Gratz Vella, a trainer based in Canberra, has had his career’s most significant thrill courtesy of the three-year-old gelding Music Time.

During his debut preparation, the son of All Too Hard captured the Group 3 Black Opal Stakes (1200m), Canberra’s premier juvenile event, and subsequently achieved a strong third place in the nation’s foremost two-year-old race, the Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m).

Now, Vella has his sights set on Sydney’s premier three-year-old races, with Music Time slated to make his seasonal reappearance in the Group 3 San Domenico Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens this coming Saturday.

Music Time received a beneficial conditioning run when he finished second in his only trial over 1040m on August 14th, and Vella is confident this outing has prepared him sufficiently for Saturday’s challenge.

“I said to Tommy Berry before his trial ‘he hasn’t had too much, a couple of nice gallops and one jump out, just go easy with him today and it’s only going to benefit him,” Vella shared.

“And he come back in and said ‘Gratz, this horse is a lot more forward that what you think he is.’”

“He’s come on very well from his two-year-old season, especially since that barrier trial. He had a good gallop Tuesday morning with one of my senior horses and matched strides with him, the jockey came in and said how good he was.”

Having initially considered targeting The Kosciuszko (1200m), a race exclusively for country-trained horses, a consultation with the Racing New South Wales Handicapper has led Vella to aim for more prestigious targets, setting Music Time on a path toward the Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes (1400m).

“I rang up the handicapper and I asked him about the Kosciuszko and for a three-year-old, he’d be carrying 60 kilos,” Vella explained.

“So I think that’s out of our picture. But I think if he goes well this weekend, by all means, we’ll just keep heading for the three-year-old races.”

“Who’s to say he can’t make it in a Golden Rose, because the horse’s he’s racing this weekend were mainly in the Golden Slipper and he didn’t finish too far away from the winner.”

Music Time, who will be partnered by Kerrin Mcevoy, is currently listed as a $15 chance for Saturday’s San Domenico Stakes, with the Golden Slipper winning horse Guest House installed as the $2.80 favourite.

Betting markets for the San Domenico Stakes are available at leading sports betting platforms.

Tom Dabernig is hoping for a strong showing from one of his sprinters this weekend, aiming for Group 1 contention, after another of his horses secured a spot in a major race last Saturday.

The untapped four-year-old Oliveanotherday is scheduled to begin his campaign in Saturday’s $200,000 The Heath at Caulfield.

This Group 3 event over 1100 metres will be Oliveanotherday’s first outing since completing a perfect four-start season in the Listed Wangoom Handicap (1100m) in early May, a performance that announced him as one of the country’s most exciting sprinters.

Dabernig understands the gelding must step up, but he was heartened by the Wangoom Handicap win over older horses and has been satisfied with his recent work.

“Three to four is always a funny transition, but as a three-year-old he was in races where he was beating older horses, so I think he’s a horse that can make that transition fine,” he said.

“He trialled at Caulfield last Wednesday and trialled really well and he pulled up well.

“He’s had a nice build-up, he’s had two trials and seems to be going well.”

Oliveanotherday is part of a capable sprinting team for the Warrnambool trainer. Last Saturday, Cavalry Girl earned her place in the Group 1 Moir Stakes for this year with a victory in the Group 3 Carlyon Stakes at Sandown.

Oliveanotherday defeated Point Barrow in a 1000m jumpout on Caulfield’s Heath track on August 19, following an 880m trial at Casterton.

Dabernig considered The Heath a suitable starting point for Oliveanotherday, given his previous win at Caulfield before the Wangoom Handicap, which will help shape his future campaign.

“He was good at Caulfield, so we thought that might be a nice, safe kick-off,” Dabernig explained.

“He hasn’t been to Flemington yet, so what we’re considering is maybe the Bobbie Lewis (second-up) and trying it early, which might help map out what we do.

“The straight is an unknown and I didn’t want to go first-up down the straight, so I thought we can get that run into him and then make that call on what we do.”

Oliveanotherday is the $2.50 favourite for The Heath, with prominent rivals including Group 1 winner War Machine ($4), Bridal Waltz ($6), and Inkaruna ($8).

Oliveanotherday is the $2.50 favourite for The Heath, and keen punters might be checking out betting sites for the best racing betting markets available on the field, which includes Group 1 winner War Machine ($4), Bridal Waltz ($6), and Inkaruna ($8).

Chelsea legend John Terry has revealed that Jose Mourinho once told him to deliberately collect yellow cards so he could serve a planned suspension and be rested for a key Premier League match.

Terry, 45, made the revelation while speaking on FC Bullard The Show, recalling one of the tactical decisions Mourinho made during his time as Chelsea manager.

According to the former England defender, Mourinho wanted him to miss an FA Cup match against Walsall so he could be available for Chelsea’s important Premier League clash against Manchester United.

Terry said Mourinho approached him when he had two league bookings and told him to pick up yellow cards in his next three league games.

“I’m on two bookings. He comes to me and says, ‘You have to miss that one because we play Man United at home after Walsall. I want you to miss the FA Cup game, so you have to get booked in the next three league games,’” Terry recalled.

The former Chelsea captain said he collected bookings in his next two matches before deliberately looking for another late in the third game.

With Chelsea winning, Terry described how he delayed taking a throw-in in the final minutes until the referee eventually showed him a yellow card for wasting time.

“I’m waiting about two minutes. In the end, he comes over and books me. I drop the ball and just go running back,” Terry said.

Terry then revealed that Mourinho rewarded him with a four-day trip to Dubai after the plan worked.

“He sends me to Dubai for four days after. Little bits like that. It was just so good,” he added.

The story has attracted criticism from some fans, with some questioning the idea of deliberately getting booked to manipulate the suspension system.

For Terry, however, it was another example of Mourinho’s attention to detail and the unusual methods he used to prepare his team for important matches.

The pair enjoyed great success together at Chelsea, winning two Premier League titles during Mourinho’s first spell at the club.

It has been a goodbye to the greats in Manchester City’s summer of change, adios to Pep Guardiola and Bernardo Silva and John Stones and Rodri, with tributes reflecting their importance in the club’s history. Nathan Ake, another Champions League winner, was afforded less of a fanfare, but then he always did tend to fly under the radar.

But there is a different kind of farewell: to the men who have come and gone at some speed, often with sizeable sums of money changing hands, but without the longevity of Guardiola, Silva and Stones, who all gave either nine or 10 years of service. Some may have been designed as the successors to the Treble team, but are leaving in the same summer as a couple of them, barely a year after others. Which, in turn, can show the difficulty of coming after legends; anyone else can look a downgrade.

Yet if one interpretation is to note how quickly City abandoned some of their plans for the future, another is that they are extricating themselves in such a way to fund further rebuilding, to buy the players who came after the players designed to take over from Rodri and Silva and co.

James Trafford, Tijjani Reijnders and Savio have already gone this summer. Nico Gonzalez and Omar Marmoush probably will follow. It will be profitable business for City, with £91m banked before the a club record £85m from Savio’s switch to Spurs, with perhaps a further £100m on top of that if the Egyptian joins him at Tottenham and the Spaniard heads to Newcastle. That more than pays for a new midfield – the £116m buy of Elliot Anderson and the proposed £85m arrival of Ayyoub Bouaddi – and goes quite some way towards funding a third arrival in the centre of the pitch.

The common denominator among the departures is that Trafford, Reijnders, Savio, Gonzalez and Marmoush all arrived in Guardiola’s last two years; they came in his final four transfer windows, rather than playing in the four-in-a-row team. None won the title with City; Savio’s 84 appearances were the most of that quintet, Marmoush’s 16 goals the highest.

Rather than becoming constants in the team, they became symbols of a time of transition: from Guardiola to Enzo Maresca, from a great team to a merely good one, from Txiki Begiristain to Hugo Viana, with two directors of football having varying roles in their respective arrivals.

They also marked a point where continuity gave way to change. City have a reputation as big spenders but were relatively restrained in the transfer market for a while; too long, as they suddenly needed to replace an ageing group. They spent £450m in four windows, more than half on players who have either gone or may play a negligible part in the new regime. They had to rush recruitment, particularly in January 2025; at times they got quantity more than quality, players who either lacked the characteristics or the brilliance of the men they were supposed to replace.

If it underlined the difficulty in unearthing footballers to suit Guardiola’s style of play, it is also hard to get those as good as their predecessors. Savinho, for instance, had some similarities to Riyad Mahrez, and took his No 26 shirt, but never had his goalscoring habit. Marmoush offered the ability to operate as a striker that City needed for Erling Haaland’s rare absences, but when opponents defend deep, his pace was negated. Had either really succeeded – and each was poor in the first half of last season – then perhaps City would never have signed Antoine Semenyo.

Reijnders is more of a box-to-box midfielder than a quintessential Guardiola technician and lost his place. Gonzalez was bought to be Rodri’s understudy. But while Maresca has talked of late of finding “a new Rodri”, City concluded it was not Gonzalez; again, he was overlooked for more technical players last season. Trafford, meanwhile, rejoined scarcely expecting City to buy Gianluigi Donnarumma. There was a failure of communication.

Reijnders was required in part because the 2024 deal to bring back Ilkay Gundogan, another of the luminaries, backfired. The German went again after a year. Four relatively recent arrivals remain on the books, but Sverre Nypan has been loaned out again. Vitor Reis has returned from his own City Football Group loan to be fifth-choice centre-back. Marcus Bettinelli is third-choice goalkeeper. Rayan Ait-Nouri, who never felt a Guardiola left-back, may not be a Maresca one either and has started the season as an unused substitute.

It only leaves a core five recruits from the in-between years, a quintet who should be pivotal. It feels notable that three of them were low-risk recruits anyway: Donnarumma, already established as one of the world’s finest goalkeepers, and Semenyo and Marc Guehi, Premier League-proven players who were among the best in the division in their positions.

That leaves two coups from the two years of rapidly rebuilding the squad: Cherki, a huge talent and, at £31m, a bargain, and Abdukodir Khusanov, raw when signed but with the speed to make him formidable. It also gives him some echoes of Kyle Walker just as, in his creativity, Cherki can seem a successor to Kevin De Bruyne.

There may be a lesson there especially as Guehi, like Stones, is a ball-playing centre-back. It shows a consistency of thought. Some of the other recruits may not. Some came, went into the team, out again and headed to the exit.

While City have commanded premium prices for back-ups, the fact they have paid a club record sum for Elliot Anderson may suggest they concluded the mix-and-match buying for £30m and £50m had too much trial and error to make them the best again. But arguably the abiding lesson is that it is impossible to completely rebuild a champion team in four transfer windows; or they could not, anyway. They instead got half a side, and got their money back and more on the other half.

All along, depth corner Dwight McGlothern was looking like a long shot to demand a roster spot yet again. Minnesota has officially moved on.

Consider the update about the Kwesi corner who has been sent packing even though the roster cut down day only arrives on Sunday: “The #Vikings have signed CB Tre Hawkins III and waived-injured Dwight McGlothern Jr.”

Kwesi Corner Dwight McGlothern Gets Waived

McGlothern has already overcome long odds.

As an undrafted rookie, McGlothern made the roster, but was seldom used due to the four veterans ahead of him (Byron Murphy Jr., Stephon Gilmore, Shaq Griffin, and Fabian Moreau). As a sophomore, McGlothern yet again made the final roster, but was again buried behind several veterans (Murphy, Isaiah Rodgers, and Jeff Okudah). He won’t get the chance to do so yet again in 2026.

At no point has it been difficult to find reasons for intrigue with Dwight McGlothern.

He stands at 6’2″ and weighs 185 pounds. Basically, super long but not as sturdy as someone like Xavier Rhodes (listed at 6’1″ and 218 pounds). Boasting his build means (in theory) being able to hang with tall outside receivers. So far, the Vikings haven’t given him the chance to do so. Note that he ran a 4.47 forty. That’s not unheard of speed, but it’s very good. In a rough sense, that speed is a touch better than Murphy but not as formidable as Rodgers.

As a rookie in 2024, Dwight McGlothern earned 19 snaps on defense and just 17 snaps on special teams. He then had 31 snaps on defense in 2025 while offering 20 snaps for Matt Daniels on specials.

Seeing a young fella — especially an undrafted player — fail to earn a beefy workload early on isn’t strange. What is strange, though, is carving out a roster spot for this player when there’s not a special teams job. Most youthful players get polished on specials while trying to earn more snaps on either offense or defense. Not so with McGlothern.

In Tre Hawkins, the Vikings are welcoming a similar corner to town.

He’s listed as being 6’3″ and weighing 195 pounds. Originally, Hawkins got into the NFL in 2023, doing so as a 6th-Round selection of the New York Giants. Since then, Hawkins has played in twenty-one ball games, starting four. The Giants sent him onto the field for 429 snaps on defense and 176 on special teams.

Sandwiched between the New York and Minnesota stops was some modest work in Washington in 2025. Note that former Vikings DB coach Daronte Jones is now the Commanders DC.

Tre Hawkins will look to make a good impression early to have a chance at the 53. Realistically, though, he’s probably trying to get a spot on the practice squad as he progresses from there.

Meanwhile, Dwight McGlothern will get the second chapter of his NFL career started somewhere. He’ll likely need to prove capable of helping on specials to get back onto a 53-man roster.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

Britons Harriet Dart and Fran Jones both made winning starts to their bids to reach the US Open singles main draw.

Dart, who has twice reached the US Open second round, came through 6-0 6-7 (1-7) 6-1 against Jordyn Hazelitt in the first round of qualifying in New York.

She will face another American 16-year-old, Kristina Penickova, next.

Jones, who qualified for the US Open for the first time last year, will face Germany’s Mona Barthel after winning 6-3 6-4 against Italy’s Nuria Brancaccio.

But Jodie Burrage lost to Spain’s Guiomar Maristany 7-6 (7-1) 6-4, while Henry Searle was beaten 6-1 6-2 by American 16-year-old Michael Antonius in the men’s event.

Antonius will face former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori in the second qualifying round, after the Japanese 36-year-old battled to a 6-1 2-6 6-2 win over Austrian Sebastian Ofner.

Former US Open semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov will face Kazakhstan’s Timofey Skatov in his second qualifying match after dismissing Italy’s Lorenzo Giustino 6-0 6-3.

In the women’s draw, 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu progressed with a 6-1 6-2 win against Dutch player Eva Vedder.

Heather Watson resumes her qualifying campaign with a second-round match against Spain’s Angela Fita Boluda on Wednesday.

In the men’s draw, Britons Jacob Fearnley, Toby Samuel, Billy Harris, Harry Wendelken and Jack Pinnington Jones all return to action seeking to move one win away from the Flushing Meadows main draw.

Players must come through three rounds of qualifying to reach the singles main draw, which gets under way on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Britain’s Arthur Fery warmed up for the US Open with a 6-1 7-5 victory over Cruz Hewitt at the Winston-Salem Open.

Fery, playing just his third match since his stunning run to the Wimbledon semi-finals, came back from 4-1 down in the second set to advance.

The fourth seed will play either Czech Tomas Machac or Dutch qualifier Mees Rottgering next.

Champion trainer Chris Waller is relying on a team of ‘boys’ to capture his second Group 1 prize of the season.

Waller secured the season’s opening Group 1 event, the Winx Stakes at Randwick last Saturday, with a predominantly mare-based squad. For the upcoming Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday, he will field three colts and two geldings.

Two of the five contenders, Angel Capital and Birdman, galloped at Caulfield on Tuesday morning on a track softened by overnight rain. Beiwacht, a scratching from the Winx Stakes due to an elevated temperature, also galloped and received Waller’s approval to compete.

Buckaroo and Autumn Boy will complete the five-horse team.

Rider bookings are yet to be finalised, but it has been confirmed that leading Sydney jockey James McDonald will be in Melbourne for the Memsie Stakes meeting.

“He will be here, but we haven’t worked out what he will be riding,” Waller commented. “We will keep a watch on the weather and what transpires.”

Waller considers Angel Capital a Group 1 winner in waiting, noting his considerable improvement since his initial run back in Sydney, where he finished third in the Missile Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on August 8.

“It’s only bad luck that is holding him back from being a multiple Group 1 winner,” Waller stated. “He’ll get his chance on Saturday, but I am a little bit concerned about the track. His better form is on better tracks, but the beauty of Caulfield is it does dry very well. The 1400 metres is a good distance for him, and he normally runs well at Caulfield. He’s come on well and if anything, better than I thought. He’s held his weight as he’s a mature colt now.”

Regarding Birdman, Waller said, “Birdman, Jye McNeil was aboard, and he said he felt great, had a good attitude. He found good form down here in the autumn and he carried it right through to Brisbane, winning the Doomben Cup. He resumes ahead of a good preparation, we hope.”

Buckaroo, who finished second first-up in last year’s Memsie Stakes, will be kept to shorter distances this preparation.

After securing second place behind Via Sistina in the Cox Plate, Buckaroo finished last in the Melbourne Cup. He returned in the autumn but was spelled after just two starts.

Buckaroo has completed three trials to prepare for his return.

“He won a jump-out at Flemington to give him some bragging rights last week and he’s come through that well,” Waller explained. “We will target shorter races with him this prep. He does hold an entry for the Caulfield Cup, but I think we will stick to 1800 metres, might stretch him to 2000 metres, but he has come back with plenty of enthusiasm.”

Waller mentioned that Autumn Boy, also scratched from the Winx Stakes last week, will remain in Melbourne after Saturday’s race.

“He’s a stallion, a multiple Group 1 winner, and we’re keen to get him to a Cox Plate,” Waller said. “There’s lots of options down here and once he gets out to 1600, 1800, 2000 metres, he will be a horse to be reckoned with.”

Waller confirmed that Beiwacht was cleared by his veterinary team after being withdrawn from the Winx Stakes with an elevated temperature.

“His blood profile was back to normal yesterday and the vets allowed us to gallop him this morning, and he galloped well,” Waller stated. “Providing he comes through the work well, we will accept with him on Wednesday.”

Check out the latest racing odds for the Memsie Stakes with leading Australian betting sites.