Flightline dominates Breeders’ Cup Classic

UnbeatenFlightline postedanother dominating run,overtaking Life Is Good enteringthe top of the stretch andpulling away to an 8¼ - lengthvictory in the $6 millionBreeders’ Cup Classic Saturdayat Keeneland in Lexington,Ky. The victory allbut locked up horse of the yearhonors for 2022.

The4-year-old bay colt enteredthe Grade 1 race 5-0 lifetimewith an average victory marginof nearly 13 lengths, makinghim the overwhelming3-5 favorite over the eighthorsefield that included KentuckyDerby winner Rich Strikeand 5-1 second choice Epicenter.Flightline went off at2-5 from the No. 4 post.

Riddenby Flavien Part, Flightlinecovered the 1 ¼ mile in 2:00.05 and paid $2.88, $2.92 and $2.30.

Olympiadreturned $12.38 and$7.16 for place and Taiba paid$4 to show.

Inother Breeders’ Cup highlghts:

•Malathaat provided day’s mostexciting finish by winningthe $2 million Distaff by noseover Stripe and Clairiereand in a three-wide photo finish. The 2021 3-year-old championfilly and 3-1 choice surgedfrom the middle betweenthe final turns and was onthe outside among five horsesin the stretch before shebroke free with Clairiere toher left and Blue Stripe on the rail over the final 100 yards.

Soccer

GarethBale tied the score, 3-3,on a dramatic header in theeighth minute of extra

Tennis

Danishteenager Holger Runebeat eighth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime,6-4, 6-2, in theParis Masters semifinals ashe chases his first title at a masterslevel. Rune, 19, faces NovakDjokovic, who beat StefanosTsitsipas for the eighth consecutivetime, in the final Sunday.Djokovic will be seekinga seventh Paris championship.

•Top-ranked Carlos Alcarazwill miss the rest of the seasonafter sustaining an abdominalmuscle tear while playingFriday at the Paris Masters.He pulled out during asecond-set tiebreaker againstHolger Rune.

Golf

BernhardLanger beat his ageby two shots with a 9-under63, giving him a one-shot leadover Paul Goydos in the TimberTechChampionship inBoca Raton, Fla. A victory Sundaywould be his 44th PGAChampions Tour, one shyof Hale Irwin’s record 45.

Pro basketball

Nikesuspended its relationshipwith Kyrie Irving andcanceled its plans to releasehis next signature shoe, thelatest chapter in the ongoingfallout since the Brooklyn Netsguard tweeted a link to a filmcontaining antisemitic material.

Swimming

KatieLedecky swam to a worldrecord of 7 minutes, 57.42seconds in the 1,500-meterfreestyle in a World Cup meetin Indianapolis. The previousrecord of 7:59.34 by Spain’sMireia Belmonte had stoodsince 2013.

Gymnastics

JadeCarey averaged 14.516 pointsfor her two vaults to edgeU.S. teammate Jordan Chilesfor gold at the world championshipsin Liverpool, England.It is her second gold ina row in the event.