Simona Halep is free to resume her career after the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced her doping ban from four years to nine months.

The former Wimbledon champion tested positive for the blood-boosting drug Roxadustat at the US Open in 2022 and was handed the long ban last September.

Halep appealed to CAS and, following a hearing last month, the court has dramatically reduced the Romanian’s suspension.

A CAS statement read: “The CAS panel has unanimously determined that the four-year period of ineligibility imposed by the ITF (International Tennis Federation) independent tribunal is to be reduced to a period of ineligibility of nine months starting on October 7, 2022, which period expired on July 6, 2023.”

The International Tennis Integrity Agency, which oversees tennis’ anti-doping programme, had also appealed seeking an even longer ban, but this is a major victory for Halep, who was staring at the end of her career if the original sanction stood.

The independent tribunal had not accepted Halep’s explanation that a contaminated supplement was the source of the Roxadustat in her system, while a charge of irregularities in her athlete biological passport was also upheld.

But the CAS panel took a different view, with a statement reading: “Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it, the CAS panel determined that Ms Halep had established, on the balance of probabilities, that the Roxadustat entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement which she had used in the days shortly before August 29, 2022 and that the Roxadustat, as detected in her sample, came from that contaminated product.

“As a result, the CAS panel determined that Ms Halep had also established, on the balance of probabilities, that her anti-doping rule violations were not intentional.

“Although the CAS panel found that Ms Halep did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto MCT supplement, it concluded that she bore no significant fault or negligence.”

CAS dismissed the biological passport finding, saying: “Contrary to the reasoning of the first instance tribunal, the CAS panel determined that it was appropriate in the circumstances to consider the results of a private blood sample given by Ms Halep on September 9, 2022 in the context of a surgery which occurred shortly thereafter.

“Those results, and Ms Halep’s public statements that she did not intend to compete for the remainder of the 2022 calendar year, impacted the plausibility of the doping scenarios relied upon by the ITF independent tribunal.

“Having regard to the evidence as a whole, the CAS panel was not comfortably satisfied that an anti-doping rule violation had occurred. It therefore dismissed that charge.”

The ITIA has also been ordered to pay Halep around £18,000 as a contribution to her legal fees and expenses.

Halep was the highest-profile tennis player since Maria Sharapova to fail a drugs test, having won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon the following year as well as being ranked world number one.

The 32-year-old, who strongly criticised the original process, will now look to rebuild her career.

The Ryanair Chase remains “very much the plan” for ante-post favourite Banbridge, despite concerns about ground conditions ahead of next week’s Cheltenham Festival.

Joseph O’Brien’s charge was a non-runner in the Turners Novices’ Chase at the showpiece meeting last year due to the rain-softened ground and the official going at Prestbury Park on Tuesday morning was soft, heavy in places.

Banbridge made an impressive start to his campaign when accounting for subsequent Ascot Chase winner Pic D’Orhy in the Grade Two Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton and he has since been saved for the Festival, with a final decision on his participation unlikely to be made until the morning of the race.

“There’s still a long time to go between now and then, there’s lots of racing to happen and lots of weather forecasts that will come and go,” said O’Brien.

“As we’ve said all along, we’ll look forward to the race and hopefully we’ll walk the track on the morning of the race and hopefully he can run.

“Very much the plan is to run. He’s prepared well for Cheltenham so far.”

Banbridge is set to lead a small but select team of “six or seven” runners for O’Brien across the biggest four days of the season in the Cotswolds.

He added: “Hopefully we’ll have something running most of the days, some of them would like the ground a bit softer and some of them would like it a bit quicker.

“At the moment, it looks as if it’s going to favour the horses that prefer a bit of juice, but let’s see what happens – it can dry out fast and it can get softer quickly too. We’ll keep an eye on things over the next week.”

Lark In The Mornin heads the betting for the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, but O’Brien revealed his participation is “up in the air”.

Considering some of his other running plans, he said: “Nurburgring is an intended runner in the Triumph Hurdle, he is still entered in the Boodles but he’s going to run in the Triumph.

“Home By The Lee is in the Stayers’ Hurdle, we’ll have Solness in the Grand Annual and Busselton in the Ultima Handicap Chase, so there’s a few runners there.”

Gavin Cromwell is leaning towards the Stayers’ Hurdle with two-time former champion Flooring Porter.

The nine-year-old won the contest in both 2021 and 2022 before finishing fourth behind Sire Du Berlais last season.

He began his steeple chasing career this term, beating Broadway Boy on debut at Cheltenham and then finishing third in both the Florida Pearl and the Neville Hotels Novice Chase.

It has not been guaranteed that he will stick with the discipline at the Cheltenham Festival, however, and with the withdrawal of Constitution Hill from the Champion Hurdle picture there has been a ripple effect on other races.

Gordon Elliott’s Irish Point now looks likely to start in the Champion Hurdle and in his absence Cromwell is minded to bid for another Stayers’ Hurdle with Flooring Porter.

Speaking on a stable tour for Attheraces.com, the trainer said: “We are leaning towards the Stayers’ Hurdle. That isn’t 100 per cent confirmed, but with Irish Point looking likely to go for the Champion Hurdle, that might just seal it.

“We had a really tough preparation for Cheltenham with him last year as he missed a month after Christmas, but he still ran really well. We’ve had a much better preparation with him this year.

“It’s a very competitive race, but if he brought his best form to the table, he’d be entitled to be in the mix with the best of them.”

Perceval Legallois is the second favourite for the Kim Muir at present. but will not line up for the race as Cromwell feels the mark of 144 he has been allocated is prohibitive.

He said: “We’ve decided not to run him at the Cheltenham Festival. The British handicapper was very tough on him, so we’ll stay at home with him.”

My Mate Mozzie holds entries for both the Grand Annual and the Arkle and is most probably going to run in the latter race, especially considering Marine Nationale has been ruled out of the contest.

“He’s more than likely going to run in the Arkle,” said Cromwell.

“He’s going to have to run a career-best to win it, but he shaped really well right on the tail of the current favourite Found A Fifty at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting and that form has worked out well since.

“Maybe the winner was idling, but we got further back than was planned and finished off very well, so we have reasons to rate him better than the bare form too.

“Marine Nationale coming out can only help him too. The better the ground, the better his chance.”

Garry Ringrose, Hugo Keenan, Iain Henderson and Oli Jager are in contention for Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations clash with England after training on Tuesday.

Leinster centre Ringrose is yet to feature in this year’s championship because of a shoulder injury.

Full-back Keenan and lock Henderson missed the round-three win over Wales due to a knee issue and a dislocated toe respectively.

Munster prop Jager made his Test debut as a replacement in that 31-7 success on February 24 before sustaining a knee problem.

Grand Slam-chasing Ireland, who play at Twickenham on Saturday before completing their campaign at home to Scotland seven days later, reported a clean bill of health ahead of holding a more physical training session on Wednesday.

“We were all on the field today, it was great,” scrum coach John Fogarty told reporters.

“Garry and Hugo, Hendy, all trained today, Oli as well.

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“So, yeah, it’s such an important day for us to be on the field. A healthy squad training today is important for selection and it was great they were all on the field.”

Ciaran Frawley deputised for Keenan against Wales and marked his first international start with one of four tries for Andy Farrell’s side.

Asked about the progress of Ireland’s first-choice number 15, Fogarty said: “Well, he trained today.

“Again, they are on the road to recovery, training on the field today live was important for them. We’ll see how they got through the session.

“We’ve another session tomorrow, which is the most physical session of the week where we’ll properly test our plan and the players so we’ll see how he gets through tomorrow and then Andy will select his side.

“(Today) it’s full speed, there’s no huge contact in it, it’s kind of a coaching day.

“Monday is forming a plan, Tuesday we put it on the field and we’ll see the timings of our launch plays and how our defence works, and tomorrow we’ll test that full contact.

“We want to get as live as possible, ready for what’s going to be a huge test in Twickenham.”

Red Bull’s controversy-hit Formula One team will be back in the spotlight on Wednesday when superstar driver Max Verstappen faces the media for this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The triple world champion, whose father, Jos, claimed Red Bull will “explode” if team principal Christian Horner is not removed from his post, is due to answer questions in Jeddah on Wednesday.

Verstappen, 26, will not appear in the FIA’s official press conference to preview the second round of the Formula One season, but he is set to face questions – as per his normal media duties – at Red Bull’s hospitality suite.

Horner, who is understood to currently be in Dubai with wife Geri, is set to be back on the Red Bull pit wall for practice on Thursday.

He will also feature alongside a number of other F1 team principals in an FIA press conference between practice sessions at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Horner, 50, held clear-the air-talks with Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen in Dubai on Monday.

Neither Max nor his father were present at the summit which took place after Verstappen Snr claimed that Red Bull “is in danger of being torn apart”.

A source told the PA news agency that discussions between Horner and Vermeulen “went well”.

The intra-team tensions will be eased in Saudi Arabia, with Verstappen Snr absent as he participates in a Belgian rally.

Verstappen’s victory in Bahrain was overshadowed by continued controversy surrounding Horner.

Following the race Horner said he was “absolutely confident” he would stay on as Red Bull boss for the remainder of the season.

Horner has faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks following allegations made against him by a female colleague. He has always denied the claims.

Verstappen has won 18 of the last 19 F1 races and will be the favourite to claim another victory on Saturday night – despite the ongoing controversy surrounding Red Bull.

Connections of L’Homme Presse are metaphorically applying the bubble wrap as they anxiously count down the days to the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Venetia Williams’ nine-year-old gave co-owners Andy and Pam Edwards and Peter and Patricia Pink a day to remember when scooping the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase on a wet Wednesday in 2022, but they were forced to watch on as he missed the blue riband through injury 12 months ago.

Seen as one of Britain’s best chances of Gold Cup success, L’Homme Presse is now close to finally getting his chance to bid for glory in the week’s feature event.

Having shown no signs of any reoccurring injury worries since returning from a long 391-day lay-off, connections will soon be able to dream of a second triumph at National Hunt racing’s showpiece meeting.

“We haven’t had any little niggles or anything so far, touch wood, but we still have 10 days or so to go and that is plenty of time for a racehorse to do something silly,” said Edwards.

“It’s a slightly anxious time, rather than a nervous time. At this time (of year), everyone is in the same boat and they are trying to wrap their horses in cotton wool, while keeping the horses ticking over – and it’s a massive effort to get them to any race, never mind the Festival.

“The beauty of any other race is, if you don’t get them to a said race, there is always another one. But if you don’t get them to the Festival, that is it until next year, so the pressure is on all the staff and trainers at the moment.”

He went on: “From our point of view, we just want to get him there and what chance he has and all the rest of it, right now that is immaterial. Once we are there on the day, that’s when we can start thinking about what sort of chance we have.

“I’m very relaxed and he will get there or he won’t. What will be, will be, and I’m very relaxed about that side of things.”

It was an emotionally-charged afternoon when L’Homme Presse returned from injury in imperious style in Lingfield’s Fleur De Lys Chase, but the gelding failed to read a similar script when tuning up for his Gold Cup bid in the Ascot Chase.

Sent off the 5-4 favourite, L’Homme Presse’s usual zest was lacking as he struggled to hunt down the boldly-ridden Pic D’Orhy on ground quicker than ideal – and over a trip shorter than optimum.

However, connections are taking encouragement from the way their charge finished the race and with two runs now under L’Homme Presse’s belt, they feel he is in the ideal spot to challenge for top honours in the Cotswolds on Friday week.

“He came out of the race really well and we were really happy with him,” continued Edwards.

“I think Ascot has put him right, but not by design. We went there to win it and for whatever reason, he just wasn’t quite himself.

“He didn’t jump with the same sort of passion that he had at Lingfield and Charlie (Deutsch, jockey) had to kick him in the belly twice to get him started. He was just always slightly behind the bridle going into the fences and in his racing style.

“The result of that is he ran below his best, but he ran through the line and it’s brought him on nicely, which means we have a nice fresh horse going to Cheltenham.”

With the Ascot Chase contested over two miles and five furlongs, the L’Homme Presse team can look forward to a much more suitable stamina test in the Gold Cup for their staying star.

And while the current ground updates coming out of Prestbury Park may be unnerving for some connections ahead of the Festival, Edwards will be willing the rain to keep falling for a repeat of the soft conditions L’Homme Presse has previously relished.

“Everyone is desperate for a bit of sunshine but I only want sunshine on March 16,” he added.

“Soft ground is in our favour and we would be happy with it being soft. We are going to enjoy the moment and we will always keep the faith.”

Kim Bailey’s has paid handsome tribute to his Grade One-winning chaser First Flow after announcing his retirement.

The 12-year-old was last seen winning the Godstone Handicap Chase at Lingfield during the Winter Million meeting, carrying top-weight to a length-and-a-quarter victory over Saint Segal.

That run will be his last as the decision has been been made to retire Bailey’s stable stalwart after a career that saw him win 12 races and amass over £300,000 in prize-money.

A €4,500 Tattersalls purchase with a pedigree that offered little insight into his ability, First Flow became a smart novice hurdler who won his first three starts over obstacles after a brief bumper career.

He then went novice chasing in the autumn of 2019, acquitting himself well when winning four times and never finishing out of the top three in eight starts in his opening season over fences.

The following term he won three successive starts and shone at the top level when landing the Clarence House Chase at Ascot, defeating the likes of Defi Du Seuil and Politologue.

Reaching a career-high mark of 166, he was subsequently sixth in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the 2021 Festival and from there was consistently placed in graded chases from two miles and a furlong to two miles and six – including a second-placed finish behind Hewick in the Oaksey Chase at Sandown.

“He was a unique horse and a complete star for the yard,” said Bailey.

“It’s very sad to see him retire but it’s something I expected to happen last year and he’s done another season, I’ve got no races to run him in so I think it’s a good time to stop.

“We’ve very much run out of options, he isn’t good enough for Grade One races anymore and he’s carried top-weight in handicaps three times this year.

“He was very tired after the last one and you can only go to the well so many times.

“I probably should have retired him there and then, but emotionally I couldn’t cope with that idea.

“He is a freak of nature, I think most good horses are, it’s been an interesting journey the whole way through because he’s such an interesting character – if he was a human being you would enjoy a night out with him!

“I hope we can find him a home close by so I can keep an eye on him, he is quite special to me.”

Five-time Olympic champion Dame Laura Kenny has only a “slim chance” of competing at the Paris Games this summer, according to British Cycling performance director Stephen Park.

Britain’s most successful female Olympian outlined her ambition to compete at a fourth career Games last November, only a few months after giving birth to her son Monty in July, her second child with husband and seven-time Olympic champion Sir Jason Kenny.

The 31-year-old admitted then it would be a tall order to get back up to speed in time and, as she has not raced competitively since the arrival of Monty, she does not yet have the points required to qualify for Paris, let alone earn selection for a squad that won the world team pursuit title last year.

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With Kenny not in the frame to compete at this month’s Nations Cup in Hong Kong, her final chance to earn those points would come at the final round in Milton, Canada, in April.

“She has a slim chance of being in Paris,” Park said. “The first challenge is for her to be in a position where she feels she is going to be competitive and… put her hand up to be selected for events that would allow her to qualify herself, as well as to qualify in the team.

“Both of those are fairly significant hurdles because you need to get to the right events on the individual level to qualify and secondly she’s got to be competitive in a team that’s more competitive than it’s ever been.”

Kenny is yet to return to regular training at the Manchester velodrome as she follows her own programme and Park said the more likely target for her would be the UCI Track World Championships in Denmark in October.

