HORSE RACING
Zenyatta wins annual award
Prolific mare Zenyatta has won Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards, besting the only horse ever to beat her on the track. The award win on Monday caps a remarkable career for the popular Zenyatta, one of the sport’s greatest mares. She won 19 races without loss before losing her final race to Blame in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November last year. Zenyatta’s three-year body of work and charismatic personality swayed voters. She cost owners Jerry and Ann Moss only US$60,000 when they purchased her as a yearling in 2005 and she went on to win 13 Grade 1 stakes, including five last year.
SOCCER
Babel fined for tweets
Liverpool winger Ryan Babel has been fined £10,000 (US$16,000) by England’s Football Association over a series of Twitter postings that criticized a Premier League referee. Having already accepted a charge of improper conduct, Babel was also warned about his future conduct. The Netherlands international posted a digitally altered picture of referee Howard Webb wearing a Manchester United shirt after being angered by the decisions in Liverpool’s 1-0 loss at Old Trafford in the FA Cup last weekend. Roger Burden, the chairman of the FA’s regulatory commission, says that “social network sites, like Twitter, must be regarded as being in the public domain.”
GOLF
Love, Olazabal set to captain
Davis Love III is set to be named the next captain of the US Ryder Cup team. Two officials involved in the selection process confirmed that Love will be the captain in 2012. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the official announcement is not due until on Thursday. Jose Maria Olazabal was appointed Europe’s captain for the 2012 competition yesterday. Love played on six US teams and he faced Olazabal in his first Ryder Cup match in 1993 at The Belfry. Love and Tom Kite defeated Olazabal and Seve Ballesteros in that opening session, although Olazabal’s team won the other four times they played.
SAILING
Team Aqua starts strong
US sailor Don Wilson skippered Team Aqua to two first-place wins in the RC 44 class on Monday, during the initial day of racing at the five-day Key West, Florida, sailing regatta. Reigning America’s Cup skipper Russell Coutts of New Zealand, in Oracle Racing, is tied for second with Vincenzo Onorato’s Mascalzone Latino. Coutts is competing against Onorato, whose Italian syndicate is serving as challenger of record for the 34th America’s Cup in 2013. In Mini Maxi class, 1992 America’s Cup champion Bill Koch steered Titan to second and first-place wins to take a two-point lead ahead of Bella Mente, skippered by Hap Fauth. Jim Richardson has Barking Mad at the top of the Farr 30 leaderboard.
FOOTBALL
Favre files for retirement
Brett Favre is following through on his vow to finally end his career after 20 seasons, filing his retirement papers with the NFL. League spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed on Monday that the Minnesota quarterback had filed his retirement papers. The 41-year-old Favre has filed retirement papers previously, of course, and could request reinstatement at any time. He said he was done in 2008 with the Packers and 2009 with the Jets, only to join the Vikings and play two more years. After an age-defying performance last season, Favre slumped badly the season.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB