SPORTS
STORM CENTER: Will this be the year for a Triple Crown?
During my childhood, one of my favorite things was to watch horse racing with my grandfather.
We affectionately called him “Bumpy,” and he was very good at picking winners. He loved going to a place called OTB, which is short for off-track betting.
He also enjoyed visits to regional tracks down in New York, including Yonkers, Aqueduct, Belmont and others.
Horse racing, that’s one passion my grandfather passed down to me.
But, I haven’t been able to do much celebrating these days because the last time horse racing had a Triple Crown winner I wasn’t even six years old.
I couldn’t point to Bowie, Texas, on a map. I couldn’t string together complete sentences to write a story. I couldn’t even tie my own sneakers.
Belmont Park, located in Elmont, N.Y., has become the place for broken dreams, sullen spirits and bettors pulling out their hair. Elmont is also the home of former Dallas Cowboy and NFL quarterback Vinny Testaverde.
This weekend, the Belmont Stakes will run with a 5:50 p.m. Central Daylight Time post time. You can watch the event on your local NBC affiliate or online at NBC Sports Live Extra.
The track announcer is Larry Collmus, although my grandfather’s favorite was Fred Capossela, and his unique call became part of comedian Robert Klein’s routine in 1974.
Secretariat (with jockey Ron Turcotte aboard) holds the course record with a dazzling time of 2 minutes, 24 seconds during the 1973 event.
The field has been set for the race, with American Pharoah attempting to become the latest horse with a chance to win the coveted Triple Crown.
American Pharoah, with trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Victor Espinoza, has been installed as the favorite at 2-3 odds.
Other possibilities to win, and break everyone’s hearts, are Frosted (6-1), Materiality (13-2), Mubtaahij (14-1) and Madefromlucky (16-1). The long shot is Frammento at 40-1. Those odds were as of Friday morning, courtesy Odds Shark.
Can American Pharoah pull it off? Read more of this column in the weekend Bowie News.
American Pharoah. (Courtesy photo by Coady Photography)
The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.
The 72nd Chisholm Trail Rodeo was a big success on Friday and Saturday nights at Nocona.
The rodeo had big crowds and saw some good competition from both local and far reaching talent.
Winners in the events included Zach Hibler in bareback riding, Lindsey Muggli in barrel racing, Ashley Goforth in breakaway roping, Leanardo Lima in bull riding, Cody McCartney in calf roping, Thomas Moellering in ranch bronc riding, Wacey Hathcock in saddle bronc riding, Renato Finazzi in steer wrestling, Rowdy Jones and Rance Doyal in team roping.
To see full results and more pictures, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The regional tennis tournaments were late last week in North Richland Hills and a doubles team is moving on to state.
The Saint Jo girl’s doubles team Kyler Dunn and Taylor Patrick won the 1A region III tournament and will return to state for the second straight year.
The pair rolled through teams from Morgan, Dodd City, Priddy before beating a Graford team in the finals. The pair did not lose a set and only lost five of the 53 games it played, never losing more than one in a set.
The team made it to state last year after finishing second at regionals and won a match at the state meet against a team from Vernon Northside. They then lost to the eventual state champion team from Utopia and finished tied for third place.
They will be the only tennis players from Montague County playing at state this week as others did not have as successful regional tournament.
The Saint Jo teammates and fellow girl’s doubles team Bailie Nobile and Maxey Johnson won their first match against Ector 6-1, 6-4, but fell in their next match against Lometa, 6-1, 6-1.
From Prairie Valley, Case Carpenter was competing in boy’s singles. His first match was a draining two and half hour battle against a player from Strawn Carpenter came through in the three-set battle, winning 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
Unfortunately, the magic was not there in the second game. Paired against the eventual tournament champion from Gustine, Carpenter lost 6-0, 6-1.
From Gold-Burg, Alyson Rojas and Jimena Garcia competed in girl’s singles. Rojas won her first match against a girl from Avinger 7-6, 6-2. Unfortunately, the next match she lost to a girl from Graford 6-0, 6-0 to end her tournament.
Garcia lost a tough first match against a player from Ector. Both sets could have gone either way with the scores being 6-4, 7-5 to the winner.
The mixed doubles team from Forestburg, Jesse Wadsworth and Alli Cisneros, also did not make it through.
From Nocona, Kaygan Stone was playing in the girl’s singles 2A region II tournament.
Unfortunately, she got paired against the player who would go on to win the tournament in the first round to end her season.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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