Falkirk lose to Edinburgh City in narrow pre-season warm-up
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Times
an hour ago
- Times
Delacroix win must not just be glorious wave of racing's ebbing tide
Forgiveness can be beautiful, and in Delacroix and Ryan Moore's last-strides' victory over the favourite, Ombudsman, in this Eclipse Stakes at Sandown, desperately dramatic too. The last time we had seen the pair, they had started favourites for the Derby, but after being bumped around at the top of the hill, they trailed in a disappointing ninth. The irony of Saturday is that for a long while it looked as if they had got themselves impossibly trapped once again. After jumping out fast and securing a good position on the rail behind the French horse Sosie, and the Irish raider Hotazhell, Moore found himself imprisoned as Oisin Murphy and the hard-pulling Ruling Court came up his inside and then William Buick moved Ombudsman outside to block any escape. As Maxime Guyon set steady, full 12½-second sections on an ears-pricked Sosie up front, with all five rivals poised behind him, the analogy of a horse race as a high-speed version of an Agatha Christie crime mystery has never been more exact. All the possibles were in the dining room, we thought we knew their potential, but in 40 seconds rather than 200 pages, we would know the result. And for a long time, it looked the least expected. For while the chief suspect, Ombudsman, came up to lead at the quarter-mile pole, Delacroix had been denied every exit and was now on the outside and plum last. Some sharp soul snapped up 170-1 on the exchanges as last month's Derby flop set out for atonement. It looked impossible, but this is a talented horse, a master jockey, and of course the Sandown hill always takes a toll on the leaders. So Ombudsman clocked the last two furlongs in 11.93sec and 12.77sec while Delacroix closed sharply in 11.91sec and 12.39sec. The differences may seem innocuous on the page, but out on the still-green Sandown turf they made for a cheetah-like burst on a fleeing prey. Half a furlong out Delacroix could surely not do it, but as the post flashed towards them, Moore and he made certain of their kill. Ruling Court and the wrong headline maker, Murphy, ran on after a troubled passage to be a length and half away in third, just pipping Delacroix's stable-mate, Camille Pissarro, for third, with Hotazhell and Sosie completing the file. It was Moore's fifth win in the Eclipse and Aidan O'Brien's ninth, but a first success at group one level for Delacroix. He is a long way from the greatest Eclipse winners, but being by the super sire Dubawi out of the brilliant mare Tepin, he is one of the best bred. For Coolmore this is crucial, but for the racing game the thrill of this galloping mystery's solution is what mattered most. For this million-pound event was well worthy of the 150-year history which Sandown Park is celebrating this summer. But whether the course, or the sport, can maintain such a position is very much another question. The big stand, opened to much acclaim in 1973, is now showing its age, and the likelihood of the money being available for its refurbishment will recede even further into the distance if the government raises the 15 per cent tax on racing bets to the 21 per cent levied on totally dissimilar wagers on casino and slots. With the number of horses in training in decline, and betting in freefall because of the well-intentioned but dumbly implemented 'affordability checks', it is no exaggeration to say that racing in Britain faces an existential crisis. All this is easy to forget amid the glamour of Eclipse Day, so it's good to welcome a short video that beautifully captures the warmth at the heart of the game. Shot by Arena Racing it features the legendary hurdler Paisley Park and his heroic unsighted owner Andrew Gemmill, and all those associated with the horse in trainer Emma Lavelle's stable. It is entitled Thanks To The Thoroughbred, and the script features the lines of Ronald Duncan's famous An Ode to the Horse, spoken consecutively by everyone from owner to groom to box driver to vet. The poem starts with the great question: 'Where in the world can man find nobility without pride, friendship without envy, beauty without vanity?' Not always in Westminster, perhaps, but it is to be hoped that our legislators might take note of how much the thoroughbred game can still give. If they don't, what Delacroix did at Sandown would just be a glorious wave of an ebbing tide.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Wimbledon briefing: Saturday recap and order of play on a big day for Britain
Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner continued on their semi-final collision course with routine wins at Wimbledon on Saturday. Attention turns back to British hopes on Sunday, with Sonay Kartal and Cameron Norrie both targeting a quarter-final berth. Here, the PA news agency looks back at Saturdays's action and previews day seven of the Championships. Djokovic's ton Novak Djokovic brought up a century of Wimbledon wins as he moved smoothly into the fourth round. The 38-year-old eased past fellow Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3 6-0 6-4 on Centre Court. Djokovic is now just five wins behind Wimbledon's only other male centurion, his great rival Roger Federer on 105 match victories. 'Very historic, it sounds very nice,' he said. 'Wimbledon is a favourite tournament, not just for myself but for most players. Any history I make at my favourite tournament, I'm blessed.' Sinner sails through Jannik Sinner continued to navigate a serene course through the choppy waters of Wimbledon with another straight-sets win. Pedro Martinez was his latest victim, the Spanish world number 52 – who was carrying a shoulder injury – winning just five games in a 6-1 6-3 6-1 defeat on Centre Court. In reaching the fourth round, the 23-year-old Italian has dropped only 17 games from his three matches. Roger Federer previously held the record for the least games lost in the first three rounds at Wimbledon, 19 in 2004. Brit watch The last home singles players standing are the British number threes. Sonay Kartal's best grand slam result has already been secured and she will now look to become the first home female player to reach the last eight since Johanna Konta in 2019 – and only the second since 1984 – when she takes on Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Cameron Norrie has been here before and the 2022 semi-finalist faces Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry on Court One – where Norrie enjoys an 8-1 record. Match of the day Carlos Alcaraz has not looked at his imperious best on his way to the last 16. But the defending champion will have to find a higher level on Sunday against the dangerous Russian Andrey Rublev. Rublev has won one of their previous three meetings – on the clay in Madrid last year – and has powered his way through to the fourth round at Wimbledon for the third time. Alcaraz could be in for a tricky evening on Centre Court. Order of play Centre Court (from 1.30pm) Sonay Kartal v Anastasia PavlyuchenkovaAryna Sabalenka (1) v Elise Mertens (24)Carlos Alcaraz (2) v Andrey Rublev (14) Court One (from 1pm) Taylor Fritz (5) v Jordan ThompsonCameron Norrie v Nicolas Jarry (Q)Amanda Anisimova (13) v Linda Noskova (30) Weather Cloudy changing to light showers by late morning, with a maximum temperature of 24C, according to the Met Office.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Ben Shelton overpowers Fucsovics to equal best Wimbledon run
As a statement of intent, Ben Shelton's opening service game on Saturday was quite something. His first serve thundered through at 145mph; on the third point, he upped it to 146mph and on the fifth, he bashed one down at 147mph. If Marton Fucsovics had picked up his rackets there and then and left the court, people would surely have understood. As it was, the Hungarian, ranked 105 having dropped from a high of No 31 in 2019, battled hard to compete but Shelton was a man on a mission, his 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory putting him through to the last 16, equalling his previous Wimbledon best. A hammer of a forehand gave Shelton the first break for 3-1 in the opener and when Fucsovics had the temerity to force a break-back point in the next game, he slammed down a serve at 148mph. That would have equalled the fastest-ever serve at Wimbledon had Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard not raised it to 153mph earlier this week. 'I had a lot of fun,' Shelton said. 'It's always special playing at Wimbledon. This is my third time playing on Court No 1. Hopefully I get a few more matches on one of these two big courts. I'm trying to make my way to Centre Court. Maybe I'll get there one day.' If he keeps playing this well, that's an inevitability. Though the second set was tight all the way through, Shelton pulled away to take the tie-break 7-4 and an early break in the third set him on his way. As his powerful all-court game flowed, he raced to a 5-1 lead and though Fucsovics got one break back, the left-hander broke again to clinch a convincing victory that sets up a clash with Lorenzo Sonego of Italy. 'He's a great player,' Shelton said of the Italian. 'I played him tight in Australia this year, I played him tight in Roland Garros so it's only fitting we do it in Wimbledon. Grass is a good surface for him, it'll be difficult, but I like my chances right now, the way I'm playing, the way the crowd is helping with my energy.' Sonego will need to find some energy somewhere after he edged out Brandon Nakashima 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (3) in five hours and four minutes, the longest match of the tournament this year. The Italian won 45 of his 76 points at the net as he matched his previous best performance here. This time last year, Alex de Minaur was due to face Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals only to withdraw before the match because of a hip injury that disrupted the rest of his year. On Saturday, the Australian ensured he will get another crack at the seven-time champion as he ended the run of the unheralded Dane August Holmgren 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion 'It's funny how life works,' De Minaur said. 'Here we are a year later, and I'm going to get that match-up. It is a round earlier. It was a brutal time for me last year having to deal with all of those emotions. But here we are a year later feeling good, ready to go, and I'm going to get my chance again. So I'm excited for that.' Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov captured his 100th grand slam singles win, beating Sebastian Ofner of Austria 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (0) to reach the fourth round for the third year in a row, a performance that earned him a shot at Jannik Sinner, the top seed. Another Italian, Flavio Cobolli, reached the last 16 of a slam for the first time thanks to a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win over the Czech Jakub Mensik and the veteran Croat Marin Cilic followed up his surprise win over Britain's Jack Draper by beating Jaume Munar of Spain 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the fourth round of a slam for the first time since 2022.
