Sam Burns shot a second round 61 as he took a one-shot halfway lead at The American Express tournament in California.
Burns’ career-low round leaves him on 17 under par, one shot ahead of fellow American Michael Kim with South Korean’s KH Lee and American amateur Nick Dunlap a further shot back.
A pair of eagles and seven birdies had put Burns in with a chance of breaking 60, but he could only par the last two holes.
Dunlap, who plays at the University of Alabama, fired a 65 at the Stadium Course – one of three being used for the tournament – to follow his opening 64.
A group of six, including American Ryder Cup star Patrick Cantlay and joint overnight leader Alex Noren of Sweden, sit on 14 under par.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry shot a second round of 67 to lie seven shots off the lead.
The Las Vegas Raiders are close to a deal that would remove the interim tag from Antonio Pierce’s title and make him the franchise’s next head coach, multiple media outlets reported Friday.
The move to stick with Pierce comes amid a pivotal coaching carousel cycle with former Patriots legend Bill Belichick and the University of Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh representing the top prizes.
Pierce, however, went 5-4 after he replaced Josh McDaniels mid-season, and many of the Raiders’ best players – including Davante Adams, Maxx Crosby and Josh Jacobs – have publicly lobbied to keep Pierce.
Last weekend, a report surfaced that Crosby would seek a trade if Pierce wasn’t hired as the team’s full-time head coach.
“Why wouldn’t we keep going the direction we’re going?” Crosby said after the Raiders’ final game. “The fact we’ve come together and done something special in such a short time is hard to do.
“We’ve got a guy who’s played at the highest level, won a Super Bowl, he’s been a captain, and now he’s a great coach and he’s a leader.”
Pierce, 45, played nine seasons in the NFL for Washington and the New York Giants. He was a starter on the Giants team that won Super Bowl XLII, beating the previously undefeated New England Patriots.
Among Pierce’s first decisions will be whether to retain interim offensive coordinator Bo Hardegree.
The Raiders face a crossroads at quarterback after Jimmy Garoppolo’s forgettable season. Rookie Aidan O’Connell finished the season as the team’s starter and had eight touchdowns with no interceptions in his last four games.
Las Vegas will also need to decide on the future of running back Josh Jacobs, who ended last summer’s contract dispute after training camp by signing a one-year deal.
“With AP, I am definitely 100 percent in,” Jacobs told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “However it looks, whatever it looks like.”
The Raiders hold the 13th overall pick in April’s draft as they look to return to their title-winning past.
The Houston Astros have agreed to a five-year, $95 million contract with five-time All-Star closer Josh Hader that will be the largest in present-day value for a relief pitcher in MLB history, multiple outlets reported Friday.
Hader's new deal will technically surpass the six-year, $102 million contract the New York Mets gave closer Edwin Diaz in November 2022, as Diaz's pact includes deferred payments that lowers its present-day value to around $93.2 million.
The bold move also gives the Astros potentially one of the game's most dominant back ends of the bullpen by teaming Hader, a three-time winner of the Trevor Hoffman Award honouring the National League's best reliever, with two-time All-Star Ryan Pressly.
Hader is coming off an outstanding 2023 season with the San Diego Padres in which the left-hander recorded 33 saves and a 1.28 earned run average while striking out 85 batters in 56 1/3 innings.
The 29-year-old has averaged 15.01 strikeouts per nine innings over the course of his seven major league seasons, the highest rate in MLB history among pitchers with at least 350 career innings pitched. Diaz ranks second at 14.81 per nine innings.
Hader also returns to an organisation he was a part of from 2013-15 as a minor leaguer, though he didn't make his major league debut until after being traded by the Astros to the Milwaukee Brewers in July 2015.
The hard-throwing lefty had a dominant six-year run in Milwaukee, making four NL All-Star teams and winning the Hoffman Award in 2018, 2019 and 2021 while helping the Brewers to four consecutive post-season appearances from 2018-21.
Milwaukee traded Hader to the Padres during the 2022 deadline in a surprising move, and he struggled with his new team over the remainder of that season before bouncing back with a strong 2023 campaign.
Hader has recorded 165 career saves along with a 20-21 record and a 2.50 ERA in 349 major league appearances, all in relief.
The signing is the first major move of the offseason for the Astros as they attempt to keep pace with the in-state and American League West rival Texas Rangers.
Houston reached the World Series four times in a six-year span from 2017-22 but was ousted by Texas in seven games in this past season's AL Championship Series, with the Rangers going on to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks and capture the franchise's first World Series title.
Jamaica's Oshae Haye and Zandre Roye found the going tough in the opening round of the ninth Latin America Amateur Championship and were hoping to play catch up in the second round of action in Panama.
With some 108 golfers from Latin America and the Caribbean parading their skills at the Santa Maria Golf Club, Roye and Haye are faced with a daunting task of ascending up the order from seven over par 77 and nine over par 79 respectively. Both are now in danger of not making the cut, as the cut line will be announced at the end of the second round.
Oral Morales and Santiago De la Fuente, both of Mexico, and Guatemala's Jose Arzu of Guatemala, all locked on one under par 69 at the top of the standing.
Roye, who started out well and was in 17th position at one point, had some issues as he approached the end of the round, which resulted in a slip down the leaderboard.
"Day one completed. I shot a 77 today with a bogey and a triple bogey on the last two holes. Not the ideal finish, very bad finish, but all in all, I really hit the ball today. Hit a lot of greens, made a lot of putts. In a positive trend going into tomorrow, I think we can better that score tomorrow definitely," Roye said.
Both golfers are representing Jamaica at the championship for the first time. Justin Burrowes, who turned pro late last year, and William Knibbs have represented Jamaica in recent times.
Other representatives include Ian Facey, who is also now among the professional ranks, as well as Sean Morris and Jonathan Newnham. The island’s best placed golfer in the championship to date is Facey, who tied for 24th position in 2015 with a best round of 68 on the first day.
Teenage sensation Luke Littler powered his way past three-times world champion Michael Van Gerwen to claim his first senior PDC title on a perfect day at the Bahrain Masters.
The 16-year-old, who lost to Luke Humphries in the World Darts Championship final earlier this month after a thrilling run which catapulted him into the limelight, beat the world number two to seal an 8-5 victory after earlier producing a nine-dart finish and a maximum 170 check-out.
Asked afterwards what he had just achieved, the teenager who beat Nathan Aspinall in the last eight and Gerwyn Price to reach the final, told ITV4: “You tell me. I don’t know. I’m happy to win.”
Teenage sensation Luke Littler started with a nine-darter as he dispatched Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals of the Bahrain Masters before brushing aside Gerwyn Price to reach the final.
The 16-year-old World Championship runner-up needed just three visits in the opening leg against fellow Englishman Aspinall.
Littler’s first three darts found the treble 20 bed and he repeated the feat on his return before a seventh dart set up a treble 19, double 12 finish.
The teenager was playing in just his second PDC event after becoming the youngest player to reach World Championship final at Alexandra Palace, where he eventually lost to Luke Humphries, earlier this month.
Littler won the second leg against the darts to take a 2-0 lead, only for Aspinall to break back in the third and then hold to make it 2-2.
However, Littler was not to be denied and eventually ran out a 6-3 winner with a 116 check-out to book a last-four showdown with former world champion Price.
There were further fireworks when the youngster, who turns 17 next week, returned to action, landing a maximum 170 finish on his way to a 7-3 semi-final victory over Price, who himself hit 124 and 146 check-outs as he attempted to keep pace.
Teenage sensation Luke Littler started with a nine-darter as he moved into the semi-finals of the Bahrain Masters with a 6-3 win over Nathan Aspinall.
The 16-year-old World Championship runner-up needed just three visits in the opening leg against fellow Englishman Aspinall.
Littler’s first three darts found the treble 20 bed and he repeated the feat on his return before a seventh dart set up a treble 19, double 12 finish.
The teenager was playing in just his second PDC event after becoming the youngest player to reach World Championship final at Alexandra Palace, where he eventually lost to Luke Humphries, earlier this month.
Littler won the second leg against the darts to take a 2-0 lead, only for Aspinall to break back in the third and then hold to make it 2-2.
However, Littler was not to be denied and eventually ran out a 6-3 winner with a 116 check-out to book a last-four showdown with former world champion Gerwyn Price.
The British Horseracing Authority has announced that the Clarence House Chase has been rescheduled for Cheltenham’s Festival Trials Day meeting next weekend.
Just like 12 months ago, Ascot’s card on Saturday was frozen off but the Grade One highlight has been saved.
It was due to feature a heavyweight clash between Jonbon and El Fabiolo, but with the BHA confirming the race will be run for £105,00, a reduction in prize-money of £70,000, it appears El Fabiolo will stay closer to home
Simon Munir, who owns El Fabiolo along with Isaac Souede, told Sportinglife.com: “Unfortunately, with Ascot cancelled due to the weather, the rearranged Clarence House will most probably take place next week on January 27.
“We have decided that El Fabiolo could run at the Dublin Racing Festival on February 4 without the need to travel over to England.”
The Clarence House has been called off three times in the last 11 years due to the weather, with Sprinter Sacre (2013), Un De Sceaux (2017) and Editeur Du Gite (2023) triumphing in rearranged contests at Cheltenham.
Jonbon is likely to be there, with his trainer Nicky Henderson telling ITV Racing before the announcement: “We had discussions yesterday which happened very quickly when Ascot was administered the last rights, one might say, before 4pm.
“We’re very keen to go there. We’re very keen to run, when you have a horse ready for this Saturday, you couldn’t afford not to be near a big peak.
“I was genuinely looking forward to the race on Saturday and it’s sad that it is not going to happen. Whether it might happen next weekend now, I don’t know.
“It looks like there will be a reduction in prize money, but we intend to be there.
“This was going to be a great clash at Ascot. Both teams were well prepped. We were quite bullish, now we’ve got to wait another week when a lot of things could go wrong. One week won’t make a difference but two weeks probably would, as we want to build him back up for March.”
New entries will need to be made for the race before noon on Monday.
Other races that have been saved following the recent spate of abandonments are the Grade Two Mares Warfield Hurdle (from Ascot) and the Grade Two Rossington Main Novices’ Hurdle (from Haydock), which will both now be staged at Doncaster next weekend, the Warfield on Sunday and the Rossington Main on Saturday.
The Listed Alan Swinbank Mares Bumper is being rescheduled for the next Market Rasen fixture on Tuesday, February 6.
Tom Byrne, BHA head of racing and betting, said: “When rescheduling, there are often questions regarding the reduced prize-money values the races are subsequently run for.
“Where a race is added to a pre-existing card at a different racecourse, there are usually significant challenges for that new venue, including the limited time to secure sponsorship support, changing ITV coverage and existing prize-money commitments.
“Therefore, a combination of additional Levy Board and BHA prize-money funds are utilised to support the Racecourse Executive contribution and entry fees to run these races at as high a value as possible. This is usually below the original value due to the limited nature of those additional central funds.”
Godolphin won the Group Two Cape Verdi at Meydan yet again – but not with the filly many expected, as Silver Lady held off her stablemate English Rose.
Both fillies are trained by Charlie Appleby but English Rose, the mount of William Buick, was a red-hot favourite given she headed into the contest on the back of winning both her starts at Newmarket and Kempton.
Silver Lady also won a Newmarket maiden but since then had run in Pattern company without success, with a third place in a Listed race at York on her second start the best she had managed in three subsequent outings.
She appeared to be regressing with racing, having finished last of 11 on her latest outing, but the daughter of Sea The Stars was rejuvenated by Mickael Barzalona.
Brought with a run with over a furlong to run, she took over from Shining Jewel and Hugo Palmer’s Stenton Glider, but English Rose was a persistent challenger on her outside.
Silver Lady managed to hold on, however, prevailing by a neck, with Stenton Glider fending off Nibras Angel for third.
Appleby was winning the race for the fifth time in six years, while Barzalona said: “She has a bit of temperament but I took her down steady and she settled well.
“During the race, the first part was pretty rough but when I found my position, she was able to take a big breath and she picked up well.
“I could feel my filly was not getting tired but William came pretty easily beside me. I think my filly showed a good attitude, I think the Balanchine will be next.”
Joint-owner Simon Munir has indicated El Fabiolo is unlikely to run in a rearranged Clarence House Chase.
With Ascot’s meeting on Saturday frozen off, talks are ongoing about rescheduling the Grade One feature, with Cheltenham’s Trials day meeting next weekend seemingly an obvious destination.
The Willie Mullins-trained El Fabiolo was due to meet with Nicky Henderson’s Jonbon in what was being billed as one of the races of the season, but racegoers now seem set to have to wait until the Festival in March for a third clash between the pair.
Munir, who owns El Fabiolo with Isaac Souede, told Sportinglife.com: “Unfortunately, with Ascot cancelled due to the weather, the rearranged Clarence House will most probably take place next week on January 27.
“We have decided that El Fabiolo could run at the Dublin Racing Festival on February 4 without the need to travel over to England.”
The Clarence House has been called off three times in the last 11 years due to the weather, with Sprinter Sacre (2013), Un De Sceaux (2017) and Editeur Du Gite (2023) triumphing in rearranged contests at Cheltenham.
Editeur Du Gite took home £52,280 for his troubles last year and Patrick Mullins, assistant to his father, believes any reduction to the original Ascot winner’s pot of £98,472 would make the €88,500 Ladbrokes Dublin Chase a more logical choice.
He told ITV Racing: “It will have to be discussed, but if it’s a case of it being half the prize money and it’s a week later, it might make more sense to go to the DRF.
“It hasn’t been completely decided yet, but I would have thought, especially for only half the money, a better option might be the Dublin Racing Festival, perhaps.
“We were very happy with him, he worked really well at the Curragh on Tuesday. Paul (Townend) rode him last week and he was very happy with him as he doesn’t usually get to ride him at home.”
Newcastle Thunder chairman Keith Christie has issued an ultimatum to the north-east’s rugby league community ahead of his team’s return to action in Betfred League One next season.
Christie has been integral to the resurrection of the club who announced their resignation from senior competition following relegation from the Championship in October, when departing owner Semore Kurdi said it was “not feasible” to continue.
A group of volunteers led by Christie responded by stepping in to chisel a viable business plan which resulted in an application to effectively rejoin the domestic league’s third tier being accepted two days before Christmas.
The heady days of full-time professionalism and aspirations of Super League have been shelved for the time being, as Christie works to grow the club from the bottom up, a project for which he stresses the backing of local fans and businesses is critical.
“The club has gone through a couple of guises with serious investment, and it hasn’t worked,” Christie told the PA news agency.
“My question was, do we have the desire for a rugby league team in the north-east? And the overwhelming response was, we do. To which my answer is – prove it.
“I’ve been through the mill a couple of times with this club and it’s not something I do lightly. It takes a lot of time and effort. We have a financial commitment and a ground, but it is fundamentally balanced on the investment and support we get from the people in the north-east.”
Christie has been involved with the club in an official capacity since he was first appointed general manager in 2009, and has observed their fluctuating fortunes, including a decision to go full-time in 2022, which was reversed the following year, plunging them to the foot of the Championship.
With the club having been left debt-free following talks with outgoing owner Kurdi, and striking a deal to continue playing at Kingston Park, at least in the short-term, Christie sees plenty of cause for optimism.
