Ex-footballer Ben Turner is excited to see Marsh Wren return to Warwick for what he describes as her ‘cup final’ in Thursday’s Larkshill Engineering Lady Godiva Mares’ Novices’ Chase – should the meeting survive a morning inspection.
The Stuart Edmunds-trained seven-year-old carries the colours of the Far Bihoue Partnership, which is fronted by the former Cardiff and Coventry City defender.
Having seen Marsh Wren make a successful debut over fences at Warwick last month, Turner is keeping his fingers crossed she can boost her future value as a broodmare with victory in this Listed event.
“This is a massive opportunity for her to get some black type as we want to breed from her eventually and I don’t think we will get a better mare to breed from,” he said.
“From what both Stu and Ciaran Gethings have said she is looking in savage form at home. Arclight is rated higher than us, and is trained by a master trainer in Nicky Henderson, and we have to give her weight as she is only a four-year-old, but her best form is over shorter and on better ground.
“The ground can’t be testing enough for Marsh Wren. So many horses struggle to find that little bit extra when the ground is bottomless but she takes to it like a duck to water.
“This is Marsh Wren’s time of year, and this is her trip. This is her cup final, and we planned to go here even before she won her last start.”
Turner is now retired from professional football following a fine career which saw him play and score in the 2012 League Cup final for Cardiff City against Liverpool. He also featured in the ‘Bluebirds’ team that lifted the 2012-13 Championship title.
Having been associated with the glamour of the Premier League, the 35-year-old is proud of the fact that he been able to offer people outside of the stereotypical racehorse owner the opportunity to be part of something special with Marsh Wren.
He added: “My family would say the League Cup Final would be their best memory, and it would be my best one-off memory, but getting promoted to the Premier League was my best achievement as that takes some doing over 46 games.
“Marsh Wren was purchased on a shoestring budget and we have 30 people involved in her including several members of my family.
“What is great about the syndicate is that they are all working class people who have normal jobs. We haven’t got the resources to spend big money out of the point-to-point field, but here they are with a horse in a Listed race.
“When I was playing football I was fortunate enough to have half and quarter shares in horses, along with owning one outright, but being in a syndicate like this is no less of a buzz.
“We have people in their 20s right through to their 70s involved so we have the full age scale, which is great to see.”
The meeting is subject to a 7.30am inspection due to the threat of waterlogging.
Luka Doncic said "everything hurts" after he battled through the pain to propel the Dallas Mavericks to victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
Doncic finished with 33 points and 17 assists as the Mavericks defeated LeBron James' Lakers – fresh from their in-season tournament victory last weekend – 127-125.
It marked the second win in as many nights for Dallas, though talisman Doncic had been listed as questionable following Monday's win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
"I don't know how I played," Doncic said.
"I slept very little today. Everything hurts. I'm getting old, man, but we got two back-to-back wins, which is amazing, especially against a team like the Lakers.
"So I'm really proud of these guys."
Speaking to TNT Sports, Doncic added: "You give your best, you want to stay on the court.
"This is an amazing team win, man. Back-to-back, we've got so many guys out, but everybody stepped up, everybody played hard."
Doncic also shared a moment with James, who also had 33 points, at the end of the game.
"It's amazing, the way he talks with me," Doncic said. "One of the best, it's a great relationship. I'm glad, coming from Slovenia, that I can play games like this against LeBron. It's special."
The Mavs needed Doncic to step up, with Kyrie Irving, Maxi Kleber, Josh Green and Derrick Jones Jr all out injured.
"Anytime you play a guy like Luka that's so talented, so good passing the ball, but obviously scores it as well, it makes it tough," Lakers guard Austin Reaves said.
"That's the challenge when you have a guy like that on the other team that you're trying to slow down."
The St. Louis Blues fired coach Craig Berube on Tuesday night, parting ways with the coach who led the team to its only Stanley Cup title.
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong announced the move hours after a 6-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
The defeat was the season-worst fourth straight for the Blues, who are off to a 13-14-1 start to the season.
Drew Bannister, coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League, was named interim coach.
He will be behind the bench on Thursday night, when the Blues host the Ottawa Senators.
The 57-year-old Berube was in his sixth season with the Blues and had a 206-131-44 record. His win total ranks third in team history.
