The Australian racing scene mourns a true legend.

Saturday marked the end for three-time Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva, who succumbed to colic complications.

Unmatched in history, Makybe Diva captured three Melbourne Cups in a row from 2003 to 2005, and owner Tony Santic wasted no time in announcing her departure from competition after that final glory.

Awarded Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year in 2005 for her brilliant run that included the Australian Cup, BMW Stakes, Memsie Stakes, Turnbull Stakes, Cox Plate and the pinnacle Melbourne Cup.

She was welcomed into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame the next year and elevated to Legend Status in 2010.

Trained initially by David Hall, Makybe Diva joined Lee Freedman after Hall pursued opportunities in Hong Kong, achieving 15 wins out of 36 races and pocketing $14.5 million prizemoney.

“From the day she came into our lives, she was never just a racehorse she was family,” Santic said.

“She gave us moments Australia will never forget, but more than that, she gave us joy every single day.

“She was loved from the beginning, and she stayed loved for her whole life.”

Makybe Diva’s descendants couldn’t match her accomplishments on the course, so post-breeding retirement, the mare settled into life at Santic’s estate near Geelong.

Reflecting on Makybe Diva’s Melbourne Cup triumphs, racing enthusiasts should visit racing betting markets for the latest options in 2026.

An eye-catching win in a Flemington Stakes has positioned Birdman as a contender for the Australian Cup.

The Chris Waller charge delivered on Saturday in the Group 2 Blamey Stakes (1600m), his second start post-spell, signalling bright prospects for the former UK import this autumn.

With $3.50 favourite Ben Melham in the saddle, the gelding quickened decisively beyond the 100m mark to claim victory by 1-¾ lengths over Enxuto ($7), followed half a head later by Mark Twain ($101).

On February 14, Birdman returned via the Listed Elms Handicap (1400m) at Flemington, where a tight draw left the gelding short of room.

Saturday’s tactics focused on preventing congestion, with Melham directed to position Birdman with freedom.

Darren Beadman, standing in for Waller, praised Melham’s compliance with the riding orders.

“Last start it didn’t work out from the inside draw, but today he held his line out of the gates,” Beadman said.

“He wasn’t the best to step away, but he kept that three wide line and dictated to a few runners around him.

“He let them know he wasn’t going to go over to the fence. He was seven lengths off the lead, and it was a pretty easy watch.”

Beadman recalled the gelding’s arrival from Britain boasting quality form, including hopes from owners for a Melbourne Cup crack.

“He arrived in Australia about a year-and-a-half or two years ago with good credentials and a couple of wins, including the Queen’s Vase,” Beadman said.

“The owners were hoping to aim for the Melbourne Cup. He’s been very consistent and his was a great run in the Caulfield Cup last year.

“I guess, without speaking to Chris, the Australian Cup will probably be the ideal type of race for him.”

The Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) is set down for March 28 at Flemington.

According to Melham, Birdman merited success on resumption and the run instilled real optimism ahead of the Blamey.

“I feel that he will go to a new level this preparation,” Melham said.

“I love the feeling when he let down today.

“He’s a master, Chris Waller. This horse has really come into his own this preparation and he’s a gentleman to deal with and he’s got a motor to boot.

“That will hold him in good stead moving forward.”

For punters tracking the 2026 Australian Cup, leading betting sites offer strong racing odds on Birdman.

First Published: Mar 01 2026 | 1:16 PM IST

South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley said Saturday that the university is working to bring three former women’s basketball players, including WNBA veteran Tiffany Mitchell, home from Israel as joint missile strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran continued. 

Staley shared a message on X revealing that Mitchell, who played last season for the Seattle Storm; former Phoenix Mercury forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan; and former Team USA guard Destiny Littleton were all in Israel at the time of the strikes.

Head coach Dawn Staley of the South Carolina Gamecocks during a game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C., Jan. 25, 2026.  (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

“Please pray for our @GamecockWBB @TiffMitch25 @2121Mikiah @dstnylttltn24 who are in a war zone in Israel,” her post said.  

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“We are working a plan to get home. Let us pray for our loved ones to return home safely asap! Thank you in advance.” 

Neither the WNBA nor the University of South Carolina immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Littleton, who played for the South Carolina Gamecocks from 2019-2022, posted a series of video updates on social media stating she was “safe.” 

South Carolina guard Destiny Littleton during a game against the Kentucky Wildcats at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C., Jan. 9, 2022. (John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“I’m about to head to the shelter now,” she said in one video. “Unfortunate, but this is the circumstance right now.” 

Mitchell reshared Staley’s post on X with praying hands emoji but did not comment further. Herbert Harrigan did the same.  

Littleton plays for Hapoel Lev Jerusalem, a professional women’s basketball team in the Israeli Women Basketball Premier League. According to the team’s Facebook, she signed with the team in November. She previously played for Team USA basketball, winning a gold medal at the 2017 FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup.

Tiffany Mitchell of the Seattle Storm moves the ball down the court against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, on Aug. 22, 2025. (Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Mitchell signed with the Storm in July after beginning the 2025 season with the Las Vegas Aces. She has played several offseasons overseas, including a stint with the Russian Women’s Basketball Premier League. 

She last played with Hapoel Lev Jerusalem during the 2024-2025 season and won the Israeli Women Basketball Premier League championship in 2019. It was not immediately known if she was playing for the team. She announced on her Instagram in November that she had signed with the Beijing Great Wall of the Women’s Chinese Basketball Association. 

Herbert Harrigan was a first-round draft pick in the WNBA, selected sixth overall in the 2020 WNBA Draft. She has had several stints throughout the league, last playing for the Mercury in 2024. 

She was later traded to the Dallas Wings before getting waived last year. She currently plays in the Israeli Women Basketball Premier League for Elitzur Ramla.

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Mikiah Herbert Harrigan of the Phoenix Mercury against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, July 3, 2024. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

The U.S. joined Israel in launching strikes against Iran on Saturday morning. In video remarks posted to Truth Social, Trump encouraged the Iranian people to take over their government once the United States and Israel finished “major combat operations” in Iran.

Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes targeting U.S. sites in multiple countries. Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin reported that approximately 40 missiles had landed in Israel. Additionally, Iran appeared to hit the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, but no casualties were reported. Iran also launched missiles at Saudi Arabia and Jordan, where the U.S. has squadrons of advanced fighter jets, Griffin added.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report. 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

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Fabio Wardley has plotted another domestic dustup, against another former world champion, which could materialise if he successfully defends his WBO title against Daniel Dubois.

Wardley and Dubois will square off in a mouth-watering heavyweight clash on May 9, headlining a Queensberry Promotions card at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena.

Aptly named ‘Don’t Blink’, their world title fight has all the ingredients to deliver an explosive shootout, with each man boasting a 95% knockout-to-win ratio.

Wardley, however, has ultimately been made a slight favourite, given his stunning 11th-round finish over former world champion Joseph Parker last October.

Not long after his victory, the Ipswich man was then upgraded from ‘interim’ to full WBO champion following Oleksandr Usyk’s decision to vacate his belt.

Dubois, meanwhile, has not fought since his fifth-round stoppage defeat to Usyk in July, back when the Londoner lost his IBF strap in emphatic fashion.

In this next contest, though, the 28-year-old certainly represents a dangerous threat, while Wardley has already begun to consider a possible clash with Tyson Fury.

‘The Gypsy King’ must first get past Arslanbek Makhmudov on April 11 but, after that, Wardley firmly believes another all-British world title fight could come to fruition.

Speaking with Daily Mail Boxing, the 31-year-old said he initially tried to make his maiden title defence against Fury, until it became clear that the 37-year-old would first need a comeback fight.

“I gave him [Fury] an open invitation to say, ‘Look, if you want it, I’m here. Call me. Just let me know. It’s no bother to me; if you want to go in April, I’ll go in April.’

“But obviously, he’s fighting Makhmudov and doing his own thing. Hopefully – fingers crossed – he comes through that, and then I get through Daniel, and then, on the other side, we find ourselves in Wardley-Fury territory.”

Fury has not fought since suffering a second points defeat to Usyk in 2024 but, with a win over Makhmudov, perhaps he will soon return to the top end of his division.

Oleksandr Usyk’s upcoming fight with Rico Verhoeven may not be a WBC title defence, despite an initial announcement to the contrary.

The Ukrainian southpaw was last in action against Daniel Dubois in July 2025, where he became undisputed in boxing’s top division for a second time. Rather than face his WBO mandatory challenger, Fabio Wardley, next, Usyk opted to vacate that belt.

He still currently holds the WBC, WBA and IBF, but only the WBC was mentioned when his fight with Verhoeven – to take place at the Pyramids of Giza on May 23 – was made official this week.

However, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, who has come under fire since the announcement, has now told Chris Mannix that the fight will be a WBC “special event” and that the belt on the line will be a commemorative token. He says there has been no request for it to be a sanctioned heavyweight title defence.

“The WBC fully supports this cross over fight … (we) will create an unbelievable belt featuring the elements of Pyramids of Egypt. The WBC supported Fury vs Ngannou which turned out to be very competitive and we have full respect of Rico as a legendary kickboxing heavyweight champion. At this moment there has not been discussion of a request to be a title defence and just a special event involving the WBC heavyweight champion.”

Usyk was granted a voluntary defence months ago on the condition that he would face mandatory challenger and interim champion, Agit Kabayel, next. However, voluntaries should come against someone ranked in the top 15 – something Verhoeven, who has had one professional boxing match, can’t boast.

The Tyson Fury–Francis Ngannou bout provides a recent precedent, where the WBC title was not placed on the line. At the time, Fury held the WBC title, but the sanctioning body permitted ‘The Gypsy King’ to have that fight without the belt on the line, then allowing him to move into an undisputed contest with Usyk.

The Verhoeven fight in general has been met by mixed reviews, with many feeling the Ukrainian road warrior has earned the right for big money crossover bouts at this stage of his campaign. Others, however, would rather the world titles were not held up to make it happen. What the IBF and WBA decide to do remains unclear, with Usyk losing those two belts a real possibility.

India are all set to face off against the West Indies in their final match of the Super Eight stage of the 2026 T20 World Cup. The encounter will be contested at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday, March 1.

The stakes are high, with both teams eyeing a spot in the final four. The match promises to be a spectacle, with plenty of individual battles and strategic face-offs to focus on.

India’s squad for the T20 World Cup: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Tilak Varma, Washington Sundar.

West Indies’ squad for the T20 World Cup: Brandon King, Shai Hope (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder, Matthew Forde, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph, Johnson Charles, Akeal Hosein, Jayden Seales, Quentin Sampson.

On that note, here are three things to look forward to in India’s T20 World Cup 2026 clash against the West Indies.

#3 India’s new-look top three will be in focus once again

India have moved towards a fresh top order at the business end of the T20 World Cup – Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan. How this relatively new combination fares against a quality West Indies bowling attack will be interesting to see.

The visitors could opt to bring in Akeal Hosein for Matthew Forde. Known for his powerplay bowling, Akeal could ask some serious questions of Samson. If the Windies can break the shaky Indian opening partnership, the stage could be set for Gudakesh Motie and Roston Chase through the middle overs.

#2 Varun Chakaravarthy can be backed to find his best form

Varun Chakaravarthy will be the key cog in India’s bowling attack, and the Kolkata venue might just be what he needs to rediscover his mojo. He’s been a bit inconsistent lately, despite a fair amount of wickets in the tournament.

Varun’s form will be important for India, especially in the middle overs. If he can find his rhythm and bowl with control, he could stifle the West Indies’ scoring rate. The visitors have many players who are susceptible against wrist-spin, making the ace spinner crucial.

India will be hoping that Varun can turn things around. Can he bamboozle the West Indies batsmen and help his team gain the upper hand?

#1 Can India avoid an embarrassing exit from the T20 World Cup?

The Men in Blue will be under pressure to perform, given that a defeat would mean the end of their title defense. India have a strong team on paper, but they’ll need to execute their plans effectively on the field.

The Windies are the obvious underdogs, but the danger they possess is clear. With the pitch expected to be dry, their spinners could even the scales to a great extent. India haven’t been anywhere near their best either.

Avoiding an early exit from the T20 World Cup will be paramount for India. Can they rise to the occasion and deliver a strong performance against a determined West Indies side?