Tiger Woods felt sore “everywhere” after making his comeback at the Hero World Challenge on Thursday but the 15-time major winner could not hide the smile on his face after his first competitive round since April.
Woods was eight shots off the pace set by Brian Harman and Tony Finau in the Bahamas, dropping four shots in three holes between the 15th and 17th to finish three over par in a share of 18th place.
But for the 47-year-old, it felt good to blow off some cobwebs after undergoing ankle surgery in April.
“I’m sore, there’s no doubt about that,” Woods said. “We’ve got some work to do tonight. Tomorrow get back in the gym and activate and get ready for it. Hopefully hit some better shots.
“And now I know mentally what I need to do better. I think that’s something that physically I knew I was going to be OK. Mentally, I was really rusty and made a lot of errors in the mind that normally I don’t make.”
Asked where he felt sore, Woods added: “Everywhere…My leg, my back, my neck. Just from playing, hitting shots and trying to hold off shots. It’s just different at game speed, too. Game speed’s a lot different than at home speed.”
Woods birdied the third and fifth holes, but bogeys on the fourth and sixth immediately cancelled those out. He put the mental errors he made down to a lack of rhythm after so long out.
“Instead of reacting to it, I was thinking about doing it,” he said. “Then as I was thinking about it, should I do this or not, by then I’m pulling the trigger. I shouldn’t really pull the trigger. Hit a bad shot. I kept doing it time and time again.
“It was a lack of commitment to what I was doing and feeling. I’ve got to do a better job of it…
“I wanted to compete, I wanted to play. I felt like I was ready to compete and play. I hit it solid most of the day. As I said, I just didn’t mentally do the things I normally would do and I need to do.”
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott threw three touchdowns as his side downed the Seattle Seahawks at home in a high-scoring 41-35 win.
The 30-year-old completed the winning play for the Cowboys, finding Jake Ferguson with just minutes left to win their fourth game in a row.
Prescott threw for just 299 yards, while his opposing quarterback Geno Smith threw for 334 yards, matching Prescott with three touchdowns.
The Seahawks led at halftime 21-20, thanks to two touchdowns from DK Metcalf and one from Zach Charbonnet, with Smith grabbing his own touchdown just two minutes into the second half.
But the Cowboys refused to go away, scoring a touchdown in the third quarter through Tony Pollard to stay within touching distance.
In the final quarter, Metcalf ran over for his third touchdown for the Seahawks, giving his side an eight-point lead with less than 15 minutes left.
But the Cowboys rallied again with two field goals and the Ferguson touchdown pushing them to nine wins on the season.
Former British number one Johanna Konta announced her retirement from tennis on this day in 2021.
Konta, then 30, had struggled with a persistent knee problem and slipped to 113th in the rankings.
She made the announcement on social media with a post headed ‘Grateful’.
She wrote: “This is the word that I’ve probably used the most during my career and is the word that I feel explains it best in the end.
“My playing career has come to an end, and I am so incredibly grateful for the career that it turned out to be. All the evidence pointed towards me not ‘making’ it in this profession.
“However my luck materialised in the people that came into my life and impacted my existence in ways that transcended tennis.
“I am so incredibly grateful for these people. You know who you are. Through my own resilience and through the guidance of others, I got to live my dreams. I got to become what I wanted and said as a child.
“How incredibly fortunate I count myself to be. How grateful I am.”
Born in Australia to Hungarian parents, Konta moved to Europe to pursue her tennis career as a teenager, settling with her family in Eastbourne and becoming a British citizen in 2012.
A relatively late developer, Konta’s emergence at the top of the game began in 2015, and the following year she reached her first grand slam semi-final at the Australian Open and climbed into the top 10.
Her best season was arguably in 2017, when she became the first British player since Virginia Wade to make the semi-finals at Wimbledon, won the biggest of her four career titles at the Miami Open, and peaked at fourth in the rankings.
Konta slipped down the rankings in 2018 but was resurgent the following year, making another grand slam semi-final at the French Open as well as quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Her final match was a three-set loss to Karolina Muchova at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.
She made no secret of her desire to start a family – something she did not want to do alongside her career – and gave birth to daughter Emmeline the following September.
Tristan Jarry scored into an empty net and stopped 39 shots to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-2 comeback win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
With the Penguins protecting a 3-2 lead, Jarry stopped a dump-in and sent the puck end-to-end with 68 seconds remaining.
Jarry is the fourth goalie to score in the past 10 years, and 14th overall in the regular season. He is the first Penguins netminder to score a goal.
Jeff Carter scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Sidney Crosby and Drew O’Connor also found the back of the net for Pittsburgh, which is 2-0-1 in its last three games.
Steven Stamkos and Tanner Jeannot had first-period goals as Tampa Bay dropped its third straight following a 4-0-1 surge.
