Horse racing | Richard's Kid wins $1 million Pacific Classic

Horse racing

Baffert-trained colt triumphs in $1 million event: Richard's Kid, a 24-1 shot, came from off the pace and beat 4-1 shot Einstein by a neck to win the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar, near San Diego.

Richard's Kid, a 4-year-old colt trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Mike Smith, ran 1-¼ miles on the synthetic track in 2 minutes, 2.39 seconds and paid $50.80 to win in the Grade I event.

Of the jockey, a fellow Hall of Famer, Baffert said, "Mike just had him in a great spot and the horse just fired."

Before the race, according to Smith, Baffert asked him: "Could you just give me a Hall of Fame ride, please?"

Of the 19 Pacific Classic winners, 16 went off at lower odds than Richard's Kid. Rail Trip, favored at 5-2 in the field of 12, was third.

Richard's Kid was 10th after a half-mile and also after a mile.

Awesome Gem, second to Assessment in the Aug. 16 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs in Auburn, finished seventh at 17-1.

Earlier on the card, Baffert-trained Zensational took the Grade I Pat O'Brien by running 7 furlongs in 1:22.31. The 3-year-old ridgling, ridden by Victor Espinoza, paid $2.60 to win in the $300,000 race.

Rendezvous, a 22-1 shot co-owned by George Todaro of Seattle, beat 2-1 favorite Battle of Hastings by a nose to win the Grade II Del Mar Derby. The colt, trained by Jerry Hollendorfer and ridden by Joel Rosario, ran 1-1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:46.88 and paid $46 to win in the $350,000 race.

AP fatality count: The effort to improve safety since filly Eight Belles was euthanized at last year's Kentucky Derby did little to curb the number of horses dying at U.S. racetracks in 2008, The Associated Press found in a national count.

The AP count found 1,217 fatalities last year, a drop of 2.4 percent from 1,247 in 2007.

"If it were that easy to change, we would have flipped that switch a long time ago," said Mary Scollay, Kentucky's equine medical director, who is assembling a database on horse breakdowns, the findings of which haven't been released.

Women's hockey

United States beats Canada 2-1 in final in Vancouver, B.C.: Captain Natalie Darwitz scored a power-play goal 1:18 into the third period, and Jessie Vetter made 34 saves to lead the United States to the Hockey Canada Cup championship with a 2-1 victory over Canada in Vancouver, B.C.

Monique Lamoureux also scored for the United States.

The four-team tournament was a test event for local organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The final attracted a crowd of 8,137 to GM Place.

WNBA

January helps Fever beat Mystics: Tamika Catchings scored 20 points and rookie Briann January, who is from Spokane, added 16 as the host Indiana Fever beat the Washington Mystics 72-61. The Fever (21-10) has clinched first place in the Eastern Conference.

Crystal Langhorne scored 13 points to lead Washington, which was limited to 28.9 percent shooting (22 of 76).

Shock continues playoff push: Kara Braxton scored 17 points and fellow reserve Shavonte Zellous added 16 to help the defending champion Detroit Shock beat visiting Chicago 84-75. Detroit has won three in a row.

The Shock (16-15) is above .500 for the first time this season. The top four teams in each conference advance to the playoffs and Detroit is third in the East. The Shock is 1-½ games ahead of three teams tied for the final playoff spot with 15-17 records — Chicago, Connecticut and Washington.

Deanna Nolan had team-high totals of 19 points and eight rebounds for the Shock.

Basketball

Spain is favored to win European title: The European championship opens today in Warsaw, Poland, with Spain starting out as the favorite.

Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers leads Spain, which lost to the United States 118-107 in the gold-medal game at last year's Beijing Olympics.

Track and field

Powell prevails: Asafa Powell of Jamaica ran 100 meters in 9.99 seconds into a strong headwind to win at the Rieti Grand Prix in Italy.

U.S. sprinter Wallace Spearmon won the 200 in 20.27.

Aretha (Hill) Thurmond, a former Washington Huskies standout, was fourth in the discus at 194 feet, 8 inches. Yarelis Barrios of Cuba won with a throw of 213-1.

UC San Diego pole vaulter dies: Leon Roach, a UC San Diego pole vaulter who missed the landing pad and struck his head on concrete during practice Thursday night, has died.

Roach, 19, was declared brain dead at a La Jolla, Calif., hospital Saturday.

Cycling

Cunego wins Vuelta stage, Evans takes overall lead: Italian Damiano Cunego of the Lampre team won the eighth stage of the Spanish Vuelta and Australian Cadel Evans of the Silence-Lotto team took the overall lead.

Cunego finished the 127.2-mile mountain stage from Alzira to Aitana in 6 hours, 4 minutes, 54 seconds. Evans has a two-second lead on Spaniard Alejandro Valverde of the Caisse d'Epargne team.

Garmin-Slipstream rider Tyler Farrar of Wenatchee finished 100th in the stage and is 81st overall.

Seattle Times news services