Leicester’s meeting on Thursday and Friday’s fixture at Ffos Las have both been called off due to waterlogged tracks.

An inspection was called for 4.15pm on Wednesday at Leicester but areas of false ground left officials with no option.

Ffos Las officials were able to make their decision even earlier. An inspection was held on Wednesday morning and after heavy rain, the venue was not fit for action.

The track said on X: “Due to 70 millimetres of rain in the last seven days and with further rain forecast, racing on Friday 16th February has been abandoned.”

Thursday’s fixture at Newcastle must also survive an 8am inspection. The going is heavy and further rain is forecast overnight, while Clonmel’s meeting is also in doubt.

Clerk of the course Lorcan Wyer will inspect at 7.30am with overnight rain forecast on already heavy ground.

Ronnie O’Sullivan coasted into the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix in Leicester with a 5-1 win over Gary Wilson.

Following a controversial eighth Masters triumph over Ali Carter, O’Sullivan has continued to questioned his snooker future, admitting he no longer gets enjoyment from the way he is playing.

However, the 48-year-old, set to take a break of a couple of months following the end of the tournament, showed no lack of sharpness as he recovered from losing the opening frame to move 3-1 ahead with a clearance of 129 either side of two half-centuries.

Wilson, the reigning Northern Ireland Open champion, fell further behind after his break finished on 52, allowing O’Sullivan back to the table to secure the snooker needed before going on to clear the colours.

O’Sullivan swiftly completed a comfortable win with another break of 58 in the sixth frame.

Ronnie O’Sullivan has once again questioned his snooker future after squeezing into the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix in Leicester with a 4-3 win over Zhou Yuelong.

Just four days after his controversial eighth Masters triumph over Ali Carter, O’Sullivan said he was getting no enjoyment from continuing to move through tournaments with comparative ease.

O’Sullivan told ITV4: “I’ve got to really consider whether I can carry on feeling how I’m feeling out there – I just don’t get any enjoyment from the way I’m hitting the ball.

“I feel like it’s just hard work, I haven’t a clue where the balls are going, and a lot of it’s just guess-work.

“The worst thing is you’re winning bloody tournaments as well. If I was getting pumped every round playing like that it would be an easy decision to make.”

O’Sullivan had eased into a two-frame lead with breaks of 67 and 107 and looked set to extend that advantage before he missed a red to the top pocket to run aground on a break of 50 in the next.

Yet to beat O’Sullivan in their five previous encounters, Zhou responded in style with a 76 to narrow the deficit, then a nerveless 102 to level the match and confirm the change in momentum.

Zhou, who had recovered from a three-frame deficit to push O’Sullivan to a final frame decider in their most recent meeting at the UK Championship in December, responded to falling behind again with breaks of 65 and 66 to force the decider.

The Chinese player got in first and potted a red and black, but missed his chance to the middle and O’Sullivan swept up with aplomb with a nerveless 90 to seal another seemingly unsatisfactory win.

“It’s been happening like this for 25 or 30 years, so it’s nothing new,” O’Sullivan added.

“It’s the only thing I’ve known and it’s hard not to do this because it’s my job, it’s all I know, so I’ve struggled through it.

“But I can’t accept bad cueing, I’d rather cue well and lose than cue awful and win tournaments. I get no satisfaction out of it, I really don’t.”

O’Sullivan will face Gary Wilson in the last eight after the reigning Northern Ireland Open champion saw off Tom Ford 4-2.

Fontwell’s meeting on Thursday must pass a precautionary inspection at 8am due to the threat of frost.

Temperatures dipped to a low of minus 3.5C on Tuesday evening and are only due to rise to a high of 2C on Wednesday.

It could get even colder on Wednesday evening but there is hope that a daytime high of 4C may help thaw the track in time.

Wincanton on Friday is also under threat due to frost.

Having performed a minor miracle to get the course raceable on Saturday, clerk of the course Dan Cooper and his team now face a different problem.

The course is currently frozen in places and temperatures overnight could reach minus 3C before racing but a daytime high of 5C offers hope.

The meetings at Doncaster and Leicester on Wednesday both passed inspections before racing.

There were no issues at all at Doncaster but Leicester did need three inspections before getting the go-ahead, the latter at 12 noon.

This afternoon’s meeting at Doncaster will go ahead as planned but the card at Leicester must pass a third inspection at 12 noon.

Shortly after 7am Doncaster’s clerk of the course Paul Barker was confident temperatures had not dropped sufficiently to cause a problem but it was a different story for Jimmy Stevenson at Leicester.

By 8am the temperature on course had dropped to a chilly -4C but it is forecast to rise to 4C or 5C later on.

The track failed a second inspection at 10.30am but with temperatures slowly rising and a 1.05pm first race, officials are keen to give it every chance.

There are also issues at Wincanton on Friday where clerk of the course Dan Cooper and his team have called an 8.30am check for raceday.

The course is currently frozen in places with temperatures potentially going as low as -3C before racing.

An 8am precautionary inspection has also been called at Fontwell ahead of the meeting there on Thursday, also due to frost.

This afternoon’s meeting at Doncaster will go ahead as planned but the card at Leicester must pass a second inspection at 10.30am.

Shortly after 7am Doncaster’s clerk of the course Paul Barker was confident temperatures had not dropped sufficiently to cause a problem but it was a different story for Jimmy Stevenson at Leicester.

By 8am the temperature on course had dropped to a chilly -4C but it is forecast to rise to 4C or 5C later on. Whether it rises in time remains to be seen.

There are also issues at Wincanton on Friday where clerk of the course Dan Cooper and his team have called an 8.30am check for raceday.

The course is currently frozen in places with temperatures potentially going as low as -3C before racing.

Lucinda Russell’s Apple Away has a new division in which to thrive after a facile chasing success at Leicester

The mare took some notable scalps at Aintree in the spring when winning the Grade One Sefton Novices’ Hurdle at 16-1, defeating Donald McCain’s Maximilian, Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero’s Iroko and Paul Nicholls’ Stay Away Fay.

The latter two horses have since made very impressive starts to their chasing careers, with Iroko making light work of his debut over fences before injury interrupted his campaign and Stay Away Fay winning both chasing starts thus far including the Grade Two Esher Novices’ Chase most recently.

Apple Away’s first experience at the discipline was in a highly competitive Haydock graduation chase in late November, where she encountered two quality horses in Dan Skelton’s Grey Dawning and Willie Mullins’ Galliard Du Mesnil.

The two greys finished in the above order with Apple Away behind them and although beaten, the experience seemed to have served her well when she lined up for the @leicesterraces Christmas Meeting 28th December Book Now Beginners’ Chase over nearly two miles and seven furlongs on Wednesday.

Under Derek Fox she ran prominently and jumped soundly to take an easy lead and stroll to a 31-length success over Nicholls’ Makin’yourmindup with Fergal O’Brien’s Alaphilippe a further length and a half behind – both horses being Grade Two winners over hurdles.

Apple Away is always well supported by members of Old Gold Racing, a large-scale syndicate headed up by CEO Ed Seyfried.

Seyfried was delighted to see the six-year-old get off the mark over fences, saying of the performance: “We are properly, properly excited about her.

“It was a three-horse race and you know the old adage, back the outsider in a field of three, but we were looking at a Grade One winner and two Grade Two winners and she put a very good race to bed by 31 lengths – we’ve got a proper little rocket on our hands.

“She’ll stay and stay, we’re a syndication business trying to give the experience of owning a racehorse to a much wider population of people and to have a horse as good as this that has people on social media squabbling about whether we should go for the Brown Advisory or the mares’ chase – what a wonderful decision to have to make.

“I said that it would give us a huge boost if she could win by 20 lengths but that there was no chance of that. She heard me and over-performed by 50 per cent!

“She’s a very, very tough mare, we let the trainers do their jobs and though it wasn’t set in stone that she would go chasing this season, I love the fact that she has and I think she’s a proper little chaser now. She causes happiness and mirth wherever she goes and I can’t wait to see more of it.