He guided the Blues to the Stanley Cup championship in 2019 after replacing Mike Yeo as coach on Nov. 20, 2018, as the interim coach and leading a remarkable turnaround.
Draymond Green was ejected again and the Phoenix Suns got 32 points from Devin Booker in a 119-116 win over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.
Green was tossed in the third quarter after receiving a Flagrant 2 foul for hitting Phoenix’s Jusuf Nurkic in the face.
The incident came less than a month after Green was suspended five games by the NBA for putting Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert into a headlock during an altercation in November.
Bradley Beal scored 16 points in his return from a back injury and the Suns won without Kevin Durant, who missed his second straight game with a left ankle sprain.
Exum gives Mavericks big lift
Luka Dončić had 33 points and 17 assists and Dante Exum made five of his career-best seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as the Dallas Mavericks won their fourth straight game, 127-125 over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
With Kyrie Irving sidelined again by a bruised right foot, Tim Hardaway Jr. scored a season-high 32 points, including five of Dallas’ 21 3-pointers, and Grant Williams chipped in 19 points.
Anthony Davis tallied 37 points and 11 rebounds, while LeBron James had 33 points, nine assists and eight boards as the Lakers’ season-best four-game winning streak was snapped.
This was the first game for the Lakers after their NBA Cup-clinching victory over Indiana in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Exum finished with a season-high 26 points, going 5 of 7 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter to help the Mavs stay ahead.
Clippers’ Leonard continues scoring binge
Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points in three quarters and the Los Angeles Clippers cruised to their fifth straight win, 119-98 over the Sacramento Kings.
Leonard scored 14 points in the third quarter, including the Clippers’ final seven, to extend their lead to 99-70.
He has 106 points on 36-of-56 shooting – 11 of 19 from 3-point range – with 15 rebounds and 13 assists in his last three games.
James Harden had 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds to help Los Angeles win for the 10th time in 13 games.
Keegan Murray led Sacramento with 17 points.
Stuart Skinner turned aside 22 shots and Connor McDavid had a pair of assists to lead the Edmonton Oilers to their NHL season-high eighth consecutive win, 4-1 over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Sam Gagner, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman scored to help the Oilers notch their longest winning streak since their franchise record-tying nine-game run to close out last season.
Defenseman Evan Bouchard set up two goals to extend his point streak to 12 games. He has five goals and 13 assists during the streak, the second longest by a defenseman in Oilers history, trailing Paul Coffey’s 28-game run in 1985-86.
Rookie Connor Bedard scored his team-leading 12th goal as the Blackhawks lost their seventh in a row on the road.
Boeser has hat trick in Canucks’ win
Brock Boeser scored three straight goals for his second hat trick of the season to power the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning.
Boeser scored twice in the second period and completed his fifth career hat trick in the third. His 21 goals tied him for the league lead with Toronto’s Auston Matthews.
Thatcher Demko made 28 saves and Andrei Kuzmenko had the other goal for Vancouver.
Brayden Point scored for the Lightning, who had won three of four.
Matthews’ big game propels Maple Leafs
Auston Matthews scored two goals and set up two others and Martin Jones won his first start for Toronto in the Maple Leafs’ 7-3 victory over the New York Rangers.
Conor Timmins, Calle Jarnkrok and David Kampf also scored for the Maple Leafs, who have points in seven straight games (5-0-2).
Matthews’ two goals gave him 21 on the season, tied with Vancouver’s Brock Boeser for the NHL lead.
Blake Wheeler had a pair of goals and Mika Zibanejad scored a power-play goal as New York lost for the third time in four games.
Jones, signed as a free agent last summer, stopped 28 shots in his second appearance of the season.
Gordon Elliott has branded reports that the British Horseracing Authority could limit the number of runners an individual trainer can run in major handicaps in Britain as “very dangerous”.
It has been suggested that the ruling body is consulting stakeholders to garner their views regarding the possibility of capping the amount of runners a trainer can declare in Class 1 or Class 2 handicaps to four.
If such a rule change was introduced, it would clearly have a major impact on the Randox Grand National at Aintree, as well as several handicaps at the Cheltenham Festival.
Elliott, no stranger to saddling multiple runners in high-profile races both in Britain and in Ireland, admits the prospect of being limited to how many horses he can run in a race is a huge concern.
