The pair of English-trained horses set to line up for today's Guinness Galway Hurdle almost feels reassuring in the current climate. Both Olly Murphy's Hunters Call and the Dan Skelton-trained Fair Mountain will take their chances in this evening's Ballybrit feature despite complicated travel arrangements due to coronavirus restrictions. Read Brian O'Connor's preview of Thursday's action here. Early Doors supplied owner JP McManus with a seventh success in the Tote Galway Plate on Wednesday evening, while Mohaather produced an irresistible burst of acceleration from a seemingly impossible position to beat the Guineas winners from England and Ireland in the Group One Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.
Despite developments in the UK, there are no suggestions, as yet, from either the Irish government or the IRFU to scrap scrums when the club game resumes in early September. A report in the Guardian has indicated there may be no scrums in "recreational rugby union" in the UK until after Christmas. Also in this morning's rugby pages, Louise Lawless asks why can't we buy an Ireland women's rugby jersey? "Until the players look out to the stands at Donnybrook, Murrayfield or Twickenham and see Aon jerseys, until potential sponsors can see it as a worthy investment, and until fans can buy a jersey without it becoming a question of the worthiness of women's sport, the Irish women's rugby team will remain a "Team of Them" and the men the "Team of Us"."
Nine of the world's Top 10 golf players are in action at the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational which gets underway this evening. World number two Rory McIlroy tees off at 5.50pm, Irish time. Ireland's Graeme McDowell and British Open champion Shane Lowry are also in the field. Our Sporting Cathedrals series continues this morning with Philip Reid writing about Augusta National Golf Club: "a golfing mecca. One where the roars of the crowds seem louder than anywhere else and where the colours of the flowers - the azaleas and the camellias, the nandina and the firethorn and a myriad of others - all appear more vibrant."
Meanwhile, on the night Brentford said their farewells to Griffin Park, they came closer to top-flight football than they have done at any point since 1947. A 3-1 second leg win over Swansea put them in the playoff final, the other semi-final second leg between Fulham and Cardiff kicks off at 7.45pm tonight. Ireland take on England at the Ageas Bowl this afternoon (live on Sky Sports Cricket at 2pm) in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League. When Harry Tector takes the field in the first of three fixtures Andrew Balbirnie's men will play over the next week he will be doing so as a product of the professional cricket pathway. The poster boy for Generation Next.