Dewar has hat trick in Wild’s win
Connor Dewar recorded his first career hat trick and added an assist as the Minnesota Wild rolled to a 6-1 rout, ending the Nashville Predators’ six-game winning streak.
Dewar appeared to score a fourth goal with just over four minutes remaining but was taken away after the Wild were ruled to be offside after a video review.
Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist for the Wild, who have won both games under new coach John Hynes.
Hynes served as Nashville’s coach for parts of four seasons before being relieved of his duties this past offseason by new general manager Barry Trotz.
Marner carries Maple Leafs to shootout win
Mitch Marner scored three times in regulation and added the shootout winner to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken.
Marner ended an eight-game drought with his second career hat trick, also accomplished in a four-goal game against Detroit on Feb. 26, 2022.
Auston Matthews also scored in the shootout and had two assists to help the Leafs improve to 5-1-1 in their last seven games.
Jared McCann scored twice as Seattle lost its third in a row (0-2-1).
Trae Young scored 45 points and drew a charge with 2.7 seconds left to lift the Atlanta Hawks to a 137-135 win Thursday over the San Antonio Spurs, who lost their 13th straight game.
Dejounte Murray had 24 points and five steals against his former team as Atlanta avoided a third straight loss.
Jeremy Sochan tied his career high with 33 points on 11-of-13 shooting and Victor Wembanyama had 21 with 12 rebounds and four blocks, but the Spurs have remained winless since Nov. 2.
Young scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, going 3 for 5 from the field and 7 for 8 on free throws.
Sochan stole the ball from Saddiq Bey and was driving for the potential tying basket but was called for charging to seal San Antonio’s latest defeat.
The Spurs dominated early, leading by as many as 15 points in the first half.
Butler, Heat overcome Haliburton, Pacers
Jimmy Butler scored 36 points and the Miami Heat used a huge fourth quarter to overcome a career-high 44 points from Tyrese Haliburton in a 142-132 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
Miami trailed by 13 early and took its first lead early in the fourth quarter, using a 28-6 run to take control in the opener of a two-game series.
The Heat’s 45 fourth-quarter points were the second-most in team history, topped by only a 48-point fourth against New York on March 2, 1989.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 24 points and Josh Richardson added 19 to help the Heat snap a three-game skid.
Haliburton scored 28 points in the first half and had 10 assists, giving him the NBA’s first game of at least 44 points and that many assists since Donovan Mitchell’s 71-point, 11-assist game for Cleveland on Jan. 2.
Brunson, Knicks send Pistons to 16th straight loss
Jalen Brunson scored 42 points and Julius Randle had 29 points with 10 rebounds as the New York Knicks extended the Detroit Pistons’ franchise-record losing streak to 16 with a 118-112 victory.
RJ Barrett had 15 points and Donte DiVincenzo added 12, hitting a pair of key 3-pointers down the stretch to help the Knicks win their third in four games.
Cade Cunningham scored 31 points and Killian Hayes contributed 23 as Detroit completed a winless November and lost their 13th straight against New York.
The Pistons haven’t won since a victory over Chicago on Oct. 28 left them 2-1.
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers took criticism of their loss to the Philadelphia 76ers "to heart" as they bounced back with a comfortable 133-107 win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.
The Lakers suffered a heavy 138-94 defeat to the 76ers on Monday, with the 44-point losing margin the largest in James' long career, one that stretches back to 2003.
But the Lakers hit back with an easy win over an overwhelmed Pistons team, and James felt he and his team-mates utilised the scathing assessments of the 76ers defeat to their advantage as they got back to winning ways in emphatic fashion.
"I think we responded well and we played a lot better," James said after the win. "We gave ourselves a better chance defensively.
"We got out to a lot of their shooters that we thought could make shots from the perimeter, but we also controlled the paint. And, you know, that was very key.
"We just took constructive criticism, and we took it to heart and then we applied it to the game.
"It [the criticism] got me a little bit, [but] the next day when we left to come here, it was time to focus on the Pistons."
Willie Green believes Zion Williamson is "starting to find his rhythm" after his 33 points led the New Orleans Pelicans to a 124-114 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
Williamson went 11 of 12 from the field as the Pelicans moved to 10-9, taking advantage of the absence of reigning MVP Joel Embiid and ensuring the 76ers fell to 12-6.
Pelicans head coach Green is delighted with the play of Williamson, who has now scored at least 26 points and managed five assists in his last six games, saying: "He was great. He attacked the basket. Getting to the paint was something we were big on.
"He's been knocking off some rust. You can see he's getting better and better as we progress. He's starting to find his rhythm.
We're putting him in different situations and he's thriving, so it's fun to see."
With Embiid out through illness, Philadelphia struggled without their key man, and 76ers head coach Nick Nurse was frustrated with his team's display after the game.
"We cannot use that [Embiid's absence] as an excuse, and we won't," Nurse told reporters. "What put us in a big hole is we didn't go out and execute our defensive schemes the way we wanted to from the start of the game."
Downbeat Ronnie O’Sullivan has warned he will continue “stinking out gaffes” after he limped into the quarter-finals of the UK Snooker Championship with a 6-5 win over Robert Milkins in York.
O’Sullivan, who is playing in trainers due to suffering from the heel injury plantar fasciitis, made his frustration clear as he almost blew a 5-3 lead before rallying to earn a last-eight slot against Zhou Yuelong.
“I don’t understand how this game works,” shrugged O’Sullivan. “I gave up a long time ago. I just keep turning up and stinking out gaffes. I stunk it out today and I’ll stink it out tomorrow. You’ll have to get a mask to watch me play.”
Despite hitting a 142 in frame five, O’Sullivan, who is aiming for a record eighth UK crown, was far from his best, and expressed his irritation after serving up one of three glorious opportunities for Milkins in the decider by dropping his cue onto the table.
But Milkins, whose solitary win over O’Sullivan in 11 previous attempts had come at the single-frame Shoot-Out in 2002, failed to capitalise, missing a pink then a simple red to middle, before finally dangling a red over the bottom pocket that effectively sealed his fate.
The win extended O’Sullivan’s stay in the city for at least one more day, ring-fencing enough ranking points to give him hope of preserving his status prior to the festive period, when he intends to skip the Scottish Open then jet off for a Christmas Day exhibition in Macau.
“I just don’t want it bad enough any more,” added O’Sullivan. “I’m having to dig deep. When I was younger I didn’t have to dig deep, I was so hungry, and now I’m just thinking I don’t really care.
“It’s nice if I get through but I don’t actually want to work that hard. That’s why I like doing my exhibitions, my own shows in China. It’s still competitive but it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, you can have a drink after and a bite to eat.
“Competitive sport is hard, it’s not just about how good you are but how much you want it. I still want to play, I still like the lifestyle and the travelling. But I’m not going to kill myself out there, it’s not worth it.”
O’Sullivan’s judgement was off from the start, allowing Milkins, whose career has been revitalised since his first ranking title win at the Welsh Open in February which sent him into the world’s top 16 for the first time, to capitalise and establish a 2-0 lead.
It should have got even better for Milkins, who had a glorious chance to go 3-0 in front before a simple missed red allowed O’Sullivan to produce a quickfire response of 86, followed by a 53 in the fourth frame which took him into the interval level at 2-2.
A brilliant 142 total clearance sent O’Sullivan in front for the first time, and another Milkins error in the next, when he broken down on a black on 52, allowed O’Sullivan to sweep up to go 4-2 in front.
The game’s momentum continued to swing, as Milkins reduced the deficit with a coolly-dispatched 91, then O’Sullivan responded with an 83 to edge one frame from victory.
Milkins hit back again, with a superb 120 before O’Sullivan missed a simple missed blue in the next, showing more frustration with a rash attempt to escape from a snooker that served up his opponent with the simplest of chances to pull level.
Milkins could hardly have hoped for a better chance to end his career-long drought over multi-frame matches, but the nerves clearly got the better of him, and he was inevitably made to pay for his misses as O’Sullivan rallied to clinch a thoroughly underwhelming win.
John Higgins’ hopes of setting up another showdown with his long-time rival were dashed when he fell 6-3 to Zhou in another erratic affair, sending the Chinese player into the quarter-finals for only the second time in his career.
Zhou was whitewashed in both previous meetings with O’Sullivan in York, in 2018 and in last year’s last 16, but said: “I have beaten some good players this week and it has given me confidence that this time against Ronnie it will be different.”
The Owners Group were celebrating at Taunton as the well-regarded Will Carver made a winning reappearance on Thursday afternoon.
The Nicky Henderson-trained eight-year-old impressed when a novice hurdler, but then suffered an injury that kept him sidelined for over 600 days and has only been seen once since the summer of 2021.
Following an uneventful comeback run in February the gelding has spent another 278 days waiting for suitable conditions – but made connections’ patient approach worthwhile when sent off the 3-1 co-favourite for the Stables Business Park Handicap Hurdle in Somerset.
Not far off the lead throughout in the hands of James Bowen, he made smooth headway to hit the front with two flights of hurdles to jump, with even a blunder at the last not enough to stop him romping to an eight-length success from fellow market leaders Decorated and Afadil.
Having scored readily off a mark of 126, bigger days could now lie in wait for Will Carver, including a possible switch to the larger obstacles if his Seven Barrows handler deems him ready for a change of discipline.
“He’s only had one issue after his run in Perth in 2021 and we gave him loads of loads of time,” said Dan Downie of Owners Group.
“Because we gave him loads of time, we didn’t want to run him back on very quick ground and that is why we only ran him once last season. He’s only had the one issue and we’ve just had to be very very patient with him.
“He’s a horse that we have always been quite excited about anyway and particularly going chasing. I haven’t spoken to Nicky and I’m not sure if we’ll go straight to chasing or stick to hurdles for a bit longer, but the plan was always to go chasing at some point.
“He’s a horse we’ve always held in high regard, but when they have had that much time off you can’t be expecting too much, so we are delighted.”
Peter Scudamore is well aware Ahoy Senor has plenty on his plate when he bids to become the first horse since Denman to carry top-weight to victory in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury on Saturday.
The eight-year-old produced a tremendous performance to land a Grade Two novice chase by 31 lengths at this meeting in 2021 and went on to round off his novice campaign with a Grade One success at Aintree.
He found life more difficult when stepping into open company last term, but did manage to win the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham and was second to Shishkin on his return to Aintree in the spring.
For the second year in succession Ahoy Senor failed to fire on his reappearance in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby, but Scudamore – partner and assistant to trainer Lucinda Russell – hopes he can at least take a step forward under the welter burden of 12st back at the Berkshire venue.
“We’re hoping for a big run. It’s a big ask for him, but he’s won round Newbury and we’re looking forward to it,” he said.
“He’s come on since Wetherby – I’m happier with him than I was going into the Charlie Hall.
“He’ll be a big price and if he finished in the first four, I’d be delighted.”
Denman twice won the historic handicap under top-weight, carrying 11st 12lb to victory in his Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning season in 2007 before regaining his Newbury crown in 2009.
Ahoy Senor will concede upwards of 12lb to his rivals this weekend in the hands of Derek Fox, with the Sam Thomas-trained Stolen Silver next in the weights on 11st 2lb.
Denman’s trainer Paul Nicholls this year relies on the well fancied Complete Unknown as he goes in search of a fourth victory in the race as a trainer. He also won back-to-back runnings of what was the Hennessy Gold Cup during his riding career aboard Broadheath and Playschool in the 1980s.
Jonjo O’Neill’s Monbeg Genius and Dan Skelton’s Midnight River are also prominent in the market, as are the Irish pair of John McConnell’s Mahler Mission and the Gavin Cromwell-trained Stumptown.
Jamie Snowden has declared Datsalrightgino and Ga Law, although the latter’s first preference is to run against Shishkin in the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle if the meeting survives.
Classic Getaway led his rivals a merry dance to play a starring role in a Thurles five-timer for champion trainer Willie Mullins.
The Cheveley Park Stud-owned seven-year-old was one of four Closutton inmates to contest the Make Your Best Bet At BetVictor Chase, with Mullins also fielding Haut En Couleurs, James Du Berlais and Capodanno in the Listed feature.
With Paul Townend in the saddle, Haut En Couleurs appeared the stable’s first string as the 6-4 favourite – but under an typically well-judged ride from the front by Danny Mullins, 15-2 shot Classic Getaway always looked in control and beat his better-fancied stablemate by five and a half lengths.
Runner-up Haut En Couleurs was subsequently found to have finished lame. The Mouse Morris-trained French Dynamite stuck on to beat James Du Berlais to third.
“If you look at his form it reads very well and he turned over a hotpot (Minella Cocooner) this time last year in Gowran. He missed most of the season and came back to run with credit at Punchestown,” said the winning jockey
“We were hoping he could do something like that as he always promised and is thankfully starting to deliver. His jumping is so good and he probably wasn’t getting that advantage over hurdles.
“For a horse of his size he has great agility and with that size, maybe he was that bit weak early in his career. We took a few nice scalps there and hopefully it is on towards Christmas now and find another spot for him.”
Mullins and Townend had earlier successfully combined with 8-15 favourite Il Etait Temps in the Download The BetVictor App Beginners Chase.
A Grade One-winning hurdler last season and runner-up to esteemed stable companion Facile Vega on a couple of occasions, the five-year-old made a smooth transition to the larger obstacles with a comfortable four-and-a-half-length verdict.
Townend said: “He was very manageable, which was a pleasant surprise, and he has a lot more respect for fences than hurdles – I thought he jumped brilliantly on the whole today.
“We went a good, even gallop with a good horse (Aspire Tower) leading and he showed a good turn of foot from the back of the last.
“He is more professional and has more options over fences because he is maturing.
“Hopefully he will be an Arkle type – we went a good strong pace, he has a good cruising speed and stays too.”
French recruit Lombron (2-1 favourite) brought up the Mullins treble, making a successful Irish debut in the Sign Up To GavinLynchRacing.com Maiden Hurdle under Townend, who added: “It was very straightforward and he settled well.
“The others had had runs already this year so, on the flat, I was conscious not to do too much with him and his jumping put him back into the race.
“He quickened up, lengthened nicely to the last and sorted himself out and he jumped brilliantly.
“He has a lot of natural ability.”
An excellent afternoon’s work was completed by Grade Two bumper-winning mare Fun Fun Fun (30-100 favourite), who completely outclassed her rivals in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Maiden Hurdle, and the Townend-ridden Daddy Long Legs (11-8 favourite), who was similarly dominant in the Killinan Maiden Hurdle.
Fun Fun was bred and ridden by the trainer’s son Patrick Mullins, who said: “She jumped brilliantly and her pedigree is all three-mile chasers. The way she jumped she can stay at two miles, and she’s keen – she likes to get on with things.
“We might come back here for a mares’ novice hurdle at the end of the month, but that might be too soon. Hopefully we’ll be going for black type after today.
“I lost a Doctor Dino brother during the year, but have a Doctor Dino sister and a Jukebox Jury sister. We bought the mare privately because she was a sister to Yorkhill who, at the time, we thought was going to win the Champion Hurdle, the Gold Cup and the Ryanair, but I think he only won one race after we bought her. We bought her in-foal to Martaline and that was a gift.”
The Middleham Park Racing team expect to have a clearer idea about Marie’s Rock’s potential ambitions for the rest of the season after she takes on two staying stalwarts in the Coral Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury on Friday.
Nicky Henderson’s mare claimed back-to-back Grade One wins at the Cheltenham and Punchestown festivals in the spring of 2022 and made a triumphant return from eight months out of action when beating the boys in the Relkeel Hurdle at Prestbury Park on New Year’s Day.
By racing manager Tom Palin’s own admission, the decision to run in the Mares’ Hurdle rather than the Stayers’ Hurdle on her return to Cheltenham in March did not pay off, with Marie’s Rock finishing a well-beaten seventh behind Honeysuckle.
But with the eight-year-old subsequently proving her worth over three miles when runner-up to Sire Du Berlais at Aintree, there is no doubt about which route she is pursuing this term.
“It’s great to get her out a month and a bit sooner than we were able to last year and she seems in great form with herself,” said Palin.
“She went to Newbury last Tuesday, which was a good away day for her as she is quite excitable, and it just helped to burn off some of that freshness and excitement.
“We’ve had this race in mind since Aintree and she’s not missed a day. Her schooling at home has been excellent, her work at home has been excellent and we couldn’t be happier with her coming into this.
“She’s fit enough to do herself justice. Obviously she’ll come on for it after 230 days off the racetrack, but that’s going to be the same for anyone who hasn’t had a race.”
Marie’s Rock is set to face two veterans of the division in Paisley Park and Dashel Drasher – but while Palin is respectful of both, he is more than happy to take them on.
He added: “It’s kind of over to us now, isn’t it? We’ve got the established servants of the staying division in dear old Paisley Park and Dashel Drasher, who we know quite well as we’ve taken him on twice and come out the right side on both occasions.
“Both horses deserve the utmost respect, but the division is kind of crying out for a slightly younger gun to have their moment in the sun and Marie’s Rock seems the likely candidate at this stage.
“Whether that’s still the case at 3.08pm on Friday, we’ll have to wait and see, but I’m hugely excited about running her in this race, as are the team, and it should firmly establish where we are in the British staying pecking order.”
It is four years since Paisley Park struck gold in the Long Distance Hurdle and he has been placed in each of the three runnings since.
Emma Lavelle’s pride and joy is clearly in the twilight of his career at the age of 11, but the Wiltshire-based trainer is pleased with what she has seen at home in recent weeks.
She said: “He has just been such a star and is loving his training.
“He looks great and he went to Newbury for the press morning and had a lovely time just having a gallop round.
“He seems in really good shape but the proof is always in the running, so we will get him out and we will go and see what happens.
“He’s showing at home that he is loving what he is doing and we have had a good preparation. He schooled really well on Tuesday and was tanking along, so hopefully we will get a feel as to where we are.
“There are going to be horses in there with younger legs, but he has a heart of a lion. He is unbelievable how he keeps turning up and he loves his routine. It’s very special to have him and we will just decide race by race where we go.”
Unlike his two main rivals, Jeremy Scott’s Dashel Drasher is race-fit, having finished a creditable third on his seasonal debut in the West Yorkshire Hurdle at Wetherby four weeks ago.
Scott had hoped to run his stable star in last Saturday’s 1965 Chase at Ascot, but felt he would be unsuited by the drying ground over fences, so he instead sticks to the smaller obstacles in Berkshire.
Deborah Cole’s Flight Deck, the Paul Nicholls-trained Hugos New Horse and Mahons Glory from Patrick Neville’s yard complete the field.
Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall has criticised the “shameful” treatment of Owen Farrell in what he believes should be a wake-up call for the game.
Farrell will miss the Six Nations after deciding to take a break from international rugby in order to “prioritise his and his family’s mental well-being”, although he will continue to play club ruby.
The unexpected decision comes after the 32-year-old fly-half led England to a third-place finish in the recent World Cup after losing to champions South Africa by a point in the semi-final.
Farrell has long been a lightening rod figure in the sport, but the condemnation peaked in August when he was sent off for a dangerous tackle against Wales, a decision that was overturned by a disciplinary hearing only to then incur a ban on appeal.
England’s captain was frequently booed in France, sometimes with his family present in the stadium, and McCall is impressed that he delivered a series of strong performances despite shouldering a heavy burden.
“It’s remarkable that he played the way he played during the World Cup, if we take into account how he was feeling,” McCall said.
“He is a person who is right on top of his game at the moment, yet he and his family have been made to feel the way they feel. It is shameful. It’s not right.
“I’ve worked with Owen for 15 years, every day, and the person that has been portrayed in the media bears no resemblance to the person I know. He’s a family man, they’ve always come first.
“There was a narrative created and started and that’s been there for quite some time. There’s only so much that someone can take.
“On top of that, he’s a brilliant, caring, supportive team-mate and a loyal friend to many. And a very good, decent human being. That’s the person I know.
“It was courageous and brave of him to open up. I admire Owen for many reasons anyway, but even more for doing this.
“I’m not worried about Europe or the club at all. I’m worried about Owen. We want him to be OK and happy. Clearly he hasn’t been.”
It could be a key afternoon in the chasing career of Colonel Mustard as he bids to open his account up against Paul Nicholls’ Hermes Allen in the Coral John Francome Novices’ Chase at Newbury.
Lorna Fowler’s eight-year-old has come close to big-race success on raiding missions from Ireland in the past, most notably finishing third to State Man in the County Hurdle in 2022, while also picking up a silver medal in both the Morebattle Hurdle and Scottish Champion Hurdle earlier this year.
The most consistent of operators, he has finished outside the podium positions on only three occasions in 17 career starts.
However, he arrives in Berkshire for Grade Two action still a maiden over fences having bumped into some of the best novices around in Ireland, including at Down Royal on his seasonal debut, where Gordon Elliott’s Found A Fifty proved too good in a race where plenty of the obstacles were omitted.
“He’s in great form and I was very happy with him going into Down Royal,” explained Fowler.
“He was never going to beat that winner, but it was a very unsatisfactory race with so many of the jumps taken out. It not so much didn’t give me as many answers as I wanted, but more so the race I wanted to give him some experience.
“The run physically will have brought him and I think Newbury will suit him a lot.
“He does need to find his rhythm with his jumping and that will be key. I know it’s a pretty good race, but he is a classy horse and if he can pull himself together and get his jumping OK, then I think we’ve definitely got a chance.”
It will be just the third time Colonel Mustard has raced beyond the minimum two miles, but Fowler is confident a trip is now what he needs to put his best foot forward and break his fences duck at the fourth time of asking.
“I think the two and a half is important to him and I do think he stays,” she continued. “He has tried the trip twice and circumstances wouldn’t have seen him in his best light in both.
“Rachael (Blackmore) rode him at Down Royal and she seems to think he will stay and I’m very confident he will also.
“In terms of D-Day, he is going to have to produce it over fences, otherwise we are lucky to be able to go back over hurdles.
“I feel like he hasn’t had his best shot over fences yet, but it does need to happen otherwise we will be back over hurdles.”
Standing in Colonel Mustard’s way is Hermes Allen, with the Grade One scorer returning to the scene of his Challow Hurdle success as he starts life over the larger obstacles.
Although failing to make his mark at the spring festivals, he is tipped for big things over fences and his handler is keen to get him on course after a slight setback pushed back his original start date.
“We planned to start him over fences earlier this season until a minor foot issue put paid to that, but he is fine now and he will have benefitted from a racecourse gallop with Complete Unknown at Newbury early last week,” Nicholls told Betfair.
“Hermes Allen had a wind op in the summer and his schooling over fences at home has been very good, but given the time he lost, I’m sure we can get him fitter. I’m sure he can improve on whatever he does on Friday.
“He was a star for us last season with an impressive success in the Grade One Challow Hurdle at this course and could be exciting over fences.”
Sarah Humphrey is not a familiar name on the big days, but Nickle Back could put her name in lights if building on his two wide-margin victories over fences to date.
Humphrey said: “For a small yard to have a potentially top-class horse, it’s very exciting and a big deal for us.
“He was always going to be a chaser, but things didn’t go to plan for his novice hurdling year and then last season we were on a recovery mission from something else, but he was always going to be a chaser and the plan was always to go chasing, so I’m glad it has worked out so far.
“It’s all very well the handicapper giving him a high rating and obviously he has won his first two (chase outings) easily, but it’s a big step up in grade and class and the quality of horses he is against, so we will find a lot more about him.”
