Horse fatally injured during Breeders’ Cup
A victory by Vino Rosso in the Breeders’ Cup Classic was overshadowed by a fatal injury to a 15-1 long shot in the $6 million race at Santa Anita on Saturday night.
Cup officials said in a statement about two hours after the race that Mongolian Groom had been euthanized after suffering a serious fracture to his left hind leg.
It’s the 37th horse death at Santa Anita since December. Mongolian Groom was part of the early pace in the 11⁄ mile race. But jockey Abel Cedillo sharply pulled up the 4-year-old gelding near the eighth pole.
The prior deaths prompted track owner The Stronach Group to implement changes to rules involving medication and training. The Breeders’ Cup also beefed up its own pre-race exams and observations of runners.
Auto racing: Lewis Hamilton of England secured his sixth F1 title with a second-place finish at the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas won the race. Hamilton, 34, ranks second behind Germany’s Michael Schumacher’s record seven F1 championships. Hamilton has won the last three and secured this one with two races left.
College football: Florida State fired second-year coach Willie Taggart, less than 24 hours after the Seminoles lost to rival Miami 27-10 and with the team in danger of missing a bowl game for the second consecutive season. Taggart, 43, was 9-12 at Florida State.
Golf: Nelly Korda birdied the first hole of a playoff to win a second straight LPGA Swinging Skirts in Taipei, Taiwan. ... Brendan Todd claimed his second career PGA Tour title with a four-stroke win at the Bermuda Championship in Southampton. ... Colin Montgomerie parred the first hole of a playoff to win the PGA Tour Champions playoff event in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Tennis: No. 1 Novak Djokovic beat Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-4 to win the Paris Masters for the fifth time. ... No. 1 Ash Barty beat eighth-seeded defending champ Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3 to win the WTAFinals in Shenzhen, China.
Also: Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado won his seventh straight Gold Glove. ... Bayern Munich fired manager Niko Kovac one day after the seven-time defending Bundesliga champ fell to host Kovac 5-1, its heaviest league loss in more than 10 years. Kovac, 48, had been in charge since the start of last season. ... Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor and Joyciline Jepkosgei won the New York City Marathon men’s and women’s races. ... Mexico’s Canelo Alvarez landed a left-right late in the 11th round Saturday, dropping Sergey Kovalev to the canvas and ending their light heavyweight title fight in Las Vegas. The 29-year-old Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) moved up two weight classes to challenge the Russian champ, and won his fourth title in as many weights. He currently holds belts at middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight.