Weekend review including the St Leger, Premier League, Singapore Grand Prix, snooker & darts

Horse Racing

A remarkable weekend of racing on both sides of the Irish Sea saw Kew Gardens land the St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday before Roaring Lion confirmed his status as the best three-year-old colt in training with a thrilling defeat of old foe Saxon Warrior in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.

Kew Gardens had been a warm order for the final Classic of the season ever since running a fine trial in the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes at York in August, but the late decision by John Gosden and his team to run Lah Ti Dar saw the unbeaten filly sent off the well-backed favourite on the day.

As expected, both proved in a different league to their rivals but it was Kew Gardens who prevailed, hitting the front inside the final two furlongs under Ryan Moore before staying on strongly to the line to hold off the fast-finishing market leader.

Moore then jumped on a helicopter to make the trip across to Leoardstown and his efforts very nearly paid dividends when Saxon Warrior looked to have slipped the field in the Irish Champion Stakes.

However, Roaring Lion once again proved too strong for his old rival, producing an impressive turn of foot to run down Saxon Warrior close home.

On Sunday it was revealed that Saxon Warrior had sustained a tendon injury in the race and that he and superstar filly Alpha Centauri have both been retired.

Alpha Centauri was found to have chipped her right front fetlock when defeated by the Karl Burke-trained Laurens in the Matron Stakes on the same Saturday card and goes to the paddocks following a sparkling season that has seen her land the 1000 Guineas, the Coronation Stakes at Royal as well Group One success in France.

Burke enjoyed a weekend to saviour with Havana Grey winning the Group One Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday, while progressive juvenile Skitter Scatter tasted top-level success when running out an impressive victor of the Moyglare Stud Stakes.

In the battle of the big boys, Godolphin came out on top in the National Stakes as Quorto got the better of Ballydoyle hope Anthony Van Dyck. Sky Bet now make Quorto a 7/1 chance to taste classic glory in the 2000 Guineas next year while Skitter Scatter is 14/1 for the 1000 Guineas.

Over at ParisLongchamp, Arc Trials Day saw victories for Kitesurf and Waldgeist as trainer Andre Fabre enjoyed a fine afternoon.

Football

Jurgen Klopp hailed his Liverpool side after goals from Georginio Wijnaldum and Roberto Firmino helped the Reds defeat a strong Tottenham side 2-1 at Wembley.

It was Liverpool's fifth win from as many games in the Premier League so far this season and maintained their strong title challenge.

Elsewhere, Manchester United ended Watford's own impressive start to the campaign when getting the better of their clash at Vicarage Road 2-1 but only after David De Gea pulled off a fine stoppage-time save from Christian Kabasele.

There were also important wins for Arsenal, 2-1 winners away at Newcastle, and for Chelsea, who cruised past Cardiff 4-1.

Manchester City had little trouble in defeating Fulham 3-0 at home while Crystal Palace claimed a vital 1-0 victory away at Huddersfield.

Get the Premier League round-up here.

Formula One

Lewis Hamilton took one step closer to winning his fifth world championship after a commanding victory at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Briton will head into the final six rounds of the season 40 points clear of Sebastian Vettel after a Ferrari strategy blunder cost their driver second place.

Read the full report here.

Cricket

Worcestershire were crowned this year's T20 Blast champions following a thrilling Finals Day at Edgbaston.

The Rapids overcame a batting collapse in their semi-final against Lancashire to progress to the final with Ben Cox blasting a crucial half-century to haul his side to 169, a total that proved beyond the Red Rose outfit.

Sussex booked their place in the final with a commanding victory over Somerset, Luke Wright (92) and David Wiese (52) combining with the bat before Jofra Archer did the early damage with the ball.

Sussex looked on course for another big total in the final when Wright (33) and Laurie Evans (52) took control of their innings but when both were dismissed, Worcestershire fought back well with Patrick Brown again impressing with the ball.

A total of 158 was always going to be tough for Sussex to defend but Worcestershire still had plenty of work to do when reduced to 90-4 before Cox again stole the show, his 46 not out from only 27 balls taking his side to victory with nine balls to spare.

Boxing

Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez is open to the idea of a third fight against Gennady Golovkin after taking a controversial points decision and the Kazakh's WBC and WBA middleweight titles in Las Vegas.

Many onlookers felt that Golovkin had done enough to win a close fight but the judges awarded Canelo the verdict following a pulsating clash in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Snooker

Ronnie O'Sullivan made a successful defence of his Shanghai Masters title by coming from behind to beat Barry Hawkins in China.

O'Sullivan looked in some trouble when trailing 6-4 at the end of a first session that Hawkins dominated but the Rocket found his groove upon the resumption and some fabulous snooker saw him edge a high-quality affair 11-9.

Cycling

Simon Yates sealed victory in La Vuelta to complete a British clean sweep of this year's Grand Tours.

The 26-year-old Bury racer, whose success was all but guaranteed as he headed into Sunday's largely processional final stage into Madrid with a one minute and 46 seconds lead, avoided any late mishaps to land his first Grand Tour title.

Darts

Gerwyn Price celebrated his maiden PDC European Tour title after beating Simon Whitlock 8-3 in the International Darts Open final.

The Welshman could well have bowed out much earlier in the day but survived three match darts in the third round against Daryl Gurney and to say he made the most of it is an understatement!

It's his third title of any kind on the PDC tour and his first since winning two Players Championship crowns back in 2016.

Golf

Wu Ashun became the most successful Chinese player in European Tour history when winning the KLM Open.

Wu had to fight hard to overcome Chris Wood in Spijk, making birdies on three of his last five holes to get to 16 under and win by one shot.

American veteran Angela Stanford won the Evian Championship by one shot after she produced a strong finish on the final day in France.

NFL

Super Bowl winners Philadelphia Eagles suffered a shock 27-21 defeat at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while the Packers and Vikings played out an entertaining tie.

Journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick picked up where he left off last week when he led the Bucs to a shock win in New Orleans with another four-touchdown day to put away the Super Bowl champs.

Check out our full review of the week two action.

Elsewhere in the world of sport...

Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge broke the marathon world record in Berlin on Sunday by recording a time of two hours, one minute and 40 seconds. The 33-year-old Kenyan took one minute and 17 seconds off the previous best time for the race that Dennis Kimetto set four years ago.

Exeter and Saracens both maintained their fine starts to the Gallagher Premiership season while in Rugby League, St Helens lifted the Leaders' Shield.

Great Britain beat Uzbekistan in their Davis Cup tie with Cameron Norrie sealing victory with a comprehensive singles win on Sunday.

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