on Sunday.
The possibility of adding her to the field for next month’s Irish Oaks was initially mooted by connections – but after consultation with joint-trainer John Gosden, Shadwell’s racing manager Angus Gold has confirmed she is now poised to make a swift return to action at the Royal meeting.
He told the PA news agency: “I think it is a definite possibility. She seems to have come out of Goodwood very well and John has been very happy with her since.
“He just felt that she really had an exercise gallop at Goodwood more than anything, she hasn’t lost any weight and so far all the signs are good.
“Obviously we don’t have to supplement until the morning, so we’ll just check her out overnight, keep an eye on her and tomorrow. So long as everyone is happy, then she will be supplemented.”
It will cost the Shadwell team just over £13,000 to supplement Al Asifah, with Gold of the view it is too good an opportunity to pass up.
He added: “It’s not the sort of thing you would normally rush to do, but as John pointed out against three-year-old fillies-only there’s not many more options.
“I think she is also in particularly good form at the moment and you never know with horses, so we’re going to try to strike while the iron is hot so to speak.
“Anything can happen, she’s not in the Irish Oaks and it costs a lot to supplement. As John said, she used to tie up as a two-year-old and has problems with high muscle enzymes.
“Touch wood, at the moment she’s in good form so we’ll try to get her there in one piece and see how we get on.”
Sam Freedman is confident Australian raider Artorius can go two places better than last year’s third in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes when he returns to Royal Ascot on Saturday week.
The son of Flying Artie was somewhat unfortunate in the six-furlong Group One 12 months ago, running on strongly from a position at the rear of the field to be beaten less than a length despite seeing his progress hampered throughout the contest.
He went on to place in the July Cup before also running with credit at Deauville in the Prix Maurice de Gheest and Freedman – who trains in partnership with his father, Anthony – believes he has the four-year-old in great order ahead of his second appearance at the summer showpiece.
He said: “Artorius travelled over well. He only lost 4kg on the flight, whereas last year he lost 9kg, and he has put on 6kg or 7kg since he arrived in Newmarket last Thursday night – he is thriving. He had a little blow on the watered gallop on Tuesday morning, not a lot, just quickening up a furlong, and tomorrow morning he will do his main bit of work at Ascot.
“He is definitely stronger than last year and has come back a better horse. He was probably not going as well last year on the back of the carnivals.”
Artorius arrives in the UK having scooped Group One honours at Randwick in March and then went on to finish a close-up fourth to the all-conquering Anamoe on his next start – two performances which give his training team confidence about unlocking that little extra required to find the Ascot scoresheet.
“We stretched him out over seven and a half furlongs when he met Anamoe last time and he was beaten only three-quarters of a length,” continued Freedman.
“Previous to that, he had won a Group One over six and a half furlongs and what you will see, hopefully, in his run is a little more practical speed.
“I am not suggesting that he is going to be up near the pace or anything like that but, hopefully, if he can be three or four lengths closer than 12 months ago, it will help. That is what we have been trying to work on for the past 12 months.
“We knew we needed to work on his speed from the gate before last year, but we thought it was a real balancing act to get him to relax and in his comfort zone.
“Since that run, we have done a lot of work with him to see if he could still finish off riding him a lot closer and he did that when winning a Group One two starts back.
“It is something we have consciously been working on and, at the level we are going to be racing at in this race, being the best sprint race in Europe, you can’t afford to be giving 12 lengths with a couple of furlongs to go – you are probably not going to pick them up.”
Artorius was ridden by Jamie Spencer when picking up the bronze medal in 2022, but he will be partnered by crack Australian pilot James McDonald for the first time on this occasion.
Freedman added: “James McDonald has done a bit of work with him at home and knows the horse pretty well. He has been keen to get on the horse for a while.
“We offered the ride to Zac Purton but he is trying to break the record in Hong Kong and next port of call was always going to be J-Mac. That is not to say that Jamie Spencer didn’t ride him correctly last year – he rode to instructions and rode him very well.”
Groundbreaking all-female racing competition W Series has entered administration after efforts to secure funding failed, revealed a statement from the administrators.
The single-seater championship, which began in 2019, was instrumental in launching the careers of female drivers including British three-time winner Jamie Chadwick, now racing in Indy NXT and part of Williams’ academy.
W Series joined the F1 support bill for eight races in 2021 and was set to feature as part of another eight Grand Prix weekends in 2022 before financial difficulties resulted in the season’s early curtailment.
Administrators Evelyn Partners LLP confirmed that most staff had already left the business or been made redundant prior to the announcement.
Kevin Ley, one of the joint administrators, said: “The news will be upsetting for the company’s employees and drivers together with the worldwide supporters of the championship.
“The company had been unable to commit to the 2023 race season due to its liquidity position. The directors had been in discussions with various parties to provide additional funding together with a potential sale of the business. Unfortunately, these discussions did not progress.”
Many drivers, including British Alpine Academy driver Abbi Pulling, had credited W Series with saving their careers, particularly as it was was free-to-enter in a hugely expensive sport that remains overwhelmingly male-dominated.
Its 2022 race at Silverstone attracted a peak UK TV audience of more than a million viewers, making it the most-watched motorsport event since 2014 outside of F1.
British driver Alice Powell, who finished third in 2022, tweeted: “I am sad to learn of the news of W Series entering administration. At the end of the day, W Series got me out racing again, whether you agreed with the championship or not…
“W Series DID NOT fail. It inspired and created opportunities not just for its drivers, but for many young female racing fans too. I have many great memories from racing in the championship, including my win at the British GP in 2021, which will stay with me forever.”
CEO Catherine Bond Muir had previously pointed to the pandemic – which led to the cancellation of the 2020 season – as one of the many factors working against W Series, with organisers unable to invite as many guests, including potential investors, to the paddock due to pandemic restrictions.
Joining F1 and the rising cost of living came with its own financial challenges, but it was the loss of promised investment that never arrived that ultimately caused the curtailment last season.
Ley’s joint administrator Harry Shinners encouraged interested parties to step forward in hopes of saving the series.
He added: “The joint administrators will explore all available options to allow the W Series to restart in the future. We are seeking expressions of interest in the business and assets of the company. We would ask that any interest is registered with us as quickly as possible.
“Staff had been made redundant or had left the business before our appointment and it has unfortunately been necessary to make the remaining staff member redundant. The joint administrators will be looking to support any staff impacted by the administration, given the financial position of the company, with making and progressing any claims with the Redundancy Payments Office.”
Charlie Appleby’s 2021 Derby and King George hero Adayar will face a maximum of seven rivals in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot on Wednesday.
The son of Frankel was brilliant in winning at Epsom and Ascot respectively a couple of years ago, but endured an interrupted four-year-old campaign last season, making it to the track on only two occasions.
Adayar readily dispatched of a couple of rivals on his Doncaster comeback before finishing second in the Champion Stakes – and proved his ability remains very much intact when beating subsequent Group One winner Anmaat in last month’s Gordon Richards Stakes at Newmarket.
The five-year-old disputes favouritism for the Group One feature on day two of the Royal meeting with Aidan O’Brien’s Luxembourg.
The Camelot colt is following a tried-and-tested route, having won the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh on his most recent outing, his third win at Group One level.
He looks set to renew rivalry with Sir Michael Stoute’s Bay Bridge, who beat Adayar in the Champion Stakes in October and was only half a length behind Luxembourg in Ireland a few weeks ago.
O’Brien’s apparent second string Bolshoi Ballet, the William Haggas-trained pair of Dubai Honour and My Prospero, John and Thady Gosden’s Mostahdaf and Kenny McPeek’s American raider Classic Causeway complete the potential field.
The seven-race card gets under way with the Group Two Queen Mary Stakes, which has attracted 33 speedy juvenile fillies. Leading contenders include Jane Chapple-Hyam’s Born To Rock, Karl Burke’s Beautiful Diamond and Crimson Advocate, a trans-Atlantic challenger for George Weaver.
Joseph O’Brien appears to have a particularly strong hand in the other Group Two on the card – the Duke of Cambridge Stakes.
The Owning Hill handler is responsible for three of the 15 fillies still in contention, with ante-post favourite Jumbly joined by Goldana and Honey Girl.
John Gosden is hoping Laurel can show her true colours in the one-mile contest after disappointing against the boys in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
“I think she somewhat over-raced and was too fresh (in the Lockinge),” he told Sky Sports Racing.
“The Shadwell horse (Mutasaabeq) went a blistering gallop, she didn’t think that was fast enough and started taking Frankie on and naturally paid the price between the two and the one.
“I think having got that behind her now – that exuberance and that freshness – I hope she will run more of a race where she builds a rhythm and finishes strongly.
“She was a filly who was really immature as a two-year-old and only came to herself really late on. She’s a filly who I think has improved again between three and four and I’m hopeful of a big run.”