Marble Sands, trained in partnership by David Killahena and Graeme McPherson, was not disgraced in Graded contests over hurdles last term and impressed at Ayr on his chasing bow.
Nicky Henderson’s No Ordinary Joe was runner-up to Iroko at the Cheltenham Festival and with the form of that Martin Pipe working out extremely well, he also merits respect on his debut over fences.
Emma Lavelle’s Tightenourbelts completes the field following a taking 10-length romp on his introduction to the larger obstacles at Ludlow.
Kevin Sinfield will set out on his latest super-human fundraising feat from Headingley on Friday morning with no end in sight to the initiatives which have so far raised in excess of £8million for research into Motor Neurone Disease.
The 43-year-old openly questioned his ability to continue pounding the streets prior to his most recent ‘7 in 7’ ultramarathon challenge last year, but says the overwhelming public support he has encountered is enough to push him forward for the foreseeable future.
Sinfield’s latest quest will take him from Leeds to York Minster on the opening day before six more back-to-back runs that will include visits to Birmingham, Brighton, Edinburgh and, for the first time in his series of challenges, Dublin.
Sinfield said: “Whilst my knees keep going, I will continue to do my bit and even then, when my knees won’t work like they should, we will find different ways of trying to raise money and awareness.
“We have been part of something that has been pretty powerful over the last couple of years and we are massive humbled by it.
“Last time we thought we shouldn’t go again, (but) on average three times a day people will stop me and tell me somebody they know has MND or someone has passed with MND, and they want us to keep going.
“The plan was to do three, but we haven’t got a cure, and we feel we can make a better impact on people’s lives who have MND, so why would we stop?”
Sinfield started his fundraising quest in support of his Leeds Rhinos team-mate Rob Burrow in 2020, when he ran seven marathons in seven days, and the following year he ran 101 miles in under 24 hours from Welford Road in Leicester to Headingley.
Last year, his ‘7 in 7’ challenge concluded on the pitch at half-time during the men’s World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand at Old Trafford.
This year, Sinfield’s final leg will lead him from Twickenham Stadium to The Mall, the traditional finish of the London Marathon.
“I promised myself last time I did the London Marathon that I would enjoy the last stretch so I was able to take a fair bit in,” added Sinfield.
“It will be a bit different with cars and pedestrians, but when we get to that finish point, I am sure we will be pretty tired but pretty happy.”
Sheila Lewis has hailed the input of fellow Welsh trainer Evan Williams having seen Straw Fan Jack finish second in Ascot’s 1965 Chase.
Lewis has always aimed high with her leading light, taking in Grade Ones at both the Cheltenham Festival and Aintree last term and it was no different on the eight-year-old’s return to action as he lined up against Shishkin and Pic D’Orhy in the Ascot feature.
With Shishkin refusing to start as the tapes went up, Straw Fan Jack was initially positioned at the rear of the trio who jumped off, but moved up to give Pic D’Orhy a real fright turning for home before giving way and settling for the silver medal after the second last.
Lewis admits she briefly thought her charge might hit the jackpot and having secured prize-money of £16,202 by finishing second, is thankful to the advice of Llancarfan-handler Williams who suggested targeting this race following the success of his own Coole Cody at Ascot in 2022.
“He was brilliant wasn’t he,” said Lewis. “For one minute it did cross my mind, ‘God, what if we won’.
“Evan Williams is always great at giving me advice and he said ‘what are you going to do with Jack?’ and I said ‘I suppose the Paddy Power Gold Cup’.
“He told me ‘I would stay clear of that for the minute and go to Kempton and Ascot for those Graded races. You might be coming up against a Nicholls hotpot but you are running for good money and running some nice races without putting a gun to his head’.
“We’ve picked up £15,000 for finishing second (at Ascot) and that is brilliant for my owners.”
Lewis will now continue to heed Williams’ advice, with Straw Fan Jack set to ply his trade in Graded company and races like Kempton’s Coral Silviniaco Conti Chase (January 13) entering calculations for the early part of 2024.
“We will probably stay down that route and I don’t think the handicapper will be too harsh on him,” she continued.
“Evan said to maybe follow the same route as Coole Cody and when he gets another year older he will be stronger and still lightly-raced and he might be able to go for some of the bigger races.
“He’s a very wise man Evan and he’s given me a lot of advice with me being relatively new to it all. He’s been very kind to me like that.”
The trainer – who previously combined running a beauty salon with training her string before turning her attention solely to racing – also anticipates improvement from Straw Fan Jack having struggled to get some serious work into her star chaser prior to his Ascot reappearance.
“I’ve struggled a bit this year as I have a sand circular gallop and you can only do so much,” explained Lewis.
“The rest of the time I have a really steep farmer’s field I go in and because of this weather it has been really, really heavy. I’ve kind of struggled workwise to get him really bang on, but he didn’t disappoint, he stayed on right to the line.