“You saw in the Sefton at Aintree that she can run from the front if we want her to, everyone loves a front runner and I think she’s just going to grab everyone’s hearts.

“In the home straight she jumped into a 30-length lead. She was very careful at Haydock and she was quite careful in the first circuit at Leicester, but by the time the second circuit came around she was fabulous. I loved watching her jump like that.”

Apple Away’s next outing is yet to be decided upon, with the Kauto Star at Kempton and a limited novices’ handicap Wetherby previously under consideration before the Leicester race was added to the calendar belatedly.

Those contests will come only a fortnight after her most recent run, however, and the mare is therefore more likely to return to action in the new year instead.

“If you look at how she was campaigned last year, they didn’t really go for any eyecatching big races until quite late on,” Seyfried said.

“She has so much potential and though we’re not counting our chickens, to have a horse with so much potential in syndicate ownership is wonderful.

“It’s just fabulous, she is a walking morale booster.”

Grade One-winning hurdler Apple Away got off the mark over fences with a foot-perfect display in the opening race at Leicester on Wednesday.

The six-year-old won four of her seven starts over the smaller obstacles for trainer Lucinda Russell and owners Old Gold Racing, including a surprise top-level victory over the likes of Iroko and Stay Away Fay at Aintree in the spring.

Having been set a stiff task on her chasing debut when third behind Grey Dawning and Cheltenham Festival winner Gaillard Du Mesnil at Haydock last month, Apple Away was an even-money shot to dispatch of two rivals in the @leicesterraces Christmas Meeting 28th December Book Now Beginners’ Chase, and ultimately did so in some style.

Ridden by Derek Fox, the Scottish raider fenced fluently throughout the two-and-three-quarter-mile contest and pulled 31 lengths of a decent yardstick in Makin’yourmindup in the home straight.

The sponsors cut Apple Away to 14-1 from 20-1 for the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase at Cheltenham in March, while she is 20-1 from 25-1 to beat the boys in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.

Michael Scudamore, assistant trainer to Russell, told Racing TV: “We’re thrilled to bits, the further she went the better she looked. It’s great to get her chasing career off and going.

“She ran a nice race at Haydock, it probably wasn’t ideal to run her in a graduation chase first time over fences but such is the weather and the options at the moment you just have to go where you can.

“She learned plenty that day, she jumped well, she was careful and then today she was better again.

“She’s proven before what a good mare she is, but you could see her being really intelligent and enjoying it today.

“She’s got plenty of options and being a mare that opens up other options so we’ll have to see what the future holds for her.”

Bristol will host Leicester to kick off the new Gallagher Premiership season on Friday, October 13 before champions Saracens start the defence of their title with a trip to Exeter.

After Wasps, Worcester and London Irish all entered administration while Championship winners Jersey Reds did not meet the minimum standards criteria for promotion, the new top-flight campaign will feature just 10 teams.

The revamped schedule for the 2023-24 campaign gives all clubs one home fixture in the opening two weeks of the season.

After Saturday’s 1.30pm kick-off at Exeter’s Sandy Park, Bath host Newcastle at 3pm while Harlequins will travel to Gloucester.

To complete the opening weekend’s action, Sale – beaten by Saracens in the Premiership final at Twickenham – will welcome Northampton on October 15, which will also be broadcast live on TNT Sports.

The Premiership final is set to take place on June 8 at Twickenham.

There will be a ‘Derby Weekend’ in round six from November 17 to 19, which will see Sale play Newcastle and Bath host Bristol on the Friday night.

The action on the Saturday sees Northampton travel to Leicester with Saracens at London rivals Harlequins. Both matches will be shown live ahead of Exeter playing Gloucester on the Sunday afternoon.

Clubs will also have one home fixture over the Christmas period, which it is hoped will allow families to enjoy games together.

December 30 will see Harlequins’ ‘Big Game’ series back in the festive schedule when they take on Gloucester at Twickenham.

Following a break of league action during the Guinness Six Nations, Saracens play Harlequins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in March before Northampton face Quins back at Twickenham during round 16 in April.

