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Triumph Hurdle fancy loves the sea and sand at Bamburgh and his trainer is confident he can perform well next week
There are several aspects of Adam Nicol’s training operation that set him apart as he prepares to send Minella Study, his stable star, to the Cheltenham festival next week.
He prepares his horses on the magnificent expanse of Bamburgh beach on the Northumbrian coast, recently voted the third-best beach on the planet by Trip Advisor and with the 1,400-year-old Bamburgh Castle looming behind it. He has a 100% record at Cheltenham: one runner, one win, when Minella Study took a trial race in December. And while the overall total of nearly 200 elite athletes at his stable in Seahouses stands comparison with the likes of Willie Mullins and Nicky Henderson, all but a couple of dozen have feathers.
Continue reading...Nusaybah Sattar and five relatives were kept off evacuation flight despite holding tickets and UK passports
A British family stranded in the Middle East after being wrongly refused entry to an evacuation flight from Oman say they have received an apology from the Foreign Office, but no actual help to get home.
Nusaybah Sattar, 26, from London, was in Dubai with her family to celebrate her brother-in-law’s 40th birthday when the city was hit by Iranian drones and missiles last Saturday.
Continue reading...Steve Borthwick has reacted in the best way after two demoralising defeats and they need a fast start in Italy
During their 12-match winning run, when England were at the peak of their powers, they were setting the bar when it came to the kicking game. Steve Borthwick’s side adapted fastest to the law changes around escorting and reaped the rewards as a result. There are plenty of reasons why that winning run has come to an end in spectacular fashion but the fact that other nations have caught up and overtaken England is a significant one.
Part of the problem is personnel. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s absence is a huge blow in this championship and for all Henry Arundell’s qualities, he does not have the same aerial prowess. Tom Roebuck has been in and out, coming back from an injury, so England just haven’t had the same cattle. But it’s clear to me that their rivals have put in the work to get up to speed and are reaping the rewards.
Continue reading...Youthful manager on his colourful journey as a coach from Germany and Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round trip to Fulham
As a 19-year-old studying at a sports university in Cologne, Tonda Eckert jumped at the chance to work for Germany as an analyst at Euro 2012. “It was nice, eh? Take somebody who doesn’t understand anything about the game and put them in,” says the now Southampton head coach, smiling as he recalls being thrust into an elite environment. He entered the same sphere as Joachim Löw, Hansi Flick and a team of greats: Miroslav Klose, Philipp Lahm, Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer, the list goes on.
For the 2014 World Cup, Eckert was tasked with preparing a dossier on Argentina, who Germany overcame in the final. “The celebrations in Berlin were amazing, at the Fanmeile,” he says of the scenes at the fan zone by Brandenburg Gate. In the semi-finals, Germany humiliated the hosts Brazil, triumphing 7-1 in Belo Horizonte. “You know what Joachim Löw said at half-time? That he wouldn’t let anyone play in the final if they didn’t finish the second half with a sense of humility, because he knew how much it meant to Brazil, in Brazil.”
Continue reading...Restart of operations will be a relief to those stranded but may not dispel doubts raised by past week about key transit hub
After nearly a week of uncertainty, airspace closures and very limited flights, news that hundreds of thousands of passengers around the world were hanging on for emerged: the Gulf-based carrier Emirates was restarting operations in earnest despite the US-Israel war on Iran.
Those relieved by the restart will include the UK’s Foreign Office, after its travails in organising delayed rescue flights out of neighbouring Oman.
Continue reading...In an extract from his book, Philippe Auclair reveals the influence of mother, Fayza, and prominent women on the Mbappé image and brand
The Mbappés did their utmost to keep outsiders at arm’s length from the outset. The agents – dozens of them – who approached them to become Kylian’s representatives ever since the eight-year-old was making fun of defenders twice his size with Bondy were rebuffed. The financial advisers who offered to broker sponsorship deals met with the same response: father Wilfrid would take care of his son’s sporting career, mother Fayza of all the rest, with Kylian having the final word in any decision involving his future, be it on or off the field; and so it has remained to this day. Kylian does not have a Fifa-registered agent. Nobody but the closest members of his family gets a cut from the deals he signs with clubs or commercial partners. This is not to say that nobody else is involved in the projet.
Luís Campos, sporting adviser for the clubs owned by Qatar Sports Investments after fulfilling a similar role for Lille and Monaco, remains a trusted confidant, as he’s been since playing a central role in smoothing the difficulties the young Kylian encountered at Monaco. Former L’Équipe journalist Bilel Ghazi, who, though unlicensed by Fifa, has been working with players like Rayan Cherki (whom Kylian’s mother Fayza also represented for a short while), has provided media guidance to the Mbappés. Neither Campos nor Ghazi are part of the inner circle, however.
Continue reading...Omission of presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, however, exposes failure of US president’s ‘theatrical’ doctrine, say experts
Donald Trump will welcome the leaders of at least 10 Latin American countries to a palm-dotted golf resort in Miami on Saturday as the president continues his quest to transform the US’s standing in the region and outmuscle China.
Since returning to power last year, Trump has launched a dramatic – and at times deadly – crusade to, as the Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, put it, “reclaim our back yard”.
Continue reading...In a park overlooking the city, I ran into a group of young people chatting and joking. As the bombs fall, fragments of life remain
I was at work last Saturday when I heard the blast. Since that moment, the world has been turned on its head. The school called asking me to come and pick up my child. I rushed to the metro and headed north in a carriage filled with anxious people calling their loved ones to ensure their safety, melancholy etched on their faces, uncertainty metastasising from one to another as they checked the latest news on their mobiles.
This is the second time within a year that Israel has decided to go for a war of choice with Iran, but I suppose that is the new normal. Israel has long enjoyed a unique position of near-total impunity when it comes to harassing Palestinians, and now the green light to aggression seems to extend to its unending wars and spreading of terror across the region. And it feels different this time. The pretence that there is some level of precision in the strikes is gone. Instead, the attacks appear indiscriminate, with targets ranging from schools to hospitals, from police stations to urban amenities – all hit with a level of might that seems aimed at demolition, total destruction, the flattening of the city.
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Tieners die niet meer naar school gaan, rondhangen op straat en in aanraking komen met geweld of criminaliteit. In Schiedam groeit de zorg over een groep jongeren die steeds verder afglijdt. “We mogen ze niet aan hun lot overlaten,” zegt Jaïr Silva Fortes van ChapterNext.
