Sir Alex Ferguson has a long-standing passion for horse racing and owns a stake in multiple horses. His horse Maestro Conti will run in the JCB Triumph Hurdle at 1:20pm at Cheltenham on Friday, currently priced at 13/2. Ferguson has already had three horses from his stable in action at the Cheltenham festival this week, with L'Eau du Sud placing third on Wednesday and Regent's Stroll matching that result on Thursday.
De Bromhead and jockey Darragh O'Keeffe landed the big race, the Ryanair Chase, with Heart Wood (9/2), beating Jonbon (2nd) and Banbridge (3rd)
It's a bit of a no-brainer. We're women, we've all got different shapes and sizes. As a 20-year-old, wearing a dress would have been fine for me, but if you put me on court now I couldn't think of anything worse than wearing a netball dress. - Coach Tamsin Greenway on Mavericks' kit innovation
Rassie Erasmus has described Ireland's rugby system as "precision farming" and the last year has shown how delicate the ecosystem is. All the analysis that followed the alarming defeats to France, New Zealand and South Africa remains valid and the issues that cropped up remain worthy of attention. Yet it all feels a little less alarming after a weekend where the senior side issued a stunning riposte to those who believed they are a beaten docket and the U-20s showed there's life in the pathways yet.
Image source, Getty Images England captain Leah Williamson returns to the squad for the first time since Euro 2025 as they prepare to begin their 2027 Women's World Cup qualifying campaign. Williamson, 28, missed England's friendly victories over China, Ghana and Australia as well as their defeat by Brazil at the end of 2025 due to a knee injury. The Arsenal defender had surgery after lifting England's second successive European title in July and returned to action at the start of December.
Snooker great John Virgo has died at the age of 79, World Snooker Tour has announced. Virgo, who won the UK Championship in 1979, enjoyed a long and storied career but was perhaps best known for his work as a broadcaster. He was an established part of the BBC's snooker coverage as a commentator, famous for his catchphrase of Where's the cue ball going?'.
After bowling Scotland out for 152, England racked up 155-5 in 18.2 overs, with Jacob Bethell scoring 32, Sam Curran 28 and Will Jacks (16 off 10 balls) hitting a six and a four to finish the job. England wobbled at the start of their chase as the new white ball swung under the floodlights with the sun going down. Phil Salt fell third ball to Brandon McMullen for just two and when Jos Buttler picked out McMullen off Brad Currie, they were 13-2.
England steadied their T20 World Cup campaign with a five-wicket win over Scotland in Kolkata, though not before another uncomfortable evening that leaves the Scots on the verge of a group-stage exit. Scotland were restricted to 152 on a good batting surface, but England's chase quickly faltered as Phil Salt and Jos Buttler fell inside the opening two overs. Further setbacks followed and when Harry Brook was caught for four, England were 86-4 and staring at a potentially damaging defeat.
The 28-year-old broke the track record at the Cortina Sliding Centre four times in the space of four races, and won in a final combined time of 3min 43.33sec, almost a full second ahead of the runner-up, Germany's Axel Jungk. Weston is the first British man ever to win the Olympic skeleton title. And he did it all despite starting the year with a four-inch tear in his right quad that meant he had to miss pre-season training.
Hastings is the grandfather of international chess tournaments, first staged in 1895 and then every year since 1920, with breaks for war and pandemics. Its vintage years were the 1930s, 50s and 70s, when world champions and challengers lined up to compete, while the badminton legend Sir George Thomas and the Bletchley Park codebreaker Hugh Alexander both shared first after defeating renowned opponents.