“We’ve got ongoing and continuing dialogue with Laura and we are supporting her and have been supporting her in terms of her return to training,” he added. “She is still optimistic around the World Championships as the primary event and that was what she has always said she would do.

“The first big piece is her having the confidence she can get to the place. Nobody knows better than Laura what you have to do to win a medal in women’s track and I’ve no doubt if she was going to put her mind to it and felt she was physically and mentally in the right place to make that she would do.”

Kenny won Olympic gold in both the team pursuit and omnium at the London and Rio Olympics. In Tokyo, four years after the birth of her first son Albie, Kenny won a fifth Olympic gold in the Madison alongside Katie Archibald, having also won team pursuit silver.

At last year’s World Championships in Glasgow, Archibald teamed up with Elinor and Meg Barker, Josie Knight and Anna Morris to win gold in the team pursuit and they will head to Paris among the favourites to take the title.

“(Kenny) knows what she needs to do to be competitive and ride at the pace, with the efforts, that she needs to be competitive,” Park said.

“But she’s also conscious as well that she’s getting back into the place and she doesn’t want to be in a situation where she’s affecting the training of the others.

“She’s really conscious of the progress the others are making too and she wants to make sure as and when she’s ready… she is in a place to step into that environment and not hold the others back.”

Former England captain Sarah Hunter has hailed World Rugby’s high performance academy as a “brilliant initiative” for the women’s game.

Hunter was among 16 aspiring female coaches to emerge through the inaugural programme last year, which saw them being embedded with their respective nations before and during the WXV tournament in New Zealand.

There were also a series of online and in-person workshops that apart from rugby also looked at areas such as cultural elements, building relationships and campaign planning.

Hunter is now part of England’s coaching team preparing for the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, which kicks off on March 23.

And World Rugby has a target of seeing women make up a minimum 40 per cent of all coaches involved at the England-hosted 2025 World Cup that sees Twickenham staging the final.

Year two of the Gallagher High Performance Academy will feature 10 sevens coaches, including Saracens full-back Sarah McKenna and Leinster wing Emily McKeown, participating in a programme now extended to all formats of the women’s game.

“Having been part of it, World Rugby and Gallagher have brought to life what they said they wanted to do,” Hunter told the PA news agency.

“It is a brilliant initiative, one that has been about making really positive change and immersing coaches within high performance teams.”

Hunter retired from playing in 2023 after winning a world record 141 caps. She led England to World Cup glory in 2014 and was named women’s world player of the year two years later.

“The last six years of my playing career I was player-coach at Loughborough Lightning, where I looked after the forwards, so I have always had a real passion to try and help people get better,” she added.

“I was probably teeing myself up for some kind of coaching job, but I had no idea it would be the role I am currently doing.

“Having been a very recent former player, I’ve got a good understanding of how players want to be coached because I’ve heard many a time about what was right, what was wrong, what could be better, so I’ve tried to remember that.

“The game has changed significantly, and it is about having opportunities for females. It is such an exciting time for the game, so let’s be really ambitious, keep setting targets.

“Knowing the talent that is out there and having sat as part of the high performance academy, their knowledge of the game is incredible. These people can make a significant difference to their teams.

“A lot of the players have an interest in coaching, and if we are creating more opportunities we are going to be keeping more great people within the game. Hopefully, people can see the impact the academy is having.”

Jo Yapp, who had a 12-year England playing career, recently became the first female head coach of Australia’s women’s rugby union team, and it is that level of progression Hunter believes the academy can help underpin.

“Hopefully, the way in which the academy works, the major outcome goal with that is to transition those candidates who are on it in to those coaching roles,” she said.

“We have already seen something like a 20 per cent uplift of people going into coaching roles in different unions, and it is really important to have ambitious targets.

“It means people have to make change and people have to be seen to be making change, so it puts pressure on governing bodies around the world. Let’s set the bar high and let’s strive for it.

“What would be brilliant is almost changing perception. We’ve got brilliant female coaches out there around the world and they probably just need a bit of a nudge of ‘right, you’re in’. And when they are in, people see how good they are.”

