Cheltenham festival day four tips: Galopin Des Champs to make Gold Cup history

Four of the six odds-on favourites over the first two days of this year’s festival were beaten, leaving many punters in a deep hole ahead of the last day of the meeting on Friday. It will be the most significant shock of all, however, if Galopin Des Champs (4.00) does not deliver for the backers in the Gold Cup and join the very select list of horses to have won the race three times.Having beaten double-figure fields in the last two runnings, Willie Mullins’s chaser faces eight opponents this time around, and while the unexpected addition of Inothewayurthinkin, the favourite for next month’s Grand National, to the lineup adds some intrigue, he was seven lengths behind Galopin Des Champs at Leopardstown.Unlike Banbridge, the King George VI Chase winner at Kempton in December, Inothewayurthinkin should improve for this return to further than three miles, but the same is undoubtedly true of the favourite and Galopin Des Champs’ place in the pantheon appears to be there for the taking

Frankie Dettori reveals he is filing for bankruptcy in shock statement

Frankie Dettori, one of the most ­successful and popular racing figures of recent decades, said in a statement on Thursday that he is “saddened and embarrassed” at being forced to file for bankruptcy having failed to resolve a dispute over unpaid tax with HMRC.Dettori was revealed to be in dispute with HMRC over a scheme to reduce his income tax payments in December 2024, when an injunction to prevent him being named was lifted following an application by HMRC and media organisations.At the time, Dettori said that he had been working with tax officials to “unravel the mess” around his financial affairs, which he said had been caused by former advisors. In his statement on Thursday, however, he conceded that it had not been possible to work out a solution.“For the last six months, my advisors have been working with HMRC in an attempt to find a solution to my financial situation,” Dettori said in a statement

Mark Wood expected to miss England’s Tests against India after knee surgery

Mark Wood is likely to miss the entirety of England’s Test series with India this summer after undergoing surgery on his left knee.The quick has been ruled out for four months and is aiming to be fully fit by the end of July. England’s fifth and final Test against India begins on 31 July at the Oval, rounding off their red-ball commitments before the winter Ashes tour.Wood was in visible discomfort when bowling against Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy in February, battling to get through eight overs as England fell to an eight-run defeat and were knocked out of the tournament. A statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board said Wood “has been managing an ongoing issue with his knee for over a year”

Galopin Des Champs will deserve ‘great’ tag if he wins third Gold Cup

The Irish wrote an anthem for Cottage Rake, the first horse from Ireland to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times, while the second, Arkle, transcended the sport to become an Irish cultural icon. And when Best Mate, trained in Wantage by the endearingly odd couple of Henrietta Knight and Terry Biddlecombe, completed his Gold Cup hat-trick nearly 40 years later, he too broke out of the back pages and into the mainstream of sporting celebrity.Twenty-one years on from the tearful scenes that accompanied Best Mate’s third Gold Cup, however, it feels as though there is rather less of a fanfare, in Britain at least, for Galopin Des Champs, who on Friday afternoon will attempt to become only the fifth horse ever to win three Gold Cups at Cheltenham. Perhaps it is a sign of British insularity, or even a smidge of pique after a decade when Irish jumpers have carried all before them at Cheltenham. The increasingly fractured media landscape, with a dwindling number of events that can unite an audience in a shared experience, is probably a factor too

‘I have to perform’: Jack Doohan edges into F1 spotlight with fragile grip on his seat | Jack Snape

Jack Doohan has reached the centre of the motorsport universe, but on the interview couch at the first drivers’ press conference of the season in Melbourne on Thursday, he remained very much on the outer.Seated alongside world champion Max Verstappen and countryman Oscar Piastri, a man whose form warranted a contract extension this week from constructers champions McLaren, Doohan’s fragile place in Formula One was evident.His colleagues were relaxed, lounging with crossed legs, sharing the knowing asides cultivated through years in the F1 circus. Doohan, in contrast, wore a blank stare between answers and chewed gum.Finally, in front of rows of chairs packed with journalists, one asked Doohan of the “elephant in the room”: how he responds to speculation he may have no more than three races to prove himself before Alpine officials replace him with reserve driver Franco Colapinto, who scored two top-10 finishes for Williams last year

Lewis Hamilton says outside pressure ‘nonexistent’ before F1 Ferrari debut

Lewis Hamilton has insisted he has nothing to prove and feels no pressure going into his first race for Ferrari at the Formula One season opener in Melbourne this weekend, with the seven-time champion simply revelling in what he described as the most exciting period of an already long and storied career.Hamilton, who made his F1 debut in 2007 and is now entering his 19th season in the sport, will make his debut with Ferrari at Albert Park after six years at McLaren and then 12 at Mercedes.Driving for the Scuderia had long been a childhood dream for the British driver and the interest in his switch to racing for the sport’s most famous and most successful marque has already been intense, reaching an apogee in the buildup to the opening meeting in Albert Park.Hamilton, speaking before the teams take to the track for the first time on Friday in Melbourne, conceded he was aware the task facing him in adapting to a new team at 40 and coming up to speed in no short order was considerable. But he felt confident in his ability to deliver