No chaser: Bourbon tops Whiskey in Westminster whippet upset
NEW YORK >> Straight up, this was a Westminster Kennel Club surprise: Bourbon over Whiskey.
A big-winning whippet was bounced from America’s top pooch pageant Monday — knocked off, in fact, by his own sister.
Whiskey had won the prized National Dog Show televised on Thanksgiving Day and the prominent AKC event shown on New Year’s Day. But his bid for a Triple Crown of dogdom ended when he was topped by littermate Bourbon in the breed judging.
“She’s the new kid on the block,” handler Cheslie Pickett Smithey said.
Bourbon advanced to the hound group competition at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. The toy, herding and nonsporting champ also will compete — Biggie the pug, who had fans chanting his name at the Garden last year, advanced to the evening session.
More than 2,800 dogs in 203 breeds and varieties were entered. The best in show will be picked Tuesday.
For Pickett Smithey, the win was a bit bittersweet. She teared up talking about the result because she and her husband, Justin Smithey of Sugar Valley, Georgia, co-own both dogs. He guided Whiskey in the ring.
Truex makes move to Joe Gibbs Racing with championship goal
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. >> Martin Truex Jr. was just one of many Philadelphia Eagles fans bummed when Nick Foles’ pass deflected off a receiver and was intercepted to end a playoff push toward a second straight Super Bowl.
“They had a shot,” Truex said. “Without that interception, I think they could have pulled it off.”
The Eagles were smacked with the same forlorn reality Truex suffered through only two months earlier — it’s hard to win back-toback championships.
“Tell me about it,” he said, laughing. “I was closer than they were, though.”
Truex fell one spot short of winning his second consecutive NASCAR Cup championship in a determined bid to send Furniture Row Racing out a winner . Truex stayed in contention until the final laps in a season where one of his top sponsors abandoned him and his team was set to go out of business.
It was, Truex noted, “one of those years where you can’t believe everything that was going on.”
IndyCar revving up tons of momentum for 2019 season
AUSTIN, TEXAS >> IndyCar heads into 2019 with everything going in the right direction.
The series has a new long-term sponsor in Japanese communications giant NTT. Tire manufacturer Firestone has extended its supplier deal for five more years. A new broadcast deal with NBC is set to launch.
On the track, an already deep driver pool keeps adding veteran and rookie talent. And the series has added a new stop in Texas while bringing back an old favorite in California. IndyCar has even been exploring a return to Australia and possibly adding another international event to the American open-wheel series.
For longtime driver and 2004 series champion Tony Kanaan of A.J. Foyt Racing, all signs point to a spectacular season that will open with Scott Dixon defending his fifth championship.
Soccer player Sala died of head, torso injuries in crash
LONDON >> A post-mortem found Argentine soccer player Emiliano Sala died from injuries to his head and torso when his plane crashed in the English Channel.
The evidence was heard at a coroner’s hearing in the English city of Dorset on Monday, three weeks to the day since the crash.
The single-engine aircraft was flying from the French city of Nantes to Cardiff where Sala was due to start a new career playing for the Welsh capital’s Premier League club.
Home Office pathologist Dr Basil Purdue has given the cause of Sala’s death as “head and trunk injuries.”
Sala’s body was recovered from the seabed wreckage last week but pilot David Ibbotson is still missing.
Acting senior Dorset coroner Brendan Allen said during Monday’s hearing the Air Accidents Investigation Branch investigation could take up to 12 months.
A pre-inquest review hearing was set for Nov. 6.