“I think to try and cap an owner or a trainer’s horses is very dangerous,” he said after racing at Punchestown on Tuesday.
“If you go back to the 1960s, Tom Dreaper won seven Irish Grand Nationals in a row and he had 50 per cent of the field, although I know there weren’t big fields then.
“In 1983, Michael Dickinson had the first five home in the Gold Cup and then 20 years later Martin Pipe had eight and nine of the field in two races at the Cheltenham Festival – things haven’t changed.”
Elliott made the headlines last month when saddling 14 of the 20 runners in the Troytown Chase at Navan, a move which he staunchly defends.
He added: “There would only have been four runners in the Munster National if I didn’t run one in it, never mind eight, and it would have been the same in the Troytown.
“These races aren’t filling up and you have to try and support them for the sponsors and everyone.
“In the Galway Plate, I ran six horses for six different owners. It’s very hard for me to have to tell someone that they can’t run.
“We buy them all thinking they are going to be Gold Cup horses but a lot of them end up being three-mile chasers.”
When asked to comment on the potential move, a BHA spokesperson said: “From time to time, the BHA will contact stakeholders for views on various issues. We would not comment on speculation around private discussions.”
Detroit Pistons head coach Monty Williams conceded a franchise-record losing streak "hurts like you can't believe", although the San Antonio Spurs face a similar plight of their own.
Williams' Pistons were 131-123 losers against the Indiana Pacers on Monday as Detroit fell to their 20th straight loss in NBA.
That marks the worst single-season losing run in Detroit's franchise history and the longest in NBA records since the Houston Rockets fell to 20 straight defeats in 2020-21.
The Pistons have lost 21 in a row before, although that came between the end of the 1979-80 season and the start of the 1980-81 campaign, but Williams was somewhat encouraged with his team's showing against the Pacers.
"As much as this losing hurts us, and it hurts like you can't believe, I see a lot of growth," Williams said.
"I'm encouraged by some of the things we saw tonight. We just need to build on them."
Williams suggested the Pistons' approach towards halftime was their downfall as the Pacers' Bennedict Mathurin added five of his 30-point game in a 9-0 run to close the second quarter.
"I thought the way we closed to half-time was something that kind of took the wind out of our sails a little bit," Williams added.
"We're still learning that everything we do in the meat of the game has an effect on the end."
Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson were rare bright sparks, scoring 23 and 20 points respectively for the Pistons, whose 20-game run equalled the sixth-longest single-season losing streak in NBA history,
San Antonio have endured similar woes, too, setting their own franchise record after a 17th consecutive defeat following a 93-82 at the hands of the Rockets.
Victor Wembanyama led the way with 15 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks but was 1-of-6 on his three-point attempts for the Spurs, whose offense went missing in their time of need.
"They played their ass off. They played a great game," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "You've got to make a shot in the NBA. You can't shoot five for 41 from three.
"They did a hell of a job defensively, in that regard. Really proud of them. But just feel badly that it's hard to know what to do when you're missing that many shots. It just makes it very, very difficult."
Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell combined to go for just 1-of-18 from deep, although the latter believes San Antonio's fortunes will soon change.
"If we could have made a couple more shots, it would've been a totally different game," Vassell said. "I like where we're going.
"We were trending in the right direction. If we would've made some shots, I think it would've been a totally different game."
Johnson echoed his team-mate's sentiment, although with an added sense of frustration after the Spurs' 82 points set a record low for any NBA side in a game this season.
"We know that we put in the work for it. We believe in each other and I wouldn't want to do it any other group than the group we got," Johnson said.
"We are a young team. We had great opportunities tonight and we had great opportunities at other games. We didn't really hit shots so we know we got to kind of hang our hats on the defensive end.
"I'm excited to get back out there Wednesday and put another great performance team-wise and hopefully get [a] win."
The Los Angeles Chargers will play the rest of the NFL season without their franchise quarterback.
Justin Herbert will have surgery on Tuesday to repair a fracture to his right index finger, the team announced.
Herbert met with hand specialists on Monday, a day after he injured the index finger on his throwing hand in the Chargers' 24-7 loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 14.
With the team sitting at 5-8 and highly unlikely to make the playoffs, the team decided season-ending surgery was the best option for Herbert to fully recover.
