Horse Racing: Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist will miss next month’s Belmont Stakes, the final leg of US thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown series for three-year-olds, because of a high white cell count, his trainers said. Nyquist, whose bid for the Triple Crown ended when he finished third in the Preakness States on Saturday after starting as race favourite, succumbed to a fever on Monday and has since been recovering at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. “He’s out because of sickness,” Nyquist trainer Doug O’Neill said.
Basket, NBA: Oklahoma City Thunder moved within one victory of the NBA Finals after beating Golden State Warriors 118-94 in Game Four. Russell Westbrook collected 36 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds as Oklahoma City grabbed a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals, thanks in large part to Westbrook’s first triple-double of the post-season. Defending champions Golden State will attempt to stay alive tonight at home in Game 5. The Warriors lost back-to-back games for the first time in the post-season after never losing consecutive games in the regular season during their record-setting, 73-win campaign.
Rowing: Australia will head to the Olympics without a men’s eight in the rowing for the first time in 66 years after their failure to qualify for Rio at the final regatta in Switzerland. Australia needed a top-two finish in Lucerne but finished fourth behind the US, Poland and Italy. The women’s eight also failed to qualify, finishing third behind Romania and Netherlands. Only Rhys Grant in the men’s single sculls was able to book his berth, meaning Australia will have eight boats and 20 rowers in Rio, compared with the 13 boats and 46 crew London.
Motor Racing: Red Bull’s teenage race winner Max Verstappen will have to wait to get his hands on Renault’s newest F1 engine with Australian team-mate Daniel Ricciardo given priority for Sunday’s Monaco GP. The 18-year-old Dutch driver, who became the sport’s youngest winner 10 days ago in Spain, tested the new power unit last week and reported that it looked a “very positive step”. Renault had planned to introduce the new engine in Canada next month but have made one available for Red Bull for Monaco after indications that it could bring a gain of up to half-a-second a lap.
Giro d'Italia: IAM Cycling’s Roger Kluge snatched victory in the Giro D’Italia 17th stage yesterday, giving the Swiss team its first Grand Tour stage win. German Kluge, 30, powered past Pippo Pozzato and held off the peloton in an all-out sprint to finish ahead of Italy’s Giacomo Nizzolo on the 196km stage from Molveno to Cassano d’Adda. Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk finished in the main pack and kept hold of the pink jersey while maintaining a three-minute advantage over his nearest challenger, Colombia’s Esteban Chaves, with four days left.