Mick Price harbours doubts about Buggsy’s current standing in the top tier of three-year-old sprinters, but the colt will be afforded the chance to prove his credentials following a first-up victory on Saturday.

The son of Harry Angel demonstrated superior resilience to outpoint his rivals in the $150,000 Chef’s Hat Handicap (1000m) at Sandown.

Despite the race not carrying Black Type status, it included the competitive Sydney visitor Incognito. Price concedes that Buggsy must elevate his game to be competitive with the elite of his age group, but feels the colt has earned the opportunity.

“Obviously he’s been Stakes-placed when he was on the way down and now you’ve got all these nice races in front of him and he is a colt,” Price declared. “You’ve got to go that way; Poseidon, Danehill, Coolmore.”

“I’m not saying he’s going to be good enough, because we are on a soft track and it’s off-Stakes form, but that’s the way he’s got to go.”

Price, who trains in partnership with Michael Kent Jnr, has a reliable barometer for sprinting three-year-olds in Guest House, the winner of last season’s Golden Slipper.

After being headed in the final furlong, Buggsy ($3.20 fav) dug deep to score by a short-head from Jacaranda ($11), with the fast-finishing Calamari Ring ($13) a half-neck back in third. Observers noted the favourite’s strong response to secure the win.

Saturday’s event was Buggsy’s first start since his third-place finish in the Listed Redoute’s Choice Stakes (1200m) on April 11. His prior outing was a debut win over 1000m at the same venue.

Jockey Craig Williams, who guided Buggsy to his maiden victory, reunited with the colt on Saturday. Williams indicated that Buggsy still has aspects of his racing to mature, offering hope for future improvement.

“He’s still thinking about other things, but when he turns into a racehorse it’s great,” Williams commented. “He’s got nice ability and he’s got very good determination.”

Buggsy’s victory was the middle leg of a treble for Williams across the opening six races. He also completed a running double aboard the Clayton Douglas-trained Final Moment, having earlier partnered Nearco Frod to its fourth consecutive win in a 2400m staying race.

With Buggsy’s promising win, the racing betting markets will be keenly watched, and Australian betting sites are expected to offer competitive odds for his next challenge.

Jaja Santiago (second from left) adds a lot of ceiling to Creamline’s front line. —PVL IMAGES

VICTORIAS, Negros Occidental—Jaja Santiago-Minowa is determined to make the most of her limited time with Creamline when the PVL Invitationals fires off next week at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“The Invitational will be different because we’ll be facing teams from Vietnam and Thailand,” Minowa said in Filipino. “The On Tour has been good preparation for us because we still have a lot of adjustments to make.”

Minowa, a Filipino-born Japanese citizen, made her PVL comeback after five years and showed flashes of her dominant form in her Cremaline debut, helping the team to a 25-21, 25-16, 25-21 sweep of Galeries Tower in the PVL On Tour on Saturday night at the Victorias City Coliseum.

The 6-foot-5 middle blocker, who last played in the PVL under a bubble setup and won the title with Chery Tiggo in 2021 in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, enjoyed her comeback in Negros.

She also admitted missing the kind of support Ilonggos showered her with after the game.

More importantly, Minowa reacquainted herself with the PVL style of play in time for the Invitationals, where Creamline will face defending champion PLDT, Nxled and Farm Fresh, as well as guest teams Thailand’s EST Cola and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City.

“We’re not perfect, and there are still many things we need to polish. We’ll do our very best in the invitational. The schedule will be tight, so hopefully everyone can recover well every day and every game,” said Minowa, who scored six points on 13 attack attempts.

The former league MVP, who will fly to the United States to see action in League One Volleyball with the San Francisco Signal in January, vowed to leave everything on the floor in her lone conference with the Cool Smashers, who are raring to regain the Invitationals title after their grand slam in 2024.

“We’ve experienced something similar before during the first PVL [pro conference], when we had games back-to-back. The important thing is figuring out how to recover after the first game, the second game and the games that follow. The skills are already there, but managing the fatigue and knowing how to maximize your recovery time is the challenge because you have another game the next day,” Minowa said.

“We’re also trying to strengthen our connection as a team and support one another. Volleyball isn’t an individual sport. We have to work together and help each other, and we’ll do our very best in the invitational.”

Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses seeks to maximize the height advantage and experience of the Japan SV.League import, who won a championship and was named Best Blocker twice in the Japanese league.

“Jaja’s [skill] is already there. We only need to work on how she fits into our system, especially the tempo of our game,” Meneses said in Filipino.

“Of course, we’re excited because it’s Jaja Santiago. But what we really want is to build better chemistry within the team, especially with the invitational coming up. That’s the most important thing because the team already has the skills. With Jaja, it can make things easier for us, but only time will tell.”

Meneses is aware of the high expectations that come with a tall international player joining his 11-time champion team. And they are ready to embrace them.

“Now that Jaja is with us, we’re not going to take her presence for granted. We’ll continue working hard. Creamline is supportive of Jaja, and Jaja is also supporting Creamline—that’s really our goal,” he said.

Justin Brownlee brought down China almost singlehandedly in the semifinals of the last Asian Games. —PSC-POC MEDIA POOL

Being the defending champion has put a big target on the back of Gilas Pilipinas ahead of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games next month.

Gilas will be heading to Japan with a lineup different from the ones coach Tim Cone usually assembles in Fiba competitions, while also getting an early test in its campaign after being grouped with powerhouse China.

“Everybody knows the rivalry that we have with China. And I think it’s definitely in their heads, what happened to them last time out,” Chris Newsome said. “So we got to understand that they’re going to come with it.”

The Philippines ended a 61-year gold drought in 2023 in Hangzhou, China, with its biggest win coming by way of a massive comeback against the host nation in the semifinals on Justin Brownlee’s back-to-back triples in the dying seconds.

Newsome was also part of that squad, which eventually saw Gilas secure the gold by defeating Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Jordan in the final.

Gilas will also face Bahrain and Kazakhstan in Group C, where the top two teams are guaranteed to advance to the quarterfinals.

“We’ve got to be ready for that punch that they’re going to have. Everybody, for that matter, had that target on the Philippines as the defending champs,” Newsome said. “And we just really got to accept the challenge, and know what lies ahead.”

Coach Tim Cone has hinted that the Gilas roster will comprise an all-PBA lineup, with players based in Japan and South Korea unavailable.

New faces are expected to don the Gilas jersey for the Asiad, with names like Rain or Shine’s Adrian Nocum, San Miguel Beer’s Don Trollano and Jerrick Ahanmisi, Blackwater’s Sedrick Barefield and Magnolia’s Zavier Lucero part of the pool.

Cone added that there’ll be additional players from his regular pool who will continue representing Gilas after the fourth window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

Before the Asian Games, Gilas will be facing Jordan and Iran on Friday and Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena to start off the second round of qualification.

Gilas has been preparing for exactly a week since the team gathered last Monday at the San Miguel Corporation Sports Complex.

Last Thursday, Gilas prevailed over Korean Basketball League side Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Pheobus, 81-76, in a tuneup game. INQ

Barcelona captain Raphinha faced the media after scoring twice in an impressive 5-0 win for Hansi Flick’s side against Elche on Sunday night.

The Spanish champions opened up their campaign in style, with Raphinha opening the scoring from the penalty spot and then producing a Spiderman celebration – leading many to think about Julian Alvarez.

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Raphinha was quizzed on his celebration after the game but insisted it was for his son and not the Atletico forward.

“The Spiderman? It’s for my son , and he asked me to make it because he really likes it now,” he said after the game.

After seeing Barcelona win 5-0, Raphinha was also asked if Barcelona really need a No. 9 and answered: “This is up to the president, Deco, and the manager. We’ll do whatever he says with determination. We have the ability to play in any position.”

Barcelona are still believed to be keen to sign a new striker before the transfer window closes.

Yet Flick’s side showed on Sunday that goalscoring is not a problem with the likes of Raphinha, Karim Adeyemi, Anthony Gordon, Fermin Lopez and Lamine Yamal around.

The Super Weekend 1 of the BGMI Masters Series (BGMS) Season 5 concluded on August 23, 2026. The top eight teams have advanced to the Super Weekend 2. Team Tamilas secured first place in the overall standings with 267 points and two Chicken Dinners in the first weekend. The squad showed its gameplay consistency across the three days of the stage and ended up in the prime spot.

Wyld Fangs came second with 229 points and one Chicken Dinner. The Sensei-led squad saw an average start to the first weekend but managed to improve its gameplay in the last 12 games and jumped to the second rank on the scoreboard. Team Soul also had a fantastic run, as the Nakul-led lineup ranked third with 227 points, including 113 kills.

Overall standings of BGMS S5 Super Weekend 1

1. Team Tamilas – 268 points
2. Wyld Fangs – 229 points
3. Team Soul – 227 points
4. Nebula Esports – 218 points
5. Elite Nova – 200 points
6. Myth Official – 197 points
7. Team Outrage – 189 points
8. GodLike Esports – 185 points
9. Apex Gaming – 181 points
10. Gladiators Esports – 176 points
11. Orangutan – 174 points
12. Reckoning Esports – 173 points
13. Genesis Esports – 166 points
14. Rapid Chaos – 156 points
15. Zero Ark – 150 points
16. Epigrotive Gaming – 124 points

Nebula Esports, led by Aadi, ended up in fourth place with 218 points at the end of the BGMS Super Weekend 1. The team faltered a bit on Day 3.

Elite Nova came fifth with 200 points and two Chicken Dinners. Myth Esports secured the sixth position with 197 points despite winning four Chicken Dinners. Team Outrage, led by Omega, came seventh with 189 points, including 98 eliminations.

GodLike saw a nice start to the BGMS Super Weekend 1 but stumbled subsequently. Still, the Manya-led lineup improved its performance and secured 185 points by the time the phase ended. These eight teams have advanced to the Super Weekend 2.

Team Apex Gaming, led by Jelly, ended up in ninth place with 181 points and two Chicken Dinners. The team struggled on the last day and failed to qualify for the next Super Weekend from this stage. Gladiators Esports was inconsistent, as it finished 10th with 176 points and three Chicken Dinners.

Orangutan and Reckoning were 11th and 12th with 174 and 173 points, respectively. Genesis ranked 13th with 166 points. Rapid Chaos came 14th with 156 points. Zero Ark and Epigrotive were in the bottom two spots with 150 and 124 points, respectively, when the BGMS Super Weekend 1 ended.