Budget may deliver result desired from racing’s ‘Axe the Tax’ campaign

After many months of campaigning, an unprecedented “strike” when racing relocated to London to make its voice heard and an intervention by a former prime minister, no less, the UK’s second-biggest spectator sport will soon discover whether its concerted, and impressively united, effort to avert a tax hike on racing bets, has paid off. With all due respect to the competitors at Wetherby, Market Rasen and Southwell on Wednesday, the main event for racing will be the 12.30 at Westminster, as Rachel Reeves rises to deliver her much-anticipated budget speech.The only result that can be ruled out with confidence is that gambling duties will be left untouched. There is a gaping black hole to be filled in the public finances and the UK’s gambling industry, which had a Gross Gambling Yield (total stakes minus total payouts) of £15

How did McLaren get it so wrong with their cars in Las Vegas? | Giles Richards

As misjudgments go, McLaren’s error in calculations that led to the disqualification of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri from the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday could barely have been more cataclysmic nor more poorly timed. Quite how they got it wrong just when they wanted to close out the drivers’ championship with as little fuss as possible will take no little explanation.Norris and Piastri, second and fourth respectively to Max Verstappen’s win in Nevada, had been solid enough results until the FIA discovered the skid blocks on their cars had been worn beyond the 9mm limit. In one fell swoop, Verstappen was right back in the fight, alongside Piastri, 24 points back from Norris.It is exactly the sort of proximity to set nerves jangling unnecessarily with two meetings remaining and 58 points up for grabs

England batters opt out of pink-ball warm-up match despite first Ashes Test failures

To hell with the optics was the message from England on Monday after confirmation that none of the players who collapsed to the shattering two-day defeat in the first Ashes Test will change tack and travel to Canberra.In a move that risks drawing further ire, only Jacob Bethell, Josh Tongue and Matthew Potts – all unused in Perth – will join the Lions at Manuka Oval, where Andrew Flintoff’s shadow touring party will take on a Prime Minister’s XI in a two-day floodlit fixture that starts on Saturday.Cricket Australia originally slated the fixture for England’s first team as a warm-up for the day-night second Test that starts in Brisbane on 4 December, only to be informed a number of weeks ago that the Lions would be taking their place instead. It was felt the ground’s slow pitch would not prepare the players adequately before the traditional bounce of the Gabba.Although the head coach, Brendon McCullum, did then offer individuals the chance to divert to Canberra after the defeat in Perth, only three fringe players took up the offer

Tom Brady’s part-time side hustle with the Raiders is an unholy mess

The most successful quarterback of all-time approached his playing career with ruthless focus. He could do with the same intensity in his retirement projectsTom Brady played for 23 NFL seasons with a single, maniacal goal: to become the greatest quarterback who ever lived. He achieved it. Now, in retirement, Brady has dabbled in everything. He calls games for Fox

England plot route to Ashes recovery as Mark Wood admits they were ‘hit hard in round one’

Mark Wood has considered driving from Perth to Brisbane – a journey of 2,500 miles (4,000km) over four days – just to fill the extra time created by the chastening start to England’s much-hyped Ashes moonshot.The fast bowler was among a side left “shellshocked” by the galling batting collapse on the second day at Perth Stadium that allowed Australia to power to a 1-0 series lead through Travis Head’s remarkable 69-ball century.A nervous flyer, and with the two‑day finish having opened up a 12-day gap before the day-night second Test starts at the Gabba on 4 December, Wood went as far as to look into how long it would take to make the journey by road – only to realise the scale of the logistics involved.“If I could drive across the country, I would,” the 35‑year‑old told his former teammate Stuart Broad on the For The Love Of Cricket podcast. “I did speak to a local who said if you go across the country, that’s a big danger

Does Travis Head’s knock deserve to be among the greatest Ashes innings? | Martin Pegan

Cometh the hour, cometh Travis Head. The always swashbuckling but recently out-of-sorts middle-order batter put his hand up and said “I’ll do it,” as Australia were again left scrambling to find an opener to step in for Usman Khawaja in the first Test. The last-minute decision for Head to partner debutant Jake Weatherald at the top of the order and begin the fourth-innings run chase with England in command is the sort of after-the-fact masterstroke that fills the pages of Ashes history. But even with a backstory of heroic and match-defining knocks, few could have expected Head to flip the script in a Test that had seen just 468 runs scored as 30 wickets fell, with an onslaught that immediately etched its place in Ashes folklore as one of the great innings.Head rocketed to his 10th Test century from 69 balls – the second fastest in Ashes history, the third quickest by an Australian in Tests, and the most rapid in a fourth innings – and celebrated with a few casual twirls of his bat and a half-hearted fist pump