SHOWJUMPING: Jessica Kürten is the only Irish rider to be invited to the world's richest showjumping fixture, which will be staged in Dubai next year, writes Grania Willis.
Kürten, ranked sixth in the world, has been invited to join the top 20 riders at the inaugural Al Maktoum Challenge in mid-January, when a $1,250,000 prize fund and a World Cup qualifier will be on offer.
The show is the brainchild of Jordan's Princess Haya, who was based in Ireland for a number of years. Princess Haya is married to Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai.
GAELIC GAMES: David Brady's anticipated return to competitive action in the Mayo jersey will come another step closer on Saturday when he plays for a Mayo selection in Castlebar.
Brady has accepted an invitation to play at midfield for the Mayo XV against the Mayo News/O'Neills Club Stars at 2.30pm.
Brady has not lined out for Mayo since he came on as a substitute against Kerry in the 2004 All-Ireland football final, but he has been pencilled in as a Mayo possible by new boss Mickey Moran.
The club stars - based on Dublin's famous Blue Stars concept - will also see International Rules player David Heaney back in the Mayo jersey. Veterans Ciarán McDonald and James Nallen will line out for the club stars.
All proceeds from the match and Saturday night's dinner will go to Western Care and the Mayo/Roscommon Hospice.
GOLF: Dublin-based professional Jimmy Heggarty is the leading Irish hope at the European Seniors Tour Qualifying School Finals on the Algarve after a second round 69 moved him into a tie for third place.
The leading six players after the fourth and final round tomorrow will earn full cards to the 2006 Tour.
Chilean Angel Fernandez leads the tournament at Pestana Golf Resort's Pinta Course with a 36-hole total of five-under- par 137, but he finds some strong competitors breathing down his neck.
Heggarty was a regular on the main European Tour from the late 1970s to the early 1990s and he has made a good start to his first Seniors Tour Qualifying with consecutive under par rounds in tricky conditions.
"It is all I can ask to be in contention after two rounds. I shot 70 yesterday and played really solid today for one better. The early birdies set me up perfectly but I didn't quite capitalise," said Heggarty.
"I have been playing a fair bit of golf in preparation for this. I have played a lot on the Irish Tour and now I am working full time teaching in a driving range, Spawell in Dublin, and still playing the events in Ireland. My 50th birthday is coming up in May so I have kept playing with an eye on making the Seniors Tour."
Ireland's Maurice Kelly is the leading amateur in the tournament after a 70 moved him into a share of 12th place on level par 142, followed a shot back by compatriot John Curtis, who was also two under par for his second round.
MOTOR SPORT: Britain's Katherine Legge crashed into a wall on her Formula One test debut with Minardi yesterday.
Australian aviation entrepreneur Paul Stoddart, attending his final test after selling Minardi to Red Bull, said the Guildford-born racer hit a concrete wall at a corner on her second lap.
Legge (25), is the first woman driver to have a proper Formula One test for more than a decade, although American Sarah Fisher performed a brief demonstration run with McLaren at Indianapolis in 2002.
Legge blamed a traction control glitch for the off. "It's one of those things," she said. "I'll get back in the car tomorrow and I'll know next time not to do that. It's just a big learning experience, it's no big deal."
SNOOKER: England's Stuart Bingham became only the eighth player to compile more than one maximum break in competition during his 5-0 defeat of Marcus Campbell in the quarter-finals of the Masters qualifying event at Prestatyn. Bingham, the world number 37 from Basildon, made the 147 in the fifth frame to complete his whitewash.
It came six years after he constructed a maximum in a British Tour event and is the 52nd 147 to be officially ratified.
