Category Sports News

Ombudsman won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot where Wednesday’s racing was overshadowed by a fatal injury for filly Harry’s Girl in the opening contest.

William Buick sent the 7-1 winner Ombudsman clear of runner-up Anmaat in the final furlong, with See The Fire third.

The two-length victory was the second of the day for trainers John and Thady Gosden.

Favourite Los Angeles was back in fifth and appeared to pay the price of a pace topping 40mph in the second furlong set by stablemate Continuous.

“It was a case of waiting for the gap and this horse has an extraordinary turn of foot,” said John Gosden of Ombudsman.

Earlier, Harry’s Girl was injured while racing in the day’s first race, the Queen Mary Stakes, which was won by favourite True Love.

The Gosdens also won the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes with Crimson Advocate after jockey James McDonald swooped down the outside.

The Australia-based Kiwi rider timed his run to perfection on the 13-2 chance, who won the King Charles III Stakes at the meeting last year.

But the Gosdens were unable to give King Charles and Queen Camilla a winner as their horse Rainbows Edge finished seventh behind 11-1 victor Miss Information in the Kensington Palace Stakes.

The first race of the 2025 meeting’s second day was overshadowed by the death of Harry’s Girl.

Harry’s Girl, trained by Richard Hannon, was pulled up with a serious leg injury by jockey Sean Levey during the Queen Mary Stakes.

The filly broke down midway through the five-furlong sprint for two-year-old horses.

“Unfortunately, Harry’s Girl suffered a fatal injury during the Queen Mary Stakes,” a statement said.

“Our thoughts go out to all connections at this time.”

Harry’s Girl, ridden by Sean Levey, was running in her third race, having previously finished first and second.

The race was won by 9-4 favourite True Love, under Ryan Moore for trainer Aidan O’Brien, from 100-1 shot Flowerhead.

Meanwhile My Cloud, the 3-1 favourite ridden by Silvestre de Sousa for trainer Roger Varian, was the shortest-priced winner in the history of the Royal Hunt Cup.

Irish trainer Paddy Twomey celebrated his first Royal Ascot winner as unbeaten Carmers won the Queen’s Vase for a third success on the trot.

The Princess of Wales pulled out of a planned appearance at the course on Wednesday.

Catherine, who is making a gradual return to public life after her cancer diagnosis last year, is trying to find the right balance as she fully returns to public engagements, according to royal sources.

King Charles and Queen Camilla had hoped for a winner with Rainbows Edge, but despite being sent off favourite, he could not match Miss Information.

Winning jockey Oisin Murphy punched the air before hitting the finishing line on Andrew Balding’s runner.

British number one Jack Draper fought back from a set down to come through a tricky last-16 encounter with Alexei Popyrin and keep alive his hopes of a maiden title at Queen’s.

Draper had breezed through his opening match against Jenson Brooksby on Tuesday, raising hopes he could follow in Andy Murray’s footsteps and win his home tournament.

Those hopes will have been increased further after the 23-year-old dug deep to overcome world number 21 Popyrin, who knocked Novak Djokovic out of last year’s US Open.

The gruelling encounter in the west London sun went the distance but Draper came out on top in a thrilling third-set tie-break to progress 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7-5) , with the Briton punching the air in delight after sealing the win with an ace.

Draper’s win means there remains the prospect of an all-British quarter-final.

All eyes have been on Draper this week as he takes on the pressure of being the great British hope with Wimbledon approaching.

The 23-year-old has said he is comfortable dealing with that weight of expectation, and underlined that belief by producing some of his best tennis towards the end of the tie-break to seal the victory.

Having found himself behind when Popyrin got the first mini-break, Draper used the support of the packed centre court crowd to fight back.

A brilliant backhand down the line got the better of the Australian to put Draper on match point, and he sealed the win with a thunderous ace.

Draper will have his eyes firmly set on winning at Queen’s but he will have another incentive to keep progressing, as reaching the semi-finals will mean he is seeded fourth at Wimbledon.

“It was a tough match, credit to Alexei, he played some amazing tennis,” he said.

“I love playing at home and in front of my friends and family. It’s an emotional moment.

Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has been charged by the Football Association with violating its anti-doping rules after failing a drugs test and could now face up to a four-year ban.

The Ukraine international, 24, was provisionally suspended by the FA in December after an “adverse finding in a routine urine test”.

Players found to have intentionally taken a prohibited substance can be banned for up to four years under the guidelines of world football’s governing body, Fifa.

At the time Mudryk said he was in “complete shock” and he “never knowingly used any banned substances”.

He has not played for Chelsea since 28 November and has not been included in a matchday squad since 1 December.

Mudryk cannot train with Chelsea either, and the club have said they are supporting him and his mental wellbeing.

He attended the Uefa Conference League final in Poland last month in a private capacity and was not with the squad.

In a statement on Wednesday, the FA said: “We can confirm that Mykhailo Mudryk has been charged with anti-doping rule violations alleging the presence and/or use of a prohibited substance, in terms of regulations 3 and 4 of the FA’s anti-doping regulations.

“As this is an ongoing case, we are not in a position to comment further at this time.”

Chelsea have not commented but in December said they would work to establish what caused the failed test, adding: “Mykhailo has confirmed categorically that he has never knowingly used any banned substances.”

Blues manager Enzo Maresca said in December: “We support Mykhailo and trust means that we believe Mykhailo.”

Under FA rules, players have the right to request analysis of the B sample from a urine test, in the event of an adverse analytical finding in an A sample.

