Today sees the 2021 Cheltenham Festival get underway as racing takes centre stage once again - this time, hopefully, for the right reasons. There will be no supporters packing out the grandstand this year, no pilgrimage to the Cotswolds and no roar ahead of the opener in a Festival like no other. And, as Brian O'Connor writes this morning, many involved will be pleased to see the week pass without any hitches: "On the eve of Cheltenham 2021 many in racing would probably settle for a nice ordinary run of the mill festival. A sport beleaguered by recent controversies hardly needs more left-field deflections into the wider spotlight." But despite the circumstances the sport remains pure, and despite having a smaller contingent at Prestbury Park this year the Irish look set to dominate, with Willie Mullins in particular armed with an impressive team. The opening day could belong to Rachael Blackmore and Honeysuckle however, with the unbeaten duo warm favourites for the feature race - the Champion Hurdle (3.05pm). The action gets underway at 1.20pm with the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, and you can follow every race with Malachy Clerkin on the Irish times liveblog, which will be up and running from around 12.30pm. And you can find everything you need to know about the week, from race cards to TV details, here.
Ireland will head into Saturday's final Six Nations fixture against England without the key duo of James Ryan and Garry Ringrose - Ryan unable to complete return to play protocols in time after a HIA, Ringrose with an ankle injury. Both picked up their knocks in the narrow win over Scotland on Sunday, and in his column this morning Gerry Thornley has looked at Ireland's frustrating inability to make turnovers count on the scoreboard. "In four matches Ireland have engineered 29 turnovers. This is more than twice the number achieved by any other team, with Scotland and England on 13 and France and Wales on 12," he writes. "What a bountiful source of unplanned possession. Imagine, for a second, what the French (or the All Blacks) would do with 29 turnovers in four matches. They'd have run amok." Meanwhile, Ireland would be unlikely to host any matches should the summer Lions tour against South Africa be held in Europe, with attendances of at least 10,000 needed to break even.
Liverpool are up to sixth place in the Premier League after they edged past a toothless Wolves side, winning 1-0 at Molineux last night. Former Wolves forward Diogo Jota scored what proved to be the winner for the visitors on the stroke of half-time, with the game later marred by an apparent head injury to home goalkeeper Rui Patricio. There are two Champions League fixtures tonight with Manchester City looking to complete the job against Borussia Monchengladbach at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest (kick-off 8pm, City lead 2-0 on aggregate), with Real Madrid taking on Atalanta (8pm, Real lead 1-0 on aggregate).
Elsewhere this morning Seán Moran has looked at the potential positive effect remote working could have on counties and clubs in the GAA, with more players able to leave Dublin and live closer to home thanks to flexible working arrangements.
And Shane Lowry is looking to kick on at this week's Honda Classic following his top-10 finish at Sawgrass - but he knows he need to perform on the greens. "If I can putt like that over the next few months or even few weeks you can always do something special up in Texas or over at Augusta, so we'll see how it goes."
