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In the final Group One race of the British Flat season, Hawk Mountain claimed the record-extending 12th victory over Aidan O’Brien at Doncaster.

O’Brien horses were the field’s top three finishers, with the Irish trainer’s 23rd Group One winner of 2025 taking the top three spots.

In the final stages, his most anticipated horse, 7-4 favorite Benvenuto Cellini, fell away, leaving 18-5 Hawk Mountain to battle it out with 3-1 chance Action to come out.

Ronan Whelan’s horse, Hawk Mountain, won by half a length in the final burst, increasing his chances of winning the Derby in Epsom next year.

According to O’Brien, “we thought he was a classy horse and that we thought he could also be a Derby horse and a Guineas horse next year.”

“So Ronan gave him a lovely ride, and he has class.”

Rugby World Cup

Lions (17) 49

Cons: Smith 4 Pens: Smith 2 Tries: Kotze, Keyter, Venter, Du Plessis, Van Wyk, Van Vuuren,

Ulster (19) 31

Rob Baloucoune’s superb hat-trick was not enough to stop Ulster falling to a first defeat of the season as the Lions hit seven tries to win a high-scoring Rugby World Cup encounter at Ellis Park.

Ulster led 19-17 at break thanks to Winger Baloucoune’s first two tries and a superb James Hume effort.

The Lions went over five times in an impressive second-half display to take the maximum five points, with Baloucoune scoring his third to earn a try bonus point for the Irish province.

After last week’s bonus-point victory over the Sharks in Durban, Ulster ended their South African tour with six points from two games, but they will now have their early-season momentum thwarted due to the heat and altitude of Johannesburg.

Without Jacob Stockdale, Stuart McCloskey, Iain Henderson, and Nick Timoney, who are on duty in Ireland, Ulster was forced to make a last-minute substitution after Juarno Augustus failed a late fitness test.

Bryn Ward, the South African’s debutant, was forced into a makeshift back row by the withdrawal, along with Tom Stewart, who unfortunately switched from hooker to open-side flanker.

With early tries from Michael Lowry and Werner Kok in Durban, Ulster set the tone for a powerful victory, but they found themselves battling with the Lions as SJ Kotze and Eduan Keyter crossed the line for the hosts on either side of Baloucoune’s opening try.

Under Mark Sexton’s direction, Ulster have shown more expressive in attack this season, and the visitors showed creativity and cutting edge to bring level level once more through Hume.

When Asenathi Ntlabakanye was sent off for a high tackle on Jude Postlethwaite, the Lions won thanks to Chris Smith’s 33rd-minute penalty, which was reduced to 14 men.

After a protracted spell of pressure in the final few minutes of the first half, Ulster took the lead for the first time when Baloucoune collected Murphy’s pass.

Baloucoune, who has suffered injuries for the past two seasons, was not employed there. After Hume’s clever chip and chase propelled Ulster up the field, the Ireland international raced over for his third after Ruan Venter’s re-established the Lions’ lead.

Renzo du Plessis and Ulster back row Dave McCann traded tries, but Henco van Wyk scored before Conrad van Vuuren’s late double put a life on the line to sink the away team’s hopes of a South African clean sweep.

Richie Murphy, head coach for Ulster, lamented his team’s error rate after the game.

In the end, he said, “We’re in that game for 55, 60 minutes and let it get away from us.”

Our error count was probably too high throughout the game, and we merely invited the Lions in.

It’s a massive effort from the players in a very difficult situation, 28 or 29 degrees at altitude, but Scrum dominance from them puts us under a lot of pressure.

Murphy continued, “Unbelievable,” on Baloucoune’s hat-trick. The back three contain a wealth embarrassment. Mikey [Lowry] is flying, Werner [Kok] has been really good, and Zac [Ward] has been on fire.

Brandon, Schoeman, van der Vuuren, Landsberg, du Plessis, L Horn, Lombard, Mpeku are the replacements.

Sin-bin: Ntlabakanye (27)

Lowry, Baloucoune, Hume, Postlethwaite, Postlethwaite, Z Ward, Murphy, Doak, Crean, Herring (capt), O’Toole, Sheridan, Hopes, McCann, Stewart, B Ward, and Ulster.

McCormick, Reid, Wilson, Dalton, Rea, McKee, Flannery, Kok, and more.

Bob MacIntyre acknowledges that his shine helped him stay in place when he initially anticipated losing the Ryder Cup for Europe last month.

The hosts fought back strongly on the final day to ensure the visitors’ victory in New York, but it appeared as though Europe would take the show.

The Cup looked increasingly likely to come down to the final match as MacIntyre was last out for the Europeans.

The world number eight addressed The Saturday Show on BBC Radio Scotland, saying, “It was horrible. Apart from your family, friends, and partners, there are no vice-captains or companions.

You think it’s your caddie and you who are opposed to America. There was so much blue on the board when I teed off, and I was anticipating that by the eighth grade, everything would be over.

“I got to eight or nine, and the main difference is that there is more red now than it is,” the author said. I thought, “This is tight now,” as the matches down the 18th continued to turn red. It appeared as though “it could come down to your match.”

On the 15th, I made up my mind that I would lose the Ryder Cup for us because I did not care.

“I missed a putt on 14 and thought the same thing in Rome: I’ve lost the Ryder Cup,” he declared.

However, MacIntyre was able to rely on a perspective he had picked up from his Oban-shinty upbringing.

What would I do in a shinty match when they scored a goal in the 80th minute to make it 1-0 up? ‘”, he said.

The 29-year-old acknowledged that he is on the verge of accomplishing everything he wants in the game despite having previously won Ryder Cup victories in both Europe and America.

He said, “To win two, one at home and one away, is what dreams are made of.” I have one more goal in golf to reach, and that is to win a major championship.

Then I can leave the golf game feeling as though I’ve accomplished everything I had intended to.

And MacIntyre again enjoyed a significant role in the festivities, as usual. He was a key player in the action as videos of the Team Europe bus started to appear on social media, along with another rendition of The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles” being recorded.

He recalled, “I wish I was on that bus again right now.” Some of the boys were flying before we even boarded the bus because their games had already ended.

“There was a little carnage going on that day,” said one witness. The journey home is always the best part of a win, especially when you’re on those buses, like in any sport, and when it’s an away game, especially since I’m from there, which are usually two and a half hours long.