BAFFERT HORSES AGAIN TOP ECLIPSE AWARDS FINALISTS

Once again trainer Bob Baffert had the most number of Southern California horses selected as finalists for the annual Eclipse Awards. The Baffert-trained

Medina Spirit, Corniche and Gamine joined Flightline and Ce Ce as nominees to horse racing’s biggest honors.

In addition, locally based jockey Flavien Prat was chosen in the rider category, and

Jessica Pyfer is a finalist for best apprentice jockey.

Last year, Baffert had eight nominations and finished with four wins, including horse of the year Authentic.

There were few surprises among the 16 categories announced Saturday, with most of the suspense around two awards.

The 3-year-old male award is thought to be between Essential Quality and Medina Spirit with Life Is Good also a finalist. Essential Quality won the Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes in New York, while Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby and beat older horses in the Awesome Again. Medina Spirit, who died in December, finished ahead of Essential Quality in the Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic in their only two meetings.

The other category in question is Male Sprinter in which the John Sadlertrained Flightline was named a finalist against Aloha West and Jackie’s Warrior. Flightline only ran three races, winning by a combined 371⁄2 lengths. Aloha West won five races, including the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and Jackie’s Warrior won four of seven but finished sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint as the favorite.

Soccer

San Diego Wave Fútbol Club announced it had acquired the rights to Swedish international striker Sofia Jakobsson via transfer with Bayern Munich. J

Kevin De Bruyne curled home a brilliant second-half goal to earn Manchester City a 1-0 win over Chelsea and a 13-point lead over its nearest rival in the Premier League.

The Copa del Rey derby match between Real Betis and Sevilla was suspended after an object hurled from the stands hit Sevilla player

Joan Jordan in the head. The oblong-shaped object similar to a bar impacted Jordan while Betis was celebrating Nabil Fekir’s 39thminute equalizer that canceled out Papu Gomez’s opener at Benito Villamarin Stadium.

Kylian Mbappe’s 10th goal in the French league helped leader Paris Saintgermain

overcome a sloppy start to beat Brest 2-0 and stay 11 points ahead of second-placed Nice.

Robert Lewandowski bagged a hat trick as Bayern Munich scored for a record 66th Bundesliga game in succession to beat Cologne 4-0 and restore its six-point lead.

Colleges

Behind historic performances from Asia Avinger and Mallory Adams, the San Diego State women’s basketball team (9-8, 3-3 MW) knocked off Boise State (5-11, 1-4), 80-63, at home. Avinger had a career-high 30 points on 10-for-12 shooting and was 9 for 10 from the line. Adams also had a career high, scoring 25 points while making seven 3-pointers, the second most in school history.

Alabama cornerback Jalyn Armour-davis is skipping his senior season to enter the NFL Draft. He tied for the team lead with three interceptions in 11 starts.

Winter sports

American Kaillie Humphries got a win. Elana Meyers Taylor, an Oceanside native, got an overall title. And the U.S. bobsled team got more momentum to take into the Beijing Olympics. Humphries prevailed in the final women’s monobob race of the season at St. Moritz, Switzerland, with Meyers Taylor finishing second. In the seasonlong standings, the order was reversed — Meyers Taylor winning the points crown, with Humphries second.

Swiss skier Lara Gutbehrami won the fourth women’s World Cup downhill of the season after Olympic champion Sofia Goggia had an awkward crash halfway down her run at Altenmarktzauchensee, Austria. The Italian, who had won the previous three downhills, seemed unhurt and skied down the course shortly after the incident.

It is never easy for Switzerland to watch an Austrian downhiller win its signature ski race that is part of the Alpine nation’s culture. It was even harder to take as Vincent Kriechmayr won the classic Lauberhorn race that Swiss team officials said this week he should not have been allowed to start in Wengen, Switzerland, due to COVID-19 protocols. Kriechmayr’s winning run denied Swiss favorite Beat Feuz a record fourth win in the storied race.

Kamila Valieva underlined her status as the favorite for the women’s Olympic figure skating gold medal as she won the European title by a commanding 22-point margin at Tallinn, Estonia.