Newcastle-born former Super League player Chris Thorman has committed to another season as head coach, while there was also an unexpected boost in the first list of ratings issued by sports media giant IMG, which will determine the make-up of the top-flight from the 2025 season onwards, which rated Thunder – ironically dormant at the time – in 18th position.
“The IMG ranking is a bit of a bonus but it wasn’t a driving factor,” added Christie. “We have been through a lot of areas where mistakes were made, and one thing we learned is that we can’t expect to go out and buy a winning team.
“We’ve got a huge opportunity to grow the game organically and develop our own players. To do that we have to be sustainable, but we also have to have investment, and that’s the message I’ll be sending throughout the year.
“As romantic as it sounds, I’ve been part of rugby league in the north-east since 1989, and I don’t want to lose this.”
Ben Brookhouse has not lost faith in his star bumper performer Brechin Castle, who is set to warm up for a trip to the Cheltenham Festival with an outing at Newbury next month.
A £165,000 recruit from the Irish point-to-point field, the six-year-old bolted up on his debut under rules at Sedgefield before successfully transitioning to Listed class at Cheltenham in November.
He met with defeat for the first time when filling the runner-up spot in another Listed event at Ascot before Christmas, but was far from disgraced in finishing second to Dan Skelton’s exciting mare Let It Rain, to whom he was conceding 11lb.
“I think it was one of his best runs, to be fair,” Brookhouse said of his Ascot performance.
“We were giving 11lb to the winner and when she won it wasn’t a massive surprise to me because I did think she was the one to be worried about, because of the weight we were giving her.
“We gave 4lb to everything else and gave them a good beating, it was just giving 11lb to the Skelton horse that proved too much for us.”
Next on Brechin Castle’s is the Betfair Bumper, the finale on Newbury’s Betfair Hurdle card on February 10, and Brookhouse would relish a rematch with Let It Rain should it happen.
He added: “He had a small break over Christmas and New Year out in the paddock with his rugs on and the plan would be to go to Newbury in February in preparation for Cheltenham.
“He seems in great order for his break. He put on weight and didn’t lose any muscle or anything. He just did exactly what we wanted him to, which was refill the petrol tank.
“If we bump into the Skelton horse at Newbury she is not a four-year-old anymore, so she won’t get the four-year-old allowance, and she’ll have a 4lb penalty for winning a Listed race, so all of a sudden that 11lb we gave her is nigh on non-existent.”
Brechin Castle is a 33-1 shot for the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham in March, and while he will undoubtedly have to contend with a formidable Irish contingent come the Festival, a return to winning ways at Newbury may well make him Britain’s leading candidate for the Grade One contest.
Brookhouse said: “He’s got course form at Cheltenham, he’s had plenty of racing and plenty of experience. You could argue he’s exposed, but all he can do is beat what’s put in front of him and the only chink in his armour was he was beaten trying to give 11lb to a nice filly.
“Weight stops train, let alone horses, so we can’t blame him for that. He was giving 4lb to several other horses who at the time were considered the best young bumper horses in the country and I don’t want to sound confident or cocky, but he was pulling away from the third at the finish and he wiped the floor with them.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan coasted into the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix in Leicester with a 5-1 win over Gary Wilson.
Following a controversial eighth Masters triumph over Ali Carter, O’Sullivan has continued to questioned his snooker future, admitting he no longer gets enjoyment from the way he is playing.
However, the 48-year-old, set to take a break of a couple of months following the end of the tournament, showed no lack of sharpness as he recovered from losing the opening frame to move 3-1 ahead with a clearance of 129 either side of two half-centuries.
Wilson, the reigning Northern Ireland Open champion, fell further behind after his break finished on 52, allowing O’Sullivan back to the table to secure the snooker needed before going on to clear the colours.
O’Sullivan swiftly completed a comfortable win with another break of 58 in the sixth frame.
