Australian endurance swimmer Chloe McCardel ended her attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida after 11 hours in the water when she was stung by a jellyfish.

The perceived wisdom is that if a trainer thinks he has a cluster of Derby contenders, then he hasn’t any. Perhaps there is something in the theory; Aidan O’Brien’s three winners of the premier Classic – Galileo, High Chaparral and Camelot – were respectively accompanied to post by zero, two and one stablemates. And the scattergun years – there were eight Ballydoyle runners in 2007, for instance, and six in 2009 – have tended to yield only minor placings.

This really has been a blasted Heath over the past couple of days, but today the gale was rendered incarnate by a colt named Toronado. His runaway success in the last of its Classic trials crowned a pleasing revival in the significance of this meeting, Hot Snap and Garswood having won their own rehearsals impressively the previous day. But while both arguably owed something to the shelter they found from fierce gusts across the track, Toronado went gliding clear of what had become a tailwind – and blew apart the betting on the Qipco 2,000 Guineas. Though Dawn Approach remains favourite, Toronado is no better than 4-1 to beat him back here in a fortnight.

The one-time hang-out of Noël Coward and Sinatra, has reopened after 50 years

The White House has been forced to deny that President Barack Obama was involved in granting clearance to the hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and his wife, Beyoncé, for a recent trip to Cuba.

The pair were greeted by big crowds as they strolled through Havana

When the Cuban delegation arrived for the London Olympics last summer, no one paid very much attention to the mid-level government official with thick silver hair who was leading it. Miguel Diaz-Canel was not Raul Castro, after all, and most of the rest of the world had barely heard of him. So why get overly excited? Now we know why Diaz-Canel, 52, was chosen for the task and why just a few weeks earlier he accompanied Raul to the Rio plus 20 Summit on global warming in Brazil. He was being deliberately groomed as the man the Castro brothers had judged to be the best option to take over when finally they cede control to a new generation. 

Venezuela's ailing President Hugo Chavez is being treated for a respiratory deficiency after complications from a severe lung infection, the government said today.

Under the constitution, new elections must be held if the President is too ill to be sworn in

Last Night's Viewing

Hotel Zhero, Austria

This week, the temperature drops to Zhero in the Austrian Tyrol. The eagerly awaited hotel is due to open near the mountain village of Kappl on Wednesday. Expect 78 rooms and suites with a smooth, contemporary finish, four penthouses with butler service, a grill-style à la carte restaurant with executive chef Klaus Brunmayr, and a luxurious spa. Ski services will include an in-house shop for equipment hire and activities, plus a free daily shuttle to the slopes of Ischgl.

Hotel Zhero, Wiese 687, Kappl, Austria (00 43 5445 20 111 12; zherohotelgroup.com). Doubles start at €109, room only.

A penthouse overlooking Havana's Malecón seaside wall is a new breed of 'casa particular', says Claire Boobbyer

"It’s about finding your own identity.” It can’t be easy living in the shadow of his famous uncle, Carlos, who helped get him into the Cuban National Ballet School, aged 10, and with whom he shares a striking resemblance.

Lucrative weekend of racing, but sums pale in comparison to Tuesday's £50m yearling auction