On the opening day of the Punchestown Festival, Marine Nationale defeated Fact To File to claim the thrilling Champion Chase.
Fact To File was the 11-10 favorite after winning the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham last month, but the early pace was a challenge.
El Fabiolo provided Marine Nationale with the greatest challenge despite the two Cheltenham winners’ hysterical rivalry, only to fall at the fence’s end.
In the end, Sean Flanagan defeated Captain Guinness (28-1) by seven lengths under the direction of Rachael Blackmore, who is the 2-1 second favorite.
successes for Mullins in grade One
Inpho
In the day’s other Grade One competitions, trainer Willie Mullins recorded two shock victories.
Irancy headed up a one-two-three-four for Mullins in the Champion Novice Hurdle on 18-1 shot.
Kopek Des Bordes, a Cheltenham champion, finished fourth, nine lengths ahead of stablemates Salvator Mundi and Karbau, who had been the heavy favorite.
Irancy has always been a good horse, but after winning here earlier in the season, he faced a setback, Mullins said, “The best thing that could have happened was that he came here fresh.”
After Cheltenham, I gave Kopek Des Bordes a nice break, thinking that I should have taken him somewhere like Ayr or Perth.
I believed that when I saw him in the parade ring, his condition was too great, and it showed at the current pace.
After training five of the eight runners, Mullins also had a one-two in the Champion Novice Chase.
At the final fence, Champ Kiely (21) took the lead before winning by six and a half lengths from Ballyburn, the 11-8 favorite.
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The decision to allow transgender women to play in women’s football is being “carefully reviewed” by the English Football Association.
Since the landmark UK Supreme Court decision two weeks ago that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex under equalities law, the FA has been seeking legal counsel.
The Scottish Football Association’s decision to outlaw transgender women from playing women’s football was revealed earlier on Tuesday.
According to BBC Sport, the rules were updated earlier this month by English football’s governing body, but they could now be changed in a few days.
Similar to the Scottish FA (SFA), which takes testosterone levels into account and allows transgender women to compete in their affirmed gender category on a case-by-case basis.
However, new regulations now allow only those who were biologically female to compete in games north of the border starting next season to allow them to do so.
As sports organizations react to the Supreme Court’s decision, the FA has now been under pressure to do the same.
The Scottish FA had shown “wisdom” and “similar clarity from the FA is long overdue,” according to former FA Chairman Lord Triesman.
“The very notion that the FA can disregard the Supreme Court constitutes foolhardy contempt for the law.” He claimed that every day the situation gets worse.
We are taking legal advice, according to a spokesperson for the FA, and are reviewing our policy closely.
Football anti-discrimination group Kick It Out stated in a statement that it was “solidarity with the trans community” last week that the Supreme Court decision would have “far-reaching consequences.”
The SFA rule change will align with other sports that restrict women’s competition to those who haven’t reached male puberty, such as rugby, swimming, and athletics.
The governing body of snooker is reviewing its gender eligibility policy, while transgender women were banned from Ultimate Pool Group’s female category last week.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision, the England and Wales Cricket Board has been seeking legal counsel regarding its policy.
Transgender women are currently able to play both recreational cricket and cricket in tier three of the domestic structure, which includes traditionally lower-level counties.
Background
Before England’s November game against the Republic of Ireland at Wembley, campaigners demanded that the FA outlaw transgender women from the women’s game.
A teenage girl was banned from school for making offensive remarks to a transgender opponent in a grassroots match.
However, the FA’s updated trans policy allows biological males to play in the women’s game even if they have undergone “match observation” to determine whether they pose a threat to other players’ safety and fair competition.
Transgender women players must provide evidence that they have been on or off the testosterone level for at least 12 months, as well as a history of hormone therapy, as well as an annual evaluation of treatment.
However, a new formal procedure, which will require a player’s FA official to observe a match, will give the organization the authority to remove or decline players’ permission to play in the women’s game.
The FA announced earlier this month that its revised process will have “ultimate discretion” over eligibility and be managed “case by case”.
According to the FA, there are 20 transgender women playing amateur football in England out of the millions of people who compete there, compared to none in the Home Nations’ professional game.
48 MPs wrote a letter to the Football Association in December 2023 to “protect women and girls” in the game.
Following a rumored incident involving a transgender player who shot an opponent in the leg, several teams in Yorkshire withdrew from games against a recreational side.
Due to “an abundance of caution,” the Sutton United women’s team canceled a game against Ebbsfleet United in September 2024. Sutton signed transgender goalkeeper Blair Hamilton after he did so.
By appointing Lucy Clark, the first publicly transgender player in British football, the club made history in January 2024.
As they gear up to reunite this summer with Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones, Liam and Noel Gallagher have put their differences aside.
Kelly Jones and Liam and Noel Gallagher are currently on tour.
Stereophonics singer Kelly Jones has revealed exactly what it was like touring with the Gallagher brothers at the height of their Oasis fame and teased they’re back in the studio. Waring siblings Liam and Noel Gallagher have finally put their differences aside to reunite for a string of dates this summer.
The duo will share the stage together for the first time since 2009 in just a matter of weeks. Fans are eagerly awaiting what to expect from the sold-out world tour that kicks off in Cardiff in July, with speculation mounting as Noel has been spotted in the studio. The Britpop icons have remained silent on whether fans can expect new music, as Kelly has now weighed in. Sharing his thoughts on the record-breaking reunion, he said: “It’s good that they got back together. It’s taken a long time.
Kelly opened up on his close bond with Noel(Image: WireImage)
The band aside, the magnitude of those performances and the volume of people who want to attend performances, according to the band, is amazing. “To have that second bite of the cherry after everything that’s gone on is pretty amazing.
Kelly has even toured with Oasis as his band Stereophonics headed to Japan at the same time with the 90s stars. Summing up the wild experience, Kelly told NME: “Pretty messy but good fun.”
Following the release of Stereophonics’ third album Just Enough Education To Perform, he acknowledged Noel “fell in love with him.”
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I recently discovered some old photos of me and Noel rehearsing in Windsor just before we toured America, Kelly continued.
When I asked him what he was up to, he said he had been writing a little in the studio and that we were having a laugh about it.
Kelly, who weighed out on the release of new music for Oasis, said: “I’m assuming he’s writing for either his stuff or if [Oasis] will release a few songs, I don’t know.”
Liam and Noel have secretly been reuniting in recent weeks as they were pictured together for the first time in years during preparations for the tour.
Stereophonics and Oasis toured together in Japan(Image: Getty Images for Belvedere)
The two brothers were spotted arriving at a working men’s club in Newington Green, London, last week. It is understood Noel and Liam were shooting promo material for Adidas for a new collaboration between them and the sports brand.
Speaking on X, Liam told fans reuniting with his big brother for the shoot had been a “biblical” experience. He posted: “It was more a video kind of thing like a mini film and word on the street it was BIBLICAL. I just get in and out I don’t hang around looking at the screen I’ll see it when you cats see it”
He also made fun of Oasis fans by saying, “The stage is my safe space; it’s where I get a little peace and quiet,” and that he was desperate to return to playing live shows once more.
The eagerly awaited Oasis reunion will take place next month, according to The Mirror’s earlier information, and band rehearsals will begin in May.
Noel has been back in the studio on his own rehearsing songs and working on new material in London. They added: “Noel is often in and out of the studio working on things, he is a singer songwriter so it’s only natural.
However, Liam is a singer and will be overdoing rehearsals because he has a long list of dates booked for this year with Oasis. His voice needs rest most at the moment after a big solo performance on Definitely Maybe tour your last year. Recently, he has been relaxing and spending time with his mother, Peggy.
The band will begin reuniting in May, according to the plan. Liam will be the last to join in the vocal work and will jam out and create a set list. There is plenty of time left, and since he was born rock and roll, Liam has lived and breathed these songs and performed many of them solo, so there is no need for much practice. However, due to the addition of a new drummer in the mix, the rest of the band needs to rehearse more.
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Gary Barlow wore the team’s scarf to celebrate Liverpool FC’s Premier League victory on Monday night during his solo Songbook Tour of the city.
Gary Barlow kicked off the English leg of his Songbook Tour with a bang in Liverpool on Monday night as he celebrated Liverpool FC’s Premier League victory over the weekend. The Cheshire-born singer took to the city’s Empire Theatre on Monday night to perform hits from his three-decade long career, and couldn’t help but celebrate the sporting win from his boyhood club.
From historic Take That hits such as Rule The World and Patience to his own newer tracks, including Let Me Go and 6th Avenue, Gary took the audience on a “trip through the decades”, as he called it. And with the show complete with plenty of ‘I love you Gary’ screams from the eager crowd, the 54-year-old couldn’t resist but sing 1995 track Never Forget as an encore. And for the last song, he swapped a sparkling red suit jacket for a Liverpool F.C scarf and paraded around the stage.
Gary celebrated his sporting success by performing at his Songbook Tour show at Liverpool Empire.
Despite earlier promising not to talk sports during the performance, Gary beamed and proudly displayed the scarf to the audience while red and white confetti fell onto the crowd.
The show comes after Gary kicked off the tour in the Isle Of Man, with the singer set to make his way around England and Scotland until wrapping up in Norfolk on June 21st.
And Gary believes that his coincidentally-timed show may have been a good luck charm following Liverpool’s victory over Tottenham this weekend.
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“We book these tours 15 months in advance or something so there’s no way we could have known something like this could happen. But when we played Nafield in 2019, Liverpool had just won the Champions League. So it seems like every time I book a gig in Liverpool, we do really well!” Gary said before the gig.
It’s a pleasure to be here right now because Liverpool is a football town and the fans are from their own country.
The Take That singer even made hints that he might have inherited the club’s good fortune charm by noting his consecutive victories while playing in Liverpool.
Gary may have to keep booking his shows in accordance with the football games, but his Take That bandmates might accompany him when he’s in the city when he reveals they’re working on a new album.
“The songwriting process has already begun.” We keep going! Gary, who claims that new music is on the horizon, “admits him.
The songwriting process takes some time, and the recording process takes a while once the songs are complete. I anticipate hearing some fresh music in the first half of the year. You never know what we might have this year.
