Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
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Distaff Ashado surges on the backstretch to win the Distaff, giving trainer Todd Pletcher his first Breeders’ Cup victory. |
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Ashado grabbed the lead in the stretch and got the Breeders’ Cup off to a rousing start for trainer Todd Pletcher by winning the $2 million Distaff at Lone Star Park on Saturday.
Pletcher came into the eight-race, $14 million Breeders’ Cup with an 0-for-12 record, but Ashado held off Storm Flag Flying by 1¼ lengths to move to the head of the 3-year-old filly division.
As Ashado came flying down the stretch, the usually reserved Pletcher pumped his fist, urged on jockey John Velazquez with a “Go, Johnny, go!” and exchanged high fives with family and friends in the box seats.
“That was a special one,” Pletcher, the nation’s leading trainer, said. “You’re always anxious to get that first one out of the way.”
Ashado won for the fifth time in eight starts this year, and earned $1,040,000 for owners Starlight Stable, Paul Saylor and John Martens. The filly has never finished worse than third in 14 career races, and boosted her career earnings to $2,870,440.
Ashado went off as the 2-1 favorite in the 11-horse field and returned $6 to win. Winning time for the 1 1/8 miles was 1:48.26.
The complexion of the race changed earlier this week when the great mare Azeri, who would have been the heavy favorite, was entered instead in the $4 million Classic.
Storm Flag Flying, in her farewell race, was trying to become the first horse to win two different Breeders’ Cup races. The 4-year-old filly won the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Stellar Jayne, trained by Pletcher’s former boss D. Wayne Lukas, was third, followed by Tamweel, Island Fashion, Indy Groove, Elloluv, Nebraska Tornado, Society Selection, Hollywood Story and Bare Necessities.
The Distaff was the first Grade 1 race ever run at Lone Star Park.
The first of three pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager begins its three-day run on Friday and the bet's opening scenario is very similar to each of its opening pools since the wager was created in 1999.
It's first time that Classic will be broadcast in primetime on Nov. 3.
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 | Derby celebs Plenty of stars from the entertainment and sports world attend the 136th Kentucky Derby. more photos |
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 | Triple Crown winners The horses that have won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in the same year. |
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.