ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 2021 SPORTS 14

Gamine holds off Lake Avenue in Grade I Ballerina Essential Quality wins 152nd running of Travers Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y., Aug Travers and Whitney in the same year 29, (AP): winner Es- with different horses. Gaver won the sential Quality won the $1.25 million 1942 Travers with and the Travers Stakes, holding off Midnight Whitney with Swing and Sway. James Bourbon in a stirring stretch duel at G. Rowe, Jr. was the fi rst, winning the Saratoga Race Course for his eighth Travers with and Whit- victory in nine career starts. ney with St. Brideaux in 1931. The 152nd running of the so-called Essential Quality is the fi rst horse Mid-Summer Derby had a fi eld of to complete the Jim Dandy-Travers seven 3-year-olds, and only Midnight in a decade, since Alpha dead- Bourbon, the runner-up in the Preak- heated with Golden Ticket in 2012. ness, offered a challenge for the reign- He’s also the 29th horse to pull off ing 2-year-old champion. The two led the Belmont-Travers double, the 10th the fi eld from the gate, with Midnight Juvenile cham- Bourbon setting the pace. He was pion to win the ahead by as much as 3 1/2 lengths Travers, and down the back stretch before Essential fi rst since Street Quality began to close. Sense in 2007. Nine of the past 13 Travers winners, includ- ing the last six Jockey pulled Essential in a row, en- Quality even at the top of the stretch tered the Trav- and the two battled side by side to the ers coming off a wire, with Essential Quality winning Saez victory. by a neck over Midnight Bourbon and The Trav- jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. ers was sixth and fi nal Grade I stakes The gray son of covered the 1 race Saturday. The others: in the 43rd 1/4 miles in 2 minutes, 1.96 seconds on running of the $500,000 Ballerina for a track that was labeled as fast despite fi llies and mares 3 years old and up, an intermittent drizzle. Miles D, with heavily favored Gamine, trained by jockey Flavien Prat aboard, was third. Bob Baffert, won for the ninth time Essential Quality has never had a in 10 starts, leading wire-to-wire and bad race. His wide trip in the Kentucky easily holding off Lake Avenue by Derby in May - he fi nished fourth - is 1 3/4 lengths in a light, steady driz- the only blemish on that sterling re- zle; Yaupon edged Firenze Fire by a cord. Just like Saturday, Essential head to win the 42nd running of the Quality displayed grit in winning the $600,000 Forego for 4-year-olds and Jim Dandy four weeks ago, storming up; Jackie’s Warrior edged Life Is In a photo provided by the New York Racing Association, Essential Quality (2 in blue), with jockey Luis Saez, rounds a turn next to Midnight Bourbon, (right from behind at the top of the stretch Good by a neck to capture the 37th front), with Ricardo Santana Jr., during the Travers Stakes horse race, on Aug. 28, at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (AP) in the fi ve-horse fi eld and holding off running $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Keepmeinmind by a neck in the tra- Memorial for 3-year-olds; Letruska ditional prep race at Saratoga for the held off Bonny South, Royal Flag and Travers. Dunbar Road in a stretch duel to cap- Essential Quality’s trainer Brad Cox ture the 74th running of the $600,000 won one of the most prestigious races Personal Ensign for fi llies and mares for older horses at the Saratoga meet- 4 years old and up; and Gufo outran Blaney wins at Daytona as ing when Knicks Go won the Grade 1 Japan by a head to win the 47th run- Whitney earlier this month. He became ning of the $750,000 , just the third trainer - and the fi rst since a 1.5-mile race on the turf for 4-year- Reddick earns playoff spot John M. Gaver Sr. in 1942 - to win the olds and up. Buescher short

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Aug. 29, (AP): Ryan Blaney Eiking keeps Vuelta overall lead won for the second consec- utive week when the race at Daytona International Majka holds on for impressive victory Speedway ended under EL BARRACO, Spain, Aug 29, line in 4 hours, 51 minutes, 36 the top contenders in the general caution in overtime with a (AP): Rafal Majka took the lead at seconds - 1:27 ahead of Steven classifi cation, including two-time typical fi ery fi nish. the fi rst of four climbs and held on Kruijswijk. defending Vuelta champion Primoz Tyler Reddick took the 16th for an impressive win in the 15th It was the fi rst Vuelta stage vic- Roglic. and fi nal spot in the playoffs with stage of the Spanish Vuelta on tory since 2017 for Majka, a Polish Adam Yates fi nished fourth on a seventh-place fi nish. Reddick Sunday, with Odd Christian Eiking rider from UAE Team Emirates. Sunday to gain 15 seconds on the keeping the overall lead. top contenders. Elaine Thompson-Herah of , (center), crosses the fi nish line ahead needed only to beat Richard Chil- Majka went to the front with less Riders have their second rest day of second placed Shericka Jackson of Jamaica, (right), and third placed dress Racing teammate Austin Dil- than 90 kilometers (56 miles) to go CYCLING of the three-week race on Monday. Dina Asher-Smith of Britain, (left), to win the women’s 100 meters during lon and hope for a repeat winner to and stayed in control during the They face a stage that will favor the the athletics meet at Stade Charlety in earn his fi rst playoff berth. rest of the challenging 197.5-kil- Eiking, who has held the leader’s sprinters on Tuesday, a 180-kilom- Paris, on Aug 28. (AP) Reddick and Dillon were both in ometer (122.7-mile) stage be- red jersey since the 10th stage, eter (111.8-mile) route from Laredo contention to make a desperate last tween Navalmoral de la Mata and fi nished almost three minutes be- to Santa Cruz de Bezana in north- Duplantis shines at Diamond League gasp push for the win in the two- El Barraco. He crossed the fi nish hind Majka, along with the rest of ern Spain. lap overtime to the fi nish. But Blaney, who was second on the restart, third but frustrated he had no help from cleared traffi c with a push from Corey Oly ‘champion’ Thompson-Herah any Toyotas at the end of the race. Ham- LaJoie and was well ahead of the pack when a crash ended the race. lin, his team owner at 23XI Racing, was the closest Toyota driver to Wallace at wins 100 meters in 10.72 at Paris the fi nish - way back in 14th. CAR RACING “I’m a little frustrated, I’m the one PARIS, Aug 29, (AP): Olympic champi- super happy.” who gets called out for not work- on Elaine Thompson-Herah won the 100 She retained her 100 title in Tokyo meters in 10.72 seconds at the Diamond with a 10.61 run that took the Olympic Daniel Suarez, one of 10 drivers in ing with teammates and I’m the one that gets left hanging,” Wallace said. League meeting in Paris without in-form record from Florence Griffi th-Joyner, the front pack trying to win the race to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to rival her. earn the automatic playoff berth, turned “There’s a reason why Ford’s in vic- whose 10.49 mark set in 1988 looked Kevin Harvick to trigger the multi-car tory lane, cause they always work to- Thompson-Herah quickly raced uncatchable until this season. crash. Suarez seemed to be pushed into gether.” clear with a legal tailwind at the Char- In a tight men’s 200 in Paris, Ameri- Harvick from behind by Kurt Busch. Michael McDowell fi nished fi rst lety Stadium to fi nish 0.25 ahead of cans Fred Kerley and Kenny Bednarek Blaney, the winner in Michigan last and last in two superspeedway races at fellow Jamaican Shericka Jackson, the both timed 19.79. Kerley, the Olym- week, heads into next week’s playoff Daytona this season. Olympic bronze medalist. pic silver medalist at 100, got the win, opener at Darlington Raceway with The surprise Daytona 500 winner The winning time would have been lowering his personal-best time by 0.11 three victories this season in his Team blew an engine under caution Saturday fast enough for Thompson-Herah to ahead of 200 silver medalist Bednarek. Penske Ford. and was done after 23 laps. McDowell take Olympic gold in Tokyo - and is Olympic champions Armand Du- “Yeah, we’ve got good momentum,” clinched a spot in the playoffs with his the 25th-fastest all-time - yet is just the Blaney said. “We’d like to make it Daytona 500 victory so the early exit eighth best of this standout season. ATHLETICS three in a row, we’ll see.” didn’t affect his playoff chances. Last weekend, Thompson ran the The regular-season fi nale had fairly Ryan Blaney stands by the trophy after winning the NASCAR Cup Se- But McDowell has no momentum second-fastest women’s 100 in history low stakes in that 15 of the 16 playoff ries auto race at Daytona International Speedway, on Aug 28, in Daytona after fi nishing 20th or worse for the - 10.54 at Eugene, Oregon - and Fras- plantis and Hansle Parchment won slots were claimed before the start of Beach, Fla. (AP) seventh consecutive race. er-Pryce clocked 10.60 on Thursday to their events after losing in Lausanne McDowell’s night started in the hole win their duel in Lausanne, Switzer- less than two days earlier. the race. It meant only a fi rst-time race Chris Buescher fi nished second, one Hamlin held the regular-season lead when crew chief Drew Blickensderfer land, and rise to No. 3 all-time. Duplantis cleared 6.01 meters in the winner could edge Reddick or Dillon for 22 weeks until Larson claimed it spot short of earning the automatic for the fi nal spot. was ejected because his Ford failed Citing fatigue on Friday, the pole vault before coming up short in The only other competition was for two races ago at Indianapolis. Larson berth into the playoffs he was seeking. failed pre-race inspection. Anthony Al- 34-year-old Fraser-Pryce opted out of three attempts at raising his own world the regular-season title, which went to overcame a 166-point defi cit to Hamlin But it was a 1-2 fi nish for Ford. fredo’s crew chief also was kicked out running in Paris. Their rivalry over 100 record to 6.19. Kyle Larson, a fi ve-time winner this to earn the title. “To miss that playoff spot by one for failing inspection. should resume in Zurich at the Sept. “I felt like it was really important for season. The race for the regular-season “What an awesome year he’s had,” spot, that’s a tough ending to a day,” NASCAR presented Wendell Scott’s 8-9 Diamond League fi nals. me to come back and try to get into the championship and its playoff points said team owner Rick Hendrick, who Buescher said. “I’m sure I’ll play it family a custom trophy commemorat- “I know everybody is thinking I am victory mode again, to try to get over was between Larson and Denny Ham- gave Larson a job this season after Lar- back and fi nd something else differ- ing his historic 1963 victory before the targeting the world record,” Thomp- the 6 meters,” Duplantis said. lin, who entered Daytona trailing Lar- son missed all but four races in 2020 ent.” race. Scott is the only Black driver to son-Herah said Saturday. “I know it is Parchment set his season-best time son by 28 points. while suspended for using a racial slur. Bubba Wallace was a season-best win a race at NASCAR’s top level. close but for this season I am already of 13.03 to win the 110 hurdles.