The injury occurred in the second quarter on Sunday, when he was hit by Broncos defensive end Zach Allen after completing an 11-yard pass to Donald Parham. He finished off the series, which lasted four more plays, completing 1-of-3 passes for 14 yards.
He was replaced by Easton Stick, who was 13-of-24 passing for 179 yards in his first meaningful NFL action. He is slated to make his first career start Thursday on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Since the Chargers drafted Herbert sixth overall in the 2020 NFL draft, he had started 62 of the team's 63 games, playing through a broken finger on his non-throwing hand earlier this season and fractured rib cartilage in 2022.
On the first day of training camp this summer, he signed a $252.5million, five-year extension that made him the highest paid quarterback in the league by average salary per year and total money.
Herbert finishes this season with a 93.2 QB rating - the exact same rating he registered in 2022 - but his average passing yards per game dropped from 278.8 - third best in the NFL last season - to 241.1 - 13th in the NFL. He threw 20 touchdown passes, but had just one TD throw in the last three games, as the Chargers totalled 23 points in those contests.
Henry Arundell will be unavailable for England selection until 2026 after agreeing a two-year contract extension with Racing 92.
Arundell, one of the most exciting talents in the English game, cannot be picked by Steve Borthwick due to the Rugby Football Union’s rule of only allowing players in the Gallagher Premiership to be considered for selection.
The dynamic 21-year-old has turned down a move to Bath that would have been enhanced by one of the RFU’s hybrid contracts, which are being introduced next year.
The financial collapse of London Irish at the end of last season resulted in his switch to Racing and while he was available for the World Cup because of the circumstances, his decision to stay in Paris places him in England exile starting with the Six Nations.
“We are delighted to see Henry extend his commitment with Racing 92,” club president Laurent Travers said.
“He just joined our squad a few weeks ago but has already demonstrated all the qualities of a great competitor and great maturity.
“He fits perfectly into the club’s short- and medium-term objectives and we are convinced that he will be one of the driving forces to achieve them.”
With Arundell’s new contract expiring in June 2026, he has the scope to join a Premiership club for the 2026-27 season with a view to playing in the next World Cup.
Having scored five tries against Chile at France 2023, he then announced his arrival to Racing fans with a hat-trick against Toulon, confirming his status as one of the game’s most dangerous runners.
He follows international team-mates Jack Willis, Sam Simmonds, Jack Nowell, Joe Marchant and David Ribbans in committing himself to the Top 14, but he is the youngest to do so in what is a blow for the English game.
Two runners from the Kentucky Derby meeting in 2024 will be offered wild card entries for the Epsom Classics run in June four weeks later.
A runner from the Edgewood Stakes, run on Kentucky Oaks day (May 3), will receive an entry and travel incentive for the Betfred Oaks on May 31, while a colt from the American Turf Stakes on Kentucky Derby day will get the same privileges for the Betfred Derby.
Jockey Club Racecourses and Ascot have been coordinating with Churchill Downs Incorporated to create links between historic races in the UK and the top turf races in the United Stakes, with the aim of increasing runners between the two countries.
With that in mind, there will also be wild card spots up for grabs in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes for the King Charles III Stakes (formerly King’s Stand) and the Old Forester Turf Classic Stakes for either the Prince of Wales’s Stakes or the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot.
In return, a runner from the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and the Queen Anne will receive the same incentive for the Arlington Million and a runner from the Falmouth will be invited to the Beverly D Stakes.
The winners will be invited but should they not take it up, the racecourses may turn to the placed horses instead.
Matt Woolston, assistant racing and international racing director at The Jockey Club, said: “We’re delighted to develop these links with races at the Kentucky Derby Meeting in its 150th year.
“A trip to Churchill Downs is one that should be on the bucket list for every racing fan, the world over. The Kentucky Derby itself can trace its origin back to Epsom Downs in 1780, when Diomed won the very first Derby, and we are proud to reinforce this historic link.
“These historic races already have an international reputation and we want to welcome more and more international runners in the years to come.”
Nick Smith, director of racing and public affairs at Ascot racecourse, said: “We are very excited to be working with Churchill Downs and the UK Jockey Club on this exciting new initiative.
