Tim Vaughan, Sam Thomas and Peter Bowen will bid to end over a century of pain for Welsh horse race trainers at the Grand National on Saturday.  It is 118 years since a Welsh-trained horse won the iconic race at Aintree, but if one of the trio does triumph then the roar will go around Chepstow as well as Aintree. For the first time, Chepstow Racecouse have shaped an entire day’s racing around the biggest race in the calendar, which is taking place 186 miles north in Liverpool. 

Around tea time on Saturday, Wales will hope to thank the day Sisilia Tuipulotu gave up netball. The Six Nations title contenders will have played England, the champions, at Cardiff Arms Park by then and Tuipulotu may just have underlined her growing reputation as the breakthrough player of the tournament.

Cardiff City boss Sabri Lamouchi admits he never experienced a relegation battle as a player and is learning with every game as his side attempts to avoid the dreaded drop into League One next season. The Bluebirds are just a point outside the bottom three with six games to go, two of which are away to the top two sides in the Championship – starting at Sheffield United today.

Dai Young has admitted the Welsh regions need to develop greater depth if they are to compete across the board for honours. Young takes his Cardiff side to Connacht on Saturday night, seeking a victory that would keep alive their hopes of a top eight finish and entry into the URC play-offs.

After more than a year away from the international stage, Gareth Davies is sending out a very timely reminder of just why he has 67 Wales caps to his name. He hasn’t appeared for the national team since March 2022 and has missed out on the squads altogether this season. Having been a permanent fixture for the best part of a decade, it has been a new and unwanted experience, one which left him feeling despondent.

Wales wing Lisa Neuman reckons England will prove the acid test for unbeaten Wales in Saturday’s sell-out TikTok Women’s Six Nations clash. Two games played, two bonus point wins and 10 points – that’s the record of both teams to date ahead of the Cardiff Arms Park clash. England lead the table thanks to a superior try count and points difference, but whoever wins the Anglo-Welsh clash will be out in front in the battle to win the title. France are also unbeaten, on nine points, but don’t play their round three match against Scotland until Sunday.

Wales’s most capped Wheelchair international player, Alan Caron, has been appointed as head coach for the Wales Rugby League Wheelchair international side for a second time.

The Welsh Rugby Union believe they can add the Euro 2028 football tournament to a long list of sporting events that have been staged successfully in Cardiff. The WRU have backed the Football Association of Wales’ joint bid with the other UK and Ireland associations to host the tournament after the 10 short-listed stadiums were revealed. The 2017 Champions League final, FA Cup Finals, Olympic Games matches, play-off finals, League Cup finals, Wales internationals and a host of others sporting events have been held in Cardiff since the stadium was built 24 years ago.

Wales manager Gemma Grainger has described the confirmation of a prized fixture against the USA as “a compliment” to her rapidly improving team. The FAW announced the fixture on the evening Grainger’s team earned another impressive result – a 1-1 draw in a friendly in Portugal.

Ben Foster has saluted Wrexham’s Hollywood owners as “top of the class” after being rewarded with a Rob McElhenney kiss “fully on the lips” for his penalty-saving heroics. The 40-year-old former England goalkeeper, in the fourth game of his second Wrexham spell, was the hero as the Dragons beat Notts County 3-2 on Easter Monday to strike a potentially decisive blow in the Vanarama National League title race.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Gemma Frizelle and Deeside Gymnastics Academy were among the big winners on a night of celebration for Welsh Gymnastics. After a three-year hiatus, Welsh Gymnastics’ National Awards made their long-awaited return with a formal dinner at the Vale Resort, Hensol.

The confirmation of the departures of Wales pair Dillon Lewis and Jarrod Evans has been put into sharp focus by Leinster’s retention of two key Ireland internationals. On the day that Harlequins announced the capture of both prop Lewis and outside-half Evans for next season, Leinster revealed James Ryan and Josh van der Flier had signed on again with the IRFU.

Natalie Powell will make her 8th appearance at the IJF World Championships in Doha next month.

Wales Golf has launched its new strategy ‘Everyone’s Game, for fun, for sport, for life’ to take the game in Wales forward over the next five years.

Wales defender Ffion Morgan is relishing a “scary” end to the season for club and country. Morgan is part of the Wales squad seeking to build on Thursday’s impressive 4-1 friendly victory over Northern Ireland against World Cup-bound Portugal.

There were mixed fortunes for the Thomas brothers at Principality Stadium as Steve saw his Vardre team lose out to Abertillery BG in the WRU Division 3 Cup final before Paul enjoyed success in the Division 2 final with Morriston. The first day of two club cup finals in the ‘Road to Principality’ rugby jamboree saw Crumlin take the Division 5 title with a 38-24 win over Ferndale, Bryncethin defeat Nantyglo 19-15 in the Division 4 final and unbeaten Abertillery BG pip Vardre 34-27 in the Division 3 game.

Sabri Lamouchi insisted he had a major regret over his eye-catching double Cardiff City substitution after just half an hour of their defeat to Sunderland – he should have done it sooner. The Bluebirds boss hooked Jaden Philogene and Sheyi Ojo after just 36 minutes of their deeply damaging 1-0 reverse at home to the Black Cats.

Welsh sailor Michael Beckett successfully defended his ILCA 7 title at the Trofeo Princesa Sofia regatta. The 27-year-old from Pembrokeshire secured an insurmountable lead after the final series race on Friday, making his participation in Saturday’s medal race a mere formality en route to claiming gold in Palma, Mallorca.

Ryan Reynolds punched the air before turning to embrace Rob McElhenney as the Hollywood stars moved a big step closer to their dream of leading Wrexham to promotion. The pair celebrated at the end of a game that had all the thrills of a big screen blockbuster and the ultimate twist as former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster pulled off a penalty save in the seventh minute of stoppage time to secure a 3-2 win against closest rivals Notts County on Monday.

Eight players could make their debuts after Wayne Ponting announced a 31-strong Wales Rugby League Under 18 men’s squad for the 2023 season. The squad includes 13 players who were part of the Wales U16 squad that beat England Community Lions twice last year, and a further 11 who were in the youthful Wales U19 squad who finished third in last year’s European Championships.