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Horse Racing: Arrogate (picture) is to have a break before being prepared for back-to-back victories in the Breeders’ Cup Classic following his astonishing display to win the Dubai World Cup at Meydan last weekend. The Bob Baffert-trained grey produced one of the greatest performances in the history of horse racing to take the near £5 million first prize after facing a near impossible task. The four-year-old was last after being squeezed out at the start and at one stage was some 20 lengths behind the leader. Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to the owner, said: “So far, he’s come out of the race fine. He’ll have a break now and aim for the Breeders’ Cup.”
Athletics: Geoffrey Kamworor retained the men’s title and Irene Cheptai led home five of her compatriots in the women’s race as Kenya dominated the world cross country championships at the Kololo Independence Grounds. Kamworor became the first back-to-back winner of the senior men’s 10km race for 11 years as he beat his team-mate Leonard Barsoton by 12 seconds to win in 28 minutes 24 seconds. Earlier, Kenya’s women had swept the senior women’s 10km race in unprecedented fashion, with their team filling all the first six places, headed by national champion Cheptai, who maintained her season’s unbeaten record to strike gold in 31:57.
Golf: Jon Rahm blamed a loud noise, reported as a slamming portable toilet door, for a poor chip shot at the final hole that cost him a chance of forcing extra holes in his final against Dustin Johnson at the WGC-Dell Match Play on Sunday. Rahm was just starting his backswing for the 80-foot shot at Austin Country Club in Texas when a sudden noise reverberated across the green. The 22-year-old Spaniard continued with his swing but hit the ball fat and he reacted in disgust when it stopped barely halfway to the hole. “That’s absolutely why I missed it,” Rahm said, referring to the noise.
Tennis: Top seed Angelique Kerber advanced to the fourth round at the Miami Open but eighth seed Madison Keys was sent packing. On a day when Simona Halep, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Venus Williams also won their third round matches, Kerber did not have it all her own way against 61st-ranked American Shelby Rogers. The German, however, proved too strong, breaking five times for a 6-4 7-5 win on the main stadium hardcourt at Crandon Park. Keys, in her second event since returning from wrist surgery, was the only seed to lose, falling to Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena 7-5 7-5.
Snooker: Alex Borg was eliminated in the first round of the China Open after going down to home player Niu Zhuang 5-4 in Beijing yesterday. Borg fought back from 4-1 down to force a decider but it was Zhuang who progressed after taking the final frame 69-37. Judd Trump had no problems as he started his title defence with a 5-0 whitewashing of Jason Weston. Stuart Bingham and home favourite Ding Junhui were 5-3 victors against Scott Donaldson and Sean O’Sullivan respectively, while Mark Williams brushed aside Zhang Anda 5-1.