Flightline Eclipse Award favorite
LOS ANGELES — Flightline, who had a dominating win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is the favorite to win Horse of the Year and is a finalist in Older Dirt Male. Finalists for Horse of the Year were not announced.
Epicenter, who finished second in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and later won the Travers Stakes, is a finalist for 3-year-old Male. Female Turf finalists include In Italian, Regal Glory and War Like Goddess.
Other clear favorites include Forte for 2-year-old Male (over Cave Rock and Victoria Road), Nest as 3-year-old Filly (Secret Oath, Tuesday), Modern Games in the Male Turf (Nations Pride, Rebel’s Romance), Godolphin as top breeder (Stonestreet Thoroughbred, Summer Wind Equine) and Irad Ortiz Jr., for Jockey of the Year (Flavien Prat, Joel Rosario).
Joining Flightline in the Older Dirt Male are Life Is Good and Olympiad. Other finalists include 2-year-old Filly (Leave No Trace, Meditate, Wonder
Wheel), Older Dirt Female (Clairiere, Goodnight Olive, Malathaat), Male Sprint (Cody’s Wish, Elite Power, Jackie’s Warrior), Female Sprint (Caravel, Echo Zulu, Goodnight Olive).
The Owner of the Year Award is down to Godolphin, Peter M. Brant and Klaravich Stables. The Trainer of the Year Award is among Steve Asmussen, Mechanicville’s Chad Brown and Todd Pletcher.
Morikawa pulls away at Kapalua
KAPALUA, Hawaii — Collin Morikawa seized on the stretch of scoring holes on the back nine to pull away from the elite field, making four birdies over his final five holes for an 8-under 65 and a six-shot lead in the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Venus Williams out of Aussie Open
MELBOURNE, Australia — Venus Williams has withdrawn from the Australian Open due to an undisclosed injury while playing in a tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, this week.
Coco Gauff breezes into ASB final
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Topseeded
Coco Gauff advanced to the final of the ASB Classic by beating Danka Kovinic 6-0, 6-2.
Gauff will face Rebeka Masarova, who swept Ysaline Bonaventure.
Djokovic reaches final
ADELAIDE, Australia — Novak Djokovic beat Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the Adelaide International final despite sustaining a leg injury.
Djokovic will play Sebastian Korda in Sunday’s final.
Teenage qualifier Linda Noskova advanced to the women’s singles final after beating top-seeded Ons Jabeur.
Noskova, an 18-year-old Czech ranked No. 102, will take on world No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka in Sunday’s final. Sabalenka earlier advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Irina-Camelia Begu.
Italy to face U.S. in Cup final
Italy will play the United States in the final of the inaugural United Cup in Sydney after defeating Greece.
— Wire reports