As well as the live schedule on TNT Sports, which has been announced through until January 2024, there will be highlights of all 90 regular-season games on ITV along with seven full free-to-air fixtures and the Premiership final.

Premiership Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor said: “Today is always an exciting day in the sporting calendar and I know that our dedicated Gallagher Premiership Rugby fans, players and clubs are counting down until the big kick-off.

“It’s great to welcome our new-look broadcast partner TNT Sports in their debut season under their new brand and we look forward to delivering unmissable world-class sporting entertainment together.”

::Opening Premiership fixtures: October 13 – Bristol v Leicester (7.45pm, TNT Sports); October 14 – Exeter v Saracens (1.30pm, TNT Sports), Bath v Newcastle (3pm), Gloucester v Harlequins (3pm); October 15 – Sale v Northampton (1.30pm, TNT Sports)

English challengers Leicester and Sale Sharks have landed a fearsome pool draw in next season’s Heineken Champions Cup.

The pair, who cannot play each other in the group stage, face games against Champions Cup holders La Rochelle, runners-up Leinster, South African heavyweights DHL Stormers and Parisians Stade Francais.

They will play two matches at home and two away in December and January. The top four teams in each group will comprise the round of 16 later next term.

Premiership champions Saracens and Bristol, who replaced London Irish after the Exiles went into administration, will tackle Bordeaux-Begles, Vodacom Bulls, Lyon and Connacht in Pool 1.

Bath, Champions Cup qualifiers following a dramatic last day of the Premiership season, are in Pool 2 alongside Harlequins.

They will take on newly-crowned French champions Toulouse, Racing 92, Ulster and the solitary Welsh representative Cardiff.

Past tournament winners Exeter and Northampton are in Pool 3, where they will face fixtures against United Rugby Championship title holders Munster, Glasgow, Bayonne and Toulon.

Premiership challengers Gloucester have been handed a tough European Challenge Cup draw, being grouped in Pool 3 alongside Clermont Auvergne, Scarlets, Edinburgh, Castres and a yet-to-be-announced invited club.

Newcastle are in Pool 2 with Ospreys, Benetton, Montpellier, Perpignan and Emirates Lions, while Pool 1 comprises another invited club alongside Dragons, Pau, Oyonnax, Zebre Parma and Cell Sharks.

The top four in each group progress to the Challenge Cup round of 16, where they will be joined by the four fifth-placed Champions Cup teams.

The Challenge Cup and Champions Cup finals take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 24 and 25.

Sale Sharks reached their first Gallagher Premiership final for 17 years as they ended Leicester’s hopes of back-to-back titles with a 21-13 victory at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Alex Sanderson’s team will meet his former club Saracens at Twickenham on May 27 in pursuit of a Premiership crown that Sale last claimed when players like Jason Robinson, Charlie Hodgson and Sebastien Chabal ruled the roost.

After finishing 10 points above Leicester during the regular league season, Sale were pushed all the way by Tigers in an absorbing encounter.

Former Leicester fly-half George Ford played a key role in Leicester’s downfall, kicking three penalties and a conversion, while wings Tom Roebuck and Arron Reed claimed tries.

Sale overcame the sight of their captain Ben Curry being carried off injured, and they withstood a resilient Leicester effort that saw a try for wing Harry Potter, plus eight points from the boot of Jimmy Gopperth.

But Leicester will also curse themselves for twice ruining promising late attacking platforms through wayward kicks to touch that prevented attacking lineouts.

Sale showed five changes from their final regular season game against Newcastle, with Gus Warr, Simon McIntyre, Nick Schonert, Akker van der Merwe and Tom Curry all returning for the sold-out clash.

Leicester welcomed back the likes of Freddie Steward and Anthony Watson, but they suffered an injury blow when fly-half Handre Pollard was ruled out, being replaced by 39-year-old Gopperth.

The New Zealander missed a gilt-edged chance to put Leicester ahead when he drifted a close-range penalty wide, but he made amends three minutes later as Tigers moved in front.

Sale’s indiscipline surfaced early on, and Gopperth found his range again, this time from 48 metres to make it 6-0.

The game had a relentless pace to it, and it went up a gear when Sale found their rhythm, probing for gaps through adventurous running from Reed and full-back Joe Carpenter, while England centre Manu Tuilagi also made his presence felt.

Sale were a threat when they were able to put width on their possession, and Roebuck finished off a flowing move before Ford added a touchline conversion as Leicester fell behind.

The Sharks then suffered a major blow when Curry departed the action after suffering a suspected knee injury as Leicester attacked on Sale’s 22. He was replaced by Dan du Preez.

Curry received a standing ovation as he left the action, but he was soon able to watch from the sidelines, with Sharks exerting sustained pressure inside Tigers’ 22.

And Tigers’ cause was not helped when their England prop Dan Cole received a yellow card from Wayne Barnes following a high challenge on Van der Merwe.

Leicester then lost scrum-half Ben Youngs for a head injury assessment after he halted Sale centre Rob du Preez’s charge for the corner, and Tigers’ defence held firm, with Sale taking a 7-6 lead into half-time.

Youngs did not reappear for the second period – fellow England international Jack van Poortvliet took over from him – while Sanderson made early use of the replacements’ bench, sending on props Bevan Rodd and Coenie Oosthuizen.

A successful Ford penalty from just inside’s Leicester’s half opened up a four-point gap, yet the Tigers went back in front seven minutes later when centre Dan Kelly’s long pass sent Potter scampering over, with Gopperth converting.

A Ford penalty then tied the contest at 13-13 with 22 minutes left, and then he turned provider, creating space in midfield, and although his pass to Reed hit the ground, the wing finished brilliantly.

Reed was quickly at it again, breaking clear from inside his own half before firing the ball to replacement scrum-half Raffi Quirke, but the pass was rightly adjudged forward by Barnes.

Ford, who was a dominant figure during the closing quarter, then kicked a long-range penalty that left Tigers eight points behind as their title grip was prised away.

Alex Sanderson has described Sunday’s play-off clash against Leicester as “a game of grand magnitude” as Sale Sharks target a first Gallagher Premiership final appearance since 2006.

Sale beat Leicester 45-20 at Twickenham 17 years ago, helped on their way by 23 points from fly-half Charlie Hodgson, while captain Jason Robinson became the first player to win Grand Finals in both rugby codes.

The Sharks have featured in just one play-off occasion since that season, though, shipping 40 points against Exeter in 2021.

Standing in Sale’s way at a sold-out AJ Bell Stadium this weekend and a return to English rugby headquarters are the reigning Premiership champions.

When the clubs last met in Greater Manchester Sale ran out 40-5 winners, while Sharks finished second behind Saracens across the regular domestic season.

“Thankfully, this isn’t our first rodeo of recent times with this group,” Sale rugby director Sanderson said.

“We have learnt from two years ago how to manage these kind of moments better.

“It is a game of grand magnitude which we are looking to enjoy and embrace, not to be overwhelmed by. That is the challenge.

“Our excitement exists within this bubble. You don’t want to talk about the further reach because it can become overwhelming, as it did two years ago.

“You have to stick to process while being aware of the buzz around. It has been really, really busy around the ground and there is lots going on this weekend.

“We feel the support more than we ever have done. We have just got to come back to what has been working well for us, which is communicating well and training hard.”

It is difficult to under-estimate the drive that Sale have taken from their play-off loss against Exeter two years ago.

Had they beaten the Chiefs – also in Devon – during the final round of regular-season action a week earlier, then it could have secured a home semi-final.

Sanderson added: “We have been working towards it and building for this for two years, certainly since a year last Christmas when we realised we had a lot of work to do as an organisation.

“Since then, we have looked at how we can give ourselves these kind of opportunities.

“Now we are here, it feels like we have earned it. It’s less of a fairy-tale and there is less emotion around this occurrence than there was two years ago.

“We have referred back to the players, in particular seven or eight of them who have won the big trophies in the past, and how they have managed these weeks, how we can manage these moments better.

“It is a general understanding of how we deal with it, make sure it doesn’t change us, but be aware that it is there.”