It's the race that stops a nation and, this morning, it stopped yet another horse in its tracks. This year's running of the Melbourne Cup was very nearly postponed after a torrential storm soaked the Flemington Park course just hours before the big race but in the end it went ahead on what turned out to be a bad day for Ireland's Aidan O'Brien. His four-year-old stallion Cliffsofmoher, ridden by Ryan Moore, pulled up after just 600m with a fractured shoulder and was shortly afterwards euthanised on the track. He becomes the sixth horse since 2013 to die in the €4.6m race. It was a disappointing day for O'Brien's other charges as well with Rostropovich the best finisher in fifth as Cross Counter, with Kerrin McEvoy on board, became the first English horse ever to win the race.
On to rugby and Gerry Thornley writes in his column this morning that Joe Schmidt's Ireland 2.0 is now really beginning to take shape ahead of next year's World Cup although the next two weekends will show just where they are at. Ireland face Argentina this Saturday in what will be a much sterner test than the one provided by Italy in Chicago last weekend. It's a test that Ireland's Garry Ringrose is looking forward to after he spoke to the media at Carton House yesterday not long after the team's return from Chicago. The Leinster man says it's always nice to get a win no matter who you're playing but he does acknowledge that things must now step up a notch if Ireland are really to kick into gear. One area where Schmidt has an abundance of riches is the second row with Tadhg Beirne the latest man to lay claim to a spot. His decision to return to Ireland and join Munster has been well and truly vindicated and he spoke after Saturday's win about the nerves felt on his first start. "I was a little bit nervous going out there for my first start," he said. "But we started well and to get over for the first try was nice on my behalf. It's one of those where Jacob [Stockdale]set the tone by making that line break and we fed off that."
In soccer there is a big night of Champions League action ahead with Spurs knowing that nothing less than a home win over PSV Eindhoven is needed to maintain any hope of securing a last 16 berth. Mauricio Pochettino's side are floundering in their group with just one point so far and realistically need to win all of their last three games – at home to PSV and Inter Milan and away to Barcelona – to have any chance of advancing. So what is the Argentine doing to release the pressure? Well, bingeing on Netflix apparently. Over in Serbia, Liverpool will take to the pitch for their meeting with Red Star Belgrade without Xherdan Shaqiri after the Swiss player was left out of the squad to "cool the situation down," according to Jurgen Klopp. Shaqiri caused a stir at the World Cup when he celebrated by making the symbol of an Albanian eagle after scoring against Serbia and there could well have been fears for his safety if he travelled to Belgrade.
In GAA the Disciplinary Resolution Authority's decision to uphold Cathal Dunbar's suspension is a caution to referees to be specific when it comes to the infraction of "deliberately pulling on or taking hold of a faceguard or any part of an opponent's helmet" and a warning to county committees to seek clarification if the referee's report doesn't specify the necessary intention. The Naomh Éanna man failed to have his suspension overturned when he took it to the DRA and, as a result, missed his side's win over Camross in the club's inaugural Leinster championship match last weekend.
Finally to golf and Shane Lowry is looking to tame a badly behaved driver in South Africa this week when he heads to the Nedbank Challenge in Sun City for what is the penultimate event in the European Tour season. Lowry and Paul Dunne are both assured of their places at the following week's DP World Tour Championship in Dubai but both will be intent on a good finish in Sun City to give themselves the opportunity to get into the top-10 on the Race to Dubai by the end of the season and secure their share of the bonus pool.
