‘Banker material' Aidan O'Brien horse banned from Royal Ascot backed off the boards for next race
Two-year-old colt Italy is all the rage for Saturday's Superlative Stakes at Newmarket.
1
Italy was hugely impressive when overcoming inexperience to score at 4-9 on debut at Leopardstown in May.
Those who watched said at the time they were confident the horse 'wins wherever he goes' next time out.
The form has been boosted massively too, with 16-1 runner-up Thesecretadversary finishing second in the Chesham at Royal Ascot.
Italy was blocked from running in that race because it is only for two-year-olds whose sire won over 10f.
Italy, who cost 200,000 guineas and is by Wootton Basset out of a sister to O'Brien's Derby winner Serpentine, hasn't run since his awesome debut.
But he is all set to tear up the Superlative - and follow in the hoofsteps of former O'Brien superstars City Of Troy and Gustav Klimt.
O'Brien said Moore doesn't make his mind up on who he will ride until five minutes before the cut-off time of 1pm.
But in an unusual move, Moore has already been jocked up on Italy for the 7f Group 2.
It is a particularly interesting development because O'Brien also has £350,000 Dorset in the race too - although he is unlikely to run.
Bookies initially went 11-10 Italy but he has been backed off the boards since and is now as short as 8-13.
Italy is already 12-1 favourite for next year's Derby but that price could collapse if he demolishes rivals this weekend.
Godolphin's No1 trainer Charlie Appleby has fired some good ones at the Superlative in recent years as well.
Former champion two-year-old and Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Native Trail and Breeders' Cup Mile winner Master Of The Seas are among the winners.
He is set to run Saba Desert this year - a winner at Sandown on debut last month.
But the son of Dubawi out of a Sea The Stars mare is nowhere near as strong in the market as Italy.
Speaking after his first run, O'Brien was clearly trying to temper expectations but couldn't hide his delight.
He said: "He won his maiden very well at Leopardstown and he is a colt that we always liked at home.
"We have been happy with him since then.
'He was green when he ran at Leopardstown, but we liked him before the race, and he will improve again from that. I was more than happy with the performance.
'The form has been given a boost as the runner-up put in a good solid run to finish second last time out in the Chesham at Ascot."
.
Remember to gamble responsibly
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
5 minutes ago
- The Independent
Liam Dawson to make England Test return in place of injured Shoaib Bashir
Liam Dawson will make his first Test appearance in eight years in place of the injured Shoaib Bashir as England look to seal a series win over India at Emirates Old Trafford. The 35-year-old played the last of his three Tests in July 2017, but he has been a star performer on the County Championship circuit with Hampshire and amassed 49 wickets in 2023 and a further 53 in 2024. He had drifted out of England's red and white-ball contention in recent years, but Bashir breaking a finger on his non-bowling hand in the 22-run win at Lord's last week opened the door for Dawson. England have now confirmed their XI, as is now customary, two days out from the fourth Test and Dawson coming in for Bashir is the only change, with Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse retained. As well as being a shrewd left-arm spinner, Dawson, who returned to England's T20 side in their win over the West Indies last month, has 18 first-class hundreds and is a renowned as a fine fielder. Harry Brook said: '(Dawson) is a wily, old fox, very experienced and a very skilful cricketer. He's played everywhere, played against everyone so hopefully he can have an amazing performance this week. 'He's willing to always fight for the team, he's very competitive and it's good to have him here.'
The Guardian
6 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Soccer has changed, but the drama and dynamics of penalties remain
England's victory over Sweden at the women's Euros came after one of the worst penalty shootouts in history (or at least, worst in terms of how many penalties were missed; in terms of drama, it was arguably one of the greatest ever). Of the 14 penalties taken, only five were scored. That led, predictably, to the usual tedious criticism of the women's game and suggestions that the penalty spot should be moved closer to the goal. Which is, of course, nonsense. Four of the five penalties that were scored were excellent, hit firmly into the corners, and the other, the kick that turned out to be the winner, was smashed sensibly and without fuss, straight down the middle by Lucy Bronze as the goalkeeper Jennifer Falk dived out of the way. Two nights later, as Germany beat France in a shootout, 12 of the 14 penalties were scored. In the Women's Super League last season, 90.32% of penalties were converted. Nobody has used those examples to suggest moving the penalty spot further away to give goalkeepers more of a chance. Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson Jonathan Wilson brings expert analysis on the biggest stories from European soccer after newsletter promotion It is one of the great fascinations of soccer that, since penalties were introduced in 1891, the spot has remained 12 yards from goal as the size and shape of the penalty area has changed. It turns out that being one-and-a-half times further from the goal than the distance between the posts creates a scenario that feels fair and has a remarkable balance. That may in part be the result of familiarity, but at almost every level of the game in the 135 years since, roughly three-quarters of penalties have been scored. That is to say, the contest between striker and goalkeeper remained constant – a relative lack of power in the striker at junior level, for instance, matched by a lack of size in the goalkeeper. Before the Germany v France shootout on Saturday, only 12 of 29 penalties had been scored at the Euros – 41.38%. After the shootout, that percentage had risen to 57.14%. With small datasets there's always a danger of interpreting random variations as patterns, but it did seem that panic had set in. Even before the high tension of England against Sweden, Norway's former Ballon d'Or winner Ada Hegerberg had missed two penalties in the tournament, including, critically, in her country's quarter-final defeat to Italy. That, perhaps, was enough to plant a seed of doubt, which blossomed in England and Sweden's shootout, when both sides suffered a collective loss of nerve. Anxiety is contagious and far from unknown in penalty shootouts: it happened, for instance, to Barcelona as they missed four out of four in a shootout against Steaua Bucharest in the 1986 European Cup final, and to Manchester United as they missed four out of five against Sunderland in the 2014 League Cup semi-final. The England-Sweden contagion then seemed to escape the confines of its own shootout, as Spain missed two penalties in beating Switzerland on Friday and Germany missed a penalty against France in the 90 minutes. The shootout is perhaps the area of soccer in which psychology matters most. In the 2006 World Cup, Germany's goalkeeper Jens Lehmann made great play of consulting notes he had scribbled on hotel notepaper and hidden in his sock before each Argentina penalty in the quarter-final. It turned out that, of the seven players he had jotted down, only two actually took penalties, but the belief he had specific knowledge was enough to unnerve Argentina, who lost the shootout 4–2. Goalkeepers increasingly have data to help inform their decisions. Germany's keeper on Sunday, Ann-Katrin Berger, had notes taped to her water bottle. On TV, the names of only two French players were clearly visible: Amel Majri and Alice Sombath. In both cases, Berger was advised to dive left. She did and on each occasion saved the kick. Given Berger's notes were shown clearly several minutes before the end of normal time, could somebody have informed the French staff who could then have passed on the message for at least some of their takers to change plan? Or would asking a player to vary from their preferred method of conversion itself make them more likely to miss? That's part of the glorious game theory of penalties. At the moment, it feels like an arms race. VAR set goalkeepers back for a time, denying them the skip forward they habitually took as the penalty was taken. But goalkeepers have now worked out how to advance with one foot, the other remaining in contact with the goalline. As strikers have learned how to stagger their run to wait for the keeper to move first, so keepers have more data and can predict such subterfuge. In the Premier League last season, 83.13% of penalties were converted, which is on the high side historically, but actually a drop of just over 6% from the previous season. The season before that, only 74.75% were scored. In fact, what is striking when looking at penalty conversion rates over the past three decades is how little pattern there is – from a low of 65.75% in 2001–02 to the high of the season before last, and all points in between. Penalties are missed, penalties are scored, the taker's cause is developed, and then the keeper's, and sometimes panic sets in, yet somehow the proportion of penalties scored largely remains at 75-80%. Balance remains. This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@ and he'll answer the best in a future edition.
The Guardian
6 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Marcus Rashford and the Manchester United transfer boffins
The transfer boffins at Manchester United didn't have a great record last summer when it came to the club's departures. Scott McTominay was deemed not good enough for Ruben Amorim's squad, sold for around half of Manuel Ugarte's fee, and went on to win Serie A Footballer of the Year, leading Napoli to a historic Scudetto. Antony couldn't trap a beanbag in the first half of the season, registering one goal (a penalty in a 7-0 Fizzy Cup win over Barnsley in September) and no assists in the first five months of the campaign in United colours, yet went on to be one of the standout players in La Liga in the second half on loan at Real Betis, scoring nine goals, registering five assists and helping the Seville side reach a European final. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, now of West Ham, was crowned last season's Hammer of the Year for his performances at right back, and despite being named United's Under-23 Player of the Year in 2022, Álvaro Carreras departed Old Trafford for Benfica last summer for just £5m without making a first-team appearance, despite the club desperately needing a good, fit left-back. Make that make sense. This is the same Álvaro Carreras who, this summer, is now worth £43m after signing with Real Madrid to become their first-choice left back. Another player deemed unsuitable for a team that finished 15th in the Premier League but seemingly good enough for a Spanish superclub is Marcus Rashford, who is next on the gilded conveyor belt out of Old Trafford's door marked 'Do One', with the 27-year-old currently in Barcelona finalising a loan (with option to buy) deal with the Spanish champions. Just why Rashford would want to swap Manchester for Catalonia and play on the left wing of an attack that also numbers Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha is anyone's guess, although Ruben Amorim's very public declaration he would rather play a 63-year-old goalkeeping coach over the England international earlier this year is probably quite a good place to start. Recent history tells us – and hopefully the transfer gurus behind each and every one of the above transfer blunders – that Rashford might not be the problem but rather, the club's seemingly unquenchable desire to be a lurching behemoth of a bin fire. Football Daily isn't an expert (in anything, really) but might suggest to Big Sir Jim and his lieutenants that falling out and ostracising the club's best young, home-grown talent probably isn't the best way to get Manchester United back on track. It feels a whole lot more likely that Rashford will have a brilliant season with Barcelona than Manchester United having a brilliant season without him. Sure, Rashford as the 2026 Ballon d'Or winner does seem like a bit of a stretch at this point, but then again, 12 months ago, we didn't expect to see McTominay crowned as the new king of the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. Good luck, Marcus! Representing our country is the greatest honour. It is not right that while we are doing that, some of us are treated differently simply because of the colour of our skin. Until now, we have chosen to take the knee before matches. It is clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism. We have agreed as a squad to remain standing before kick‑off on Tuesday. Those behind this online poison must be held accountable' – England's players release a joint statement to show solidarity with Jess Carter, who revealed that she has been subjected to racial abuse online during the Euros in Switzerland. I am glad that Mike Walsh and Stuart Maconie ((Friday's letters) have definitively answered the question of where the north of England starts and am confident that is the end of the matter' – Bryan Paisley. You can cite Howlin Studs Maconie all you want, Mike, but though he may have coined the phrase 'Britpop', he also claimed Bob Holness played the saxophone solo on Baker Street. The north starts at Sheffield, indisputably, as did football, also undisputedly. (I'd love to say this is the one thing Noble will agree with me on, but he'd probably email in and say it's bloody Woodhall, or something)' – Jon Millard. So it's really come down to this has it then? Literary choices from a footballer copying their look from John Oates circa 1981. How long till the Premier League starts again?' – Noble Francis. Julien Stéphan has said that the Championship is the most difficult league in the world. Could the grownups decide once and for all? This is all too confusing' – Krishna Moorthy. The mural of Big Sam and his mountain of chips is fine (Sam's Town – Friday's full email edition). But what we all want to see is an artist's rendering of him downing that infamous pint of wine. Larger than life' – Mike Wilner. If you have any, please send letters to Today's winner of our prizeless letter o' the day is … Mike Wilner. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here. Max Rushden is joined by Lucy Ward, Jonathan Wilson and Philippe Auclair in the latest Football Weekly podcast to discuss the Euros and unwanted Manchester United players. Paul Gascoigne is in hospital after reportedly being found semi-conscious in his bedroom at home in Poole, Dorset. His condition is described as stable. Mikel Arteta says he is '100%' confident Arsenal followed the correct processes in dealing with Thomas Partey, who was charged this month with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. Good news for England's Lionesses: Leah Williamson trained on Monday before Tuesday's semi-final against Italy. The captain was forced off with ankle-knack in the quarter-final with Sweden. Liverpool are to take their summer spending to almost £300m after agreeing to pay £69m plus £10m in add-ons for the Eintracht Frankfurt hotshot Hugo Ekitike. Elsewhere in transfer land, Nottingham Forest are working on a deal to sign Dan Ndoye from Bologna as they seek a replacement for the departed Anthony Elanga. And James McAtee, who Manchester City somewhat cheekily value at £35m, is another option for the Big Vase side. And this will give you all the good feels. A fan travelled 5,000 miles from Kolkata to see Lincolnshire team Brigg Town play a friendly against Hull Utd after becoming an avid online follower during the Covid pandemic. 'I have always had a fascination with non-league football in England,' cheered Rohan Chowdury. '[Football] brings people together and makes the world a much smaller place.' Oscar Wilde believed the most frightening words in the English language are 'I had a very interesting dream last night'. In the year 2025, yet scarier are '[insert player here] is in my fantasy team', 'I've double-captained [insert player here]' and various other dreaded phrases to make proper football people shudder. Still, for many, including some who read venerable daily emails, fantasy football is a good thing. There has, though, been a disturbance in the force after official Fantasy Premier League rules changes for the new season were announced. Social media disgraces groaned all weekend about various amendments to bonus points, the location of goalkeeping saves, and goal-line clearances now being worth three times as much. Seismic stuff, though the biggest fuss has come because 'managers' 'will be given extra free transfers in Gameweek 16 to help plan around this season's Africa Cup of Nations'. Sam Allardyce and Jamie Carragher would doubtless approve. What that means in practice is that everyone picks Mo Salah then swaps him out in Gameweek 16. 'FPL is about planning for situations like this – not getting it gifted to you,' raged a leading FPL YouTuber among many similar fresh and funky complaints. The imaginary game's gone, Clive. The Euro 2025 semi-finals are upon us. So, here are Sophie Downey's power rankings. It's definitely worth revisiting Saturday night's quarter-final between Germany and France. Jonathan Liew has been talking about that save from Ann-Katrin Berger. On the domestic front, David Hytner was at the – checks notes – Select Car Leasing Stadium as the Thomas Frank era got under way at Tottenham. Julien Stéphan is the new man at the helm at QPR. Ed Aarons has been getting to know the Frenchman a bit better. And here's Jonathan Wilson's breakdown of the summer transfer window includes references to Frankenstein and the World Cup draw you'll be glad to hear. 14 August 2006: Andriy Shevchenko, ripped jeans and all, gets his pose on in front of the houses of parliament shortly after joining Chelsea. Good to see the sun was out for the occasion.
