Vanderbilt baseball breaks program single-season home run record
Vanderbilt baseball breaks its single-season home run record with 101 homers!

A Piece Of Heaven won the Chester Cup amid concerns over dangerous ground conditions that nearly led to the event's cancellation. The successful completion of the races was crucial for the venue's reputation and finances after previous disruptions due to Covid.
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A Piece Of Heavenâs 7-1 success in the Chester Cup, the most popular and historic race of the year at the worldâs oldest racecourse, was a fine way to round off the trackâs May festival meeting on Friday, not least after a day when, for around an hour or so in early afternoon, the event had teetered on the edge of an expensive, embarrassing disaster.
The odds that the middle day of Chesterâs showpiece event would be abandoned, with around 15,000 spectators at the track for Ladiesâ Day, seemed to be shortening at 2.30pm on Thursday, as a delegation of jockeys and trainers inspected the turf on the home turn.
Several riders had reported slipping in the opening race, prompting emergency remedial work by Chesterâs ground staff. A few minutes earlier, Maureen Haggas, assistant to her husband, William, at one of Newmarketâs biggest stables, had scratched Morshdi, the second-favourite, from the Dee Stakes, the dayâs big Derby trial. Tom Marquand, the stableâs No 1 jockey, had reported the ground to be âdangerousâ, Haggas said on ITV Racing, and had stood himself down for the rest of the day.
So it was a testament to the frantic efforts of the grounds team that, albeit more than an hour late, the remaining six races on the card eventually went into the form book. Marquand also revised his earlier decision and rode in the final two races.
An abandonment on Thursday would have been a huge blow, both financially and reputationally, to a venue that is still building back having lost its May festival to Covid in 2020 before running behind closed doors a year later. The total attendance for the May festival in 2019 was 53,000, but the four meetings since full crowds were restored in 2022 have averaged 34,500. That is a 34% decline, and 44% down on the 62,000 who crammed into the stands and infield just 15 years ago.
The crowds are coming back, albeit slowly. Louise Stewart, Chesterâs chief executive, expects a rise of around 6% this year, building on a 10% boost in 2025, and was relieved on Friday that no refunds were necessary on Thursday.
âWeâve got a brilliant clerk [of the course, Eloise Quayle] and grounds team here at Chester, some of them have been here for over 45 years and their fathers before them,â Stewart said. âThey know every blade of grass on the track and they know how to prepare ground for the May festival and how it runs. I think the delay was unprecedented and Iâm really proud of what the team were able to deliver and proud of the response.â
If there was a positive to be taken from Thursdayâs events, it was possibly the huge cheer from all corners of the track that greeted the announcement that racing would continue as planned. No one was hoping for a refund. âYou heard the roar,â Stewart said. âPeople are here for the racing, and also for a good time, and Chester manages that balance really well.â
Concerns arose after several jockeys reported slipping during the opening race, prompting emergency inspections and remedial work by the ground staff.
After a delay of over an hour due to safety concerns, the remaining races were completed successfully, thanks to the efforts of the grounds team.
The attendance for the May festival has averaged 34,500 since full crowds were restored in 2022, down 34% from 53,000 in 2019 and 44% from 62,000 15 years ago.
An abandonment would have resulted in significant financial and reputational damage to Chester racecourse, which has been recovering from the effects of Covid.
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A view of runners and riders at Chester on Thursday. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
This is a course where the crowd and setting are integral to the experience â to a greater extent, perhaps, than at any other major track. The tight, turning course with a sharp descent to a short home straight, below Roman walls where hundreds watch for free, is simply unique, and officially dates to 1539, giving it the Guinness Book of Records seal of approval as the oldest still-operational racecourse on the planet.
As Stewart points out, changes to the courseâs licensing, reducing the extent to which alcohol can be brought into the trackâs centre enclosure by picnickers, have impacted on crowd numbers, while there is also an increased sale of âpremiumâ tickets to offset the overall decline.
On the track itself, meanwhile, the May meetingâs trials for the Classics at Epsom next month have been performing brilliantly in recent years. The two Classic trials on Wednesdayâs card â the Chester Vase and the Cheshire Oaks â completed a rare double in 2025 as the winners, Lambourn and Minnie Hauk, both followed up at Epsom.
There is a real chance that Chester will pull off the double once again, as Benvenuto Cellini, the Vase winner, and Amelia Earhart, who took the Cheshire Oaks, are now the clear favourites for the Derby and Oaks respectively. Constitution Riverâs seven-length win in Thursdayâs Dee Stakes, meanwhile, was described by the much-respected Timeformorganisation on Friday as âone of the very best performances in a Classic trial for many a year.â
All three horses are likely to be adverts for the May meetingâs trials as the rest of the Flat season unfolds, much as Minnie Hauk was in 2025 as she reeled off three Group One wins before finishing runner-up in the Prix de lâArc de Triomphe.
âGreat horses have been performing brilliantly on this track,â Stewart said. âThatâs a great headline for racing and its future, itâs all about the horses and jockeys.â
The high-numbered stalls are generally the place to be on the straight seven-furlong course at Ascot and there is also plenty of pace drawn mid-to-high in the Victoria Cup Handicap at Ascot on Saturday, which points towards another big run from Hickory (2.20) and Saffie Osborne, last yearâs winners, from stall 17.
Hickory has a fine record at Ascot, with two wins and five more runs into the frame from nine starts on the straight course, and Osborne has been a key part of that form, both for his former trainer, James Fanshawe, and now her father, Jamie.
The eight-year-old is now on a career-high mark but he should get the tow into the race he needs from several high-drawn front-runners, and Osborne is a past-master at delivering him with a perfectly timed run.
Lingfield 12.55: Olivia Tubb is excellent value for her 5lb claim and that could tip the balance in favour of Sweet Reward after a promising return to action in a well-run race at Epsom last time.
Haydock 1.15: Fergal OâBrienâs Frontier Prince is an interesting each-way option in first-time cheekpieces after running a close fourth in a similar contest over track and trip last month.
Lingfield 1.28: Romantic Symphony is the only filly among the five runners for the Oaks Trial that is not currently entered for the Oaks at Epsom next month, but a supplementary may well be forthcoming if she extends her unbeaten record to three.
Ascot 1.45: The lightly raced Zgharta made her handicap debut over this track and trip at the Royal meeting last year and ran a fine race to finish within three-and-a-half lengths of the winner, form that gives her an obvious chance from just 1lb higher in the weights.
Lingfield 1.58: All six runners in the Derby Trial have an entry for the Epsom Classic and Maltese Cross could be the one to book his place in the field, as William Haggasâs stoutly bred colt needed every inch of the 10-furlong trip to win at Newbury last time.
Lingfield 2.40: Royal Velvet fully deserves this crack at a Group Three after posting a fresh career best in handicap company at Newmarketâs Craven meeting.
Ascot 2.55: John & Thady Gosdenâs Valedictory was narrowly beaten at odds-on on his handicap debut over 10 furlongs at Newbury but showed more than enough to suggest this step up to a stiff mile-and-a-half will suit.
Lingfield 3.15: At least some of Apotheosisâs quirks have been ironed out by the application of a hood and was a winner at this track as a three-year-old.