Skyhook affirmed his elite quality and lodged a serious claim for the Stradbroke Handicap by dictating terms for a stylish win in the Group 3 $250,000 Hawkesbury Guineas (1400m) held at Hawkesbury on Saturday.

Premier rider Josh Parr adhered meticulously to the blueprint from trainers Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou, guiding the bold chestnut to victory unchallenged in the Guineas.

“When Sterling and I were doing the form on the race on Thursday, we noticed there wasn’t a lot of early speed,” Ryan said.

“So, we decided to lead and take bad luck out of the equation. He won the Pago Pago Stakes last season when he led so we told Josh to ride him like the best horse in the race.

“Josh, who first rode for me 20 years ago, did everything right on Skyhook, it was a very good ride.

“It’s funny because a number of other jockeys knocked back the ride on Skyhook but when I saw Josh on a winner at Randwick last Saturday, I asked him to ride the colt – and I’m glad I did!”

At $3.40, Skyhook mastered his 58kg weight to triumph by 1.5 lengths ahead of Burma Star ($18), from Wootton Lass ($41) who was a half-length behind in third.

Despite firming to $2.70, Regal Award lacked the necessary punch and ended up fifth.

Ryan and Alexiou now harbour high hopes for the brilliant three-year-old’s assault on Brisbane’s autumn-winter carnival following Skyhook’s resurgence.

Skyhook could be aimed at the Group 1 $3 million Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 13, according to Ryan.

“Skyhook is a well-bred colt so you have to look at Group 1 options like the Doomben 10,000 (May 16),” Ryan said.

“But I believe this horse likes his races spaced and we might look at something like the (Group 3 $300,000) Fred Best Classic (1400m, Eagle Farm, May 30). If he wins that race, then he gets into the Stradbroke field.”

Skyhook advanced to $15 in Stradbroke betting markets, fourth favourite behind Angel Capital at $6.

For the best betting sites covering Skyhook in the Stradbroke Handicap, visit trusted Australian betting sites.

David Benavidez’s has shared his thoughts on Canelo Alvarez’s decision to not watch him as he knocked out Gilberto Ramirez on this past weekend’s big Cinco De Mayo card.

Benavidez dismantled ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez inside six rounds to capture the unified WBO and WBA cruiserweight world titles and become a three-division world champion.

In attendance was fierce rival Canelo, who has headlined on Cinco De Mayo for the past five years, but the 35-year-old opted to exit the arena before Benavidez’s performance of the year candidate.

Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Benavidez said it was a ‘shame’ Canelo did not stick around, believing that he may have ‘scared him away’.

“It was a shame that Canelo wasn’t able to watch that fight there because I think I might have scared him away. I am a bad dude, man. I’m a bad mother****a.”

Alvarez has maintained that he has no interest in fighting Benavidez, and instead, he was sat ringside watching former opponent Jaime Munguia, who recently signed with Team Canelo and Eddy Reynoso and claimed the WBA super-middleweight world title in the co-main event.

Continuing, Benavidez admitted that he has lost faith in his clash with Canelo ever taking place, despite calling his foe out in the post-fight interview.

“I don’t think that fight is ever going to happen, to be honest with you.”

Canelo is expected to return from injury in September and take on WBC super-middleweight champion Christian Mbilli, with plans to reclaim the spot as the Cinco De Mayo headliner in 2027 and to do so as a reigning world champion.

Picture from SRH vs PBKS IPL 2026 game.© BCCI

Former India U-19 and Punjab medium pacer Amanpreet Singh Gill died at the age of 36 in Chandigarh on Wednesday, leaving the cricket fraternity in mourning. The cause of death is not yet known. Gill, who was Virat Kohli‘s U-19 teammate, featured in six first-class matches for Punjab, picking up 11 wickets. He was also part of the Punjab franchise (Kings XI Punjab) in the inaugural Indian Premier League season and later served as a member of Punjab’s senior selection committee.

“Punjab Cricket Association deeply mourns the sad demise of Amanpreet Singh Gill, former Punjab cricketer and member, Senior Selection Committee, Punjab,” the Punjab Cricket Association announced on X.

“Our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and loved ones. May Waheguru grant eternal peace to the departed soul and strength to the family in this difficult time.”

Two-time World Cup-winning India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh also paid tribute to Gill.

“Deeply saddened to hear about Amanpreet Singh Gill’s passing. I shared the dressing room with him in our early days; he was a quiet, hardworking cricketer who loved the game. My heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones. Rest in peace. Om Shanti,” Singh posted on X.

Gill played five Youth ODIs and one Youth Test for India in 2007.

Punjab Cricket Association deeply mourns the sad demise of Amanpreet Singh Gill, former Punjab cricketer and Member, Senior Selection Committee Punjab.

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He served Punjab cricket with dedication and passion, representing teams including India Under-19s, Kings XI Punjab and Punjab.… pic.twitter.com/tpr0EwEprk

— Punjab Cricket Association (@pcacricket) May 6, 2026

In the longer format, he claimed the wicket of former Sri Lanka all-rounder Thisara Perera.

However, he did not make the Virat Kohli-led India U-19 side that went on to win the 2008 World Cup.

“Deeply saddened by the passing of Amanpreet Singh Shergill, who proudly represented Punjab and was a part of the Punjab Kings family. Our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and the entire cricketing fraternity,” Punjab Kings posted on their official Instagram account.

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Gerard Pique has been given a six-match ban and suspended from official football activity for two months by the Spanish football federation after an argument with a referee.

The former Spain and Barcelona star, who retired from playing in 2022, is now co-owner of FC Andorra and the dispute took place during his side’s 1-0 defeat by Albacete last week.

Referee Alonso de Ena Wolf quoted Pique in his post-match report, saying that he told him to “leave with an escort so nobody attacks you” and “in another country they would beat you up, but here in Andorra we are a civilised country”.

A disciplinary committee said that Pique’s two-month ban is “for notorious and public acts that undermine sporting dignity and decorum, based on the facts recorded in the referee’s report”.

The 39-year-old was also given a separate six-match ban “for acts involving minor violence toward the referees”.

Other members of Andorra’s staff were also involved in the confrontation.

Club president Ferran Vilaseca was issued a four-month suspension, while the sporting director Jaume Nogues was banned.

Andorra are currently 10th in the second division table.

Pique won nine La Liga titles and three Champions League trophies with Barcelona, and was part of Spain’s World Cup and European Championship wins in 2010 and 2012.

Drew Stoltz, the co-host of GOLF’s popular Subpar podcast, is back with a second season of Emergency 9, presented by Cobra. Readers of this space may remember that last year, Stoltz’s Emergency 9 series covered a number of topics, from gear explainers to tips on how to get an edge on your buddies in your next match.

For this season of Emergency 9, Stoltz is kicking things off with a review of Cobra’s OPTM family of drivers.

There are four OPTM driver models to choose from: LS, X, Max-K and Max-D. As a fast player who wants to minimize spin, Stoltz was fit into the OPTM LS.

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Cobra OPTM LS Custom Driver

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Shop Cobra’s entire OPTM family of clubs here.

Last year, Stoltz was impressed Cobra’s FutureFit33 technology, which was introduced in Cobra’s DS-APAPT products. FutureFit33, which allows you to adjust the loft and lie of your metals by plus or minus 2 degrees in every direction — enabling 33 total setting options — is also available in the OPTM line. But there’s more! With the OPTM family, Cobra prioritized POI — Product Of Inertia — modeling to re-engineer mass placement and weight positions on the driver heads to reduce the 3D twisting on off-center hits, resulting in tighter dispersion and better accuracy.

“I loved the last line honestly and wasn’t sure I was going to put this in the bag just because I had no complaints about the last one,” Stoltz said. “But I think I get everything I had out of that last driver plus some with this, a little more face stability.”

The OPTM’s game-changing Hot Face technology enabled Stoltz to hit bomb after bomb.