“We were very pleased to play our part hosting the Churchill team at Royal Ascot last year, with the Kentucky Derby trophy on display as they built up to this important 150th running of the world’s greatest dirt race.
“We have a rich modern history of American runners at Royal Ascot and their success always adds hugely to the meeting.”
Gerri Colombe appears increasingly likely to travel across the Irish Sea over the festive period to contest the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.
So impressive when scoring at Aintree in the spring, Gordon Elliott’s charge made a successful reappearance with a last-gasp win in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal last month.
The leading Cheltenham Gold Cup contender has the option of remaining on home soil for the Savills Chase at Leopardstown on December 28, but Elliott is currently favouring the trip to Sunbury.
“He’s going to work Friday morning and if everything is okay, he’s going to go to Kempton,” the trainer said at Punchestown on Tuesday.
Gerri Colombe is the 11-4 second-favourite for the King George with the sponsors, who make last year’s winner Bravemansgame their 2-1 market leader despite suffering back-to-back defeats so far this season.
The Willie Mullins-trained Allaho is next on the list at 11-2, with Nicky Henderson’s Shishkin a 6-1 shot to claim victory on what will effectively be his seasonal debut, having refused to start at Ascot last month before subsequently missing potential outings at Newcastle and Sandown.
Royale Pagaille, who beat Bravemansgame in last month’s Betfair Chase at Haydock for Venetia Williams, is also a single-figure price at 8-1, as is Patrick Neville’s stable star The Real Whacker.
Gordon Elliott has branded reports that the British Horseracing Authority could limit the number of runners an individual trainer can run in major handicaps in Britain as “very dangerous”.
It has been suggested that the ruling body is consulting stakeholders to garner their views regarding the possibility of capping the amount of runners a trainer can declare in Class 1 or Class 2 handicaps to four.
If such a rule change was introduced, it would clearly have a major impact on the Randox Grand National at Aintree, as well as several handicaps at the Cheltenham Festival.
Elliott, no stranger to saddling multiple runners in high-profile races both in Britain and in Ireland, admits the prospect of being limited to how many horses he can run in a race is a huge concern.
“I think to try and cap an owner or a trainer’s horses is very dangerous,” he said after racing at Punchestown on Tuesday.
“If you go back to the 1960s, Tom Dreaper won seven Irish Grand Nationals in a row and he had 50 per cent of the field, although I know there weren’t big fields then.
“In 1983, Michael Dickinson had the first five home in the Gold Cup and then 20 years later Martin Pipe had eight and nine of the field in two races at the Cheltenham Festival – things haven’t changed.”
Elliott made the headlines last month when saddling 14 of the 20 runners in the Troytown Chase at Navan, a move which he staunchly defends.
He added: “There would only have been four runners in the Munster National if I didn’t run one in it, never mind eight, and it would have been the same in the Troytown.
“These races aren’t filling up and you have to try and support them for the sponsors and everyone.
“In the Galway Plate, I ran six horses for six different owners. It’s very hard for me to have to tell someone that they can’t run.
“We buy them all thinking they are going to be Gold Cup horses but a lot of them end up being three-mile chasers.”
When asked to comment on the potential move, a BHA spokesperson said: “From time to time, the BHA will contact stakeholders for views on various issues. We would not comment on speculation around private discussions.”
The remarkable patience of Elixir D’Ainay’s connections was rewarded as he made a triumphant return from almost four years on the sidelines in the William Hill Lengthen Your Odds Hurdle at Punchestown.
The JP McManus-owned gelding proved his ability in his first season with Willie Mullins during the 2019/20 campaign, notably chasing home Envoi Allen in a Grade One at Naas before falling two flights from home in the 2020 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham won by Shishkin.
Despite a mammoth absence totalling 1372 days, Elixir D’Ainay was a 4-5 favourite for his comeback in County Kildare and showed at least some of his talent remains intact with a comfortable victory.
Ridden by Mark Walsh, the nine-year-old looked to have a race on his hands after being chased into the home straight by Whimsy, but he knuckled down after the final flight to repel that challenge by two and a quarter lengths.
McManus’ racing manager Frank Berry said: “Willie had him entered in a chase and I’d presume that’s the road he’ll go down from here.
“It’s lovely to get him back and that was a lovely race to find for him. We’ll be happy now if the wheels stay on.
“He’s a fine, big horse and his form was very good around the time he got injured. It’s lovely to see him back and credit to all of Willie’s team.”
Elixir D’Ainay was one of three winners on the card for the champion trainer, with Paul Townend steering Embassy Gardens (8-11) and Blizzard Of Oz (5-4) to short-priced victories in the beginners chase and maiden hurdle respectively.
Townend was particularly impressed with Embassy Gardens’ jumping, saying: “He’s brilliant, when you’re riding him, you’d be encouraged to keep asking him everywhere but on that ground you can’t.
“It was the perfect introduction, he relaxed and jumped well. I didn’t have to be too hard on him but going around on that ground will take a bit out of them anyway.
“He raced properly with me today. He was too keen when he ran in the Albert Bartlett in Cheltenham, but I lit him up early. Today was just about getting him to do things right and he did, he couldn’t have done any more.
“He has loads of scope for the big one and he was a joy to ride. Hopefully, this will be his year.”
Jimmy Mangan’s Spillane’s Tower won the opening William Hill Ireland Rated Novice Chase for the McManus-Walsh combination.
Fourth behind the top-class Facile Vega at Navan last month, the five-year-old was the 9-4 favourite to make it third time lucky over fences in this lower grace and got the better of a duel with Firm Footings to do just that by a head.
“He had two great runs and he delivered today, so it was great,” said Mangan.
“It turned out to be a sprint, they went very handy for the first mile. He has a bit of class, he’s not too slow. I’ll be speaking to Mark and I’ll see what they want to do with him.”
Gordon Elliott’s point-to-point graduate Kish Bank (4-5 favourite) made a winning debut under rules in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Auction (Pro/Am) Flat Race, with Harry Swan in the saddle.
Elliott said: “He’s a grand horse. To be honest, I was kind of nervous about running him because he ran in a point-to-point a few weeks ago.
“He’s a horse for the future, a big horse and we’ll put him away now until next year. You might see him run in a graded hurdle or something but he won’t do much this season, as he’s a massive horse.”
Gordon Elliott’s promising novice chaser Imagine could head across the Irish Sea for a Grade One start at Kempton on Boxing Day.
The five-year-old began his chasing career this season, starting out at Fairyhouse in a beginners event he won by a comfortable two and a half lengths.
He then stepped up in class at Punchestown late last month to contest the Grade Two Craddockstown Novice Chase.
Under Jack Kennedy, Imagine was required to dig deeper than on debut but he did so to come home the winner when crossing the line half a length ahead of John Ryan’s Lucid Dreams.
A step up in trip is now afoot and so too is a step up in grade, as the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day is pencilled into his diary – a Grade One event run over an extended three miles.
Alternatively, Imagine holds two entries at Leopardstown’s festive meeting, over two miles and a furlong in the Racing Post Novice Chase and over three miles and half a furlong in the Neville Hotels Novice Chase – both Grade Ones.
He is also in Limerick’s Guinness Faugheen Novice Chase over nearly two and a half miles.
Imagine is owned by Andy and Gemma Brown of Caldwell Construction, whose racing manager Joey Logan said of the gelding: “We’re very happy with him, to be honest.
“He stepped up from his beginners in Fairyhouse and won the Grade Two and we were very happy with that.
“He wants further really, two miles is a bit short and we’re hoping we might step him up at Christmas time.
“I think the further he goes, the better he’ll be. We’re looking at the Grade One on Boxing Day at Kempton, that’s a possibility.
“He’ll have an entry and we’ll sit down with Gordon to discuss. If not, it’ll be Leopardstown but that’s what we’re thinking of at the moment.”
Jessica Harrington’s Jetara successfully stepped up to Listed class with a tenacious display in the William Hill Epic Value Mares Novice Hurdle at Punchestown.
The daughter of Walk In The Park is bred to be smart, being from the family of several high-class performers, including Jetson, Jered, Jett and Champion Hurdle hero Jezki.
Jetara was a Listed winner in the bumper sphere last season and went on to be placed in Grade Three company over hurdles in the new year.
She failed to fire on her first start of the current campaign at Down Royal but made the most of having her sights lowered when belatedly opening her account over timber at Fairyhouse last month and she was a 2-1 joint-favourite stepping back up in grade under Sean O’Keeffe.
