Enquirer staff, wire services

FLORENCE, Ky. - Handicapper Mike Battaglia made Bob Baffert-trained Congaree a 4-5 favorite Thursday to beat Murray Johnson-trained Perfect Drift and win the 10th Kentucky Cup Classic Saturday at Turfway Park.

Post time for the first of 10 live and four simulcast races of the Kentucky Cup Day of Champions is 1:10 p.m. Post time for the Classic, which will be televised by Fox Sports Net, is 5:37 p.m.

Battaglia said he expects 8-1 Crafty Shaw to set the early pace in the five-horse race, but he predicted Congaree and 6-5 Perfect Drift will turn it into a two-horse war down the home stretch.

"They are evenly matched," Battaglia said. "... Either Congaree or Perfect Drift could be among the favorites for the Breeders' Cup Classic (Oct. 5 at Santa Anita)."

Congaree, a 5-year-old chestnut, has won four-of-six starts this year. Perfect Drift won last year's Lane's End Spiral Stakes (Grade II) at Turfway, then finished third in the Kentucky Derby (Grade I).

Edgar Prado will ride Congaree for the first time. Pat Day will ride Perfect Drift.

George Rorrer

Colleges

OSU HALL: It has been a busy year for synchronized swimmer Becky Jasontek. She qualified for the 2004 Olympics, competed in the world championships and - two weeks ago Saturday - got married.

Yet the Loveland native, a veteran of 12 U.S. national teams, doesn't diminish the significance of being inducted tonight in the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.

"It was so thrilling to hear that," she said. "There's so many wonderful athletes that come out of Ohio State. To be considered one of the best is a huge honor."

Middletown High alum Cris Carter, named to OSU's football All-Century team in 2000, also will be among the 11 athletes inducted tonight.

Carter will be at Ohio Stadium when the inductees are honored at halftime of OSU's game against North Carolina State on Saturday.

Jasontek, 28, was a four-time All-American and the 1996 Collegiate Synchronized Swimmer of the Year. She won four national team championships, three duet titles and three trio titles.

Carter, 37, was a first-team All-American in 1986 and totaled 168 catches for 2,725 yards and 27 touchdowns in three seasons. He had a stellar 15-year NFL career and ranks second on the NFL's career list for catches (1,101) and receiving TDs (130).

Neil Schmidt

Golf

SENIOR AM: Kemp Richardson, 57, rallied from two holes down with three to play Thursday and won the USGA Senior Amateur in a one-hole playoff. It's his second Senior Am championship.

LANCOME TROPHY: Retief Goosen shot an 8-under-par 63 Thursday to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Lancome Trophy.

Basketball

JAZZ: Utah signed restricted free agent guard Jason Terry to an offer sheet Thursday, hoping to fill the void left by the retired John Stockton.

Terry, a first-round draft pick out of Arizona in 1999, has spent his four NBA seasons with Atlanta, averaging 16.1 points and 5.6 assists.

College football

MICHIGAN: Safety Marlin Jackson was sentenced to a year's probation Thursday and ordered to spend 10 days in a jail work program for hitting a student at a party.

TCU: Running back Ricky Madison will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery Thursday to repair a torn knee ligament.