Saturday, October 9, 2004
Bejarano wins both Keeneland stakes races
Digest
Enquirer staff and wire reports
Runway Model scored a major upset Friday in the $400,000 Grade II Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland, surging in the final strides to post a narrow victory under Rafael Bejarano.
Runway Model edged Sharp Lisa by a head, with In the Gold and Dance Away Capote less than a length behind. Runway Model, who finished second in the River Downs Pepsi Bassinet and the Arlington-Washington Lassie, will run next in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Oct. 30 at Lone Star Park in Dallas.
Bejarano, the nation's leading jockey in wins this year, also guided Champali to victory in the $271,250, Grade III Phoenix Breeders' Cup earlier before 18,681, the largest crowd for a Friday opening in the fall meet.
• Azeri, 2002 Horse of the Year and 2003 older filly and mare champion, heads a field of seven in Sunday's Grade I Spinster Stakes.
TURFWAY PARK: Bejarano added the fall meet crown to his string of riding titles at the Florence track since last fall. The Peruvian finished with 35 wins, 29 seconds and 25 thirds from 146 mounts.
MEADOWLANDS CUP: Balto Star won the $500,000 race and created a bit of Breeders' Cup dilemma for trainer Todd Pletcher. He must decide whether to start the gelding, who runs well on both dirt and grass, in the Breeders' Cup Classic or Breeders' Cup Turf.
Auto racing
Earnhardt says penalty too harsh: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is still smarting
from the penalty that knocked him out of first place in NASCAR's Nextel Cup
series after
he cursed during a live TV interview last weekend. He was fined $10,000 and
docked 25 points, leaving him 12 points behind new leader Kurt Busch entering
Sunday's Banquet 400 at Kansas City, Kan. "I understand that it was a mistake," Earnhardt
(above) said. "It wasn't anything that I intentionally planned to say. I just
think the punishment was a little bit more severe than the crime." His team
has appealed the points portion of the penalty, but Earnhardt said the ordeal
is a lesson. "I just learned to control myself better," he said. "It's kind
of difficult in those situations. ... But that's the rules and, unfortunately,
we've got to play by every one of them, not just a few."
Basketball
Documents out on Bryant case: The woman who accused NBA star Kobe
Bryant of assault called her mother the day after the incident and begged her
to come
home. There, the woman said: "Mom, I was raped last night," according to previously
sealed documents released Friday in Eagle, Colo. "I could tell something was
wrong. She kind of mumbled things and the way she walked in, her tone of voice," the
mother said during a conversation with an unidentified investigator in August
2003, little more than a month after the alleged attack at a Vail-area resort.
After telling her mother she had been raped, the woman said it was by Bryant.
The 26-year-old Lakers star has said the sex was consensual. Prosecutors dropped
the felony sexual assault charge when the woman said she did not want to participate
in a trial, but a civil case is pending.
College basketball
'Madness' tickets set for sale at UK: Tickets for the University of
Kentucky's annual Big Blue Madness will be available at 7 a.m. today at ukathletics.com
or at the Memorial Coliseum ticket office in Lexington. Tickets are free for
the basketball season kickoff event Oct. 15. Online orders, however, come
with a $2 service fee per order. There is a limit of two tickets per order.
XAVIER: The Musketeers won their first game under new head coach Sean Miller, a 96-88 exhibition victory Thursday over the Coca-Cola Explorers in Nassau. Sophomore forward Justin Doellman and senior swingman Keith Jackson paced XU with 22 and 19 points. The Muskies conclude their trip with a game tonight.
CINCINNATI: Former Anderson High star Ryan Patzwald has joined the Bearcats as a walk-on. The 5-foot-11, freshman guard averaged 17 points, 6.0 assists and 3.8 rebounds last year at Anderson. He was Fort. Ancient Valley Conference player of the year, first-team all-area and third-team all-state.
OHIO STATE: J.J. Sullinger was disciplined for being charged with drunken driving, but there are no plans to suspend him for any games, coach Thad Matta said.
ST. X COMMITMENT: Greg Sweeney, a senior at St. Xavier, has given an oral commitment to Rollins College (Fla.). The 6-6, 230-pound forward missed most of last season with injuries.
College hockey
Miami plays Northeastern at 7:35 p.m. today, after Michigan meets Boston U. at 4:35 p.m.
Windsong's Legacy is the 8-5 early favorite for the mile race. The last winner of the three legs of the triple - the Hambletonian, Yonkers Trot and Kentucky Futurity - was Super Bowl in 1972.
• Los Angeles Sparks center Lisa Leslie was selected the WNBA's MVP for the second time.