The five-year-old mastered Banntown Girl halfway up the home straight and passed the post with six lengths in hand over the staying-on A Penny A Hundred.
Harrington said: “She was good. She’s got the experience from last year and is a second season novice basically.
“She goes on that heavy ground, unlike the rest of the family. She’s hardy now and she won going away, she quickened up great.”
Jetara will now bid to pick up more valuable black type in Graded company.
“I don’t know where we’ll go, she might get an entry in the mares’ race at Christmas (Grade Three Kerrymount Mares Hurdle at Leopardstown) and then there is one at the end of January (Solerina Mares Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse),” Harrington added.
“We’ll look at anything over two and a half miles or two-five. I might even try and find a three-mile race in England.
“The mares’ novice at Cheltenham is only two miles. I’d rather wait and go to Fairyhouse for the Grade One, that would be her aim in the spring.”
Deborah Cole is yet to decide the next destination for Long Distance Hurdle third Flight Deck, admitting she is still very much on a high from the bargain buy’s surprise heroics this autumn.
The nine-year-old won five times in 15 starts when previously trained by Jonjo O’Neill, but was picked up for just £5,000 at the sales in the summer and has since really enjoyed himself in his new surroundings at Cole’s Solihull base.
His first start for new connections was at Cheltenham in October when belying odds of 66-1 to grab the bronze medal in a Pertemps qualifier and he then excelled himself in even deeper waters when a close-up third behind staying stalwarts Dashel Drasher and Paisley Park at Newbury.
Those two performances have seen Flight Deck – who runs for The Steve, Joe And Steve Syndicate – more than cover his purchasing costs, with the past few months very much a blur for the trainer, who is still trying to let Flight Deck’s underdog achievements sink in.
For now though, she is content to continue letting the dust settle while the horse recharges his batteries ahead of a return to the track in the new year.
“We haven’t really made a detailed plan yet, we’re just seeing how he is and it’s been a bit of a fairy story with him really,” said Cole.
“He’s fine, he’s really well. Next on the agenda will probably be a little break and I think he is a horse you have to keep sweet and happy.
“It’s all a bit surreal and when he ran so well at Cheltenham we were a bit surprised, and then when he backed it up at Newbury, only beaten by two exceptionally good horses, and not beaten that far really, it was just amazing.
“To have a horse of that quality and for that cheap is just amazing and we feel very lucky. People are paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for these horses and there is never any guarantee, is there. He just slipped through the net, I think.”
Flight Deck’s stellar display in esteemed company at Newbury has Cole considering continuing on a Graded level journey for his next start, with Cheltenham’s Cleeve Hurdle on January 27 a possible option.
However, the West Midlands handler concedes she has never had to consider these calibre of races previously and is very much taking it one day at a time, while also embracing the challenge of mapping out Flight Deck’s next movements.
“It’s tempting (to stay at Graded level) and he’s obviously got a lot of ability,” continued Cole.
“We may do, but it is all new and we’ve never dealt with horses who would go for Graded races up until now, so it’s a bit of a learning curve really. We’re enjoying it though, obviously!
“We’re not in any rush with him and there’s plenty of time. We’ll probably have a look in the middle to the end of January and see what there is then really.
“There is that (the Cleeve) and we have pondered on that, but I don’t know. I think we’re still trying to keep our feet grounded because he could put in a stinker, but who knows.
“He’s obviously in a very happy place now – and for all our horses, that is very important.”
Alan King has identified the Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton as a possible next port of call for Edwardstone following his admirable defence of the Tingle Creek on Saturday.
The nine-year-old was a brilliant winner of the Sandown showpiece last season and returned to the Esher track to defend his crown over the weekend.
Edwardstone had plenty on his plate as he looked to turn the tables on Jonbon following their clash in last month’s Shloer Chase at Cheltenham – and while he again came off second best, he did at least close the gap on Nicky Henderson’s star chaser.
King immediately ruled out an appearance over three miles in the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day, but the Barbury Castle handler is keen to step his charge up in trip on his next start.
“He ran very well and has come out of it well and we’ll probably look to step him up to two-and-a-half in the new year,” he said.
“He’s definitely not going for the King George, but there is the Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton in January. We’ll have a look at that and, whether he goes there or not, I think his next run will be over two-and-a-half, as it will give us an idea what we’re doing with him.”