If the B sample analysis confirms the adverse finding, charges will be brought.

Players can either accept the finding and the applicable consequences, or request that the matter proceed to a hearing.

Chelsea signed Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023 in a deal worth up to £89m, and he is under contract at the club until June 2031.

British and Irish Lions v Argentina

Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Friday, 20 June Kick-off: 20:00 BST

British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell believes scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park will be “up and running” by the time the side reach Australia next week.

After sitting out Leinster’s United Rugby Championship (URC) final victory over the Bulls on Saturday, Gibson-Park – who is widely tipped to be the starting nine come the Test series against the Wallabies – will not feature against Argentina in Dublin on Friday night because of injury.

Farrell, though, said the results of a scan on Monday were “pretty positive” and added that those unavailable to face the Pumas in the tour’s first game were “all a week or so away from being fit”.

“Good news on most of the injuries,” said Farrell, who will be acting as Lions head coach for the first time on Friday.

Leicester Tigers scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet has been brought into camp as cover, although England’s Alex Mitchell will start at nine at the Aviva Stadium with Wales’ Tomos Williams on the bench.

Hugo Keenan and Tadhg Furlong also missed out as Leinster claimed their first silverware in four years at Croke Park on Saturday, but the latter will play his first rugby since his side’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final defeat by Northampton Saints on 3 May should he come off the bench against Argentina.

Furlong, 32, will become a Lion for a third time at the end of a season when he has been dogged by injury and only featured nine times for his province and Ireland.

“He’s fit and ready to go,” Farrell said of the tight-head prop, while adding that Scotland and Glasgow centre Huw Jones has trained fully.

“He’s trained well and as keen as everyone else to get the show on the road.”

With Leinster, Bath and Leicester Tigers all involved in domestic finals last weekend, and Toulouse’s season still ongoing in France, it was a smaller panel that Farrell brought to Portugal last week for a training camp.

Although Leinster hooker Ronan Kelleher will be on the bench on Friday night six days after lifting the URC, the remainder of the side picked to face Argentina were present when preparations kicked off.

“Those guys are ahead of the game. It turned out quite a nice mix for those guys to get ahead of curve [and was] quite a diverse group in terms of combinations and people not playing together,” said Farrell.

“It’s nice for that group to have a week where they get settled in and for the other guys to join them on Monday, some on a high, one [Leicester’s Ollie Chessum] not, but it’s nice for them to have a bit of time to spend with the lads, get to know everyone, and see what’s been going on.

“They’ve had one training session so it was nice to get everyone together finally.”

Despite picking from a smaller pool of players, Farrell believes that the talent at his disposal this weekend shows the depth of the touring party.

“It’s exciting. I did an exercise a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve done it about five times since, of what you think that the Test side could be. You can’t even go there because there’s such good competition.

“The exciting thing about Friday night is these guys get to show their team-mates sat in the stand what they’re all about.

“Ultimately what happens on these tours, you can talk about anything you want to but, these guys, all they’re trying to do is gain respect off one another.”

A female spectator was taken to hospital after being hit by an advertising banner that fell from the upper tier at the Halle Open in Germany.

The 62-year-old woman was sitting in the lower tier watching Alexander Zverev’s match with Marcos Giron when she was struck, but did not suffer any major injuries, according to the tournament website.

Zverev handed her an ice pack, which she held to her neck as she left the stadium before going to hospital to be checked.

“There has never been anything like this in our 32-year tournament history. We deeply regret the incident”, said tournament director Ralf Weber.

Weber also promised the woman a free season ticket for next year’s event.

“We suspect that the drumming against the boards caused screws to come loose”, event managers Dr Udo Kleine and Uwe Greipel-Dominik said in a joint statement.

“This must not happen and we apologise. We will also check all the other boards and their fixings immediately after the Zverev match”.

Scottish Rugby’s “uncomfortable” situation around contracts for the national women’s team will be resolved before this summer’s World Cup, according to chief executive Alex Williamson.

A representative of the squad contacted the BBC to highlight that some players are continuing to “suffer with their mental and emotional health following the potential loss of contracts”.

The long statement claimed only 15 members of the 38-player training squad for the World Cup are on year-long contracts, meaning those on short-terms deals could be left looking for new employment after the tournament.

“What we have done is given them certainty as to their position for the near term, as in through the World Cup.

” But I think we are having excellent conversations and we are very close to providing them with all the outcomes that they are looking for.

“Before they play]in the World Cup], they will know exactly what is going on”.

Williamson says the negotiations to provide the international players with short-term security is taking place in the midst of a drive to professionalise the women’s game in Scotland.

“What we’re trying to do is create an environment for the longer term, which sees professional rugby played in Scotland as opposed to what currently happens, which is we support our players to go and play in England largely”, he said.

“That is also happening at the same time as the squad preparing for a World Cup.

” We are looking to introduce a professional environment in Scotland, a much enhanced commitment to the Celtic Challenge.

“From a personal perspective, I think we need our pro teams or our semi-pro teams here in Edinburgh and Glasgow to be competitive enough to be able to convince everyone else involved that we should have a British and Irish league”.

Standards must improve in order to achieve that goal.

“If the Celtic Challenge is weak, there is no common sense conversation to be had with the PWR]Premiership Women’s Rugby]”, Williamson suggested. “I’d really like to be having that conversation.

” So we are creating some quite challenging moments for our players. Because, of course, whilst I think the players will all agree that’s a good plan, they don’t necessarily want it to happen directly to them in this moment. So it is a bit robust.