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5401. wabbit - 3/4/2007 7:17:27 PM  Scat Daddy established himself as a top Kentucky Derby contender Saturday with a narrow victory in the Fountain of Youth Stakes. The 3-year-old colt closed with a rush to edge Stormello by a nose, capping a big day at Gulfstream Park for trainer Todd Pletcher. Earlier, Pletcher's King of the Roxy won the Hutcheson Stakes, another Derby prep race. It was quite a day for Pletcher, too. Of the nine 3-year-olds he ran, five won, two placed second and one finished third. Pletcher leads all trainers with 32 horses nominated for the Triple Crown this year, and Scat Daddy may give the trainer his best chance to win his first Derby. Odds-on favorite Nobiz Like Shobiz, who was considered the top Derby contender, finished third in the nine-horse field, beaten by half-length. Scat Daddy, ridden by John Velazquez, won in 1:49.11 and paid $13.80, $6.20 and $2.80. Stormello, sent cross-country to take on the best in the East, returned $6.20 and $3. Nobiz Like Shobiz, trained by Barclay Tagg, paid $2.10 to show. Adore the Gold, who took a brief lead from pacesetter Stormello at the top of the stretch, finished fourth running from the outside post. The colt is trainer Michael Gorham's first Derby contender.
Back in his home state, Lava Man won the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap for the second consecutive year Saturday, burnishing his reputation as the most prosperous claiming horse in racing history. Lava Man joined John Henry and Milwaukee Brew as the only two-time winners of Santa Anita's richest race. Sticking to his habit of stalking the pace, Lava Man took the lead going into the stretch and defeated Molengao by three-quarters of a length. Lava Man paid $3.20, $2.60 and $2.10 as the 3-5 wagering favorite in the field of eight. Brazil-bred Molengao returned $4.40 and $3.20, while Boboman was another 1 1/2 lengths back in third. Lava Man carried high weight of 124 pounds, including jockey Corey Nakatani.
5402. wabbit - 3/4/2007 7:18:27 PM  The Iditarod has begun with yesterday's ceremonial start. The Ceremonial Start is a hold over from the early days of Iditarod when mushers actually departed Anchorage for Nome. The practical considerations of new roads and trails make it impossible to start from Ancorage now, so there is an 11 mile ceremonial run through downtown Anchorage the day before today's real start in Willow, Alaska. While the Ceremonial Start is not timed, each competing musher must appear with a team of twelve dogs. This year the Ancorage leg included a memorial to four-time winner Susan Butcher, who died last August of leukemia.
2007 Mushers | clickable trail map | learn about the Iditarod
5403. wonkers2 - 3/16/2007 1:00:40 AM R.I.P. Bowie Kuhn Bowie Kuhn 5404. wabbit - 3/16/2007 4:40:04 PM  More on Bowie Kuhn.
5405. wabbit - 3/16/2007 4:41:05 PM 
Lance Mackey won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Tuesday night, becoming the first musher to win major long-distance North American sled dog races back-to-back. Mackey crossed under the famed burled arch in downtown Nome, Alaska, early evening March 13, completing the 1,100-mile Iditarod in just over nine days. On Feb. 20, Mackey won his third consecutive Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, a 1,000 mile race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, Yukon. Mackey, 36, joins his father, Dick, and brother, Rick, as Iditarod champions.
5406. wabbit - 3/16/2007 4:42:41 PM  I'm guessing that 80% of people with brackets filled in had Duke picked to win their first round game. Oops. For the first time since 1996, the second round of the N.C.A.A. tournament will not include Duke. With the score tied at 77-77, and a little more than 10 seconds to play, Eric Maynor calmly dribbled down the floor. He made a pull-up jumper from the free-throw line with 1.8 seconds to play that gave Virginia Commonwealth a 79-77 victory over Duke in the opening round of the West Region.
Shan Foster blocked Maureece Rice's jump shot with a leaping flourish, yet still had time to outrun George Washington's top player downcourt and hit a 3-pointer for Vanderbilt. Derrick Byars hit another 3-pointer in the Commodores' first-half barrage a moment later, and Foster couldn't hide his glee as he ran upcourt with a 20-point lead...Vanderbilt unveiled a top talent to the nation in its 77-44 win over George Washington on Thursday - and it wasn't Byars, the SEC's player of the year. Foster was the shouting, shooting star of the show, scoring 18 points and keying a dominant defensive effort as the Commodores rolled in the East Regional. Vanderbilt (21-11) will face Washington State in the second round Saturday after the sixth-seeded Commodores' surprisingly easy victory in their first NCAA tournament game since 2004, when they reached the round of 16.
Pittsburgh was just too big, too strong, and too accurate for Wright State. The Panthers, ousted in the first round seven times in 18 previous appearances in the NCAA tournament, hit 10 of 21 3-pointers, repeatedly muscled the Raiders away from the basket, and beat them 79-58 on Thursday night. Pittsburgh defeated both Marquette and Louisville in last week's Big East tournament before suffering a humbling 65-42 loss to Georgetown in the title game. It was Pitt's lowest point total of the season and its most lopsided loss in seven years.
NCAA Basketball - Mens | Womens
5407. alistairConnor - 3/17/2007 4:12:58 PM Last afternoon of the annual Six Nations rugby tournament. Three teams can win it.
It's been a year of three giants -- France, Ireland, England -- and three minnows -- Wales, Scotland, Italy.
It was not always thus - Scotland and Wales have each had their days of glory; but both were beaten this year by relative newcomer Italy.
France were fancied for the Grand Slam, but came unstuck against a rejuvenated England. Ireland are a nearly perfect team -- they took England to pieces in Dublin, in a historic whitewash which was the best game of the tournament -- but lack depth of talent, and stall when key players are missing.
So, the Big Three have four wins each, and are playing the little guys this afternoon. Italy were holding up well against Ireland until I started watching ... they just ran in a seventh try, they are leading 46-12.
This is bad news for France, who will have to beat Scotland by an equivalent margin to win the tournament.
It certainly puts England out of the running, they would need to beat Wales by about 60 points to have a chance of being Six Nations champion. 5408. alistairConnor - 3/17/2007 4:52:32 PM Macnas pretends he never knew Ireland had a national cricket team...
They are currently playing in the World Cup, for the first time, in the West Indies.
After their draw with Zimbabwe yesterday, their best-ever international result, they are currently playing Pakistan, one of the favourites for the World Cup... St Patrick's Day seems to be bringing them luck : the Irish bowlers are making trouble for the Pakistanis. 60 for 4 after 15 overs... 5409. alistairConnor - 3/17/2007 5:54:49 PM The doughty Scots are putting up a hell of a fight, but now in the middle of the second half, France has made the break... 39-14 at the moment, which is enough to give us the championship.
But it's not over yet... 5410. alistairConnor - 3/17/2007 6:01:22 PM Meanwhile, the Irish are giving Pakistan a real hammering! They have taken lost eight wickets, no, NINE! as I write... after only 30 overs, and have a measly 105 runs on the board... The Irish might have a sniff of a huge upset here, if their batting can rise to the occasion.
Being too cheap for satellite TV, I'm reduced to "watching" the match in Flash animation... 5411. alistairConnor - 3/17/2007 6:09:35 PM Tense final minutes in the France-Scotland match... the Scots have kicked a penalty, which brings them back to only 20 points behind, which would give the championship back to the Irish... We're down to the last minnute of the match, scrum 5 metres from the Scottish line... 5412. alistairConnor - 3/17/2007 6:10:58 PM We crossed the line, the referee has asked for video to see if there's a try... 5413. alistairConnor - 3/17/2007 6:12:16 PM Twenty guys in a heap... did a French player press the ball down? really hard to say!
And the decision is??? 5414. alistairConnor - 3/17/2007 6:13:52 PM Yes!
And converted it too! 5415. alistairConnor - 3/17/2007 6:25:22 PM Oh of course England could whitewash Wales by 50 points or so, in which case they win the 6 Nations...
But I think not. We shall see. Ought to be the best of the three matches, the Welsh can be great or awful. 5416. alistairConnor - 3/17/2007 11:57:44 PM We're down to the last overs of the Pakistan/Ireland cricket match....
And Ireland are going to win it!!!!
Unfrigginbelievable. 5417. alistairConnor - 3/18/2007 12:03:40 AM Yes Ireland have won...
In the process, knocking Pakistan, who had been one of the favourites, out of the World Cup!
This is some sort of compensation for not winning the Six Nations. Happy St Patrick's day indeed! 5418. jexster - 3/18/2007 3:26:01 AM 
5419. alistairConnor - 3/18/2007 7:43:21 PM Coda to the Six Nations rugby championship :
The last match was England-Wales. The Welsh have lost all their other matches, and desperately wanted to avoid the humiliation of the "wooden spoon", prize for sixth place. The English wanting to confirm their renaissance, and to position themselves to convincingly defend their title in this autumn's World Cup in France.
Wales 27 - England 18. I'm in love. 5420. alistairConnor - 3/18/2007 10:04:12 PM None of the above has any bearing on who will win the World Cup.
It's New Zealand. Barring nuclear war or something.
Just looking at the match schedule. I really must take the girls to see one of the games.
Possibilities :
In Lyon :
Australia Japan
Argentina Georgia
New Zealand Repechage 1 (Tonga I think)
In Saint Etienne :
Scotland Repechage 1 (Uruguay or Portugal!)
Samoa USA
Scotland Italy
These last two are perhaps the most interesting, in terms of being fairly even matches.
Yes, I think Samoa-USA could be a fun match to see.
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