Enquirer staff and wire reports

Trainer Nick Zito knew Birdstone won few fans with a victory over Smarty Jones at the Belmont Stakes.

But Zito believes the little colt earned a bit of respect Saturday, winning the $1 million Travers in the rain at Saratoga Race Course.

"Birdstone proved to a lot of people today - and I don't want to be a jerk about this because you've got to be humble - but a lot of people thought that that Belmont Stakes was a fluke," Zito said. "Well, guess what? It wasn't a fluke."

Birdstone beat stablemate The Cliff's Edge by 2 1/2 lengths, staking his claim as the class of the 3-year-old thoroughbreds.

Birdstone delivered Zito his first win in 12 tries at the Travers. The trainer also picked up his first victory in the Belmont after 11 tries when Birdstone spoiled Smarty Jones' bid for the Triple Crown.

The colt, son of 1996 Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone, became Saratoga socialite Marylou Whitney's first Travers champion. Her late husband, C.V. Whitney, won the Travers, the oldest stakes race for 3-year-olds in its 135th running, three times. Marylou Whitney owns Birdstone with her current husband, John Hendrickson.

"God came out and did all this thunder and lightning to sort of congratulate us with that wonderful horse," Marylou Whitney said.

Birdstone covered the 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.45 and paid $11.60, $5.70 and $4.

• In the Grade 1, $250,000 King's Bishop for 3-year-olds, Pomeroy beat Weigelia by 1 1/2 lengths. Medallist, the favorite, fell off the pace halfway through the 7-furlong race.

Hockey

WORLD CUP: Forget all that talk about Team USA having goalie problems.

Robert Esche and Rick DiPietro combined on a shutout, and John-Michael Liles arrived just in time to score a goal to lead the defending champion Americans to a 2-0 victory over Russia Friday night in their final exhibition game at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

Brett Hull added a power-play goal for the United States, which split a pair of exhibition games with Canada before beating Russia. The Americans will open World Cup play Tuesday night against in Montreal.

Critics said the Americans' weakest position was goalie, where three youngsters (Ty Conklin is the third) are playing international hockey for the first time.

"Now we've got some tough decisions to make, such as who will start in Montreal next week," coach Ron Wilson said.

Top players on the teams playing in the eight-nation tournament, which begins Monday and ends Sept. 14:

European Division

Czech Republic: Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers; Milan Hejduk, Colorado; Patrik Elias, New Jersey.

Finland: Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary; Saku Koivu, Montreal; Olli Jokinen, Florida.

Germany: Olaf Kolzig, Washington.

Sweden: Peter Forsberg, Colorado; Mats Sundin, Toronto; Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa.

North American Division

Canada: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh; Jarome Iginla, Calgary; Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay; Martin Brodeur, New Jersey.

Russia: Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta; Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit; Sergei Gonchar, Boston.

Slovakia: Marian Hossa, Ottawa; Marian Gaborik, Minnesota; Zdeno Chara, Ottawa.

United States: Mike Modano, Dallas; Keith Tkachuk, St. Louis; Brett Hull, Phoenix.

Colleges

UK FOOTBALL: A pair of players are scheduled to appear in court Sept. 14 after being cited this summer for indecent exposure.

Offensive linemen Casey Shumate and Eric Klope were cited for two counts each of indecent exposure. Another UK player cited in the incident, fullback Joe Razzano, a Milford High graduate, voluntarily left the team before the start of fall practice earlier this month.

IU BASKETBALL: Six months after dropping a lawsuit that accused Indiana University of improperly firing him as its basketball coach, Bob Knight is suing IU again - this time over his court battle with a former assistant coach.

Knight's lawsuit was filed Thursday in Marion County in Indianapolis, naming IU and Indiana Insurance Co. as defendants. The lawsuit accuses the university and the company of breach of contract and other offenses for failing to cover his legal expenses after he was sued by former assistant Ron Felling.

Soccer

MLS: Matt Reis had seven saves for the New England Revolution, who played to a 0-0 tie with D.C. United.

United (6-8-9) had their best scoring chance denied in the 32nd minute when Reis stopped a shot by Josh Gros. Reis also saved a short-side header by Jaime Moreno in the 70th minute.

The Revolution (5-9-9) missed their best chance in injury time, when Taylor Twellman blasted a shot off the crossbar. United keeper Troy Perkins had two saves.

United, who outshot New England 12-6, remains in third place and three points ahead of the Revolution in the Eastern Conference with seven games remaining.