willie mullins has now overtaken nicky henderson and i asked him earlier if he thinks about records andls about overtaking nicky henderson. when you start training year ambition is to maybe get one win at cheltenham, you don't dream of being the leading trainer so it comes as a huge surprise, but delighted at the same time. the other big race is the ryanair chase, same time. the other big race is the rya nair chase, worth more same time. the other big race is the ryanair chase, worth more money than the stayers hurdle is, that went to an irish trained horse, but no fairy tale. michael o'leary sponsored the race, he had never won the race before so he was over the moon but he had a hard race last time at ascot and maybe still had heavy legs and he pulled up halfway around, so is lifted to a horseshoe won the race is lifted to a horseshoe won the ra ce la st is lifted to a horseshoe won the race last year but got nabbed at the last. they said they would take the horse cue card home and have a look at it, the important thing was that he was safe and sound and would be 0k. he's coming here

saw off the challenge of supasundae to become the sixth win at this year's festival for trainer willie mullinsr had another success to become the leading cheltenham festival trainer overall with 61 victories. you know, when you start training in ireland, one of your missions is to get one winner in cheltenham. you don't think you would get three. it comes as a huge surprise. a delighted at the same time. tiger woods has continued his comeback today at the arnold palmer invitational. he ended the first round in second, on four under. woods has been in fine form and this putt on the 7th was one of a number of highlights from his four under par 68. it's been a while since we've seen a smile like that from the former world number one. i've been away from it for so long. when i first came back, it wasjust a matter of getting my fuel for tournament golf again. i think i have it. i feel like tournament golf again. i think i have it. ifeel like i am not really thinking as much around the golf course. i can just thinking as much around the golf course. i canjust see it, feel let undergo. isjust course.

willie mullins has 161 races at the cheltenham festival in his career.. he is a quiet and understated man. penn hill one the stayers hurdle. this is for the best long—distance hurdlers in the wild. it is about going over a long distance including the big hill at the end. the fairy tale win a before his trainer had cancer and his eff—iii; in w, ., .., , ., ., , — ~ other ———r today. the , e $the ryanair! big race today, the ryanair chase. this is worth more money than 710015 f, this ,. ,. fools r, this is . ,. horses fools r, this is . ,. horses who fools r, this is . ,. a re are not quite fast for horses who are not quite fast enough for the queen mother champion chase will stop —— stayers hurdle. everyone was hoping there would be a fairy tale with cue card but he pulled up. they‘ re fairy tale with cue card but he pulled up. they're going to take him home and have a good look at him to see it maybe he will ever run again will stop he does not oh anything to grazing. the winner is owned by michael leary. —— oh anything to racing. this is the first time

i mean, gordon elliot, willie mullins, they have immense talent.hampion hurdle, the champion chase, and the gold cup. can he do it? the greatest danger will be mike, who has a lot of character. in the junior gold cup, he jumped who has a lot of character. in the junior gold cup, hejumped the final fence and then decided to stop and wait for another horse, then went again and got the race back on the line. apparently he gets distracted by the beer tents. you do not win the gold cup by going in getting a pint of guinness. he has been better behaved, but there is a nugget of doubt after so much richness and drama. weirdly, willie mullins, for all his wins here, he has never got the gold cup. will he set the record straight today? he wants to win this more than any other, the greatest horse race there is. jump racing is more popular than flat racing. he almost did not want to talk about it all week. it is hanging over him. a number of chances. without his main jockey, ruby walsh, injured during the week, it will be difficult. my tip is going to river.

his trainer willie mullins today said he might well be back for punchestown in april.pa rt entire season, but is not taking part today. with a diverse long list of injuries, he has broken his leg four times. he broke it november, had his spleen removed, crushed a vertebrae in his neck, had his hip fractured. that is the life of the jobjockey, very fractured. that is the life of the job jockey, very tough jobjockey, very tough business. —— jumpjockey. jobjockey, very tough business. —— jump jockey. plenty jobjockey, very tough business. —— jumpjockey. plenty to look jobjockey, very tough business. —— jump jockey. plenty to look at today, a couple of raises and interesting stories? use a two big races, this is cheltenham, the 0lympics of jump racing, races, this is cheltenham, the 0lympics ofjump racing, every race is a big raise. we have the ryanair ina is a big raise. we have the ryanair in a chase, which is first time ever with the most money. that is for the course is not quite fast enough for the queen mother champion chase. debakey duel we are looking forward to is

it was a difficult race for willie mullins, his son patrick mullins was riding bacardis because normal if he could fire up some form but it wasn‘t to be. he did lead for about half his race but pulled up towards the end. this is quite a difficult race because it‘s for the horses that are not quite fast enough for the champion chase and don‘t have enough stamina for the gold cup. cue card was the one many people thought could win but he didn‘t do it. the winning horse is owned by michael o‘leary who owns ryanair, and this is the first time he has won his own race. a wonderful occasion for him. trainer hemery de bromhead said he could be a cold cup horse for the future. we‘ll have to see what happens there. but no win for cue card. gordon elliott is now thejoint for cue card. gordon elliott is now the joint leading trainer of the festival and he was the leading trainer ina festival and he was the leading trainer in a last festival. a great week and great day for the irish. michael o‘leary will be flying high. what a moment, lizzie. thank you very much. in other news, there were a number

