Category Sports News

Pride Of Arras was a surprise winner of the Dante Stakes at York as odds-on favourite The Lion In Winter could only finish sixth.

The 18-1 victor, ridden by Rossa Ryan for trainer Ralph Beckett, won by a length and a quarter from Damysus, with Wimbledon Hawkeye third.

Pride Of Arras is now as low as 4-1 for the Derby at Epsom on 7 June.

“You’d be getting excited about him, that’s for sure. He’s got a great mentality and bright future,” said Ryan of his mount.

O’Brien, trainer of 8-11 favourite The Lion In Winter, had been looking for another Classic trial victory after sweeping the board at Lingfield, Leopardstown, Chester and York.

But he had warned the Sea The Stars colt would “come on a ton” for the run and he is now out to 5-1 from 5-2 for the Derby after pulling hard in the early stages.

Stablemate Delacroix is about 11-4 favourite for the big race at Epsom, ahead of Godolphin’s 2000 Guineas winner Ruling Court

But O’Brien said jockey Ryan Moore was “still positive” about The Lion In Winter and he would “improve an awful lot” on his next outing.

Pride Of Arras, a son of 2015 winner New Bay, was racing for only the second time after victory at Sandown last summer.

James Anderson is set for his first appearance since retiring from Test cricket after being named in Lancashire’s squad to face Derbyshire in the County Championship from Friday.

His last game was for England against West Indies at Lord’s last July in his 188th Test.

Anderson has missed the opening five games in the County Championship after picking up a calf injury in pre-season.

It would be Anderson’s first county game since last July, when he took 7-35 against Nottinghamshire at Southport.

After retiring from international duty with 704 Test wickets to his name, he acted as a bowling consultant for the England team for the rest of last summer and put his name forward for the Indian Premier League without being selected.

But he signed a deal to play for Lancashire in the Championship and the T20 Blast.

His return is a welcome boost for the Red Rose county, who after being pre-season favourites for an immediate return to Division One, have drawn four and lost one of their five games.

It led to the resignation of captain Keaton Jennings earlier this week and a statement apologising for the club’s poor start to the season.

Owner Adam Webb has backed “visionary coach” Simo Valakari to “return St Johnstone to its glory days” following their Scottish Premiership relegation.

Defeat by Hearts on Wednesday, combined with Ross County drawing at Dundee, consigned the Perth side to a bottom-placed finish with one game left.

It ended a 16-year top-flight stay that included several top-half finishes, two Scottish Cup wins, a League Cup triumph and European adventures.

Those successes were waning by the time American lawyer Webb took control in July 2024 and the club parted with Craig Levein two months later following four straight losses.

“Relegation certainly wasn’t part of our plan for St Johnstone,” said Webb in an open letter to fans. “We will need your support next season more than ever before.

“First and foremost, we will back Simo. We have a visionary coach and a solid core group of players who will be staying with us for next season.

“Simo is just getting started on the project to return St Johnstone to its glory days. We have seen Simo’s tireless work ethic, as well as his aspirations and passion.”

Webb expects the Championship to be “gritty and challenging” and urged fans to turn out in numbers home and away, while admitting they “deserved much better”.

“This is not the time to slacken in our resolve,” he added.

“Our budgeting shows that our club will lose nearly £2m in revenue. This is simply the natural order when a club drops from the Premiership.

“We will never take your support for granted and are well aware that our standards must be higher in the seasons to come. We embrace this challenge.

The numbers illustrate why St Johnstone have dropped out of the top flight.

They have struggled to get going in games and often left themselves with too much to do later on.

They have conceded 35 first-half goals in 37 games, the worst in the Premiership. In addition, they have failed to score a first-half goal in 26 of those matches. Again, bottom of the charts.

A fair few of those goals have been avoidable, too, with 10 leading from errors – the top flight’s joint-worst record along with Dundee.

And too often, they concede when they shouldn’t.

Their cumulative expected-goals (xG) against is 54, but they have shipped 12 more than that, suggesting they are susceptible to letting soft goals.

Given St Johnstone’s fortunes in the Premiership in recent seasons, should we be too surprised?

It was 2020/21 when they created history by winning both major cup competitions and finishing fifth in the Premiership. All looked to be rosy, with a squad full of Scottish talent who knew how to win games.

But the warning signs were there early on the following season. Despite gallant away performances against Galatasaray and LASK, their European campaign was over by the end of August.

A run of eight straight defeats in the league between the start of December and the end of January saw the club plummet towards the bottom end of the table.

Although they reached the semi-finals of the League Cup, losing 1-0 to Celtic, there was huge disappointment when they fell at the first hurdle in their defence of the Scottish Cup at Kelty Hearts.

Premiership survival was only achieved after play-off success over two legs against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

The following seasons in the league were marginally better with ninth and 10th-placed finishes. But again there were early exits in both cup competitions.

Despite some brave performances this term, including a home win over champions Celtic, they were unable to avoid the drop.

Valakari said “there were no excuses” and the team were simply “not good enough”.

He stressed “things need to change” if they are to bounce back at the first time of asking.

Dunc: Not a lot you can say about the way it has all ended. Radical surgery required, and Valakari must be allowed at least one window going forward.

Gutted, but we knew it was coming. The last three seasons were a shambles. We would, at times, have been hard pressed to beat a Sunday League pub team.

Gordy: Again, the simple answer is that Valakari should not be allowed to continue in the Championship. His team selection could at best be described as eccentric, and playing out from the back has been a notable failure and tested to destruction.

Beyond that, the 3981 miles between Atlanta, Georgia and Perth has been allowed to become too great structurally by the new owners. They have not committed enough attention to the executive dimension of the club.

Although in mitigation, the deterioration reaches back into the later days of the Brown regime. Relegation has been at least four seasons in the making.

Euan: There’s never been a better time to remember the 2021 cup double and reflect on how good a month May has been to us recently, what a fantastic high to measure the lows against.

Paul: I hope Simo stays, he brings positivity and a clear way of playing, we just need to overhaul the squad and start building for a promotion campaign.

John: We have the right man in place. A busy few days ahead weeding out the unwanted players and keeping the ones we’ll need. Hopefully, plans are already in place for a few much-needed signings. The Saints will rise again.

Donald: This is down to Craig Levein, playing inexperienced goalkeepers, whose mistakes at the start of the season probably cost six points. Also loss of two key central defenders left that part of the team decimated.

Liverpool are ready to trigger the release clause of Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong as they close in on their first summer signing.

The 24-year-old, who can play across the right-hand side, is wanted by fellow Dutchman Arne Slot for next season’s campaign and talks towards a deal have progressed in recent days.

Frimpong’s release clause is understood to be in the region of 35m euros (£29.5m), with Liverpool expected to meet that figure.

If the Premier League champions can complete a swoop for the Netherlands international, it could help soften the blow of losing Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is set to join Real Madrid after confirming his decision to leave Anfield when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Frimpong, who came through the youth ranks at Manchester City and played for Celtic, could replace the 26-year-old Alexander-Arnold at right-back.

Former Giro d’Italia champion Jai Hindley has pulled out of stage six of the Giro d’Italia after he was involved in a mass crash which left several competitors unseated.

The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider, who won the event in 2022, had to withdraw, having come off his bike following a pile up in slippery conditions with around 70km to go on the stage into Naples.

The 29-year-old Australian received treatment by the side of the road for his injuries and was not able to resume the stage.

Mads Pedersen, who currently has the pink jersey, was involved in the crash – which affected around 20 riders behind Hindley – but was able to continue.

With roads made very slippery by rain, Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz, winner of the 2019 Giro, Frenchman Paul Magnier and Briton Adam Yates were also among those to hit the tarmac.

Hindley was the hardest hit and, despite being able to get up on his own, forced to abandon, while German rider Juri Hollmann and New Zealand’s Dion Smith also dropped out.

After the crash, the stage was neutralised and the riders continued to move forward at a slower pace for about 20 kilometres before a new start was given and the race resumed.