the paul nicholls trained grey, ridden by harry skelton led from the outset of the queen mother championlls horse, dynamite dollars with harry cobden on board, was 2nd. i fancy both horses, ifancy both horses, actually. he's brilliant. they had a good preparation, i was very happy. it was a good performance today. it was very close to winning, he was in a better place. unbelievable. several jockey stoking the look to the right and looking at the fans here and across the line in front. barely saw another eye the whole way and he jumps and galloped and was very brave. there have been concerns about the festival not going ahead over the coronavirus. i think ithinka i think a lot of fans are relieved that this festival is happening. i think a lot will work fearing the worst last week, but the is clearly large concern about coronavirus here. there are signs to wash her hands everywhere, there are 2a hand sanitizing stations dotted around the course. concerns also about attendances. yesterday's crowds down 7000 on the opening day last year. today's second day crowd is down just 2000 on last ye

the champion chase had already had a couple of leading contenders pull out, but paul nicholls has joinedhat's right, a big shock in the big race of the day, the champion chase. the red—hot favourites beforehand was really nowhere to be seen as the horse ridden by harry skelton, trained by paul nicholls, produced a commanding display, leading pretty much from the start to the finish. what the light also for the owner john hales who was in tears at the end. a superb performance, he finished second in last year's race but this year it was an emotional and emphatic victory. unbelievable. every jockey's dream to and emphatic victory. unbelievable. everyjockey's dream to take a look to the right and take a look at all the fans and cross the line in front, everything went perfectly well and barely saw another writer the whole way and he jumped and galloped and was very brave up to the last and get on well. a good finish but not as good as in the novices chase. barry gerraghty came out of nowhere for another win. what an incredible finish that was, as you say champ, nowhere to be seen coming int

it was also the first winner of the 2020 festival for 11—times champion trainer paul nicholls. for everything else. from me and the very good sports team it is goodbye for now. hello. meteorologically speaking, it is now the start of spring. but of course, winter is not that far behind us and i think we will get a reminder of that through the next couple of days. cold air flooding into the uk around an area of low pressure will bring us quite a few showers actually, on thursday, the most frequent closest to the low centre, so across the northern half of the uk. but can't rule out some pretty sharp ones whipping through on that strong wind further south, either. and as you can see, the blue has flooded its way right across the uk for today, but all sitting in the polar air. so it will add a definite chill to proceedings, even where we see some sunshine. after showers overnight and plunging temperatures, snow and ice a possible hazard as we start our morning commute. there could be some further falling snow through the earlier part of the day as well for scotland, for the higher

a runner—up in the welsh national, the paul nicholls—trained eight—year—old finished ahead of captainrmany's max schachman held off a late attack from tiesj benoot to claim overall victory by 18 seconds at the shortened paris—nice race. the final stage was won by columbia's nairo quintana, with benoot second and overall winner schachman back in sixth. the race finished a day earlier than planned due to coronavirus. and britain's elfyn evans is third after 13 stages of the world rally championship in mexico, more than half a minute behind toyota team—mate sebastien ogier. esapekka lappi's rally ended in dramatic fashion, the finn's ford catching fire. no—one was hurt. the all england open badminton championships have been taking place in birmingham this week and the line—up for the men's final has been decided. top seed chou tien—chen of chinese tapei was leading denmark's anders antonsen when the dane had to retire due to injury. chou tien—chen will meet antonsen‘s compatriot in the final, viktor axelson. england's marcus ellis and lauren smith will be in mixed doubles action a little

the paul nicholls trained grey, ridden by harry skelton led from the outset of the queen mother championryjockey ‘s dream to take a look to the right and look at all of the fancier and cross the line in front. everything went perfectly well. he jumped and galloped and he was very brave up to the last. and you can find the latest for the final two games featuring england women on the website. that is all your support for now. good night. chilly weather prospect to finish this week as the uk moves into polar air. sunshine and showers across the uk today and quite gusty winds across the board as well. the showers will be most frequent, close to the low centre. the polar air or the way south into the north of the front so even with the sunshine, it will still feel chilly. showers most frequent to the north. some is no possible across scotland, northern england with ice risks as well. showers remain infrequent for scotland, northern ireland and northern england. some pretty intense show around for wales. perhaps touching 60 miles per hour winds for northern england and northern ireland. it wi

the paul nicholls—trained 8—year—old, who was a runner—up in the welsh national finished ahead of captainrough to the third round of the gibraltar open after beating egor figor raydo 4 frames to 2. his victory included this break of 132. and britain's elfyn evans is third after 13 stages of the world rally championship in mexico, more than half a minute behind toyota team—mate sebastien ogier of france. esapekka lappi's rally ended in dramatic fashion, the finn's ford catching fire. no—one was hurt. among the other sport going on today is the all england open badminton championships in birmingham, with the semi—finals under way. england's marcus ellis and lauren smith are in action in the mixed doubles right now. ellis and smith lost the first game to their indonesian opponents, before staging a great comeback in the second game from match point down to take it into a decider. that's taking place right now. you can watch live coverage on the red button and the bbc sport website. men's golf is on hold until next month at the earliest. we've seen that the men's first pga major of the year,

coming up, the queen mother champion chase at cheltenham giving trainer paul nicholls his first win atyea r‘s nicholls his first win at this year's festival. good evening. the newly—appointed chancellor, rishi sunak, has unveiled the biggest—spending budget in over 25 years, which includes a £12 billion package to cushion the economy against the impact of coronavirus. the chancellor warned that the spread of the virus would have ‘a significant financial impact in the short term'. the £12 billion plan is aimed at supporting jobs and businesses as the impact of coronavirus intensifies. and there's a promise to give the nhs ‘whatever it needs, whatever it costs‘ to deal with the crisis, including a £5 billion injection. sick pay for the self—employed and support for the leisure and hospitality industry are also on offer. the chancellor's overall spending plans over five years come to £175 billion. everything from roads and rail to broadband and housing and paying for extra nurses and police. and the extra spending is to be paid for largely with a big increase in government borrowing, to t

the paul nicholls—trained welsh national runner—up finished ahead of captain drake in second and joey 18 seconds at the shortened paris—nice race. the final stage was won by columbia's nairo quintana, with benoot second and overall winner schachman back in sixth. the race finished a day earlier than planned due to coronavirus. and britain's elfyn evans is third after 13 stages of the world rally championship in mexico, that's more than half a minute behind toyota team—mate sebastien ogier of france. esapekka lappi's rally ended in dramatic fashion, the finn's ford catching fire. no—one was hurt. men's golf is on hold until next month at the earliest, and we've seen the first men's and women's majors, the masters, and the ana inspiration postponed. however, in cape town, the south african women's open has just finished and it has been an incredible debut for england's alice hewson. in her first event on the ladies european tour, she won by a shot and my colleague chetan pathak caught up with her earlier. it feels absolutely incredible. it isa dream it feels absolutely incredible. it i

the paul nicholls trained grey, ridden by harry skelton led from the outset of the queen mother champion now. you can find more on all those stories — and the very latest on the impact of coronavirus on sport — on the bbc sport website. welcome back to westminster, the budget is delivered by rishi sunak and my word, it has created quite a few headlines and raised a few eyebrows with the scale of the package. lots of people offering the view that this is the biggest package in terms of spending and its scope and scale since possibly norman lamont back in the early 19905 but i have some guests now who can tell me whether that is true or not. we have the chair of the office for budget responsibility. we were talking yesterday and i will ask you both the same question, were you surprised by the outcome today because we discuss today what might because we discuss today what might be in this package and clearly some of it was very predictable in terms of it was very predictable in terms of the crisis we are facing in terms of the crisis we are facing in terms of health care, but the rest of it