and coming up on sportsday on bbc news: the irish dominate at cheltenham, while trainer willie mullins were the big winners on day three of the festival. good evening. three of britain's closest allies have declared their strong support for theresa may's response to the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter in salisbury. the united states, france and germany blamed russia for the chemical attack, which they said was an attack on british sovereignty. during the day, theresa may visited salisbury for the first time since the incident and met health officials and members of the emergency services, including the police officer who attended the scene and is still in hospital — as our diplomatic correspondent, james landale, reports. his report contains flashing lights. this was theresa may's first visit to salisbury since the nerve agent attack. a chance to be briefed by the police and public health officials. but also a chance to meet members of the public, to chat, to reassure. and, yes, even to do this. she visited the scene of the attack on the former russian intelligence o

saw off the challenge of supasundae to become the sixth win at this year's festival for trainer willie mullinsstival trainer overall with 61 victories. when you start training in ireland you want to get one winner in cheltenham and you don't ever dream you will become the leading horse trainer at cheltenham ever so this comes as a huge surprise but i'm delighted. tiger woods has continued his comeback today at the arnold palmer invitational. woods has been in fine form and this putt on the 7th was one of a number of highlights from his li—under par 68. it leaves him joint second behind the overall leaderjimmy walker. but it's been a while since we've seen a smile like that from the former world number one. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in sportsday at 1030. thanks. it's not just thanks. it's notjust tiger woods who has a great smile, holly also has one, and now we are going to talk about happiness. it is about which country has topped the list for happiness. this light show should make it clear to you that people in finland are the happiest on earth, toppling their neigh

walsh was victorious on the willie mullins trained lareena in the maiden hurdle at thurles.e opening day of the cheltenham festival next week. england rugby union head coach eddiejones has named his team for saturday's six nations meeting with france. england need to match ireland's result against scotland to keep alive their hopes of a third straight title. captain dylan hartley misses out through injury so 0wen farrell skippers the side. all these things are set to text you and asi all these things are set to text you and as i said off—camera, these weeks where you come back off a loss of the weeks you live for, it tests your metal, test the mettle of the coaches, the players, they must keep focused and generate that energy and zest and brutality that you need for the next game. it's ireland who are currently top of the six nations table, joe schmidt has named tadhg furlong and garry ringrose in the team for saturday's clash against scotland. schmidt admits that even though ringrose is short of match practice, it's a ‘needs must‘ selection. it's a needs must situation. but

incredibly, it's a race to be very successful trainer willie mullins has never won. and rider. lots of you getting in touch with us this morning about a conversation on exclusion that we had before the news. a couple of teachers getting in touch, constance, a retired teacher says on e—mail, the rising number of children being excluded from school, especially in a primary sector is due to the fact the national curriculum is so directed towards results and a one size fits all that many children feel frustrated, react in ways that are not appropriate in the classroom. it's not the fault of the children. education is about the individual child and the curriculum should meet their needs. richard is also a teacher and says, as a teacheri also a teacher and says, as a teacher i am completely enraged by this discussion. we work ridiculously hard to support all the children in our classrooms. we are well aware that many children have difficulties at home and emotionally. we support these children in class and do all we can. we need to remember that we are judged by the govern

walsh was victorious on the willie mullins—trained lareena in the maiden hurdle at thurles.the cheltenham festival next week. britain's chris froome and geraint thomas remain in the top ten after stage two of the tirreno adriatico race in italy. they were fortunate to avoid this crash four and a half miles from the finish line in follonica in tuscany. they and their team sky colleagues occupy 5th to 10th place in the standings, all of them just nine seconds off the top rider. germany's marcel kittel won the stage, while new zealand's patrick bevin retained the overall lead. there was also a crash towards the end of the fifth stage of the paris—nice race. france's jerome cousin took the first victory of his career in sisteron. spain's luis leon sanchez retained the leader's yellow jersey. simon yates is the highest placed briton in tenth overall trailing by 48 seconds. sebastian vettel was fastest on the penultimate day of pre—season testing. he recorded the quickest time seen so far this year but was using foster tyres family with was eighth and frailty and fautua 0tto bosse

can irish trainer willie mullins win it for the first time with djakadam, or will nicky henderson completermer south african president jacob zuma is to face prosecution on 18 charges of corruption. mr zuma was forced to resign as president last month by his party, the ruling african national congress. 0ur correspondent milton nkosi is in johannesburg. these corruption charges have been hanging over him for many years. it's clear when he was pushed out of office there was no deal to give him any kind of immunity from prosecution. yes, that's correct. the former president jacob prosecution. yes, that's correct. the former presidentjacob zuma is now in deep trouble. he is facing 16 charges of corruption, including fraud, racketeering and money—laundering. that's what the head of the prosecuting authority just announced a short while ago. president zuma, considering he is now out of office, he doesn't have the state machinery to support him. although, because some of these crimes happened while he was president of the republic, there is some understanding that the government may continue to pa