Horse Racing; March Madness

What an interesting sports weekend! The Wichita State University Shockers have made it to the Final Four in March Madness; the Florida Gators, however, fell to the Michigan State Wolverines by 20 points. - Ouch!! - Will be rooting for the Shockers next weekend. The other participants are Louisville and Syracuse.

  Thoroughbred horse racing had a big weekend, also. In the South African Classic, Love Struck overcame an objection by second-place finisher Tellina to get the winners purse, while Gitiano was third. Tellina and Love Struck had a ding-dong battle down the stretch, which Love Struck won by a short head. Tellina's jockey objected that Love Struck's jockey had struck Tellina over the head with his crop during the tightly contested stretch run. The stewards did not uphold the objection.

   In the Dubai World Cup day of racing at Meydan in Quatar, there was $27 million up for grabs. The richest purse was in the Dubai World Cup, worth $10 million. An American racer won this year - Animal Kingdom, the chestnut colt who won the 2011 Kentucky Derby, was the winner. He was followed by Red Cadeaux and Planteur. .... In the $5 million Dubai Sheema Classic, Coolmore colt St. Nicholas Abbey was the winner, with Gentildonna of Japan second, and Qatar runner Very Nice Name in third. .... In the other Dubai races, the winners were: in the Al Quoz Sprint, Shea Shea was best; in the UAE Derby, Lines of Battle; in the Gold Cup, Cavalryman crossed the line first; and in the Godolphin Mile, Soft Falling Rain.

   Down south, in the USA, Orb was the winner of the $1 million Florida Derby. Itsmyluckyday ran second and Merit Man was third; the Juvenile champion Shanghai Bobby ran fifth. In the $1 million Louisiana Derby, the winner was Revolutionary, with Mylute in second, and Departing in third.