Brindisi Breeze landed a rare Scottish win at the Cheltenham Festival when Lucinda Russell’s charge upset the Irish banker Boston Bob in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle.

A TURKISH army deserter who hijacked a flight to Italy has told prosecutors he was seeking asylum because he fears persecution in his Muslim homeland after his conversion to Christianity and wanted Pope Benedict XVI’s protection.

Italian officials today said they intend to prosecute a Turkish man for hijacking a plane, despite his appeal for political asylum on the grounds that he is being persecuted as a Christian in Muslim Turkey.

Gerard Butler's Jack Sullivan bids to win the Group Three Maktoum Challenge II over nine furlongs on dirt for the second year running at Nad Al Sheba on Thursday.