“I definitely think he will come on for the run because of the way he went, Sean (Houlihan, jockey) had to get after him a little bit.
“It wouldn’t have suited him by trailing behind for a while and then he was second and he could have done with someone upsides him to help him travel a bit better. So I would expect him to improve and I’m not saying improve enough to beat the likes of Pic D’Orhy, but he will come on for the run.”
Whether that improvement brings big-race success or not, for now the Brecon handler is content to keep enjoying the big occasions having switched her beautician’s tunic for winter afternoons chasing victories at some of the UK’s biggest racecourses.
Lewis added: “Last year when we went for the Arkle and the Grade One in Aintree we were picking up good prize-money for fourth and for a small yard to have a horse like this, you normally have to spend hundreds of thousands. So we are just enjoying the big days and whatever happens is a bonus.
“To have a horse like that and go to these places is a dream. When I set out in my training career I didn’t set out to be the next Venetia Williams or anything, but what I did wish for was one really lovely horse to take me to some nice places and live the dream for a while.”
Officials at Newbury will stage a precautionary inspection at 7.30am to decide whether day one of the track’s Coral Gold Cup meeting on Friday can go ahead as scheduled.
The Berkshire circuit is due to host to a quality two-day fixture, with Grade Two honours up for grabs in both the Coral Long Distance Hurdle and the John Francome Novices’ Chase on Friday’s card.
Ground staff covered the entire course earlier this week in an attempt to guard against the cold snap – but while conditions were described as raceable on Thursday morning, a forecast for another night of sub-zero temperatures has prompted clerk of the course George Hill to call an early-morning check.
It is a similar story ahead of Doncaster’s National Hunt meeting on Friday, with a precautionary inspection also set to take place at 7.30am on Town Moor.
Clerk of the course Paul Barker said: “We’d race today, but temperatures are due to drop again this evening, lower than they’ve been for the last two nights, and daytime temperatures tomorrow aren’t as warm as they are today.
“There’s a chance of wintry showers this evening, so fingers crossed we get a bit of cloud cover which will help us stay above freezing.
“We dropped just below freezing last night and tonight we’re due to get down to minus 2C and temperatures are going to struggle to get above 2C by lunchtime.
“It’s only right we look at it in the morning and see what’s happened overnight.”
A full programme of racing is set to take place on Thursday after jumps meetings at Lingfield and Taunton passed morning inspections.
Ty Lue enthused "that's what it should look like" after the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Sacramento Kings 131-117 on Wednesday.
The Clippers have yet to fully gel since the arrival of James Harden in a blockbuster trade from the Philadelphia 76ers, but they bounced back from a loss to the Denver Nuggets in style.
Kawhi Leonard and Harden combined for 60 points, with the latter providing six assists, as the Clippers eased to a victory that took them 10th in the Western Conference.
"That's what it should look like, guys," Lue said. "That's what it should look like right there. Now, we've got to duplicate it again and again and again."
Harden finished with 26 points, and nailed five of his eight 3-pointer attempts.
"I think James just wanted to prove to y'all that he is James Harden. And so he can do that on a nightly basis," added Lue.
Harden said: "I live in the real world, where I control what I can control, focus on what I got to do every single day and that's all I can control."
One consistent performer so far for the Clippers has been Kawhi Leonard, who has played in all 17 games this season.
"I mean it was years trying to get through that wall," Leonard said.
"I've been dealing with this right knee injury for a while, since 2016-17, even going through the Raptors' [championship] run, that being my first year going so far [in the playoffs with knee issues], just put another toll on it.
"Now I feel good coming out of games and I don't feel anything. So just want to keep going and that's my goal is just to stay healthy and the rest will play itself out."
Next up for the Clippers is a meeting with the Golden State Warriors, who are one place below them in the West.
Equinox, the world’s highest-rated racehorse, has been retired to stud.
The four-year-old was a stunning winner of the Japan Cup in Tokyo last Sunday, showing an electric turn of foot to win by four lengths from a field full of previous Group and Grade One winners.
That victory saw Tetsuya Kimuda’s charge extend his winning streak to six, with the son of Kitasan Black last suffering defeat when edged out in the Japanese Derby in May of last year.
Equinox has since won two editions of the Tenno Sho (Autumn), the Arima Kinen and Takarazuka Kinen at home, with his sole international success coming in the Dubai Sheema Classic back in March, when he easily accounted for Ralph Beckett’s dual Group One winner Westover by three and a half lengths.
The colt retires having won more than £14million in prize money and his regular rider Christophe Lemaire paid tribute in a social media post illustrated with a picture of the pair after their latest Tokyo victory.
He posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Equinox: ‘keep safe guys, I did my time!’ Christophe: ‘you reached the top partner, retirement well deserved. Enjoy! And thank you.'”
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