Warren Greatrex views this weekend’s Betfred Tommy Whittle Chase at Haydock as an ideal opportunity to get Bill Baxter up the weights ahead of his ultimate aim back on Merseyside.

The Lambourn handler sees the grey as the perfect type for the Grand National, perhaps not surprisingly given how well he took to the fences when winning the Topham back in April.

However, with the field for the National reduced to 34 this season, competition for places will be hotter than ever and Greatrex feels his current handicap mark of 140 needs to be higher to guarantee a spot.

“The plan has always been the Grand National and he probably needs to go up at least 7lb between now and when the weights are released, so the Tommy Whittle looks a good opportunity to try to get him up the weights,” the trainer said.

“The ground is soft, heavy in places, with more rain to come this week, so it will be tough conditions. I think the track will suit him, as he has run well around Haydock Park before over hurdles and he seems in good form.

“He will be put in the Rowland Meyrick at Wetherby on Boxing Day, but I’m favouring the Tommy Whittle.

“It looks the place to go with the ground set to be in his favour – and with everything happening a bit slower in soft ground around Haydock, I would like to think he will be thereabouts at the end.”

Another reason Greatrex is favouring Haydock is the availability of jockey James Bowen.

“James has ridden him a fair amount and has won twice on him. He knows him and knows what he can do. James is a big part of the team now and is riding everything when he is available,” said Greatrex.

“It works well him being second jockey to Nicky (Henderson) and first jockey to us. He is a huge asset and to have him on board on Saturday would be huge.

“If I go to Wetherby, there are a lot more meetings on Boxing Day and the chances of James being able to ride are much less than he would be able to on Saturday, and that is a big factor.”

Damian Lillard recognised the importance of his accomplishment after reaching 20,000 NBA points in the Milwaukee Bucks' 132-119 win over the San Antonio Spurs.

Seven-time All-Star Lillard is the eighth active player to reach the milestone, having followed LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, DeMar DeRozan and Chris Paul in achieving the feat.

There have been 51 players in NBA history who have reached 20,000, with Lillard doing so in his 794th game, making him the 17th fastest to do it, on a night in which he scored a season-high 40 points.

Lillard increased his career point total to 20,034 on Tuesday, while there was also a triple-double for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo had a career-high 16 assists, 14 rebounds and a season-low 11 points for his second triple-double this season, giving the Bucks a fifth straight win and a 14th consecutive triumph at Fiserv Forum.

"I don't want to fake downplay it like it's nothing," Lillard said after the game about hitting 20,000. 

"I know it's a big deal. It's a great accomplishment. It's a rare space to be in.

"I look at what led up to it. All of the things that I think of in high school, in college and the doubt that I faced over the course of my career, before the NBA – what I wasn't supposed to be, what I wasn't supposed to accomplish, and just my mentality through all those things. 

"Sometimes you don't really see the light at the end of the tunnel. You've just got to have that faith in yourself."

Lillard drained seven 3-pointers in a fantastic performance that saw the Bucks improve to 20-7 for the season, second only to the Boston Celtics (20-6) in the Eastern Conference.

"When you look at Dame, obviously he can shoot the ball," added Bucks coach Adrian Griffin.

"He can stretch the floor. He just puts a lot of pressure on your defense. 

"If you bring your bigs up, he can drive around them. He's strong enough and physical enough to finish at the rim. He just has no weaknesses on the offensive end."

The Spurs played without star rookie Victor Wembanyama (ankle) and lost for the 20th time in 21 games.

"I don't think we are expecting it to be long-term or anything," coach Gregg Popovich said about the injury.

Milwaukee is 5-0 on its season-long, six-game homestand that concludes Thursday against Orlando. San Antonio returns to action in Chicago on the same day.

Petra Kvitova said she was “shaken” and “fortunate to be alive” after a knife attack in her apartment, on this day in 2016.

The two-time Wimbledon champion was confronted by an intruder posing as a utilities man seeking to read a meter, holding a knife to her throat and injuring her racket-holding hand in the attack.

“I am shaken, but fortunate to be alive,” the Czech player wrote on social media.

“The injury is severe and I will need to see specialists, but if you know anything about me I am strong and I will fight this.”

At a press conference three days later, Kvitova revealed she had undergone surgery lasting nearly four hours after tendons in all four of her fingers and thumb were damaged as well as two nerves.

Having initially targeted a return for Wimbledon, Kvitova made her return to competitive action ahead of schedule at the French Open in 2017 and reached a grand slam final at the Australian Open two years later.

Although she fell to defeat against Naomi Osaka in the 2019 final, Kvitova put the loss into perspective post-match.

