CHRISTMAS is a time for wishes and I must say most of them seem to come true as far as sport in Bolton is concerned.

But there is still one I can’t say I’ll be truly happy as a lover of sport in the town until it comes true.

We’ve got partakers in every sport in Bolton it seems except one – horse racing.

I can’t grumble at what we do have though, especially not at this time of year when you should be grateful for what you do have.

But here’s my Bolton sporting wish list anyway.

My wish for Bolton Wanderers isn’t that they get promoted – although that would be very nice – but that they finally disperse all the clouds of uncertainty over their financial future once and for all.

I’d take five more seasons in the third division if it meant the club was debt-free and self-funded.

With a bigger fanbase and income that brings than almost all the opposition in this division it would only be a matter of time before they would be knocking on the door of promotion with a secure future guaranteed.

My second wish would be that Amir Khan gets back in the ring and in the boxing limelight where he truly belongs.

I would love him to fight and beat Kell Brook this year then regain a world title. A lot of fighters with far less talent than him have become world champions.

Still on boxing we’ve got one of the world’s most successful stables based in Bolton in trainer Joe Gallagher’s group based at Gloves Gym.

They include the Smith brothers, Anthony Crolla and Bury’s Scott Quigg. I wish more people to know of this Bolton success.

And just down Halliwell Road, Elite Gym is producing two up-and-coming professionals. Jack Flatley and Osman Aslam have both had a superb start to their professional careers with seven or eight wins. Long may it continue.

My wish for local cricket is that the Bolton League continue as a strong independent league and none of its 20 members encounter any thoughts of joining the year-old Greater Manchester League.

A further wish would be that Egerton Cricket Club – the only Bolton club to have left to join the GM League – return to make it a full set of the town’s long-standing clubs in the Bolton League once again.

In amateur football I wish Bolton’s many clubs played in the same league rather than travel all over the North West and Cumbria.

Something on the lines of the old Bolton Combination would do nicely with promotion direct to the North West Counties League. We’ve got the quality.

In running I wish the Bolton Half Marathon, which had its first running this year, is a success again next year and then expands into including a full marathon in 2018.

There are so many more wishes I could make but as someone who wants to see Bolton involvement in all sports there is one which overrides all others.

In 29 years on the sports desk I have never known of a jockey to come from Bolton.

So if I could only have one wish for Christmas it is that we finally get one.