Jamaica Hockey Federation (JHF) president Fabian Stewart and the hockey5s team are now breathing a collective sigh of relief as the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) has once again heeded their cry for help with another $2 million contribution to get the team to the World Cup in Oman.
JHF officials were left in a bind to meet the budget to ensure the country is represented at the tournament on this historical occasion, as they were told that a $2-million commitment from the Ministry of Sports would not be available until after the World Cup, which gets under way on January 28.
However, their concerns were addressed by the country's Olympic body which stepped in to bridge the gap ahead of the team's departure scheduled for January 22.
JOA president Christopher Samuda explained that rendering assistance was a no-brainer, especially given the magnitude of the occasion. The JOA earlier made a $3 million contribution to the JHF's charge late last year.
Jamaica's hockey5s World Cup debut will see them rubbing shoulders with India, Egypt and Switzerland in Pool B.
"The Jamaica Olympic Association is in the business of empowering our sportsmen, sportswomen, coaches and administrators. Our hockey5s national team made a call and we answered again as in giving further support to them of $2 million. The aspirations of our sportsmen and women must never be dampened, and as the apex body we are committed where possible to hydrate their thirst and passion in representing their country as loyal sporting citizens. They are on their journey to Oman and the Jamaica Olympic Association is with them and it is our fervent hope that they will strike gold," Samuda said.
Meanwhile, Stewart, who said their initial move was to beg and borrow to meet the shortfall, welcomed the JOA's intervention.
“While I thank all the stakeholders that have supported the JHF on the journey to the World Cup in Oman, including the Minister of Sport and various private individuals and entities, my gratitude to the direction and support of the JOA, as well as my belief in president Samuda’s stewardship of the organisation to ensure global success of all sports (large or small), has only deepened based on this critical financial support,” Stewart said.
Novak Djokovic avoided his struggles of the first two rounds in a straight-sets win over Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Australian Open on Friday.
His fellow defending champion, Aryna Sabalenka, routed Lesia Tsurenko 6-0 6-0 while 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva recovered from 5-1 down in the deciding set to beat Diane Parry.
It was generally a good day for the big names, with Coco Gauff, Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas also winning.
Picture of the dayTweet of the dayRod back in his houseOutfit of the dayFallen seeds
Women: Beatriz Haddad Maia (10), Lesia Tsurenko (28)
Men: Ben Shelton (16), Sebastian Baez (26), Sebastian Korda (29), Tomas Martin Etcheverry (30)
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Britain’s final singles hope, Cameron Norrie, takes on Casper Ruud for a place in the fourth round.
Chinese players take centre stage in the day on Rod Laver Arena, with Zheng Qinwen meeting Wang Yafan before Shang Juncheng faces Carlos Alcaraz.
Iga Swiatek is first up in the night session against Czech teenager Linda Noskova, while Daniil Medvedev meets Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Grade One winner My Drogo is set to revert to hurdles, with a run over the smaller obstacles at Exeter pencilled in for next month.
Dan Skelton’s charge has already tasted plenty of success over timber and was unbeaten during his novice hurdling campaign, which ended when securing top honours at Aintree in 2021.
It was thought he would prove even better once tackling fences, but a long injury absence which began early in his novice chasing season meant life over the larger obstacles never really took off.
He returned from 687 days off the track in Aintree’s Old Roan Chase in the autumn but, having finished down the field, connections have bided their time before now deciding to switch back to hurdles, where he will try three miles for the first time in the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle on February 11.
“He’s actually really well,” explained Skelton.
“He wasn’t quite right through November, nothing legs or tendon related, he just wasn’t really firing. We were just bearing with him and he’s now come back to something much more like what we have seen before.
“He will go to Exeter on February 11 for a three-mile handicap hurdle. We’re going to go back over hurdles with him and that’s when we will hopefully see him. We’re just going to get him back out and see how we go.”
American Cameron Young held a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic as defending champion Rory McIlroy remained well off the pace.
