In the news
Former Derby, Preakness winner Charismatic dies: Former Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Charismatic, whose bid for the Triple Crown ended with a dramatic leg injury as he neared the finish line in the Belmont Stakes, has died at a thoroughbred retirement farm in Kentucky.
The striking chestnut horse that won the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 1999 was found dead in his stall Sunday at Old Friends farm near Georgetown, Kentucky, the farm said.
“Right now, everyone is pretty much inconsolable,” Old Friends President Michael Blowen said. “He was a really tough horse and he deserved a much longer retirement. … Everyone at Old Friends takes solace from the few great months that this great champion gave us.”
The stallion ate all his food Saturday and looked fine, Blowen said Monday. The cause of death is unknown and a full necropsy was being done. The farm said Charismatic was 21.
Charismatic arrived at Old Friends last December after a long stud career in Japan. He quickly became a favorite among the farm’s visitors in central Kentucky.
“He connected with people that would come here and tell us stories about what that horse meant to them when he won the Kentucky Derby, and then when he broke his leg in the Belmont,” Blowen said. “He was just a touchstone for people’s own personal history with horse racing that very few horses could match.”
The unheralded Charismatic ran in claiming races, then emerged unexpectedly as the best of the 3-year-old crop in 1999.
After winning the Lexington Stakes, the D. Wayne Lukas-trained colt won the Derby as a longshot. Charismatic followed up by winning the Preakness.
Lukas recalled Charismatic’s success that spring as the perfect example of a late bloomer.
“He seemed uninterested in being a race horse when I first started him,” Lukas said by phone. “In fact, he didn’t turn the corner until March of his 3-year-old season. But once he got going, he stayed gone.”
At the Belmont, Charismatic led with an eighth of a mile to go, but took a bad step and fractured his left foreleg as Lemon Drop Kid swept by to win. Charismatic finished third.
The horse underwent surgery and won Horse of the Year honors. He retired from racing with five wins in 17 starts with career earnings exceeding $2 million before starting his stud career in 2000, Old Friends said.
3 injured when race car crashes over fence: Three people in a pit area were injured when they were struck by a race car that hit a barrier and catapulted over a 10-foot fence at a dirt speedway near Daytona Beach, Florida.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday’s crash at Volusia Speedway Park left one victim in extremely critical condition. The other two were taken to a hospital in stable condition. One was released Sunday night.
Driver Dale Blaney of the Pennsylvania-based Zemco race team wasn’t injured in the crash, though the sheriff’s office said his car was significantly damaged.
The area where the car landed was restricted to race participants and pit crews and not accessible to the general public.
British Open to return to Royal St. George’s in 2020: The British Open will be staged at Royal St. George’s in 2020.
The Royal & Ancient, which organizes the world’s oldest major, made the announcement on Monday.
The course in southeast England will be hosting the British Open for the 15th time, and for the first time since 2011 when Darren Clarke lifted the claret jug.
Walter Hagen, Henry Cotton, Bobby Locke, Sandy Lyle and Greg Norman are among the other previous champions at Royal St. George’s.
Neymar will stand trial for Barcelona transfer: Neymar has lost his final appeal and will stand trial on corruption charges related to his transfer to Barcelona four years ago.
Barcelona, Brazilian club Santos, and the company run by his parents also lost their appeals and will stand trial after a complaint brought by a Brazilian investment group which said it received a smaller compensation because part of the transfer fee was concealed by those involved.
Prosecutors are seeking a two-year prison sentence and a fine of nearly $10 million for Neymar and his father on corruption charges, although they are not likely to face any jail time if found guilty because they would be first-time offenders.
Prosecutors are also seeking a fine of about $9 million from Barcelona and $7 million from Santos.
Federer says Laver Cup will be a tough competition: The new Laver Cup team tennis tournament is supposed to be a “tough” contest, not an exhibition, according to Roger Federer.
The competition will pit a team of the best six European players against the top six from the rest of the world. The inaugural edition is scheduled for Sept. 22-24 at the O2 Arena in Prague. The following year, it moves to the United States.
“The idea is to absolutely have a tough tournament, tough matches, the better man wins, that’s the idea of the Laver Cup,” Federer said Monday.
To promote the competition, Federer played some rallies against Tomas Berdych on a boat cruising the Vltava river to a crowd watching from the famed Charles Bridge.