With the Queen Mother Champion Chase already shaping up to be a straight shootout between Jonbon and his formidable Irish rival El Fabiolo, the Ryanair Chase could end up being Edwardstone’s Cheltenham Festival target if he can prove his stamina in the meantime.
King added: “You’ve obviously got Jonbon and the horse in Ireland and you wouldn’t really look forward to taking those two on.”
You Wear It Well will go back against her own sex in the new year after failing to really fire in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Sandown on Saturday.
With the Grade One contest rescheduled following the abandonment of racing at Newcastle the previous Saturday, and Constitution Hill and his stablemate Shishkin withdrawn on account of testing conditions, everything appeared to be falling into place for Jamie Snowden’s star mare.
The six-year-old had already shown her well-being this season by landing a Listed prize at Wetherby, and with Snowden having won the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury the previous weekend with Datsalrightgino, You Wear It Well was favourite to provide him with another major Saturday success in Esher.
Ultimately, though, the daughter of Midnight Legend was well beaten in third place behind the popular veteran Not So Sleepy and fellow mare Love Envoi, and Snowden feels his charge underperformed.
He said: “I think the handicapper had it on form that she had to improve to win that race, even without the two defections. She ran all right, but probably hasn’t run her race, I would have said.
“Her price was probably skewed by the form of the yard and this, that and the other, but she’s run OK in the circumstances.
“She goes on soft ground, but that really was terrible ground on Saturday and she didn’t really get into any great rhythm. She was a bit keen early on and missed a couple of hurdles.
“Take nothing away from anyone, but it probably wasn’t her true running.”
You Wear It Well’s main objective is to secure a second Cheltenham Festival success in the Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle in March, having last season landed the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle.
What route she takes to Prestbury Park is uncertain, but she appears unlikely to take on the boys in the meantime.
“I think going back against her own sex makes sense really,” Snowden added.
“Due to a lack of a realistic opportunity for her in December, we thought we’d take our chance in the Fighting Fifth, and the fact that she went off favourite suggests it wasn’t a ridiculous decision to go down that kind of route.
“It didn’t quite work out, but we’ll dust ourselves down and go again. There are mares’ races for her at Sandown and Doncaster and Warwick, so there are plenty of opportunities between now and March.”
Kawhi Leonard impressed again as the Los Angeles Clippers won their fourth straight NBA game on Monday.
The Clippers held off the short-handed Portland Trail Blazers 132-127 to record their ninth win in their last 12 games, a nice recovery from their six-game losing streak at the start of November.
Leonard now has 75 points in his last two games after scoring a team-high 34 against Portland.
There were also key contributions from Paul George (20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists) and James Harden (20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists).
Portland – playing without Deandre Ayton and Malcolm Brogdon – suffered a fourth straight loss despite a career-high 38 points from Anfernee Simons.
Asked about Leonard, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said: "The biggest thing is health and finally getting his rhythm with PG and James starting."
Los Angeles had a 14-point lead late in the first quarter but ultimately had to work hard for the victory.
The Blazers twice held a one-point lead in the closing stages of the fourth quarter having hit a season-high 19 3-pointers in the game.
"I knew it was going to be a tough game for us," added Lue, whose team are now 12-10, eighth in the Western Conference.
"Defensively, we couldn't get stops. They scored every way."
The Clippers are immediately back in action on Tuesday at home against the Sacramento Kings (13-8) to complete a back-to-back.
Leonard had a season-high 41 points in their previous win against the Utah Jazz.
"Offensively the team is in a good rhythm and that is all I care about," Leonard said.
"The ball found me and I made shots. I have played a lot of minutes over the last few games but sometimes you have to. When your best players play longer, you’ll most likely get the win.
"It is about knowing what we are doing and having clarity, using our experience, not being complacent.
"There is still a lot we’re lacking. On defense we didn't play that well. They are a team with great defenders who can turn you over a lot so we were focused on screening hard."
Harden echoed Leonard's view that there is still plenty of work to do.
"We take what the defense gives us, figure it out and attack," he said.
"If you share the ball, you get good results, but it wasn’t as easy as we’d like it to be. We don't have the luxury of overlooking opponents."
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