Sun Goddess came from last to first to provide Aidan O’Brien with his 18th win in the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.

Johannesburg (2001), George Washington (2005), Holy Roman Emperor (2006) and Caravaggio (2016) are just a few of the big names to have won this Group One prize over the years and Sun Goddess was the 5-4 favourite to add to that tally under Ryan Moore.

The daughter of Sioux Nation – who also won this race for the same connections in 2017 – had won each of her two previous starts over the course and distance, including a Group Two on her latest outing, with a runner-up finish behind George Boughey’s Libertango in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot sandwiched in between.

With stablemate Carry The Flag setting a furious early pace, Moore was content to bide his time aboard Sun Goddess, but she came through stylishly on the far side of the track, racing inside the final two furlongs and was well on top as she passed the post a length and a quarter clear of Folsom Blues.

O’Brien said: “She’s a beautiful filly. She ran well at Naas the first day then came back here to win her maiden and then she went to Ascot probably a little under par, with the benefit of hindsight.

“Then she came back here a week after and won even though she was in Ascot the week before. She’s obviously very special and everything went really well since Ascot.”

He added: “She has a lot of gears and a very high cruising pace. Ryan said they went fast and he just said when he started to ask her she motored clear. He said she’ll have no problem getting seven furlongs. She’s very exciting.”

Big Mojo bounces back to winning ways at the Curragh

Big Mojo made the most of having his sights lowered with victory in the FBD Hotels And Resorts Phoenix Sprint Stakes at the Curragh.

Mick Appleby’s colt showed his worth at the highest level last season, winning the Sprint Cup at Haydock as well as finishing a neck second to No Half Measures in the July Cup at Newmarket.

The four-year-old has struggled so far this year, finishing down the field at York, Royal Ascot and on his second attempt at July Cup glory last month, but he had less on his plate in Ireland and stamped his class with a one-and-a-quarter-length verdict over Bucanero Fuerte under Tom Marquand.

A return to Haydock looks to be on the agenda, as does the Breeders’ Cup, and Appleby, saddling his first winner on Irish soil, said of the 5-4 favourite: “He’s done it well. We brought him here just to give him a bit more confidence, really. I think he was just lacking a bit in confidence with the big races he’s run in.

“Now that he’s got his head back in front hopefully he’ll go and do it again. He’s as good as ever. He’s just got a bit more laid-back, like me! It’s hard to win these races.

“There are a lot of good sprinters about. He’s done it well enough. He only did what he wanted to do. There’s a lot more there.”

Michael O’Callaghan is confident Push The Boat Out can make his mark at a higher level following his successful debut in the Follow Us On Instagram @ GuidenstownStud Irish EBF Maiden.

Although not that well fancied in the market at 16-1, the Kodi Bear colt quickened smartly to record a comfortable victory under Colin Keane and it came as no surprise to his trainer.

O’Callaghan said: “He’s a horse we’ve held in high regard from the moment we got him, but saying that I did have him slightly undercooked because he’s very natural at home.

“He jumped and travelled with a lot of natural pace and quickened up well. Colin was quite taken by him and said he should have no problem stepping up into stakes company.

“I don’t think he’ll have any problem going another furlong and I think he could be a high-class stakes horse. We’ll see how he is in the morning and see what there is between now and the National Stakes and go from there.”

Aidan O’Brien’s Ibelieveicanfly (13-8 favourite) opened her account at the fourth attempt in the Grand Hotel Malahide Irish EBF Fillies Juvenile Race.

Fourth, second and fourth in her first three races, the daughter of Frankel was fitted with a hood for her latest assignment and came good in some style, rewarding her supporters with a dominant five-length win in the hands of Ryan Moore.

“The better the race, the better she is going to be – she has such a high cruising pace,” said O’Brien.

“In an ordinary run maiden, she is just in a gear too high. She has a lot of class. There was plenty of pace on and Ryan was very happy with her.”

O’Brien and Moore doubled up in the Guidenstown Stud Irish European Breeders Fund Maiden with 8-15 favourite Shakespeare.

The son of Dubawi had shown a good level of ability with placed efforts on his first two starts and duly made it third time lucky without too much fuss.

O’Brien added: “He’s a lovely big horse who does everything right. He’s a little bit of a baby. That’s why it took two runs for him to get to where he is.

“He’s still not there. He has a lot of ability and is in the ‘could be anything’ category, really.

“Size, power, quality, speed, stamina – he has everything. Hopefully he’s going to be something to look forward to.”

Algeria and Malawi have qualified for their first Women’s World Cup, booking a place in Brazil next year by advancing to the semifinals of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations this weekend. Morocco and Cameroon also secured qualification with their wins, the latter shocking ten-time WAFCON champions, Nigeria.

Morocco are heading back to the World Cup after making their debut in 2023, while Cameroon are set for their third World Cup appearance.

WAFCON hosts Morocco, who finished as runners-up in the prior two continental tournaments, will now take on Cameroon in the final four. The other semifinal will see a meeting between two first-time semifinalists, as Algeria face off against Malawi. Both semifinals will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 12, in Rabat.

The road to the final is getting shorter. 🇩🇿🇲🇦🇨🇲🇲🇼#TotalEnergiesWAFCON2026 pic.twitter.com/leuKZrHqdM

— CAF Women Football (@CAFwomen) August 9, 2026

With reigning champions Nigeria eliminated, there will be a new continental champion in Africa. None of the four semifinalists have ever lifted the trophy either.

The road to Brazil is not quite over for the defeated quarterfinalists. The losing quartet will have a chance to earn two berths to FIFA’s inter-confederation play-offs in February 2027. On Thursday, Aug. 13, the two play-in matches will see Ivory Coast take on Ghana and, in a meeting between the previous two WAFCON champions, South Africa will take on Nigeria.

Algeria qualified for their first Women’s World Cup. (Muzi Ntombela / BackpagePix via CAF)

Algeria 2-1 Ivory Coast — Moulay Rachid Stadium, Casablanca

The Elephants of Ivory Coast entered their WAFCON quarterfinal as one of the more attack-minded teams in the tournament, having put eight goals past their opponents in the group stage. Algeria, meanwhile, have had one of the least penetrable defences, conceding just once in the same period.

For much of the first half of the quarterfinal, the West African side were well in control of the match. After an early goal was called back due to offside in the build-up, Ivorian forward Ines Konan formally opened the scoring in the 29th minute for her fourth goal of the tournament. But the momentum of the match immediately swung away from Ivory Coast when one of its most influential players, 18-year-old striker N’Sira Ouedraogo, was shown a straight red card just before halftime for a high cleat infraction.

Reduced to 10 players, the Ivorians continued to make attempts on goal, but Algeria identified a vulnerability in goalkeeper Aramatou Diakité, who struggled to contain their long-range shots. Both of Algeria’s goals — the first from Inès Khiri in the 58th minute, then from Amira Braham in the 64th — happened that way, taken from outside the box. Ivory Coast were awarded a penalty in between Algeria’s goals, but Rébecca Elloh’s shot smacked the post and was cleared away.

With their victory, the Desert Foxes of Algeria have earned their first invitation to the World Cup next year, and will compete in their first WAFCON semifinal. They will meet Malawi on Aug. 13 at Olympic Stadium in Rabat.

Morocco qualifies for their second Women’s World Cup and advances to the WAFCON semifinals. (Sydney Mahlangu / BackpagePix via CAF)

Morocco 2-1 South Africa — Moulay El Hassan Stadium, Rabat

The second quarterfinal clash on Saturday between Morocco and South Africa saw the WAFCON hosts and two-time finalists meet the team that dashed their hopes of a continental trophy in 2022, when South Africa beat them 2-1. In the years since, the teams’ trajectories have gone in different directions; Morocco have bolstered their squad, while South Africa have remained largely stagnant with little to offer their aging veteran players.

Morocco went unbeaten and didn’t concede any goals in their group stage matches to top their group, while South Africa lost their first match to Tanzania, clawed their way to a 2-2 draw with Ivory Coast, and squeezed past Burkina Faso 1-0 to reach the quarterfinal as the second seed in their group. They started with momentum, but a spectacular volley outside the box from Moroccan winger Sakina Ouzraoui gave control to Morocco.

Unlike their 2025 WAFCON campaign, South Africa did have striker Thembi Kgatlana this time around. The 30-year-old Tigres forward suffered an ACL injury during the group stage of Banyana Banyana’s championship run in 2022 and missed the rest of that tournament, and chose not to participate in 2025 due to personal reasons. Kgatlana scored two goals in South Africa’s last two matches of the group stage that proved instrumental to their knockout stage hopes — and on Saturday, she rose to the occasion again. Her 71st-minute goal thrust Morocco into an uneasy position for the rest of the match.

Morocco will compete in their second consecutive World Cup and face Cameroon in the semifinal on Aug. 13 in Rabat.

Cameroon defeated 10-time WAFCON champions Nigeria to qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup. (BackpagePix via CAF)

Cameroon 1-0 Nigeria — Larbi Zaouli Stadium, Casablanca

The unthinkable happened on Sunday night when the reigning champions WAFCON were eliminated at the quarterfinal stage 1-0 by Cameroon. This was Nigeria’s earliest exit at WAFCON, having won 10 of 13 official continental tournaments and making the semifinals in the other three. It was just the second time in 14 meetings that Cameroon had defeated Nigeria.