A total of 33 entries have been made for the Kensington Palace Fillies’ Handicap, while 61 have horses have stood their ground for the Royal Hunt Cup, with Migration heading the weights and the King’s Saga also in the mix.
Arrest, a Derby disappointment for the Gosdens, heads 22 contenders for the Queen’s Vase and 46 go forward for the concluding Windsor Castle Stakes.
John Gosden is pleased with Running Lion ahead of her tilt at the Prix de Diane, with 15 fillies heading to post at Chantilly on Sunday.
The daughter of Roaring Lion was withdrawn from the Betfred Oaks at Epsom after getting upset in the stalls and having watched stablemate Soul Sister storm to big-race glory on the Surrey Downs, she will now get another chance to secure her own Classic honours in the French edition this weekend.
Last year Nashwa exited stall two when winning the Diane for the Gosden team, but this time Running Lion will have to navigate a wide position in stall 12 as Oisin Murphy’s mount looks to replicate an impressive showing in the Pretty Polly at Newmarket earlier in the season.
However, Gosden – who trains in partnership with son Thady – is full of praise for the consistent filly who is the 11-4 favourite with Coral to land the spoils.
“She’s in great form and we’re really happy with her and her work has been great this year,” he told Sky Sports Racing.
“She’s a tough filly and she needs to be from stall 12. We’re very pleased with her going into the race.
“She’s very business-like, both in the mornings and her races and has shown nothing but a great mental attitude to her racing and has been very consistent.”
There is further UK representation in the form of Karl Burke’s Novakai, who was last seen finishing second to Soul Sister in the Musidora, while Aidan O’Brien and his son Joseph are represented by Never Ending Story and Caroline Street respectively.
Christopher Head’s impressive French Guineas winner Blue Rose Cen is the shortest-priced contender from the home contingent and will be joined in the line-up by likely pacemaker and stablemate Wise Girl.
Prix Saint-Alary winner Jannah Rose and the supplemented runner-up Elusive Princess, along with Andre Fabre’s unbeaten Pensee Du Jour are others from the home team with leading claims.
Canberra Legend and Deauville Legend look set to lead trainer James Ferguson’s small but select team into battle at Royal Ascot next week.
The Newmarket handler had Classic aspirations for Canberra Legend following his victory in the Feilden Stakes at Newmarket in April, but a disappointing run in last month’s Dante at York led to connections deciding against a tilt at Derby glory.
The Australia colt has instead been kept fresh for the Royal meeting, with the King Edward VII Stakes viewed as his most likely target.
“Canberra Legend showed his class in the Feilden and showed that the further he was going, the better he was going,” Ferguson told Sky Sports Racing.
“We’ve put a line through the Dante at York. He showed his inexperience, it was a big occasion, hopefully he’s grown up and learned from it.
“From the minute he went down to the start, I think we knew it was not going to be his day and we move on. We’ve taken him for an away-day at Chelmsford and he’s shown me all the right signs at home that we’ve got him back to where we were with the Feilden.
“He’ll be entered in the King Edward and the Hampton Court. We’re probably lining him up for the mile-and-a-half option to be honest and I’d say he’s going there with a real live chance.”
Deauville Legend was narrowly denied in the King George V Stakes at last year’s big meeting, after which he went on to win the Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket and the Great Voltigeur at York before rounding off his campaign by finishing fourth in the Melbourne Cup.
The son of Sea The Stars is set to make his four-year-old debut in what looks a strong renewal of the Hardwicke Stakes, but Ferguson is pleased with his condition.
He added: “He’s in great order and we’re really looking forward to getting him back out.
“We’ve been very patient with him. We decided to give him a bit of a break after his international travel for the Melbourne Cup, where he ran very well on ground which went very soft and he probably didn’t stay the two miles with the weight he was given.
“He lost nothing in defeat and the way he won the Voltigeur shows that from the older horse category over a mile and a half, he’s one of the best around.
“He’ll be going to the Hardwicke, which is a hard place to start your campaign if Hukum and Pyledriver go there, but I certainly think he’s capable of competing at that grade.
“I’m fairly confident we’ve got him fit enough to go the races, but whatever we see from him, he will come on for the run I’m sure.”
The trainer’s Ascot squad also includes impressive Doncaster handicap winner Wonder Legend, who will bid to go one better than Deauville Legend in the King George V Stakes.
“He showed his true class over further (at Doncaster), so we’re going in off 94 and stepping up to a mile and a half,” said Ferguson.
“You’ve got to have a Group horse to win these handicaps and I feel we’re going in with one. I’d like to think he’s better than his mark and can go on to bigger and better things after this race.”
Land Legend also has the King George option, but is more likely to step up in distance and class for the Queen’s Vase, while Ferguson considers his Greenham Stakes fourth Zoology as a serious contender for the Jersey Stakes.
He added: “I think Land Legend is crying out for a mile and six furlongs. The Queen’s Vase is going to be a very competitive race and he’s probably on a low enough mark where he could be competitive in a handicap, but I do think the extra two furlongs will bring out a lot more in him.
“Zoology ran very well in the Greenham and he’s a super horse. I really like him, he’s genuine and he’s honest and I really don’t think we’ve got to the bottom of him.
“He ran well in the Greenham on ground that was fairly unsuitable for him. I’d like to think on a flat track and a good surface we’ll see a massive improvement from him.
“I’d be very hopeful he can go and run a big race.”
Premiership Rugby has launched a Sporting Commission in what chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor believes is “a landmark moment” for the organisation.
The seven-strong group will be chaired by Nigel Melville and includes former England captain Tom Wood.
Massie-Taylor and Premiership Rugby’s rugby director Phil Winstanley, meanwhile, will be joined by Women in Football director Jane Purdon, Ministry of Justice board member Mark Rawlinson and financial services executive Carys Williams.
As part of its remit, the commission will now rule over matters such as season structure, Premiership Rugby regulations and player-loading.
It will also have full delegated authority from the Premiership Rugby board to decide on matters relating to sporting and regulatory issues, as well as impose sanctions in accordance with Premiership Rugby regulations.
The move comes after the most damaging season in Premiership history saw three clubs – Wasps, Worcester and London Irish – enter administration.
A 13-club league less than a year ago now stands at 10 teams, with the commission, which has decision-making powers, set to transform Premiership Rugby’s operations.
PRL said the commission’s objectives included that decision-making on sporting and regulatory matters “operates in the best interests of the league as a whole and independent from the clubs.”
Massie-Taylor said: “Launching the Sporting Commission is a landmark moment for Premiership Rugby as we transform our ways of working.
“Improving our governance structures with independent thinking and scrutiny is key to strong foundations and our future success.
“Having already met as a group, it is clear that the energy and expertise of our independent experts will help Premiership Rugby deliver change.”
And Melville, who is also chairman of Premiership Rugby’s investor board, added: “Putting together this innovative new group has been possible thanks to the efforts and support of our Premiership Rugby clubs.
“Our goal has always been to strengthen our governance and make internal decision-making more agile, whilst also bringing about greater independence to any contentious issues.”
The commission will meet eight times a year or more, and provide a quarterly update to the investor board.
Eldar Eldarov will be bidding for a second successive Royal Ascot success in next week’s Gold Cup following his narrow verdict in the Queen’s Vase 12 months ago.
Roger Varian’s four-year-old also claimed the St Leger in a fruitful season and returned to action in the Yorkshire Cup when narrowly failing to reel in Giavellotto, to whom he was conceding 5lb.
He will be running over a trip further than two miles for the first time in his career at Ascot, but that is the only question mark regarding a horse who has won on quick and slow ground and could potentially even improve for racing over further.
“He ran well at York and has done everything right since,” said Chris Wall, former trainer and now racing manager to owners KHK Racing.
“Obviously he is going into the unknown over that distance but he’s nothing but a competitor, he’s a tough horse, he likes the challenge and if he gets the trip I think he’s going to be a player.
“Roger is very happy with how everything is so it’s fingers crossed, really.
“Four-year-olds have a great record in the Gold Cup and while the trip is the unknown, he certainly gives the impression that he will stay those distances well.
“His work at home has been very satisfactory, he looks well, so we’ll just keep everything crossed that he puts up a good performance.
“We’re not too worried about the ground. I suppose like everybody we’d like a little bit of juice, so a few showers wouldn’t go amiss but he’s proved he’s effective on any ground, so we’re looking forward to it.”
The owners also hold leading claims in the Commonwealth Cup with Sakheer, the Mill Reef winner who finished seventh on soft ground in the 2000 Guineas.
“He must have a good chance. It was hard to tell whether he stayed a mile on that awful ground in the Guineas, but he acquitted himself well,” said Wall.
“He’s done nothing wrong in his preparation either, so we’ll go there and hope for the best and hope he goes and runs a good race.
“He’s going to have to prove himself exceptional if he’s going to beat Little Big Bear I think, but we’ll see how we go.”
Golf’s controversial new partnership is in for an “uncomfortable ride” and may face lengthy and costly legal challenges in multiple jurisdictions, a competition lawyer has said.
The PGA Tour announced last week it was creating a new commercial entity with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), a move it said would “unify golf” and which brought an end to a legal dispute between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, a series backed by PIF.
Concerns have already been raised about whether the new deal may fall foul of competition law. The United States Senate has already opened an investigation into it, with Senator Richard Blumenthal writing to PGA Tour chief executive Jay Monahan to say that the PGA Tour’s “sudden and drastic reversal of position concerning LIV Golf” raised “serious questions”.
The PGA Tour insists this agreement is not a merger, and that the deal did not mean PIF now owned the PGA Tour. Instead, it says PIF will be investing in this new subsidiary of the PGA Tour, with the PGA Tour retaining majority ownership and control.
However, Andrew Evans, a partner at the law firm Irwin Mitchell, believes there are a number of hurdles for the new venture to overcome.
“Even though the structure for the PGA Tour/LIV merger is not known at present, competition law, or antitrust law as it is also known, tends to look at the economic impact of a merger regardless of the legal form it takes,” he told the PA news agency.
“So structuring the merger in a particular way, referring to it is a partnership etc will not hugely affect the analysis from a competition law perspective.”
In the United Kingdom mergers are the responsibility of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), while, in the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) are the bodies responsible.
However, Evans believes the global nature of golf at a commercial level means many more jurisdictions may take a look.
“For a worldwide business such as PGA Tour and LIV Golf there is lots of potential for regulators in many different jurisdictions to get involved and investigate the merger and, in a worst-case scenario, block the merger,” he said.
“Whilst there is little granular detail about how the merger will work and be implemented, hopefully the parties have already sought and obtained merger control advice.
“Even if they have, they may be in for an uncomfortable ride in some jurisdictions around the world before the merger, if cleared, is allowed to proceed.
“Merger investigations can also be very time-consuming and costly, with the full processes taking many months and potentially more than a year to conclude in some jurisdictions.”
Evans said regulators will be concerned about the “downstream” and “upstream” impacts on competition that the deal might create.
“Downstream” impacts might include the impact on broadcasters seeking to buy television rights.
“Prior to the merger both PGA Tour and LIV Golf would be in competition with each other to sell their respective television rights, and therefore each imposes a constraint on the other in relation to the price that they can charge as there is an alternative that anyone seeking to buy television rights has,” Evans said.
“Once they are merged and under common control that constraint is removed or reduced, particularly in a case where there is no other comparable worldwide golf tour, so there is no alternative choice.
“That would allow the merged business to have greater market power and greater ability to dictate the price at which television rights would be sold.”
“Upstream” rights could include the impact on players’ earning potential, Evans said.
“Though professional golfers may not be a group most people would immediately think of as being worthy of protection, the impact the merger would have on them and the reduced choice as to which tour to join and on what terms, if both are controlled by the same operator, is another consideration,” he added.
Wesley Ward has saddled 12 Royal Ascot winners since the beginning of his American invasion. But it is No Nay Never whose legacy is still felt 10 years after the colt rocketed to Norfolk Stakes success.
The American first announced himself at the Royal meeting in 2009 when Strike A Tiger’s Windsor Castle triumph was quickly followed by Jealous Again romping to Queen Mary victory in the opening race of the following day.
Although then a regular bringing his string across the Atlantic to challenge, he had to wait four years for his next success when No Nay Never blitzed his way to Norfolk glory, attracting the attention of a very famous Ascot regular in the process.
“That was a great day,” said Ward.
“We were second in the Queen Mary the day before, it was a 28-runner field and we came second. My buddy Gatewood Bell, all his buddies and himself owned the filly. We had a big night out that night, a great dinner and a little bit too much wine, so when I came in the next day I was nice and relaxed and the first race of the day was the Norfolk.
“Shortly after that I was invited up to sit with the Queen for about half an hour and it was a great experience.”
Ward’s meeting with the late Queen gave the 55-year-old as much pleasure as No Nay Never’s victory itself and he was left amazed by her boundless knowledge of the sport he plied his trade.
He continued: “What was great about it was she did most of the chatting!
“When you first get up there you are nervous and she just starts firing questions at you and it puts you so at ease. She was just picking my brain and asking all these questions about how I train, how I came here and asking about all the success I had.
“It was unbelievable how much knowledge she had, not just of racing but myself – I couldn’t believe the Queen of England even knew who a trainer like myself from a different country like America was and what I had accomplished.
“You would think she would just be coming to the races and focussed on English racing and everything else she had going on in her life. She was just a wonderful person.”
No Nay Never would go on to give Ward his first European Group One when winning the Prix Morny at Deauville, a race in which he would wear the famous Magnier silks closely associated with the Coolmore operation.
“That was a great day as well,” added Ward. “John Magnier and the whole Coolmore team were there as well and we got the picture in the winner’s enclosure.
“The sales were going on so Mr Magnier was there with all his team and it was a great day along with my great friend Paul Shanahan and he is why I’ve been involved with them, so I can’t thank him enough for getting me in there and I’ve been fortunate enough to have some success for them.”
Following his on-track career, No Nay Never would prove just as proficient in the breeding sheds and the son of Scat Daddy’s progeny continue to keep his name in the spotlight at the season’s showpiece fixture.
Alcohol Free is perhaps his biggest winner at Royal Ascot so far, with Andrew Balding’s star filly landing the Coronation Stakes on a wet afternoon in 2021, while he is beginning to become a force to be reckoned with for Coolmore, especially in the juvenile ranks.
Meditate and Little Big Bear both carried No Nay Never’s genes to two-year-old triumphs at Royal Ascot 12 months ago and both are likely to return 10 years on from one of their father’s finest hours, with Little Big Bear a red-hot favourite for the Commonwealth Cup.
“He’s gone on to be a great sire as well as a very good racehorse,” said Ward.
“He was always one of those horses you always thought would go on to be a sire when you have them in your barn.
“He had a great personality and he was very fast, but his mind was something that you know when you were around a horse like him – you could see how smart and intelligent he is.
“You would think with his ability and all of that combined, those are the ones that go on to be good sires.”
Northampton have announced the signing of England World Cup hopeful Tom Pearson.
Back-row forward Pearson was left without a club when London Irish went into administration last week after being suspended from all competitions by the Rugby Football Union.
The 23-year-old helped Irish to a fifth-place finish in the Gallagher Premiership, delivering numerous eye-catching performances.
He was named in England’s first World Cup training squad of the summer by head coach Steve Borthwick, while Pearson ended last term with Premiership and Rugby Players’ Association young player of the season honours.
“I will always be incredibly grateful to London Irish and treasure my time there,” he said.
“They gave me a shot two years ago coming out of university when I was an unknown and probably a bit of a risk.
“It’s tragic to not know the true potential of that team we had, but I want to thank all the players, staff, and the fans for everything they gave me over the last two years and for helping me create lifelong memories.
“From my very first conversation with (Northampton rugby director) Phil Dowson, he has been extremely honest and clear on the direction he wants Saints to go as a club.
“He really made me feel like I would fit in well in Northampton with the playing group and the style of rugby the team plays.
“He has also got clear ideas on where my game can improve, and I want to push on and develop as much as I can as a player.”
Two of Pearson’s England squad colleagues and former Irish team-mates – Henry Arundell and Will Joseph – have yet to confirm their club futures.
Arundell is thought to be a target for Bath and French club Racing 92, while Joseph has been strongly linked with Harlequins.
On recruiting Pearson, Dowson said: “Tom is an incredible athlete and is just going to get better the longer he is in the professional environment.
“He is very versatile, able to play across the back-row, and thanks to his physicality, movement and off-loading game he can make significant impacts all over the park.”
Ex-England rugby player Shaunagh Brown has called out sport governing bodies she feels treat female athletes like “small men” to the detriment of their health and performance.
The 33-year-old retired from the Red Roses in December after earning 30 caps for her country, and also represented England in the hammer at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
While the former prop has witnessed some positive change, she remains adamant that not enough consideration is directed to the unique needs of women, from the impact of menstrual cycles to a higher risk of certain injuries – including the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) issues that ended the World Cup dreams of England footballers Beth Mead and Leah Williamson.
“(It needs to) be based in the research why we’re rehabbing this way, why we’re asked to do this activity, why we’re using this training programme, because what you’ll find is a lot of it has come from men,” Brown told a Parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee session.
“Whether that’s concussion protocols, for me it just doesn’t sound right that male and female concussion protocols are exactly the same.
“It’s just because so often we are treated as small men as opposed to completely different needs as women. Where it’s all come from, there is no base at the moment. It’s changing slowly, more people are looking into it.
“I’d say there’s more looking after people of a different age and potentially different weight categories than there is of a gender category. I’m heavy for a woman, I’m 16 stone, and I’d be expected to basically just train like a 16-stone man.
“But if I was a lot lighter, I’d probably have a different training programme. If I was weaker or stronger, I’d have a different training programme.”
Next month, England will begin their quest for a maiden football World Cup without several of the most recognisable names from their Euro 2022 triumph.
Two of the injured – captain Williamson and forward Mead – are ruled out with ACL injuries, an issue that disproportionately affects women, who according to the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) have three-to-six times higher risk than males.
Williamson and Mead are among a worrying number of female footballers, including their Arsenal team-mates Vivianne Miedema and Laura Wienroither, to have suffered the same injury this season.
A BOA report released on Tuesday read: “One anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in your squad is unfortunate. A second is really bad luck. By the time you’re at your fourth, including both the current Lioness captain and the reigning BBC Sports Personality of the Year, there’s clearly an intrinsic problem that needs to be addressed.
“What is happening this season at the elite level is just the tip of the iceberg.”
The report, co-authored by surgeons Morgan Bailey and Nathanael Ahearn, revealed that of groups of young athletes the biggest rise in ACL injuries was observed by their organisation in teenage girls, who have taken up football in significant numbers following the Lionesses’ victory.
The doctors cautioned against writing off the discrepancy as simply due to biological differences, including hormonal influences and limb alignment, instead agreeing with Brown that “the gendered environment has a greater part to play.”
Contributing factors include a lack of equipment designed for women and a difference in quality when it comes to both pitches and coaching – with preventative training critical in reducing ACL injuries.
Like Brown, the BOA report authors warned efforts to make things simply the same for men and women are misguided.
They concluded: “As more women and young girls take up football, the seemingly most straightforward method for development is to mirror that of the boys and men before them, but it is equity, rather than equivalence, that we should be striving for.
“This means rather than simply encouraging more women to take up these sports in line with men, we should be creating the appropriate environment to do so, that accounts for both sex and gender based differences.”
Brandon Nimmo atoned for an earlier baserunning mistake with a game-ending RBI double in the 10th inning to lift the New York Mets to a 4-3 win over the visiting New York Yankees on Wednesday.
After the Yankees failed to score in the top of the 10th, Albert Abreu struck out Mark Vientos to keep automatic runner Eduardo Escobar at second, but Nimmo greeted Nick Ramirez with a drive off the wall in right-centre to score the winning run.
The Yankees broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the top of the seventh inning, highlighted by Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s steal of home – the first steal of home by a Yankee since Didi Gregorius on Aug. 27, 2016.
The Mets, however, scored two in the bottom half of the inning to tie things back up at 3-3, though ran themselves out of the inning when Nimmo was caught halfway between second and third base on Starling Marte’s game-tying single and thrown out for the third out, ending a potential bases-loaded threat.
The series finale featured a compelling pitching matchup between Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander and both stars permitted just one run but were done after six innings.
Cole struck out eight and allowed four hits, while Verlander scattered three hits and had six punchouts. Neither walked a batter.
The city rivals split the two-game Subway Series after the Yankees’ 7-6 win on Tuesday. The victory was just the second in 11 games for the Mets, who had dropped four in a row at home.
Berrios stymies Orioles
Jose Berrios took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in the Toronto Blue Jays’ 3-1 win at Baltimore, ending the Orioles’ five-game winning streak.
Berríos retired the first 13 batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until Adley Rutschman opened the seventh with a soft single to centre.
Berríos ended up pitching 7 2/3 scoreless innings – his longest outing since going eight innings at Detroit on June 10, 2022 – allowing three hits and a walk while striking out five. The right-hander improved to 4-0 with a 1.11 ERA in his last five starts and 10-0 in his career against the Orioles.
Baltimore, which had won the season’s first four matchups with Toronto, came in having scored 11 runs in each of its last two games but didn’t get on the scoreboard until Aaron Hicks’ run-scoring single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Rays end Athletics’ 7-game winning streak
Manuel Margot and Yandy Diaz had back-to-back RBI doubles in the fifth inning and Tampa Bay’s bullpen worked 3 2/3 scoreless innings as the Rays snapped the Oakland Athletics’ seven-game winning streak with a 6-3 victory.
Tampa Bay took the lead for good with three runs in the fifth against Luis Medina. Taylor Walls singled, stole second, moved to third on an error and scored on Margot’s double. Diaz followed with another double to make it 3-3 and Josh Lowe singled home Diaz one out later.
