We have a busy day’s racing on Tuesday with flat action from Ffos Las and Yarmouth, live on Sky Sports Racing…

3.10 Yarmouth – Eye-catching Shadwell debutant Mithaaly and Godolphin newcomer Noble Prince clash

The George Boughey-trained Mithaaly and Charlie Appelby’s newcomer Noble Prince should be competitive in the British Stallion Studs EBF Novice Stakes.

Mithaaly caught the eye at Windsor when staying on very well after getting a touch outpaced two furlongs out.

The extra furlong looks sure to suit and this 260,000gns yearling sets a solid standard.

Godolphin-owned Frankel colt Noble Prince could go well on debut with trainer Charlie Appleby posing an impressive record of 13 from 29 (45 per cent) with two-year-olds this year.

Debutant Majestic Jude could pose the chief threat being half-brother to the precocious 2021 Group Two Prix Robert Papin winner Atomic Force, as Note To Self has progressed with each run this season, narrowly placing second by a head at Windsor.

6.30 Ffos Las – Flyta headlines competitive five-runner handicap

The in-form Flyta sets the standard in the Dragonbet / Martin Davies Handicap.

Flyta broke her maiden tag last month over course and distance following a promising effort at Windsor.

She seems the most likely to score here with another easy lead potentially afforded.

Course and distance winner Sofian can be competitive after the saddle slipped following a break last time out.

Name The Day must go much better after shaping amiss at Newbury as once promising debut winner Distinct Sprit is proving consistent in the search for his first win since.

Bahraini jockey, Ebrahim Nader rides.

7.30 Ffos Las – Noble Style’s full-sister Summerson features

A small but select field go to post in the Maiden Fillies’ Stakes.

Noble Style’s full-sister Summerson marginally sets the standard as she stayed on gamely to finish runner-up to Sandringham ninth, Crownright.

Being full-sister to the flashy Gimcrack winner does not point to this longer trip but also being a half-sister to highly tried 12-furlong filly, Little Dorrit, coupled with how she kept on at Chester, means there is potential for more improvement with the extra distance.

Full-sister to useful two-year-old, Seacruiser, Seacole has run well on two starts and is sure to be suited by 12-furlongs.

Cracking Beauty is bred for longer trips. She was caught too far back at Kempton but stayed on well and should improve again where she can be seen to greater effect.

Best of the rest

2.35 Yarmouth – Educator looks to get back to winning ways following promising efforts.

5.25 Yarmouth – Thapa VC headlines.

8.00 Ffos Las – Competitive nine-runner handicap.

Want to know the secret behind the success of darting phenom Luke Littler?

Littler has spearheaded darts’ surge towards the mainstream since he broke on the scene with his debut run to the 2024 World Championship final as a 16-year-old.

Darts manufacturer Target Darts has supported the global superstar since the age of 12. In February 2024, the teenager signed a multi-year mega-deal reported to be worth up to £20 million – the most lucrative the sport has ever seen.

Littler possesses a generational talent when it comes to playing darts and Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle has said “he’s probably the most natural naturally gifted player I’ve ever seen in my life”.

Since the moment the Warrington-born star first held a dart, he’s become a record-breaker and history-maker.

James Tattersall, CEO of Target Darts, says both the company and Littler are “aligned” in where they want to see the future of darts go.

Speaking at an event in which Target have set out a vision to inspire 100 million people to play darts by the end of the decade, he explained the process of how Littler sat down with chairman Garry Plummer, the design team, and engineers to build darts to perfect his game.

“I think some of the inspiration was drawn from Adrian Lewis’ darts and the pixel grip, which is a unique grip that Target has and that worked its way into building up Luke’s original G1,” said Tattersall. “That was the barrel, but over the years Luke’s tweaked it and challenged us to improve it. The point length has changed, the shaft and flight have changed to a K-Flex system before his first World Championships.”

F-Flex is a one-piece flight and shaft innovation that screws into the back of the barrel.

Tattersall explained: “What it helps you do is when you’re throwing darts together in such tight groupings like Luke does, the thing you want to avoid is that dart coming in and deflecting off the dart that’s already in the board and the K-Flex helps reduce those deflections substantially.

“And longer points – it’s like the balance of the dart and how it flies and how it lands through the air. I think another part of it is it keeps the barrel section of the dart further away from the treble and that creates more space in the board.”

Talent vs Equipment?

“His talent is all down to him,” says Tattersall. “I think when you’re talking about the equipment, we’re talking about making Luke comfortable with all of that talent and giving him the right equipment that he’s confident with to use and just to get those last few percentages, but Luke’s an extraordinary player regardless.”

With two world titles in three visits to Alexandra Palace, and 14 major titles to his name, Littler is well on his way to joining Phil Taylor as a legend of the sport.

The problem for his rivals is that he is still getting better after the Warrington star crushed Gerwyn Price 18-9 to retain his Betfred World Matchplay title in Blackpool on Sunday.

Littler was in imperious form as he set a new record for the final with an average of 111.53, lifting his average for the tournament as a whole to 111.04 to break Phil Taylor’s previous high mark of 106.31.

The win keeps Littler on course for a clean sweep of trophies in 2026 having already won the World Championship, UK Open, Premier League and the Masters.

The supporting cast behind Littler

Littler’s management have invested in sports psychologists, nutritionists, performance coaches, and biomechanics in order to get the most out of their talent, and the teenager has benefitted in every area to help support his game.

“Mentality is absolutely key. We want to protect the players. The stage is lonely up there, and darts is a gruelling sport,” Tattersall said.

“It’s a bit like a penalty shootout, but every single time you’re throwing a dart. It’s such a closed skill, and it’s so repetitive. Your mindset’s got to be really, really clear, and you get those big momentum swings, you think you’re about to checkout the double, you miss by a millimetre, your opponent throws in a big 170 checkout, and that’s a punch in the stomach. It’s how do you recover from that for the next leg? That’s sports psychology, and it’s crucial in all sports. I don’t know why it’s a surprise that it should not be in darts.”

‘We want to learn about action – not create robots’

With biomechanics, the cameras observe how a player throws darts, with sports science data helping ways of working on the technique in order to improve.

Target have ideas but Tattersall insists implementing them will not turn the Luke Littlers of this world into robots.

“That’s the last thing we want to do,” he said. “What we want to do is discover and learn about the sport, and learn about that action, because why is it that there are different throwing techniques?

“If you look at something like golf, where you know suddenly you come along with the Vardon grip [or overlapping grip], and that becomes almost the only way to hold a golf club.

“I think the high jump has got that really famous example of how the sport, science, innovated, [Fosbury flop], you ended up with that kind of one technique point.

“I think there will always be different ways of throwing a dart, and there will be different ways of improving those different styles, and maybe that particular style is because you’re tall, and maybe that particular style is because you’ve got longer arms, we don’t know yet, but that’s what we’re going to find out, and then use that data accordingly.”

Zoe Burton, Chief Transformation Officer at Target Darts, says Littler is already inspiring the next generation with his natural talent, although the company are slowly moving towards a performance technology system, which is currently being tested on a number of players.

“If you look at a young person and you think of their journey as they get into a sport, you need an inspiring player – that person who they look up to – and can almost aspire to be. Luke Littler provides that,” said Buton.

“You need a natural talent, but that gets you so far. Then it’s determination and I think psychology as well.

“What makes a star player become a great and world-class player is actually their ability to focus under pressure and make those doubles It’s never going to be robotic.”

Who will win this year’s BoyleSports World Grand Prix? World No 1 Luke Littler will be defending his title and you can watch all the action on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.

George Russell says he’s “never” experienced a season with so much misfortune after an engine issue caused his disastrous start to the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Russell started Sunday’s race in sixth, one place ahead of Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, but his car went into anti-stall so he slowly crept off the line and dropped to the back on the long run down to Turn 1.

He quickly moved through the field to finish seventh but lost further ground in the title race to championship leader Antonelli, who is 50 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton and 59 points in front of Russell.

“Obviously the problems are happening, but the whole team feels it as well. They’re as p****d off as I am with how it’s unfolded,” said Russell.

“We need to look at ourselves and ensure it’s nothing we’re doing wrong that is contributing to these errors. Oscar [Piastri] had his [gearbox] thing as well. It’s not like we’re the only one, but it does feel like it is happening substantially more to me than others.

“Hopefully it swings around. I don’t wish any bad luck on anyone. But I’ve never had a season like this in my whole career, let alone my F1 career.”

Russell explained that he was barely on the throttle pedal yet the engine was revving highly before the lights went out, which led to the “terrible start.”

He told Sky Sports F1: “I was on the throttle waiting then all of a sudden the engine was going all over the place, it was revving really high and really low.

“Add it to the list of things that have happened in the first half of this year and pray things calm down in the second half.”

Russell ‘past the point of disappointment’

Both Mercedes drivers have suffered unreliability problems this season but Russell has been on the wrong end of things more recently.

He suffered a battery failure when fighting Antonelli for the lead at the Canadian Grand Prix, was one of five drivers to incorrectly be given a penalty for speeding in Monaco and claims to have been down on straight line speed compared to Antonelli, which culminated in a race-ending collision at the Belgian Grand Prix earlier this month.

Although he admits there are “things in my control I need to do better”, Russell says “there are a lot of things out of your control”.

“I’m sort of past the point of disappointment now, because if I continue to be disappointed with everything that goes on, I’ll just be disappointed every day of the week. So I’ve got to stay positive,” he said.

“The pace was very strong. The team said I was as strong as anybody out there, which I haven’t been there for probably three races, so I will take positives there.

“But yeah, it’s just unbelievable the list of things that’s happened this season.”

Russell was also forced to change his power unit ahead of Sunday’s race after an engine crack in qualifying, meaning he may need to take a grid penalty later this year.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: “In terms of engine penalties, I still very much hope we don’t need to take it. We need to decide when that is, when we need to take one and which tracks.”

The Formula 1 season resumes after the summer break with a Sprint weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix from August 21-23, with every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime