Julie Harrington, chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority, says a judgement on the success of Premier Racedays and Sunday evening racing should not be made overnight.

The first of 170 Premier Racedays planned for 2024 was staged at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, while Wolverhampton created a slice of history when becoming the first track to race in the UK on Sunday night.

While both schemes have come in for criticism in some quarters, Harrington is keen to assess all of the relevant data relating to the six trial Sunday evening fixtures and the two-year pilot of Premier Racedays before making any snap decisions.

“Premier Racedays were introduced this year to showcase the best our sport can offer to new and existing fans as part of a broader strategy to grow British racing,” she said in a statement on Tuesday.

“And while this concept will see a gradual roll-out, with innovations and enhancements to the customer experience delivered throughout the year, it has been heartening to see the positive initial response to Premier racing from the public, racecourses and participants.

“There were high-quality runners at Plumpton on Sunday, with races taking place in front of healthy and engaged crowds. And of course, the year began with a big crowd at Cheltenham enjoying quality racing at our first Premier fixture.

“The 170 Premier Racedays planned for 2024 reflect a significant investment by the sport. These are fixtures proposed by the racecourses which meet strict criteria, including around prize-money and race quality. We should be encouraged that so many racecourses want to invest in and stage these Premier events.

“We will also see more promotional work and, we hope, an HBLB-funded national campaign to support the work already being done by GBR and the racecourses.

“Ultimately, the objective is to encourage more, better-quality horses to be bred, trained, owned and raced in Britain. The sport has agreed that putting on high-quality, valuable racing is the way to achieve this.

“We must accept that this will not happen overnight. But we have made a start on creating and developing an attractive product to secure a long-term future for the sport by encouraging greater engagement with it. Time and experience will help us determine the optimum number of Premier Racedays with regards to racecourses and the horse population.”

She added: “This is the start of a two-year pilot and so we should resist the temptation to make snap judgements on its success based on limited experience. Throughout the pilot we will learn what does and does not work, how we can best package and promote Premier Racedays and ultimately achieve growth that will benefit all levels of the sport.

“Alongside Premier Racedays we also started the trial of Sunday evening racing at Wolverhampton. This saw good prize-money on offer to healthy field sizes meaning competitive racing was taking place in a window we believe affords us an opportunity to grow engagement with the sport.

“Clearly there are a range of views regarding this pilot and we respect those opinions. For this reason, the financial performance of these fixtures will be far from the only measure of their viability; we will continue to seek the views of all those involved in servicing such meetings and this feedback will form a core part of the ultimate assessment of the pilot.”

National Hunt superstar Constitution Hill heads 22 entries for the Unibet Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Nicky Henderson’s unbeaten charge was a nine-length winner of the hurdles highlight at Prestbury Park last year, one of his eight victories under rules to date.

Constitution Hill is already long odds-on for a repeat on March 12, having made a faultless return in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day.

The Willie Mullins-trained State Man chased him home last year and he is among seven contenders for the trainer this time around.

Lossiemouth, winner of the Triumph Hurdle last term, features in the Closutton squad along with 2023 Champion Hurdle fourth Vauban, Echoes In Rain, Gala Marceau, Impaire Et Passe and Zarak The Brave.

Zanahiyr was third behind Constitution Hill 12 months ago and he has been entered by Gordon Elliott, with stablemates Irish Point and Pied Piper also on the list.

Henderson has alternates in First Street, Under Control and Luccia, while four-year-old Burdett Road is an intriguing entry for James Owen.

Harry Fry’s Love Envoi, the Henry de Bromhead-trained Bob Olinger and popular veteran Not So Sleepy are others of note.

The Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle takes place on the same day as the Champion Hurdle and Lossiemouth, Echoes In Rain, Gala Marceau, Love Envoi and Luccia are all entered for that Grade One.

Ashroe Diamond, Magical Zoe and Jetara are others towards the head of the betting, with Jamie Snowden’s You Wear It Well looking for a second Festival win after taking the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle last term.

A total of 25 have been entered for that race – a number which is surpassed by the 36 initial contenders for the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle.

Run on March 14, the three-mile contest has a clutch of previous winners in the potential line-up, with Elliott’s 2023 hero Sire Du Berlais, Gavin Cromwell’s dual victor Flooring Porter and 2019 winner Paisley Park all potentially coming back for more.

Teahupoo and Irish Point are other key contenders for Elliott, with potential French raider Theleme prominent in the betting having won an Auteuil Grade One in November.

Crambo and Sir Gerhard are in the mix, with the Lucinda Russell-trained Ahoy Senor an interesting possible after a couple of disappointing chase starts this term.

Harriet Graham has confirmed Aye Right an intended runner in Saturday’s rearranged Unibet Veterans’ Handicap Chase Final at Warwick but is a little disheartened the prize-money has been reduced.

The original race was due to be run for £100,000 at Sandown last weekend, when it would have been the feature race, but that meeting was abandoned through waterlogging.

This Saturday, the race will take place at Warwick, like Sandown owned by Jockey Club Racecourses, but the total prize fund is down to £75,000.

“He’s still in and the plan is to go, hopefully the weather doesn’t intervene again,” said Graham, who trains Aye Right in partnership with Gary Rutherford.

“I’m a little bit put off that they’ve managed to knock £25,000 off the prize fund. This race will probably have 14 runners and nearly every horse will have a story behind it. We’ve all run in races to get there.

“I know it is really hard to reschedule races and I know everybody at the BHA works really hard to do it, but it just seems a wee bit cheap. That’s just my feelings, it maybe doesn’t matter to the big trainers and owners.

“It’s a bit like Premierisation, it’s awful for small trainers and awful for small racecourses. They are taking the money from the poor to give to the rich. It’s Robin Hood the wrong way round.

“I know the Jockey Club have two Premier meetings on Saturday, with Kempton and Warwick with really decent prize-money, but to me it just seems a bit cheap to take money off what is a Final.

“These horses have provided entertainment for the last six or seven years, a little recognition would have been the right thing to do.

“I am pleased it’s on, we plan to go and hopefully the weather doesn’t spoil it again.”

Aye Right is once more likely to meet Good Boy Bobby, the two fought out the finish to the 2021 Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle and the seventh leg of the Veterans’ Series in October at Chepstow, securing a narrow success apiece.

Thomas Darby, Two For Gold, Sam Brown, Mill Green, Ramses de Teillee and Lord Du Mesnil are among 16 entries.

The Prince of Wales has paid tribute to former Wales and British and Irish Lions full-back JPR Williams.

William, patron of the Welsh Rugby Union, posted a personal post – denoted with a W at the end of his message – in honour of Williams, who has died at the age of 74.

The prince said on X, formerly known as Twitter: “There was no one quite like him on the rugby field. A true @WelshRugbyUnion great, my thoughts are with JPR Williams’ family and friends. W.”

Williams, a fearless player known for his aggressive and attacking style, won 55 Wales caps and started all eight Tests on victorious Lions tours to New Zealand in 1971 and South Africa three years later.

He was revered among fellow Wales greats like Sir Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Phil Bennett and Gerald Davies and regarded as one of rugby union’s finest players.

A star performer during Welsh rugby’s 1970s golden era, he also captained his country on five occasions.

And Williams shone for the Barbarians in their unforgettable 23-11 victory over New Zealand in 1973, touching down in a game chiefly remembered for Edwards’ spectacular touchdown that completed a breathtaking length-of-the-field move.

Welsh Rugby Union president Terry Cobner, who played alongside Williams for Wales during two Five Nations Grand Slam-winning campaigns, saluted his contribution to the sport.

“Welsh rugby will remember him as one of our greatest players of all-time – those 55 caps, three Grand Slams and six Triple Crowns prove that,” Cobner said, on the WRU’s official website.

“He also played in all eight Tests in New Zealand and South Africa on arguably the two greatest tours undertaken by the Lions in 1971 and 1974.

“It was his drop-goal from near halfway that enabled the 1971 Lions to draw the fourth Test and win the series 2-1 against the mighty All Blacks – the only series victory by the Lions on New Zealand soil.

“A star in the making from his early school days at Bridgend Grammar, then at Millfield, he went on to thrill crowds at both London Welsh and Bridgend on the club scene. He was ‘box office’ wherever he went.

“This is a terrible loss for our game, but obviously an even worse loss for his wife, Scilla, and their three four children.

“The thoughts of the whole Welsh rugby family are with them at this difficult time.”

There were also tributes on social media from Wales’ Six Nations rivals Scotland and Ireland.

“JPR, the three most famous letters in sport if you lived in the 1970s,” Scottish Rugby said on X.

“Scottish Rugby extends its sincere condolences to family and friends of JPR Williams – and the rugby community in Wales – after the death of the former Wales and Lions full-back was announced yesterday.”

And Irish Rugby said on X: “A joy to watch on the field and a gentleman off it. Rest in peace JPR Williams.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family.”

Such was Williams’ natural fitness that he continued playing into his early 50s for village club Tondu, often in the back-row, before finally hanging up his boots in 2003.

“We are devastated to share the news our club patron JPR Williams has passed away,” Tondu Rugby Club said on X.

“John was one of our game’s greatest players and will be missed by all at Tondu RFC. Our thoughts and prayers are with John’s family and close friends at this incredibly sad time.”

Tom Cannon is optimistic the step up in trip will help Edwardstone return to winning ways in Saturday’s Coral Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton.

In two outings this season over two miles, Alan King’s charge has been no match for Jonbon but he did get appreciably closer to him in the Tingle Creek than on his seasonal reappearance in the Shloer Chase.

Saturday will be the 10-year-old’s first run over two and a half miles since a hurdles effort back in April 2021, but Cannon feels it is the right move.

“I think it is a logical move, as Edwardstone is not getting younger and now is as good a time as ever to step him up in trip,” he said.

“Although he has not run over this distance over fences, he ran well over two and a half miles over hurdles when he was third at Aintree (in 2021).

“We are going back to slightly calmer waters having run in the Tingle Creek last time, but there are still some good horses in this race.

“It is still a competitive race, so he will have to be at his best to win.

“All his best runs have been around Sandown and he definitely improved for the run at Cheltenham in the Tingle Creek.

“I was more than happy with his run. It was as good a run as he had put in for a long time.”

Cannon went on: “He felt back to his best and, fingers crossed, he can continue that form going forwards.

“He has not been over-raced and he has been well managed throughout his career, which has been a big help.

“He had a jump last Thursday at home and he jumped very well, so there is no problem in that department. He seemed fresh and very well, so I couldn’t be happier with him.”

Lucinda Russell’s Giovinco has Sandown and Cheltenham options after pulling up in the Kauto Star at Kempton on Boxing Day.

The seven-year-old claimed his first win over fences at Aintree in November and then chased home Paul Nicholls’ useful Stay Away Fay in the Grade Two Esher Novices’ Chase at Sandown next time out.

He was subsequently entered in the Kauto Star, a Grade One run over the same trip of three miles, but under Stephen Mulqueen he never seemed to hit his stride and was eventually pulled up as Il Est Francais went on to win impressively.

There was less than three weeks between the gelding’s last two runs, a time-span Russell suspects may have been too short with hindsight.

The Scilly Isles at Sandown and the Festival Trials Day card at Cheltenham could now appear on Giovinco’s agenda, both of which would involve a step down to the near two-and-a-half-mile trip he was successful over twice as a hurdler.

“He might go to Sandown, we’ve got a couple of options with him,” said Russell.

“We might even go to Cheltenham and go over two miles four (furlongs) there.