Young added a second round of 64 to his opening 67 at Emirates Golf Club to reach 13 under par, with England’s Andy Sullivan and Poland’s Adrian Meronk his nearest challengers on 10 under.
Seeking a record fourth win in the event, McIlroy recorded five birdies and three bogeys in a round of 70 which left him 10 strokes off the lead.
Young, who has yet to win on the PGA Tour or DP World Tour, carded nine birdies and a solitary bogey on the ninth, his final hole of the day, after finding the water left of the green with his approach.
“I putted fantastic,” the world number 25 said. “I made a couple of long ones yesterday and then made a few more today that had no right going in I feel like.
“I hit a bunch of good putts, but just one of those days where you kind of have a couple of 30-footers and you look up and they are going right in the middle, which doesn’t happen all that often to have a bunch of them in one round.
“I’m doing a really good job of staying out of my own way. Kind of realised it was going well early, but the back nine, at the same time, it feels like you should do that to some extent, especially in the morning with not much wind.”
Meronk, who won three times on the DP World Tour last year and was voted player of the year by his peers, added a flawless 66 to his opening 68, while Sullivan returned a second successive 67.
“The experience [of winning] gives you a little more confidence that you’ve done it before, so you can do it again,” Meronk said.
“The key is just to stick to your plan for your game, trust your shots, full commitment. Don’t get too ahead of yourself.
“It’s easy to say, but I think you have to experience it first and then it gets easier, but it’s never easy. But at least I have some experience under my belt.”
McIlroy looked set to climb up the leaderboard after he birdied the second and seventh, but he bogeyed the eighth after a sliced drive plugged in the desert and also dropped a shot on the ninth following another wayward tee shot.
The world number two also followed a birdie on the 10th with a bogey on the next and took an angry swipe at the rough following a fluffed pitch on the 17th, but at least ended the day on a high with a birdie from 20 feet on the 18th.
Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura threatened to card just the second 59 in DP World Tour history when he covered his first 12 holes in 10 under par thanks to an eagle and eight birdies, but bogeyed his penultimate hole and had to settle for a 63.
Nevertheless, that was a 12-shot improvement on his opening round and lifted Kawamura into a tie for seventh on six under par.
Dubai Invitational winner Tommy Fleetwood celebrated his 33rd birthday with a 70 to finish five under.
Simon and Ed Crisford hold a strong hand as they go in search of back-to-back victories in Lingfield’s BetMGM Winter Oaks Fillies’ Handicap on Saturday.
The father and son operation claimed the £100,000 contest with Al Agaila 12 months ago and likely big-race favourite Oh So Grand has plotted a similar course to the Winter Million Festival event by landing the Winter Oaks Trial over track and trip last month.
Jack Mitchell was in the saddle for both that triumph and a previous success at Newcastle and resumes the partnership, as his mount now seeks to build on her impressive all-weather record.
Meanwhile, the Gainsborough Thoroughbreds team have a more than handy second string to their bow with Twirling, who has won two of four starts at a mile and now steps up in trip with Ryan Moore in the plate.
Simon Crisford said: “Both Oh So Grand and Twirling are in good form and we have been very happy with their preparations for this race.
“Both of them will need to run career-best figures to feature, but we are hopeful that they are capable of doing that.”
Oh So Grand is the highest rated in the field, but only 2lb behind her is recent Wolverhampton scorer Miss Bluebelle, who bids to quickly double up for handler Marcus Tregoning.
The five-year-old received a 7lb rise for a facile three-length victory at Dunstall Park and, although having a career-high mark to overcome, her handler is optimistic of a bold showing.
“She’s come out of her race (at Wolverhampton) well and is in good form,” said Tregoning.
“That was only a week ago but she has come out of it very well and we won’t worry about that. She has a good draw and we will hope for the best.
“It’s a fairly open race and hopefully she will run really well.”
John and Thady Gosden’s Queen Regent has just over a length to find with Oh So Grand on their meeting in the Winter Oaks Trial and is now tried in first-time cheekpieces representing big-name connections, while no one arguably arrives in better form than Storymaker, who has been unbeatable of late.
It was not until the 15th race of her career that Storymaker got on the scoresheet but that opened the floodgates for George Boughey’s four-year-old, who will be bidding for a fifth-straight success.
“She’s been an amazing filly for us and it’s incredible really, she raced 14 times last year and the penny didn’t drop, but she’s just gone bang, bang, bang, bang now – and she’s a filly in form,” said Sam Hoskins, racing manager for owners Hot To Trot Racing.
“She should get the trip and has won round the track. It’s a much better race and worth £100,000 and we’ve got to support races worth that amount of money.
“She’s in top form and enjoying it and I know George feels she is not showing any signs of exertion – she’s looking great. She has got a chance and the rider Tommie Jakes is good value for his claim. Hopefully, she will run a really good race.”
Former world champion Shaun Murphy has backed the announcement of Saudi Arabia’s first ever invitational snooker event and the introduction of a new golden ball which could increase the maximum break to 167.
The inaugural Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker will take place in March with seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan set to feature in the 10-player field alongside 2019 world champion Judd Trump and current holder Luca Brecel.
The tournament will see the introduction of a 23rd golden ball, known as the Riyadh Season ball, which will be worth 20 points, but can only be potted once a maximum break of 147 has been completed.
Murphy urged traditionalists to give the novel idea a chance, likening it to the single-frame Snooker Shoot-Out, which was met with plenty of resistance when it was introduced, but has evolved into a permanent fixture on the world ranking calendar since 2017.
Murphy, who as the current world number six is set to feature in the tournament, told the PA news agency: “It was heresy when the Shoot-Out was brought in as a ranking event – people were nearly out with torches on the streets – but I haven’t met a single person who has been to the Shoot-Out and not enjoyed it.
“You should never criticise something unless you’ve tried it. It’s just something different and it’s not the first time the sport has tried new ideas.
“I imagine they (World Snooker Tour) had to make a few concessions to get the event over the line, and the new promoters in Saudi will want their event to stand out and be different. At the end of the day you’d rather have the event than not.”
Precise details of the format relating to the golden ball are yet to be revealed, but the PA news agency understands that WST is not considering the introduction of the ball for any other tournaments.
The Saudi tournament, due to be held in Riyadh from March 4-6 and featuring the top eight players in the world and a prize pool of one million US dollars, will not offer the highest break in the sport’s history.
A short-lived experiment in 1959 saw the introduction of a ‘Snooker Plus’ tournament, which included two additional colours, an orange ball worth eight points and a purple worth 10, which raised the theoretically available maximum to 210.
The announcement of the Saudi event, hailed as a “huge breakthrough” by WST chairman Steve Dawson, was met with some resistance from lower-ranked players, with 2023 Shoot-Out semi-finalist Steven Hallworth tweeting: “Was starting to lose sleep with worry that the top 8 players might run out of events and cash soon, thank God for this”.
Amnesty International criticised snooker’s addition to the growing list of sports heading to the kingdom, calling on those involved to seize the opportunity to speak out about human rights abuses.
Peter Frankental, Amnesty International UK’s Economic Affairs director, said: “It was just a matter of time before Saudi Arabia’s huge sportswashing machine sucked in snooker along with almost every other major world sport.
“If the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump play in Riyadh, they shouldn’t hesitate to speak out about human rights.”
For all that Murphy accepts the relevance of continued expressions of concern, the 41-year-old insists neither those prospective invitees, nor the sport itself, should be in any quandary about being part of the historic deal.
“Obviously there is a question over human rights as there should be, but if we (WST) only traded with countries with perfect human rights records, it would be a very, very small pool to pick from,” added Murphy.
“We wouldn’t be trading with the UK either. We haven’t covered ourselves in glory over hundreds of years, going around invading other countries, so people in glass houses need to be careful where they throw their stones.”
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