WORLD OF SPORT
▷▷▷ Tears as Winx bows out on a winning note
Australia’s favourite racehorse Winx delivered another dominant performance in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes to win her 33rd successive race and head into retirement with a world record 25 Group 1 victories. A 37th career win from 43 starts for the seven-year-old bay mare never looked in doubt and she stormed across the line a length-and-ahalf clear of Kluger. There were tears aplenty as the sell-out crowd of 42,000 at Royal Randwick gave her a standing ovation as she rode around her home racecourse, venue of 20 of her wins, for the final time. “It’s just an amazing experience,” said Chris Waller, his voice breaking from the emotion as he celebrated what was his 100th Group 1 win as a trainer. “It’s great for our sport, it’s great for Australia.” Her 37 victories matched the career record of Phar Lap, while she extended the record of Group 1 wins she took sole possession of last month with her 23rd win.
▷▷▷ ‘I was trying to be nice’ says furious Verstappen
Raging Max Verstappen launched a foul-mouthed tirade against his rivals after a testy qualifying session yesterday for the Chinese GP. The 21-yearold Dutchman will start the race fifth in his Red Bull. At the conclusion of qualifying in Shanghai, Verstappen voiced his anger after at least three cars overtook him, meaning he failed to get one last, flying lap in. He swore several times over the team radio and was still seething afterwards, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel one of those to pass him. Vettel qualified third, behind Valtteri Bottas in pole and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in second. “On the final run in Q3 I followed the Ferrari in front of me as we were all in a queue,” said Verstappen, explaining why he was so irate. “I was actually trying to be nice and not overtake, as that’s not what you do in qualifying when you’re all trying to prepare for the last run ... I am of course not happy with that, or to be fifth.”
▷▷▷ Genesio to leave Lyon at end of the season
Lyon manager Bruno Genesio will leave the Ligue 1 club at the end of the season. “For a while now I have been facing a negative climate towards me, which has become negative for the players, the club,” Genesio, who was appointed in 2015 and has failed to bring any trophies to Lyon, told a news conference. “I’ve had a very long talk with the president this morning to announce to him that I would not continue next season. I told the players this morning,” Genesio added. “Now we have to stick together to take the club to the Champions League.”