“He was quite tired after Kempton and we felt, in hindsight, we’d gone to the well just a bit too quickly with him.

“He seems well now, he had a quiet time over the New Year and he’s back to being his usual self again.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo insisted the Milwaukee Bucks must take criticism from fans on the chin after they lost for a fourth time in the space of five games.

The Bucks went down 132-116 to the Utah Jazz on Monday, as their January slump continued.

Milwaukee fans were far from happy with their team's display, as boos and jeers rang out following the defeat.

Despite finishing with a triple-double of 25 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, Antetokounmpo was unimpressed with his performance.

"I think we have great fans, but around the league, if you don't play hard and don't give everything for the team, there are times where you might get booed," he said.

"S***, I'd boo myself tonight too."

The only way forward for the Bucks now is to be unified, Antetokounmpo added.

He said: "You've got to stay together, that's it.

"If you try to go your way or do it yourself, it's not going to work.

"We've been in this position before. It's OK to be in this position, but then again, at the end of the day, we have to get better.

"We have to realise that we have to keep on doing the little things."

The Jazz ran away at the start of the fourth quarter, opening up a 15-point lead that the Bucks were unable to overturn despite a late rally.

"We flipped it a little bit as far as our energy and effort, and we made it a ballgame, but in the NBA you just can't dig yourself in a hole like that," Bucks coach Adrian Griffin said.

"And then you've got to play extremely hard and exert a lot of energy just to try to get back into the game."

Emma Raducanu’s exhibition match ahead of her return to grand slam action at the Australian Open has been cancelled.

The 21-year-old Briton had initially been due to play her fellow former US Open champion Naomi Osaka in a charity match inside Rod Laver Arena as part of her preparations for the first major of the year.

Japan’s Osaka, who herself recently returned to action for the first time since giving birth to daughter Shai last summer, then withdrew from the match and was replaced by world number 25 Donna Vekic.

Australian Open officials later announced the match was off, with Raducanu reported to have pulled out due to feeling “sore” following practice on Monday.

The former British number one is due to make her comeback at a major tournament in Melbourne after being sidelined for eight months following wrist and ankle operations.

Raducanu, who won at Flushing Meadows in 2021, reached the second round of the ASB Classic in Auckland last week before losing to Elina Svitolina.

Adam Silver's intervention prevented Draymond Green stepping away from basketball for good, the Golden State Warriors star has revealed.

Green is about to return from a suspension that has been in place since December 12, after he hit the Phoenix Suns' Jusuf Nurkic in the face.

That was the second suspension Green has had this season, following an altercation with Rudy Gobert in November.

And on an episode of The Draymond Green Show, the 33-year-old revealed that only a conversation with NBA commissioner Silver stopped him from retiring following his latest ban.

"I told him, 'Adam this is too much for me. This is too much. It's all becoming too much for me, and I'm going to retire'," Green said.

"And Adam said, 'You're making a very rash decision and I won't let you do that.'

"We had a long, great conversation; very helpful to me. Very thankful to play in a league with a commissioner like Adam who's more about helping you than hurting you; helping you than punishing you. He's more about the players."

Suns star Kevin Durant said at the time Green was handed the ban that the power forward needed to "get the help he needs".

On Monday, Durant explained he meant no ill will with his comments.

"You got to look at it from my perspective like before I had made those comments, [people were] saying Draymond's going to therapy and s***," Durant said.

"Like what am I supposed to think? They say somebody going to therapy, I'm hoping he gets better from that, and hope he learned from whatever he feels like he needs to learn from going to therapy.

"I'm glad he's back. I'm glad he can move past that. Draymond is an incredible teammate. He's got his times where he loses his temper, but everybody has those times and I'm sure they all [are] happy to have him back.

"But I didn't mean no ill will by what I said. I know some people look at me as this malicious snake. I know how people feel about me sometimes, so when I say s***, I don't mean no harm by nobody. I don't mean to disrespect him or his family if he felt that way. I'm just glad he's back on the court."