Major league-leading Tampa Bay remained the only team in the majors without a three-game losing streak.
Tommy Fleetwood believes players need to take a leaf from Brooks Koepka’s book to win major championships.
Koepka claimed his fifth major in May’s US PGA Championship at Oak Hill and, after overcoming career-threatening injuries, looked back to being the player who won his previous four in an eight-tournament stretch.
The 33-year-old American believes his target of 10 majors is eminently achievable and insists he relishes the “chaos” of major championships and seeing other players complaining about the difficult of the conditions.
Fleetwood, who finished second behind Koepka in the 2018 US Open after a record-equalling 63 in the final round, told the PA news agency: “Brooks is an unbelievable example.
“People should be studying what he does and how he speaks because he’s the best major champion of our generation so far.
“Obviously he’s one of the best golfers in the world and his stats when he’s playing the majors are phenomenal.
“However, you can’t always control how you’re going to play but you can definitely control the way you think and if you’re going out on that course with the right mindset then you’re giving yourself the best chance.
“I think listening to somebody like that, I think people should draw on that and I think emulating that attitude is something you can really make work for you.”
Is there anything new for 2023?The golf course itself will be new to the majority of the field, with the venue hosting its first major championship and the first US Open in Los Angeles since 1948. The North Course did stage the 2017 Walker Cup and a prestigious college event in 2013, but Rory McIlroy was among the vast majority of players who saw the course for the first time on Monday.
Key tee times (all BST)1540 – Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood
1613 – Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa
1624 – Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm
2132 – Cameron Smith, Sam Bennett, Matt Fitzpatrick
2154 – Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama
A cloudy start with a low risk of fog/mist and the marine layer hanging around into the early to mid-afternoon hours before the sun fully breaks through to bring a high around 70 degrees. Light winds between five to 10mph.
The Houston Astros announced Wednesday that right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. will miss the rest of the season following surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his right forearm and remove a bone spur.
To make matters worse for the defending World Series champion Astros, general manager Dana Brown said slugger Yordan Alvarez will be sidelined for at least four more weeks due to a right oblique strain.
McCullers missed a large portion of last season with a forearm strain and went 4-2 with a 2.27 ERA in eight starts after making his 2022 debut in August.
He originally sustained an injury to the tendon in his right forearm in Game 4 of the 2021 American League Division Series against the White Sox, and then aggravated it this February.
“After the injury happened in February, Lance worked his tail off to get back on the mound,” Brown said. “This guy is a warrior and did everything in his power to get back.
“But each time he built himself up to an increased pitch total off the mound, the pain would come back. It’s unfortunate, but we look forward to him being back on the mound next season.”
Alvarez, meanwhile, will likely be out until after the All-Star break after straining his right oblique during an at-bat against the Toronto Blue Jays last Thursday.
The 2019 AL Rookie of the year was leading the major leagues with 55 RBIs while batting .277 with 17 home runs in 57 games before getting hurt.
Alvarez was the MVP of the 2021 American League Championship Series and finished third in AL MVP voting last season, when he hit .306 with 37 homers and 97 RBIs in 135 games.
“With these oblique injuries, they're very tricky," Brown said Wednesday on his weekly visit with SportsTalk 790 AM in Houston. "I think it's going to take at least two weeks to get a feel for how it's feeling, how does he feel?
“So you take those two weeks, and then another week to figure out when he starts to have some activity, how's his body responding? So that's three weeks right there.
“So you're looking at, once he starts to swing a bat, maybe it's four weeks or so.”
Australian Nick Kyrgios has revealed he was admitted to a psychiatric ward after contemplating suicide following a Wimbledon defeat to Rafael Nadal in 2019.
The often-controversial world number 25 said the second-round, four-set defeat to the Spaniard was the lowest point of his career.
“I was genuinely contemplating if I wanted to commit suicide,” Kyrgios, who wore a white sleeve on his right arm to hide tell-tale self-harm scars, told Netflix documentary Break Point.
“I lost at Wimbledon. I woke up and my dad was sitting on the bed, full-blown crying. That was the big wake-up call for me.
“I was like ‘OK, I can’t keep doing this’. I ended up in a psych ward in London to figure out my problems.
“I was drinking, abusing drugs, lost my relationship with my family, pushed all my close friends away.
“You could tell I was hurting. My whole arm was covered in scars. That’s why I actually got my arm sleeve. To cover it all.
“That pressure, having that all-eyes-on-you expectation, I couldn’t deal with it. I hated the kind of person I was.”
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