McKinzie is Breeders’ Cup favorite
McKinzie, with a new jockey replacing Hall of Famer Mike Smith, is the 3-1 favorite for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic this weekend at troubled Santa Anita.
The track is hosting the world championships for a record 10th time Friday and Saturday. A total of 36 horses have died at Santa Anita since December, including two since last Friday.
That hasn’t deterred an international group of horses from gathering to chase over $30 million in purse money.
The Classic will be shown in prime time Saturday on NBC.
“I hate to really say anything,” McKinzie’s trainer Bob Baffert said Monday when asked about the deaths. “I don’t want to jinx myself.”
McKinzie drew the No. 8 post on Monday in the 11-horse field for the 1¼-mile Classic. He’ll be ridden by Joel Rosario, who replaced Smith after McKinzie finished second as the favorite in the Awesome Again on his home track last month.
“He looks like he’s doing well. Really no excuses,” Baffert said. “The break is the whole key. You have to get away first and then you can have a plan. If not, you have to scramble for a plan.”
McKinzie has two wins and four seconds in six starts this year. The 4-year-old colt won the Whitney at Saratoga in August.
Baffert is going for his fourth victory in the Classic. He won it from 2014-16 with 3-year-olds Bayern, Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and Arrogate. He’s never won it with an older horse.
Smith will ride Japan-bred Yoshida, an 8-1 shot.
Soccer
SEATTLE, LAFC READY FOR MLS FINAL >> The wildly successful expansion team with deep-pocketed celebrity ownership
is one win away from the MLS Cup final.
So is Los Angeles FC.
A decade before LAFC made its flashy impact on Major League Soccer, the Seattle Sounders blazed a similar path. The Sounders also had an immediate penchant for signing star players and winning big early in their existence — and Seattle has never missed the playoffs in the decade since.
Now the Sounders are the last thing standing between regular season champion LAFC and the chance to play for the MLS Cup in its second season of existence. Seattle visits Banc of California Stadium on Tuesday night to face high-scoring, Supporters’ Shield-winning LAFC in the Western Conference final.
“We expect the game to be intense, physical,” LAFC coach Bob Bradley said. “When games are big, the competitive part of guys comes out even more. Seattle is a physical team. We know that throughout the year, teams try to disrupt the way we play. They try to do it at times using a bit more of a physical approach, and we need to be ready for that.”
LAFC finished 16 points above Seattle in the regular season standings. NEW USWNT COACH INTRODUCED >> Vlatko Andonovski is well aware of the expectations he faces as the new coach of the U.S women’s national team.
His predecessor, Jill Ellis, led the team to consecutive World Cup titles — an accomplishment her successor can only hope to equal.
“What this team has done and what Jill has done is absolutely amazing,” Andonovski said at his introductory news conference. “Jill was hired to win one World Cup, and she won two. It just pushed the standards even higher . ... I knew coming into it that it will be extremely important to win all the big tournaments.”
The native of Macedonia played for several teams in Europe before an indoor soccer career in the United States. He has coached in the National Women’s Soccer League for the past seven seasons.
Motor sports
LOGANO CREW MEMBER SUSPENDED AFTER FRACAS >> NASCAR suspended a member of Joey Logano’s crew for this weekend’s race at Texas after the tire specialist dragged Denny Hamlin to the ground in a chaotic scuffle between the rival drivers.
Dave Nichols Jr. horse-collared Hamlin and pulled him to the pavement after Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. Hamlin and Logano had been discussing an on-track incident that suddenly flared into a confrontation.
Many Team Penske crew members shielded Logano from a charging Hamlin, and Nichols approached him from behind and knocked Hamlin down.
Doping
WADA REPORTS ‘SIGNIFICANT’ HACKING >> Microsoft Corp. said a Russia-linked cyberhacking group has made “significant” attacks on at least 16 sports and anti-doping organizations across three continents since September.