She said: “To my team, thank you for everything. But mostly thank you for sticking with me even though we didn’t know if I would be able to hold the racket again. For supporting me and staying positive for me, which I really needed.”

In 2019, Czech man Radim Zondra was charged and sentenced to eight years in prison, with the sentence increasing to 11 years on appeal.

Kvitova is currently ranked 14th in the world and won the Miami Open in April earlier this year.

Owen Tippett scored with 1:35 remaining in overtime to lead the surging Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

Ryan Poeling, who entered with two goals in 25 games this season, had the other two goals and Samuel Ersson stopped 24 shots as the Flyers improved to 7-0-2 in their last nine games.

Philadelphia already has 39 points in 31 games this season after it had 75 all last season and missed the playoffs.

Michael McLeod and Jesper Bratt tallied for New Jersey, which has points in nine of its last 12 games (8-3-1).

Rangers snap Maple Leafs’ point streak

Mika Zibanejad scored two goals and Igor Shesterkin turned aside 31 shots as the New York Rangers ended the Toronto Maple Leafs’ nine-game point streak, 5-2.

Braden Schneider, Alexis Lafreniere and Artemi Panarin also had goals to help the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers win their third straight.

Auston Matthews scored two more goals for Toronto, giving him 11 in his last seven games and a league-high 25.

The Leafs had been 6-0-3 in their last nine games.

Marchenko has hat trick as Blue Jackets roll

Kirill Marchenko had a natural hat trick and the Columbus Blue Jackets rolled to a 9-4 rout of the reeling Buffalo Sabres.

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists for the Blue Jackets, who had the second-highest scoring game in franchise history.

Columbus set the record in a 10-0 win over Montreal on Nov. 4, 2016.

Casey Mittelstadt had three assists as the Sabres dropped to 3-7-1 in their past 11 games. The nine goals were the most allowed by Buffalo since a 10-4 loss to Dallas in March.

Devon Levi was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 18 shots and was replaced by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who stopped 11 of 16 shots the rest of the way.

Michael van Gerwen began his bid for a third World Championship title by easing into the third round.

The Dutchman has not won the biggest tournament in darts since 2019 and is ready to end that drought, opening his campaign with a 3-0 win over Keane Barry.

The highlight was an impressive 167 checkout, finishing with an average of 98.17 at Alexandra Palace.

Van Gerwen knows there is room for improvement but is happy to be in the next round.

“I’m a little disappointed with my scoring, the most important thing is I won my first game,” he said during his on-stage interview.

“You don’t want to let yourself down, you have to fight for every leg, and when things like the 167 work it gives you a great boost.

“It’s the first round of the World Championship no one wants to lose, there is pressure on me, like there is all the top boys. The most important thing is I’m back after Christmas.”

Matt Campbell is flying home for Christmas after sending 13th seed James Wade crashing out.

The world number 57 beat the four-time semi-finalist 3-2 to record the biggest win of his career and win back-to-back matches at Ally Pally for the first time in his career.

He will now return home to Canada before returning for the post-Christmas last 32.

“The flight back is going to suck,” he said. “I have been doing it for two years flying back and forth, I’ve got to the Worlds twice.

“I think I need to fly home and see my family more than anything. If I stay awake when I fly back there is no jetlag, right?”

Wade, who became the first seeded player to exit the tournament, did not shake Campbell’s hand after the match but the Canadian had no hard feelings.

“I woudldn’t be happy either,” he said. “I guarantee if I see him now he would come down and be like nothing happened. But in that moment, we work all hard all year for this, I don’t blame him for being disappointed.”

Keegan Brown will not want to hear the name Boris Krcmar again after enduring a chastening afternoon.

Brown was left confused when MC John McDonald mistakenly called out his opponent’s name when he was due to walk onto the stage before the first-round match.

Things got even worse once play began as the Croatian cruised to a 3-1 win.

Brown took the first set but things went downhill from there, with Krcmar coming back to reach the second round for the second successive year, with Dirk van Duijvenbode waiting for him in the next round.

Leading women’s player Mikuru Suzuki is still waiting for her first win at the Alexandra Palace after she was beaten 3-0 by German Ricardo Pietreczko.

Suzuki follows Fallon Sherrock out of the tournament.

There were also wins for Steve Beaton, Jeffrey de Graaf, Tomoya Goto and Mike De Decker.

Mary Earps rounded off a “wild” 2023 by winning the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year prize on Tuesday night.

The 30-year-old goalkeeper was a key part of the Lionesses side which reached the Women’s World Cup final in the summer and won FIFA’s Golden Glove award for the best goalkeeper at the tournament.

Manchester United goalkeeper Earps saved a penalty from Spain’s Jenni Hermoso in the final, but the Lionesses were unable to add to their 2022 European crown as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat in Sydney.

Her international career appeared at a crossroads in 2021 and she acknowledged during the BBC show she felt she had “lost purpose” after losing her place in the England team.

Sarina Wiegman recalled her in the first England squad she named in September of that year after Earps had been out in the cold since November 2019.

Earps claimed the BBC award ahead of England cricketer Stuart Broad, who retired at the end of the fifth Ashes Test in the summer, and heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson. For Earps, it was the culmination of a scarcely believable last 12 months.

“(Winning the award) feels pretty great on the back of a couple of big years – 2023 has been wild in ways I never expected, I am really grateful,” she said.

“I always committed to myself that anything I would have after that period of time (out of the England team) would be a bonus and it just hasn’t stopped yet. I’m just trying to make the most of everything, because when it stops you miss it.

“I wouldn’t be here without my team-mates at the Lionesses and United; we’ve achieved some incredible things over the last few years. Whilst individual accolades are great they only come on the back of team success. So it’s their trophy as much as mine.”

Earps was one of Wiegman’s vital lieutenants as the Lionesses won the Euros in 2022, and she secured her place in the public’s affection as she danced on the table in celebration during a press conference after the final victory over Germany at Wembley.

Last season Earps kept 14 clean sheets as Manchester United finished second in the Women’s Super League. She also drew praise after she spoke out about sportswear manufacturer Nike’s failure to offer an England goalkeeper’s replica jersey for sale before the World Cup.

Earps’ success on Tuesday night made her the third successive female winner of the award, after US Open champion Emma Raducanu in 2021 and Earps’ England team-mate Beth Mead last year.

Wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewett, jockey Frankie Dettori and golf star Rory McIlroy were the three other sports luminaries who made it on to the shortlist for the prestigious prize.

The BBC declined to comment on why there were no new words from McIlroy in the VT introducing his nomination or any link-up for a live in-show interview.

Broad announced he was retiring from cricket during the fifth Ashes Test in the summer and bowed out in spectacular fashion. The 37-year-old hit a six off his final ball and took the final wicket as England won the match to level the series, although Australia retained the urn.

Johnson-Thompson claimed the world heptathlon title for the second time in Budapest in the summer after a calf injury wrecked her hopes of Olympic glory in Tokyo in 2021.

Manchester City’s treble-winning campaign was recognised as they won the Team of the Year prize. Star striker Erling Haaland, who scored 52 goals as the Blues dominated at home and in Europe, won the World Sport Star of the Year award and City manager Pep Guardiola was named coach of the year.

Sir Kenny Dalglish, who played and managed with great distinction at Liverpool, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at Tuesday night’s ceremony in Salford.

Dalglish, who won nine titles with Celtic before moving to Merseyside in 1977, scored 172 goals in 515 appearances for the Reds. He enjoyed great success as a player, including scoring the winner in the 1978 European Cup final.

In 1985 he took over from Joe Fagan as manager of the club, initially while continuing to play, winning three further league titles. He then went on to win the Premier League title with Blackburn in 1995.

Fatima Whitbread, the 1987 world javelin champion, won the Helen Rollason Award.

Whitbread was abandoned as a baby and spent the first 14 years of her life in children’s homes before being adopted by javelin coach Margaret Whitbread. Since retiring, Whitbread has worked with various charities assisting and guiding children who had a similar experience to her.

Sixteen-year-old snowboarder Mia Brookes won the Young Sports Personality prize, while Desmond Smith, a grassroots sports coach from Sheffield, won the Unsung Hero award.

Frankie Dettori finished outside of the top three in the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year but said he still felt like a winner as he reflected on the “mistake” he made in declaring 2023 would be his last year in the saddle.

Dettori was one of six who made the shortlist for the coveted award, although as soon as it was announced England goalkeeper Mary Earps was made a long odds-on favourite.

Dettori recently took part in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in Australia but was the first to leave the show. Nevertheless, his year proved a real triumph and he was often seen at his majestic best.

The Italian – who turned 53 last week – enjoyed so much success in fact that he revealed he would postpone retirement and continue his career in America, where he will ride in California.

His domestic campaign got off to the perfect start when he won the 2000 Guineas on Chaldean and ensured he won two of the five Classics on offer by taking the Oaks on Soul Sister.

Further big-race glory followed at Royal Ascot in the Gold Cup on Courage Mon Ami and the winners continued to flow. He later admitted that by August he was having second thoughts about his retirement decision.

On Champions Day at Ascot, his scheduled last meeting in Britain, he produced a stellar ride on Trawlerman in the Long Distance Cup and signed off in customary fairytale fashion by winning the Champion Stakes on King Of Steel.

Speaking by video link from France, where he is on holiday with his family, Dettori told Clare Balding: “I’ve been in Australia for a month, and I’ve only got four days off before I start riding in the US on Boxing Day.

“I couldn’t jeopardise these four days to be with you guys, otherwise my family would have killed me! I apologise to everyone, I know how important this is to me and to everyone, I’m very sorry (not to be in the studio).

“To get to the last six, to me I’m already a winner. Racing is very important to me, but other sports appeal to a wider audience in England. I already feel like a winner to be a nominee.

“And you know what, apart from Stuart Broad the other contestants weren’t even born when I started riding! I’m the old man of the group.

“As you get older you have to train more to compete with people half of my age. I would say 70 per cent of the jockeys riding weren’t even born when I started, so fitness is very important. Nowadays we’ve got nutritionists and the most important thing is the mental state – the anger you’ve got to have to keep on winning, and that’s what’s kept me going all these years.”

On his decision to call off his retirement, he said: “At the beginning of the season, I thought, ‘well, I’m 52 and I want to stop at the top’. I watched (Cristiano) Ronaldo two years ago playing for Portugal in the World Cup and he was on the bench. I didn’t want to stop my career being on the bench.

“I thought when I called it a day things would ease off and I’d walk away into the sunset and say my last farewell to everyone. But the opposite happened, wherever I went I kept on winning, I did my farewells everywhere in Europe and I kept on winning and winning. I got to August thinking, ‘Oh my God, am I doing the right thing here?’.

“But unfortunately I’d told everyone I was quitting, so I’d kind of got myself snookered in the corner. I thought, ‘well, I can’t really carry on in England, because they organised so many farewell tours for me and a statue at Ascot’. But I’ve still got to get it out of my system, so my only option was emigrating to the USA, because it’s my last chance to perhaps continue what I love until one day I wake up and say, ‘enough is enough’.

“At the moment, because I’m still winning and the adrenaline is still there, the public still follow me – I’m sorry everyone, I made a mistake, I shouldn’t have said I was going to retire.”

Sir Anthony McCoy in 2010 remains the only jockey to have won the BBC prize. Dettori himself finished third in 1996, the year of his ‘Magnificent Seven’, when he went through the card with all seven winners at Ascot. Hollie Doyle was third in 2020.

Mary Earps has been named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the England goalkeeper’s record.

3 – clean sheets for Earps as she won this summer’s World Cup Golden Glove award. She saved Jenni Hermoso’s penalty in the final but could not keep England from a 1-0 defeat.

18 – international appearances this year.

6 – clean sheets in those games, with a friendly against Portugal and Nations League clashes with Belgium and Scotland along with the World Cup games against Haiti, Denmark and Nigeria.

12 – goals conceded by Earps in last season’s Women’s Super League as runners-up Manchester United finished with the best defensive record.

14 – record number of clean sheets across that season. Her career total of 56 is also a WSL record.

47 – international caps in Earps’ career.

25 – clean sheets along the way, with only 30 goals conceded.

39 – Earps has started all but six of Sarina Wiegman’s 45 games as England coach, playing every minute of those appearances.

152,000 – signatures on a petition calling for Nike to make replica Lionesses goalkeeping shirts available for sale around the World Cup.

5 – a batch of the shirts released on the Football Association website on December 11 sold out in five minutes, with the supply on Nike’s own site also snapped up that day.

27 – squad number for United, who reported in August that her shirt was the second-highest seller among their women’s squad behind only England team-mate Ella Toone.

727,000 – followers on Earps’ official Instagram account.

Mary Earps being crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year marks the latest high in an incredible turnaround for a player who in early 2021 was considering calling time on her career.

At that point, the goalkeeper had not been involved in the England set-up since claiming her eighth cap in November 2019.

After being recalled as part of Sarina Wiegman’s first Lionesses squad in September 2021, she has gone on to help the team make history as Euro 2022 winners on home soil and then runners-up at this year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The final of the latter saw Earps pull off a penalty save, and she received the tournament’s Golden Glove award, six months on from being named FIFA women’s goalkeeper of the year.

A post shared by Mary Earps (@1maryearps)

As well as recently being nominated for the FIFA accolade again, the 30-year-old was fifth in the Ballon d’Or voting, and 2023 also included her finishing last season with a Women’s Super League-record 14 clean sheets across the campaign for Manchester United.