Elias Petersson and Nils Hoglander each had two goals to support 39 saves from Thatcher Demko as the Vancouver Canucks rolled to a 6-3 win over the New York Rangers in a clash of division leaders on Monday. 

Petersson added assists on two of three Vancouver first-period goals as the NHL's highest scoring team put on another strong offensive display. 

Brock Boeser contributed a goal and two assists in the Pacific Division-leading Canucks' third win in four games. Vancouver has put up six goals in each of those victories.

After Vincent Trocheck scored the first of his two goals to give the Rangers a quick lead just 3:38 in, J.T. Miller, Hoglander and Boeser all beat New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin before the end of the first period to stake Vancouver to a 3-1 lead.

Artemi Panarin got the Rangers closer 8:19 into the second with his 26th goal of the season, but Petersson and Hogland scored 1:14 apart late in the period to extend the Canucks' advantage to 5-2.

Trocheck got a rising shot past Demko 3:36 into the third period, but the Canucks later killed off a New York power play before Pettersson sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 1:31 remaining.

Shesterkin stopped just 20 of 25 shots as the Metropolitan-leading Rangers lost consecutive games for just the second time this season.

Avalanche stay hot with shootout win over Bruins

Valeri Nichushkin scored the lone goal of the shootout to give the Colorado Avalanche a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins for their fifth win in six games.

Alexandar Georgiev made 23 saves before stopping all three Boston skaters he faced in the shootout to help Colorado bounce back from Saturday's 8-4 home loss to the Florida Panthers.

Colorado got back on track despite two goals from Boston's Brad Marchand, the last of which tied the game at 3-3 in the third period.

Sam Malinski had given the Avs a 3-2 lead when he fired a shot past Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman with 2:04 left in the second period.

After Marchand and Colorado's Mikko Rantanen traded power-play goals in the first period, Logan O'Connor put the Avalanche ahead 2:23 into the second before Boston's John Beecher tied it midway through the period.

Swayman finished with 33 saves for the Bruins, who had won five of six coming in.

Stars blank Wild to keep Fleury at 551 wins

Matt Murray made 23 saves to record his first career shutout and outshine Marc-Andre Fleury as the Dallas Stars got back on track with a 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Fleury entered the contest tied with Hall of Famer Patrick Roy for second place in NHL history with 551 wins as a goaltender, but made just 16 saves as Murray outperformed the 39-year-old in only his fourth career NHL start.

Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin supported the rookie with a goal and an assist each as Dallas ended a season-high three-game losing streak.

The Stars scored twice while short-handed, with the first coming midway through the first period when Seguin forced a turnover and an uncovered Hintz beat Fleury on the resulting pass.

Fleury kept it a 1-0 game until Seguin's wrist shot trickled past the veteran 1:28 into the third period. Radek Faksa later added another short-handed goal before Jason Robertson scored on a power play to give Dallas a commanding 4-0 lead.

The WIld lost for the fifth time in six games and were shut out for the second time this season. 

Ja Morant’s season is over after just nine games.

The Memphis Grizzlies announced Monday that their star point guard will require surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

Morant injured his shoulder during a training session on Saturday, and an MRI was ordered Monday due to “ongoing soreness and instability,” the team said in a statement.

Morant was suspended for the first 25 games of this season after flashing a gun in an online video. After serving his suspension, Morant averaged 25.1 points and 8.1 assists.

The Grizzlies were 6-3 this season with Morant in the lineup and are 7-20 without him.

Morant was ruled out for Sunday’s win over the Phoenix Suns, but he sat on the bench with his right arm in a sling. After the game, Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said Morant was a game-time decision before that game.

A former second overall draft pick, Morant was the 2020 Rookie of the Year and has been selected as an All-Star in each of the last two seasons.

John Peter Rhys Williams – known simply as JPR and who has died at the age of 74 – was one of Wales’ most celebrated players during his country’s 1970s golden era.

The tough-as-teak full-back gained a worldwide reputation for his fearless defensive play, rock-solid safety under a high ball and attacking prowess that saw him excel alongside fellow household names like Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Phil Bennett and Gerald Davies.

The JPR moniker took effect in 1973 to distinguish him from Wales team-mate John JJ Williams, and it was a rugby career highlighted by him winning 55 Test caps across 12 seasons, being an integral part of successful 1971 and 1974 British and Irish Lions Test teams and taking his place among a small group of Welshmen to win three Grand Slams.

Socks always around his ankles and long sideburns resplendent, he was as popular among rugby supporters as any of his illustrious peers, while away from rugby circles, he became an orthopaedic surgeon and was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

It could, though, have been a different sporting story altogether, given Williams’ prowess as a junior tennis player.

Born near the mid-Glamorgan town of Bridgend on March 2, 1949, Williams attended Bridgend Boys Grammar School and then Millfield School in Somerset, underlining his tennis potential by playing in and winning a British junior competition at the All England Club, Wimbledon, beating former Great Britain Davis Cup captain David Lloyd.

But rugby union was to be his calling, which he dovetailed with a career in medicine, qualifying as a physician in 1973 after studying at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London, by which time he was firmly established as a trailblazing full-back.

“I used to say that I spent half my life breaking bones on the rugby field, then the other half putting them back together in the operating theatre,” he said in his 2007 book JPR Given The Breaks – My Life In Rugby.

In terms of his club career, JPR was part of a great London Welsh team across the late 1960s and early 1970s, as they beat all-comers with a thrilling brand of rugby that gained its ultimate reward when seven players from the Exiles – JPR included – were selected for the Lions’ 1971 New Zealand tour, led by Welsh coaching mastermind Carwyn James.

Williams went on to play a major role in the four-match Test series, including landing a decisive drop-goal in the final All Blacks clash, which underpinned a 14-14 draw and ensured a 2-1 Test series triumph, a feat that has not been matched since by any touring Lions team to New Zealand.

He had been capped by Wales as a 19-year-old two years earlier, and by the time his decorated international career ended when he retired in 1981, he had carved himself a permanent place in Welsh rugby folklore.

His ability to turn defence into attack through a fearless physical approach won him countless admirers, and Wales knew they could rely on a rock-like player whose bravery under a high ball often showed little thought for his own safety.

Self-preservation was never high on his agenda, as illustrated to full wincing effect when he prevented a certain and likely game-changing try for France wing Jean-Francois Gourdon during a Five Nations match in 1976 by fearlessly barging him into touch at the corner as Gourdon sprinted flat out.

In rugby’s current era, the shoulder-led challenge might well have seen Williams concede a penalty, but it was a moment of raw-boned physicality that inevitably took its place in Welsh rugby’s history books.

Williams’ high pain threshold was graphically underlined during Bridgend’s game against the 1978 touring All Blacks. Having joined the Welsh club two years earlier, he was a key player to their hopes of upsetting New Zealand at the Brewery Field.

But during the game he was stamped on the face by New Zealand prop John Ashworth, leaving Williams requiring 30 stitches – his father Peter, who was a doctor, applied the touchline needlework – before rejoining the action.

That single episode, as ugly as it was, epitomised a player who appeared not to show pain, whether of the physical or mental variety.

Williams captained Wales five times by the time he stepped down from Test rugby – he also went on a second Lions tour, another successful one, to South Africa in 1974 – and boasted a remarkable record of never being on a losing Wales team against England in 10 Tests.

He gained an MBE for his contribution to the sport, and such was his superb natural fitness that he continued playing into his early 50s for village club Tondu, often in the back row, before finally hanging up his boots in 2003.

Like many of his international rugby peers, Williams has done much for charity, highlighted by him climbing Mount Kilimanjaro that saw a six-figure sum raised for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Williams, who worked as a consultant at the Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend, leaves his wife Scilla and children Peter, Lauren and Annie.