
Robin Goodfellow's racing tips: Best bets for Monday, June 9
Brighton
Robin Goodfellow
2.25 Pop Dancer (nb)
2.57 Dazzling Haze
3.30 Irezumi
4.02 Blenheim Star
4.32 Bint Havana Gold
5.03 KRANJCAR (nap)
Gimcrack
2.25 Rebel Star
2.57 London Boy
3.30 Irezumi
4.02 Cuban Girl
4.32 Zu Run
5.03 Kranjcar
Pontefract
Robin Goodfellow
5.15 Protest Rally
5.45 Lily Pearl
6.20 Perfectly Timed
6.50 Quercus Robur
7.20 Casilli
7.50 Little Tiger
8.20 Willolarupi
8.50 Profiteer
Gimcrack
5.15 Ancient Times (nb)
5.45 Just A Girl
6.20 Lady La Fay
6.50 Captain Potter
7.20 Distinction
7.50 Little Tiger
8.20 Willolarupi
8.50 Red Mirage
NORTHERNER – 5.45 LILY PEARL (nap); 8.20 Sir Maxi (nb).
Southwell
Windsor
Robin Goodfellow
5.30 Hk Fourteen
6.00 Bella Lyra
6.30 Nahraan
7.00 Regal Envoy
7.30 Beauty Beyond
8.00 Accentuate
8.30 Boy George
9.00 Bay Of Dreams
Gimcrack
5.30 Hk Fourteen
6.00 Country Artiste
6.30 Nahraan
7.00 ADRESTIA (nap)
7.30 Magical Idea
8.00 Dissident
8.30 Mrembo
9.00 Girls Night Out
NEWMARKET – 6.30 NAHRAAN (nap); 7.00 Miraculous (nb).
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BBC News
28 minutes ago
- BBC News
Piastri wins rain-delayed Belgian GP after Norris overtake
Oscar Piastri passed McLaren team-mate Lando Norris on the first racing lap of a wet-dry Belgian Grand Prix to take his sixth victory of the year and extend his championship Australian swept past Norris as the race started after an hour-and-a-half delay for heavy rain and two laps behind the safety car and controlled the race from side of the McLaren team chose a divergent tyre strategy when the drivers pitted to switch to slick, dry-weather tyres as the track hope was that Norris would be able to go to the end on the hard tyres chosen while Piastri, who stopped one lap earlier, would have to make a pit stop for a second set of his Piastri, despite expressing initial misgivings about whether his rubber would last, made it to the end without stopping impressive win, mixing keen racing instinct with calm tyre management, moves him 16 points clear in the championship heading to the Hungarian Grand Prix next Charles Leclerc hung on ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the tricky opening laps on a wet track despite using a lower-downforce set-up, and was able to consolidate the final podium place in the dry part of the took fourth in a largely static race and is now 81 points behind Piastri in the championship, his hopes all but George Russell took fifth after passing Williams' Alex Albon in the wet early stages, while Lewis Hamilton drove an excellent race to take seventh from his pit lane start. Another decisive move from Piastri Piastri sealed his win with a trademark committed, decisive move on Norris when the conditions were at their most treacherous when the race finally original start was abandoned because of heavy rain and poor visibility after formation lap behind the safety drivers then sat in the pit lane for an hour and 20 minutes, followed by four laps behind the safety car before the race was finally allowed to start 90 minutes later than tracked Norris closely through the first corner and through the high-speed swerves at East Rouge before diving around the outside into the les Combes chicane at the end of the long Kemmel complained over the radio that he was down on battery power, but was told he had used it up at the start behind the safety after the race he admitted that Piastri had simply done a better first lap by pushing harder through Eau Rouge, where in the wet drivers have to choose how much to lift off, when it is flat in the dry."Oscar did a good job, nothing more to say," Norris said. "Committed a bit more through Eau Rouge and had the slipstream and got the run and that was it. Love to be up top but Oscar deserved it today."Piastri said: "I knew that lap one was going to be probably my best chance of winning the race."I got a good exit out of Turn One and then lifted as little as ai dared through Eau Rouge and it worked out pretty well. We had it mostly under control after that."I was a bit disappointed it was a rolling start because I thought that would take away some opportunity but when I was that close I knew I was going to lift a little bit less than Lando did. A bit lively over the hill but then the slipstream helped me out."Once in front, Piastri inched away in the lead until he was just under two seconds in front when he chose to stop for slick tyres on lap 12, his position in front giving him priority on stop timing and forcing Norris into a difficult fitted the medium tyres while Norris had to do an extra lap on a drying track on highly worn intermediate engineer asked him if he would like hard tyres and try to run to the end, a decision Norris agreed with, and he rejoined 9.1 seconds back from Piastri after his around lap 20, Piastri told his engineer that he thought it would be "tough" to get his intermediates to the end but for a long time he held the lead at about eight seconds or so, and it slowly became apparent that he had decided not to stop the final few laps, Norris began to make significant inroads into Piastri's lead, and was within four seconds of the leader with three laps to Piastri managed the gap expertly to win by 3.4 the leaders, the drivers were stuck in their positions after the pit stops, even if there was some tension for Leclerc as Verstappen pushed him hard in the closing of the excitement in the race was provided by Hamilton. The seven-time champion started from the pit lane after Ferrari decided to change his set-up after his error in exceeding track limits in qualifying left him down in 16th on the Hamilton justified the decision with a series of excellent, improvisational overtaking moves to move up to 13th place before becoming the first driver to stop for slicks on lap 11, one before won him a chunk more places, and Hamilton was promoted to seventh by the pit-stop period, which he held to the end of the closed to within a second of Albon on the final lap but was unable to pass.


The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Oscar Piastri eases away from Norris to win rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix
Oscar Piastri won the Belgian Grand Prix with a dominant drive at Spa for McLaren, comfortably beating his teammate Lando Norris into second and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc into third. Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull in the team's first race without their recently dismissed team principal Christin Horner, while Lewis Hamilton made the most of the changeable, wet-dry conditions to move from 18th on the grid to finish seventh. After a delayed start of almost an hour and a half due to heavy rain in the Ardennes mountains, when racing finally began in earnest Piastri pounced to take the lead from Norris with an opportunistic and decisive move into Les Combes. Having hit the front he was absolutely relentless in grinding out a victory and even a counter-tyre strategy from Norris could not bring him quite back into contention. The victory was another combative statement of intent from Piastri, demonstrating that even when he is on the back foot he retains a steely determination. He was outpaced in qualifying by Norris, but once he had retaken the lead from second on the grid he was in assured control from the front, with the same measured, calm confidence that is almost disarming as it becomes ominously clear to his rivals that the 24-year-old Australian has all the traits of a world champion in waiting. Piastri was untouchable to take his sixth win from 13 races this season. No other driver has come close to matching his consistency and a season that began in Australia with a win for Norris has since been bossed by Piastri, who has laid down another marker that it will be remarkably hard to pass him this season. He leads Norris by 16 points with 11 meetings to go in a fight increasingly looking like it will go down to the wire. With rain having swept across the circuit on and off all day, another deluge began just before the start and the race was delayed after one formation lap, because of the poor visibility caused by the spray. The cars returned to the pit lane for over an hour as the rain eased. At 4.20pm the race officially began with the field circulating behind the safety car for the opening four laps, before they were finally let off the leash in a rolling start. Norris led them away and just held his lead from Piastri but the Australian was charging, right on his tail through Eau Rouge and, enjoying a slipstream on the Kemmel straight, he took the lead into Les Combes. It was the decisive moment as Leclerc and Verstappen followed them through in third and fourth. Hamilton, who had taken a new power unit and was thus starting from the pit lane was able to set his car up for the wet conditions and moved swiftly up to 13th by lap 10, with a series of decisive passes, including three cars in one lap. He then took a chance on an early stop for slick tyres as the track dried on lap 12, the first driver to do so and he emerged in 17th but his instincts were spot on. Piastri duly followed him into the pits a lap later as did Verstappen and Leclerc, all for the medium rubber, while Norris had to stay out for the extra lap and he opted to take the hard tyre in an effort to make it to the end without another stop. It was the slower compound but more durable. Hamilton had made great gains with his early stop and the quick laps that immediately followed on slicks and as the stops played out he had moved up to seventh. McLaren informed Norris that Piastri too was going to try and reach the flag on the medium tyres but would have to ease his pace to do so. Piastri maintained an eight-second lead as the race settled into what was very much a procession as the laps came down, the only real jeopardy over whether the medium rubber would make the finish. Piastri duly eased his tyres on, however, and was comfortable as heapproached the end. Norris did close the gap down to five seconds and he pushed hard but a couple of minor errors at La Source and Pouhon cost him and the Australian remained in control to the flag for another consummate win. 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 George Russell was fifth for Mercedes, Alex Albon sixth for Williams, Liam Lawson eighth for Racing Bulls, Gabriel Bortoleto ninth for Sauber and Pierre Gasly 10th for Alpine.


The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘I spent a month sleeping in a cupboard': comedians on the true cost of the Fringe
Fringe festivals have always been cash guzzlers, not only for punters but for the performers, whose show costs far outstrip their earnings – and that's not including the money needed to eat, drink and find somewhere to crash. This is just how fringe festivals work. The performers have to pay to book their own venues, and rely on ticket sales to claw back their investment, all in a highly competitive market, with tickets for hundreds of shows a night going on sale. Spiralling costs certainly make performing at fringe festivals seem elitist. But are they really only vanity projects for middle-class comedians bankrolled by their savings, or worse still, the bank of Mum and Dad? Or is living on a diet of Pot Noodles and top-and-tailing with a total stranger all part of the charm? In solidarity with these increasingly cash-strapped performers, I had initially wanted to go to Edinburgh to see if I could attend the world's largest fringe festival without spending a single penny. Unfortunately, things I don't understand, such as 'production times', 'print deadlines' and, erm, 'the passage of time' mean it's not possible for me to attend this year's Edinburgh and have the piece published before it starts. So instead, to test the waters, I've been instructed to head to the Brighton fringe (which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year) with no money to see how long I can survive. I'll also meet working comedians there, who will tell me all about the realities of putting on a show. As for me: although I'm obviously hilarious on paper, I've got no experience as a standup comic, so I'm never going to make any money telling jokes. But can I earn a day's wage handing out flyers and helping out comedians with their day-to-day? I'm about to find out … If you've never been to Brighton, let me sum it up in a word: hilly. I walk (thankfully downhill) past a variety of cafes offering croissants, cakes and full Englishes that make me drool like Homer Simpson. But with no money, I can't even afford a sausage roll from Greggs. I'm stopping at the Theatre Royal to meet the fringe crew and ask them about the difference between a festival and a fringe festival. Brighton fringe and Brighton festival take place at the same time, and it's the same in Edinburgh. I also wonder if they'll have any biscuits. 'A fringe festival means we are an open-access festival, so anyone can take part,' says Brighton fringe festival director Amy Keogh over tea, but disappointingly no Rich Tea. 'We have 819 different shows this year. We don't curate, programme or commission. People have complete creative freedom. Brighton fringe is a charity, so we're not profiting in any way.' 'The fringe attracts up-and-coming comedians trying out new material, but they have to pay to hire the venues. It's a bottom-up approach,' explains Brighton arts marketer Caz Slota. 'The festival operates a more traditional top-down approach, where the venues book established acts and pay them in advance.' Brighton fringe coordinator Sarah French adds: 'We offer bursaries and the option to pay in instalments. We want to create a space where people can be creative and experimental.' The Brighton fringe gang have kindly lined up some comedians to talk to me about the least funny subject of all time: money. I take a seat at the back of the theatre to begin my comedian speed dating, while secretly hoping one of them will take pity on me and buy me a packet of peanuts. Ollie Yates, 28, works as a tree surgeon and is staying with their parents a 30-minute cycle away. Their show, Everyone's Dating Ollie, uses clowning to explore 'how ridiculous polyamory is in the world of modern dating'. 'I was lucky enough to win a £120 bursary,' they say. 'The venue costs £25 a night. I'm doing eight shows. With food, I might just about break even. I'm just here to see what happens.' 'I do this purely for the fun,' says Brad Jon Kane, who lives in nearby Hove and works as a pastry chef. He describes his show, Please Slow Down, as 'a series of slow, low-energy characters, like a cowboy vicar, a mime act and a substitute teacher. The shows are free, then I offer an optional bucket,' he says. 'Once I become a bit more of a name, I'll probably start charging. But I just love a good crowd.' Brighton-based cabaret act Pearl & Dean, both in their early 50s, met at teacher training college. 'The tradition of camp nonsense harks back to when gay people couldn't be out in the 70s. Like our costumes, our marriage is very much lavender,' Marsha Dean says. Their All Aboard! evening has won best new show at this year's Brighton. Even though it's a sellout, they only expect to break even. Unlike Ollie and Brad, Pearl & Dean will also be performing at Edinburgh this year. 'Back in 1994, I took out my third student loan to do Edinburgh,' Peter Pearl remembers. 'I spent £3,000 on accommodation, venue hire, food, travel and publicity, but still had an absolute ball.' With my stomach rumbling, I wonder if there's an ingenious way to make a quick buck flyering at Brighton. Flyering is discouraged for environmental reasons, but it's permitted here in the SpiegelGardens performance venue, where they sell drinks and – yes – food. I head over with my new comedian friends to meet Brighton-based 49-year-old NHS drag performer Sister Brandy Bex, who describes her show as 'a daft, chaotic, comedy cabaret' and has agreed to employ me to flyer on a zero hours, paid-by-performance contract. 'Brighton fringe is the best,' she says, handing me her sandwich board, which disappointingly has no actual sandwiches. 'I take four weeks off work and get totally involved. I did a comedy course during the pandemic and thought: wouldn't it be good to have a nurse character and take the piss out of the NHS?' By day, Bex works as a nurse. But performing at Brighton doesn't come cheap. 'I have to pay the other performers in my cabaret,' she says. 'The year before last, I lost £1,600. Last year, I lost a grand. This year I'll lose maybe £200. So I'm doing better every year.' Back to my flyering job, I ask what exactly I'll have to do. 'Flyering is great for chatting to people,' she continues. A bursary helped pay for her 2,000 flyers. Unfortunately, I'm not great at chatting to people. I'm also so hungry that I skive off to tuck into some pizza crusts I find on a paper plate in the bin. I get busted. It's a case for instant dismissal. Revel Puck Circus have their own tent at Brighton (and also at this year's Edinburgh), featuring 'high-wire walkers, teeterboarders, daring aerial skill and the only female wheel of death in the UK'. Crikey. 'We've got the tent and the props, but the real wow factor comes with the heartwarming moments, like when I get to fly over the audience' says French-Canadian acrobat Arielle. 'Everyone is just so friendly and natural,' adds fellow aerialist Imani from London. 'So we do our best to spread the love.' The circus tours six months of the year, so unlike the comedians I've spoken to, performers such as Arielle and Imani enjoy full-time employment on a proper salary. I've always secretly fancied running away with the circus, but as I'm strapped into a harness and winched into the air to see if I'd make a good acrobat, I'm not sure I've got the head for heights. I spend the rest of the day seeing what else Brighton has to offer: a couple of loose chips on a tray in McDonald's and a bowl of discarded onion rings in Wetherspoons. Ollie Yates kindly puts me on the guest list to their show, but I feel guilty I can't even afford the £10 ticket. Defeated, I take the train home, and think about what a nice vibe Brighton has. Bursaries help with the costs, and everyone helps each other out – something, I'm told, that happens far less in the competitive climate of Edinburgh. My rubbish experiment may be over, but I'm already beginning to understand the financial difficulties comedians face at fringe festivals. No one I spoke to expected to walk away with a profit – simply breaking even seems rare. Brighton tends to attract local comedians, saving them the need to rent somewhere to stay, but spiralling accommodation costs at Edinburgh risks alienating all but the richest comics, as I find out when I chat to comedians performing at this year's fringe. Matt Forde, who brings his show, Defying Calamity, to Edinburgh in August, recently gave evidence in parliament about how hard it is for working-class comedians to break into comedy. 'The reason why Edinburgh is so important, as opposed to, say, Camden, Brighton, Glasgow or Leicester, is that people from all over the world can put on a show and be discovered,' he tells me. 'It has the potential to make careers, but it's so expensive it's not just the working-class comedians who are getting shut out – so are middle-class comedians. If you don't intervene financially, Edinburgh is just going to become more elitist. Then comedy on telly becomes more elitist.' 'The trickiest part is striking a balance between trying to save money and remembering you have to live,' says Glenn Moore, who is bringing his show, Please Sir, Glenn I Have Some Moore?, to Edinburgh. 'I once spent the month sleeping in a cupboard. Another time, I stayed with 15 other people in a three-bedroom flat, sharing a bed with two of them, with about an inch of free space. One of my bed pals was someone I'd never met and haven't seen since.' 'This will be my first time in Scotland,' says US comic Zainab Johnson, who brings her show, Toxically Optimistic, to Edinburgh. 'I searched Airbnb. Flats were listed for over £8,000. I hadn't even looked for flights. As a vegan, I was also warned that I might not enjoy the food. As my show is called Toxically Optimistic, instead of focusing on the negatives, I'm going to lean into the positives. I'll get to see a beautiful country I've never been to. As a black Muslim woman, I look forward to hopefully making people laugh who look nothing like me. If there's no good food, that at least cuts my expenses.' 'My first fringe, I was in my early 20s and properly broke,' says Kate Dolan, set to perform her show The Critic. 'I was in a puppet show. We stayed in a flat, an hour's bus journey away. I shared a bed with another woman, the lads were on the floor, and the puppets had their own room. I'm still a bit of a Del Boy. This year, I'm renting a room, making my own props and will happily eat Pot Noodles for a month.' 'Pursuing an accountancy qualification was potentially the worst decision I could make,' says James Trickey, whose show is fittingly called Don't Count on Me. 'Not because it was immensely dull, but because it made me all too aware of the financial irresponsibility.' 'My first three runs at Edinburgh came while I was working as a locum GP,' says Paul Sinha, of show 2 Sinha Lifetime. 'There was simply no way the contract for a junior hospital doctor was ever going to be elastic enough to allow four consecutive weeks away from the frontline. My first solo show in 2004 was a misjudged affair. After three years as a GP, I'd saved up enough for a 11.15pm slot in one of the hottest rooms in Edinburgh. It wasn't an especially notable show, nobody came, and I lost £5,000. Thanks to medicine, I could just afford miserable failure. But the vast majority are not so lucky.' All this leaves me wondering what the solution might be. One reason accommodation at Edinburgh is even dearer this year is that Oasis and AC/DC are playing the city slap bang in the middle of the festival. Last year, the Marriott hotel advertised a job as a live-in breakfast jester to amuse guests over their Corn Flakes. The position was paid and came with free accommodation. It seems a funny idea, but I also wonder if this sort of thing makes a mockery of comedians, pitching them as performing monkeys who will do anything for money. Then again, I'm a man couldn't even cut it for a day in Brighton. So what do I know?