“The forged face insert creates space flex when you hit it, which basically means you get the most pop out of your drive, the most speed that you can possibly get,” Stoltz explained. “Next up, we’ve got an advanced weighting system here. There’s three different places where you can place weight.

“The one on the toe is where I put my heaviest weight,” he continued. “I like everything to go left to right to encourage a fade, so I put the most weight up in the toe. This also helps me get the shot shape that I like.

“No matter what kind of golfer you are, what kind of shot shape you like to hit, there’s a fitting here on the FutureFit33 that will help your game.”

Stoltz worked with Cobra’s Ben Schomin to dial in his specs.

“We went through a number of different settings, a number of different lies, lofts, all the things, till we finally came up with this combination here,” Stoltz said. “The 10.5-degree head moved down almost 1.5 to around 9, and then we’ve also flattened it 1 degree too. So I have a little left-to-right missile-hitter right here.

“I do have to issue a warning before you hit the OPTM driver,” he said. “This does come with highly addictive accuracy and dangerous levels of stability.”

Fever cuts 2026: Tracking all of Indiana’s released players originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The 2026 WNBA regular season begins May 8 — and the league’s 15 teams are starting to trim their rosters in time for tip-off on Friday.

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Players will make their way through waivers in the coming days, as teams try to whittle down their roster sizes to the maximum 12 players allowed under the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement. Teams will have up to 48 hours to make a waiver claim if they believe there is a fit; if not, the player will reach unrestricted free agency and can sign with any organization.

MORE: WNBA roster cuts 2026: Tracking the most notable releases by team, from Hailey Van Lith to Marta Suarez

As of Wednesday morning, the Indiana Fever have cut down their roster to 13 players, following the decision to waive three guards and move 2026 draft pick Justine Pissott to a developmental pool spot.

As Indiana tries to find the optimal balance behind All-Stars Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, The Sporting News will track which players the Fever are letting go before the new season.

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Fever roster cut updates

Meghan McConnell

The Fever waived a trio of guards on Wednesday, starting with McConnell — the sister of Indiana Pacers point guard TJ McConnell.

Megan McConnell played one game for the Phoenix Mercury in 2025, accruing 13 minutes before she suffered a season-ending tibial plateau fracture. In the offseason, she played in Australia before Indiana signed her to a training camp contract.

Though McConnell did not score a single point in the preseason, the former Duquesne star could latch on with another WNBA organization given her potential — she averaged 11.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.9 points per game while playing for the Bendigo Spirit.

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Jessica Timmons

Timmons was just drafted by the Fever, as Indiana used the 40th overall selection in last month’s rookie draft to take the high-scoring guard out of Alabama.

Timmons, a former five-star recruit, was a strong 3-point shooter in the NCAA who averaged 16.3 points per game in her final collegiate season. She is a bit undersized at 5’8”, but given her scoring ability (16 points in three preseason games), Timmons could find her way back to the Fever via a developmental spot if no other team claims her on waivers.

Kayana Traylor

Traylor, the 23rd overall pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, played eight games for the Minnesota Lynx in 2023 before heading overseas for a couple years. She played professionally in France and Israel before she signed a non-guaranteed training camp deal with the Fever.

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Traylor scored 22 points with two assists and one rebound across three preseason games.

Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(w), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Smaran Ravichandran, Pat Cummins(c), Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Eshan Malinga, Praful Hinge, Harsh Dubey, Liam Livingstone, Sakib Hussain, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat, Kamindu Mendis, Gerald Coetzee, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Dilshan Madushanka, Krains Fuletra, Onkar Tarmale, RS Ambrish, Amit Kumar.

Punjab Kings Squad: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Nehal Wadhera, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar, Vishnu Vinod, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Musheer Khan, Mitchell Owen, Ben Dwarshuis, Praveen Dubey, Lockie Ferguson, Shashank Singh, Yash Thakur, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harnoor Singh, Pyla Avinash, Vishal Nishad.