Although 19-year-old Cameroon defender Maéva Nyadjou scored the winning goal with a drilled direct free-kick in the 19th minute, it was goalkeeper Michaely Bihina who grabbed the player of the match honors. As Nigeria piled on the pressure, the 22-year-old shot-stopper made nine saves on her way to a clean sheet. “We have always been dominated by Nigeria, but today we’ve turned the tide,” Bihina told the broadcast.

Nigeria and Washington Spirit midfielder Deb Abiodun, who helped Nigeria lift the WAFCON trophy one year ago, could be seen weeping into her jersey after the full-time whistle. She wasn’t the only Super Falcon to do so. The shock defeat also severely harms their hopes of qualifying for the 2027 World Cup.

For Cameroon, it was elation. The Indomitable Lionesses did not originally qualify for this competition until CAF decided to expand the tournament to 16 teams in November 2025. But now they have booked their ticket for their first World Cup and are into the semifinals of WAFCON for the first time since 2018. The three-time runners-up will be hoping that 2026 could be the year that brings home a first continental championship.

Malawi 2-1 Ghana — Al Medina Stadium, Rabat

The quarterfinals closed out Sunday night with more African soccer history. WAFCON debutants Malawi came from behind to defeat Ghana 2-1 and, by doing so, qualified for their first-ever World Cup.

Ranked 153rd in the world, Malawi are the lowest-ranked team out in Morocco. But you’d never know it from the quality and confidence of their play. That was no more evident than when Rose Kadzere scored the historic winning goal in the 78th minute.

The 20-year-old midfielder kept her cool to take a touch and finish off a pass from Temwa Chawinga in the middle of the box.

Just Chawinga sister duties. 🇲🇼❤️#TotalEnergiesWAFCON2026 pic.twitter.com/QaBqy2cYPE

— CAF Women Football (@CAFwomen) August 9, 2026

Ghana had taken a very early lead in the seventh minute through Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah. But within five minutes, Chawinga scored her fourth goal of the tournament to bring Malawi level with a deflected shot. Chawinga selflessly celebrated the goal by running to the sidelines and holding up the jersey of her injured teammate Sabinah Thom.

Beyond scoring one and setting up the other of Malawi’s goals, Chawinga put in a relentless defensive shift whenever Ghana tried to attack.

“Every girl put in effort to win this game,” Chawinga told the broadcast. “Every player wanted to go to the World Cup. I am so happy that we qualified to go to the World Cup. I’ve won two of these (Player of the Match trophies) and I’m helping my team to win. I’m so excited.”

Samangan gave Francis-Henri Graffard another Group One success with victory in the ARC Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville.

Always close to the pace-setting Afandy over the intermediate six-and-a-half-furlong trip, the Aga Khan Studs-owned Samangan battled through the final quarter-mile to master Stolen Kiss and just found the post coming in time to foil the William Haggas-trained Division, who flashed home under James Doyle.

The winner had been fourth in the Prix Jean Prat last time out in which True Love was second, but comprehensively reversed form with the Ballydoyle Classic heroine on this occasion.

Nemone Routh, racing manager for the owners in France, told Sky Sports Racing: “He’s a lovely horse, he’s very genuine. He was always going to follow Afandy and then he was really brave.

“He could (go to Ascot on Champions Day), but I think he’s better on good, firm ground, that’s another thing we’ve found this year. I think if it got too soft he wouldn’t go there. He’s a relaxed horse and he can get seven (furlongs). It all depends on the ground.”

Graffard added: “I am very pleased for the stable. He is a colt we have always held in high regard. Things did not go as planned at the beginning of the season, but he also needed to gain experience.

“His previous races have toughened him up and this victory is the result of the experience he has been able to acquire.

“His next target could be the Qatar Prix de la Foret, provided the ground is not too testing for him. He is a Group One winner and exceptionally well bred, so he has earned his place at stud as a stallion. My job is done!”

Distant Storm boosted star three-year-old milers Bow Echo and Gstaad as he made a winning reappearance in the Prix Daphnis.

Third to Bow Echo in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket before finding only Gstaad too good in the Irish equivalent, Charlie Appleby’s colt had been off since that run at the Curragh.

Returning to the track in Group Three company, Billy Loughnane’s mount was a little tight for room before getting out to give chase to well-backed Italian raider Grand Son Of Dark.

The Godolphin runner had a fair bit to do but always gave the impression he would get there and he duly did, to set up a return to bigger and better things.

Loughnane said: “I ended up a little further back than ideal, but the pace was even which was ideal and when I popped him out the top of the straight he had a target to run at.

“He’s a horse that doesn’t do too much when he’s there, so having a horse to aim at was good and he won cosily in the end. He’s horse that has a nice turn of foot, he takes a bit of time to pick up but when he does he’s electric through the line.

“I was pretty confident I had everything covered.”