The Jockey Club has announced the opening race on day two of next week’s Cheltenham Festival will be run as the Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle.

The Grade One contest, registered as the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle, has had several different sponsors in recent years, including Neptune Investment Management and Ballymore.

Gallagher, a global insurance broking and risk management firm, joined The Jockey Club as its Official Community Partner in May 2023 and has now agreed to put its name to a two-mile-five-furlong contest that features the brilliant Faugheen (2014), Envoi Allen (2020) and Impaire Et Passe (2023) on its recent roll of honour.

The partnership sees The Jockey Club and Gallagher work together with the collective aim of opening up the sport to young people from a broad range of backgrounds and communities to the industry of racing and encourage them to consider it as a potential career.

Sophie Chambers, managing director of Gallagher’s bloodstock practice, said: “We are thrilled to be expanding our relationship with The Jockey Club by sponsoring the Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival later this month.

“Our partnership has made real progress in our aim to expand the sport to more young people and this is the natural next step.

“Horseracing is a fantastic sport and we want to encourage more youngsters who traditionally would not consider this a career choice to consider coming into the racing and thoroughbred industry.

“There are hugely diverse roles available, beyond just the jockeys we see on the racecourses, all offering great future progression. We hope our series of experience days will open youngsters’ eyes to the opportunities.”

Acting director of partnerships at The Jockey Club, Matt Powell said: “Gallagher has been instrumental in expanding the Junior and Youth experience days which are a hugely important part of our joint efforts to engage communities that the sport doesn’t traditionally reach.

“We are excited to see our partnership grow with the Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle opening the card on Style Wednesday.”

Katie Boulter has set her sights on pushing further up the rankings after winning the biggest title of her career.

The British number one defeated five top-40 players to win the San Diego Open, bringing her a first WTA 500 trophy and elevating her ranking to 27.

With Cameron Norrie slipping to 28, it means Boulter is the highest-ranked British singles player of either gender heading into the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which begins on Wednesday.

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The same week a year ago, Boulter was ranked outside the world’s top 150, and she does not have many points to defend until the grass-court tournament in Nottingham in June, where last year she picked up her first WTA title.

“I feel like I’ve started the year very well and I’ve given myself the best opportunity to set myself up for the rest of the year,” said 27-year-old Boulter.

“I’ve got a free swing, I don’t really have too much pressure. I’m just here enjoying myself and working as hard as I possibly can with a great team. You never know what could happen so I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”

The weekend was made even more special for Boulter by the success of boyfriend Alex De Minaur, who successfully defended his title in Acapulco on Saturday before catching an early morning flight to cheer on the British star.

They join the likes of former couples Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert and Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Clijsters in winning titles on the same weekend, and Boulter said: “I think that is very cool.

“I had no idea other people had done it. To share something with my other half is going to be something that we won’t forget.”

While the two titles both earned their recipients 500 ranking points, De Minaur took home around £325,000 and Boulter just £112,000, highlighting the continuing disparity between the ATP and WTA Tour away from the biggest joint events.

Boulter has mixed feelings, saying: “I’m obviously very happy with my first WTA 500 title, not too many players can say that they’ve won a 500 so I feel very special.

“Regarding the prize money, I feel like there’s a lot of equality in our sport in the biggest events. I really hope that the WTA can continue to help bridge the gap between the other events.”

There is parity in Indian Wells, where the tours come together at a big event for the first time since the Australian Open.

Boulter’s elevation to the top 30 comes too late to earn her a seeding and she will be back in action on Wednesday against dangerous Italian Camila Giorgi.

If she can maintain or improve her ranking through to the French Open and Wimbledon, she will earn herself a seeding, meaning she would not face a player in the top 32 until at least the third round.

“It’s definitely an aim of mine,” said Boulter. “I want to make sure that I can get as close to a seeding as possible. At the moment I’m in but it takes time to build more ranking points and to get myself to that place.

“Every single place in the ranking counts and I’ve just got to do my best because obviously it makes a difference as to who you play in the tournaments.”

Boulter is joined in the Indian Wells draw by Emma Raducanu, who has been given a wild card and will take on a qualifier in the first round.

Raducanu enjoyed one of her best weeks in the Californian desert last year, defying the wrist problems that subsequently forced her to go under the knife to reach the fourth round.

Norrie has a bye in the men’s event as the 28th seed while Andy Murray plays a qualifier, Jack Draper meets Christopher O’Connell and Dan Evans plays Roman Safiullin.

Rafael Nadal returns to the tour for the first time since suffering a muscle injury in Brisbane in January and will take on fellow veteran Milos Raonic, while Novak Djokovic makes his first appearance in Indian Wells for five years following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions.

Jordan Gainford will be reunited with Hewick in next week’s Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The young rider is the nine-year-old’s regular partner, steering him to a hat-trick of big-race victories in 2022 as he landed the bet365 Gold Cup, the Galway Plate and the American Grand National.

However, injuries have meant Gainford has not been on Hewick’s back competitively since his fall two fences from home in last year’s Gold Cup, with Rachael Blackmore steering him to a subsequent win at Sandown and Gavin Sheehan in the saddle for his most recent triumph in the King George at Kempton.

Having been sidelined since suffering damaged vertebrae in a fall at Naas in mid-December, Gainford made his return late last month and after enjoying his first winners since his comeback at Leopardstown on Sunday and Monday, trainer Shark Hanlon has confirmed he will be back on board Hewick at Prestbury Park.

Hanlon said: “Jordan is going to ride the horse. I spoke to Gavin last night to tell him, he’s done nothing wrong and gave the horse a great ride (at Kempton) and he might ride him again one day.

“But Jordan is back and has ridden a couple of winners and in fairness he made the horse for me, so I think it would be only manners to let him ride him next week.

“He was down here yesterday to sit on the horse and at that stage he didn’t know if he was riding the horse or not, but he came down and schooled him. I told him the story, I said we’d have to wait and see and in fairness to him he came down and rode the horse twice in the last week.

“Jordan knows the horse well, the horse travels well for him and I’m delighted to have him on board.”

D'Angelo Russell insisted the Los Angeles Lakers proved their quality by overcoming the Oklahoma City Thunder, in a win he labelled as "no fluke".

Russell was the star of the show for the Lakers in their 116-104 triumph on Monday, sinking five 3-pointers in a 26-point haul.

Anthony Davis backed Russell up with 24 points and 12 rebounds, while LeBron James added 19 points and 11 rebounds.

The Lakers have now won 10 of their last 14 games, while the Thunder were knocked off of their perch at the Western Conference summit.

"They're so well-coached that you can't relax," Russell said of facing the Thunder, who have now lost two of their last three games after going on a six-game winning streak.

"That team has got everything you need to win and to be efficient at this level. You've got to be ready to play against those guys. It's no fluke [to beat them]."

Austin Reaves, who shot four 3s, added: "Obviously, they're coming off a tough back-to-back.

"But any time you can beat a team confidently going into the fourth of that calibre, it speaks to what you did offensively and defensively.

"Anytime you beat a team like that that’s been playing really good basketball, it feels good and it gives you some momentum going forward."

The Lakers managed to keep Shai Gilgeous-Alexander under wraps, limiting him to 20 points, ending a run of eight successive 30-point performances for the Thunder's talisman.

"Our start was good offensively, but our overall sharpness just wasn't there," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault reflected.

"Defensively, we turned them over a bunch of times, and that kept us in it. But certainly not our fastball tonight.

"I just didn't think we were as sharp offensively as we needed to be. A team like that that’s got size and physicality, that's a requirement to hit shots against them, but we just didn't do that enough."

The Thunder were replaced at the top of the West by the Minnesota Timberwolves, who beat the Portland Trail Blazers 119-114.

Rudy Gobert recorded his 43rd double-double of the season, and the Timberwolves have now swept the Trail Blazers in their four meetings with Portland this term.

"We absolutely had to have this one," said Timberwolves coach Chris Finch, whose team had lost their previous two games.