The journey that might have stopped before she reached such heights began with Nottingham-born Earps kicking a ball around in her garden with her younger brother and father. Having trained with her brother’s team but been unable to play in matches, she joined West Bridgford Colts aged 10.

The young Earps – who would do games like ‘two touch’ with a classmate who shared her love of goalkeeping – was involved in various other activities like badminton, judo, swimming and dancing, which she has said helped build a confidence evident in her readiness to be vocal when playing football.

She spent time with Leicester and Nottingham Forest before joining Doncaster and making her WSL debut in 2011. Spells with Birmingham, Bristol City and Reading followed, while she also studied for a degree in information management and business studies at Loughborough University.

Earps then made a handful of appearances for Wolfsburg in 2018-19 before joining newly-promoted United.

She earned her first England cap in June 2017 and was a member of Phil Neville’s 2019 World Cup squad, without getting any minutes. A few months after that, she played in a friendly against Germany at Wembley, was on the bench three days later in the Czech Republic – then was out of the picture.

Come the start of 2021, in the final year of her United contract, Earps was weighing up whether to continue playing or utilise her business degree.

She would subsequently sign a new deal with United, and Wiegman then started work as England boss, and Earps told the BBC last year: “I can vividly remember the days of feeling really down.

“I had given it a good go, but I just wasn’t quite good enough. I had responsibilities, I had a mortgage and it wasn’t adding up. Eventually I decided ‘OK, I’ll give it a couple more years’. Then Sarina came in and life changed literally like that.”

A post shared by Lionesses (@lionesses)

Earps became Wiegman’s number one as England secured their first major trophy in 2022, then reached a maiden World Cup final. She also helped United break new ground as WSL and FA Cup runners-up last term.

As well as on the field, the boldness of her character has been exemplified by various off-pitch moments, from her dancing on a table during a post-Euro 2022 final press conference, to speaking out about Nike not putting her replica shirt on sale – something in keeping with an England side that has collectively pushed for change in a number of ways.

When named the best women’s goalkeeper by FIFA in February, Earps said the award was “for anyone who has ever been in a dark place”, adding: “Just know that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Keep going, you can achieve anything you set your mind to.”

England and Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps has been voted the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year for 2023.

The 30-year-old was a key part of the Lionesses side which reached the Women’s World Cup final in the summer, and won FIFA’s Golden Glove award for the best goalkeeper at the tournament.

Earps saved a penalty from Spain’s Jenni Hermoso in the final, but the Lionesses were unable to add to their 2022 European crown as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat in Sydney.

Retired England cricketer Stuart Broad, who like Earps hails from Nottingham, finished second in the vote, while world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson was third.

In 2021 Earps’ international career was at a crossroads, having not played for her country since November 2019. However, she was included in the first England squad Sarina Wiegman named in September 2021 and has gone from strength to strength since.

Earps was one of Wiegman’s vital lieutenants as the Lionesses won the Euros in 2022, and she secured her place in the public’s affection as she danced on the table in celebration during a press conference after the final victory over Germany at Wembley.

Last season Earps kept 14 clean sheets as Manchester United finished second in the Women’s Super League. She also drew praise after she spoke out about sportswear manufacturer Nike’s failure to offer an England goalkeeper’s replica jersey for sale before the World Cup.

Earps’ success on Tuesday night made her the third successive female winner of the award, after US Open champion Emma Raducanu in 2021 and Earps’ England team-mate Beth Mead last year.

Wheelchair tennis player Alfie Hewett, jockey Frankie Dettori and golf star Rory McIlroy were the three other sports luminaries who made it on to the shortlist for the prestigious prize.

Jamaica Volleyball Association President, Jacqueline Cowan, was re-elected as the General Secretary on the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) board. She was selected during the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association’s (CAZOVA) Electoral Congress held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on Sunday.

Trinidad and Tobago's Mushtaque Mohammed was also re-elected president during the electoral congress, which determined the new board to guide CAZOVA until 2027.

Other members of the newly appointed CAZOVA Board are Kennedy McGowan, First Vice-President (Cayman Islands), Gisette Emer, Second Vice-President (Bonaire), Kurtwood Greene Snr, Treasurer (Bahamas), Filomena Daniel-Curiel, Board Member (Aruba), and Mark Lewis, Board Member (Barbados) a former Jamaica Indoor and Beach Volleyball National
Representative now residing in Barbados.

Philippe Lirus, Honorary Board Member (Martinique) and Daymian Stewart, Executive Director (Trinidad and Tobago), also secured slots on the board.

Along with those elected, there were also representatives from Curacao, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Suriname, and US Virgin Islands, at the congress.