Kentucky Derby 2025 preview: Render Judgment
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UPI
12 hours ago
- UPI
Derby, Belmont winner Sovereignty has to prove it again in Jim Dandy
1 of 3 | Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty returns to the races as the favorite in Saturday's Jim Dandy at Saratoga. File Photo by Mark Abraham/UPI | License Photo July 25 (UPI) -- Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty takes on some old rivals again Saturday in the Jim Dandy at Springfield and will have to continue proving himself to maintain his top spot among American 3-year-olds. Saturday's Grade I Bing Crosby at Del Mar is a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Sprint and looks pretty ripe for the picking. On the global scene, Saturday's King George at Ascot offers a guaranteed slot in the Breeders' Cup Turf with two-time winner of that race, Rebel's Romance, looking like a long shot. And we're off like a sure thing ... Classic Sovereignty clearly leads the 3-year-old division after winning the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. But in what's turned out to be a tough and competitive season, he's going to have to prove it again in Saturday's $500,000 Grade II Jim Dandy at Saratoga. Just a week after his chief rival, Journalism, stayed in the mix with a victory in the Grade I Haskell at Monmouth Park, Sovereignty takes on another familiar foe, Baeza, in the Jim Dandy. Baeza returns from California after finishing third in the Belmont and third in the Kentucky Derby. Before that, he was second to Journalism in the Grade I Santa Anita Derby. But wait. There's more. Also in the tidy, five-horse field is Sandman. He won the Grade I Arkansas Derby, but then finished seventh at Churchill Downs and third in the Preakness. Mo Plex enters the Saratoga heat off victories in the Bay Shore at Aqueduct and the Grade III Ohio Derby at Thistledown and has not been worse than third in eight career starts. And Hill Road, third in the 2024 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, won the Grade III Peter Pan before finishing fifth in the Belmont. Trainer Bill Mott said early in the week Sovereignty is "doing good" but, as always, needs things to go his way in the race. "We hope he has a good race and has a little luck. Anything can happen," Mott said. "They've got to go around there and it's not over until those blinking lights say 'official.' They've got to hang those numbers up and say official." Mo Plex's trainer, Jeremiah Englehart, said he was impressed with his colt's effort in Ohio, but noted, "Now he has this test of taking on the top 3-year-olds in the game." Important as it is, in the great arc of the 3-year-old season the Jim Dandy is "merely" the local prep for the $1.25 million Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 23 -- a.k.a. the "Midsummer Derby." And speaking of the Travers, Chancer McPatrick, winner of last year's Grade I Champagne Stakes and second in the Tampa Bay Derby in March, outfinished So Sandy by a head in Thursday's $135,000 Curlin Stakes at Saratoga. The race was restricted to 3-year-olds who had not won a graded stakes race this year. Even so, trainer Chad Brown said it proved his colt likes a fast Saratoga track -- he's 3-for-3 in those conditions -- and indicated the Travers is not out of the question for him. "Surely, our dream would be to try to get him out to a mile and a quarter and hope for dry weather on Travers Day if he's a horse for course," Brown said. The weekend slate for older Classic division horses is rife with other Triple Crown performers. Nysos is the 3-5 favorite on the morning line for Saturday's $300,000 Grade II San Diego Handicap at Del Mar. The 4-year-old Nyquist colt, knocked off the 2024 Triple Crown races by injury, comes off a win in the Grade III Triple Bend at Santa Anita. Speaking of 2024 Triple Crown candidates, Hades won the Grade III Holy Bull back in February 2024 and was fifth in the Florida Derby. After wandering in the wilderness since, he's back at Gulfstream for Friday's $70,000 Tackleberry Handicap, facing another Triple Crown refugee, Catalytic. These are some contentious races and industry insider Jude Feld has some interesting takes on some of the main heats. Check out his tips and thoughts at Distaff Running Away, Fondly and Paris Lily are stacked atop the morning line in a field of seven to contest Saturday's $250,000 Grade III Monmouth Oaks. Saturday's $150,000 Grade III Trillium on the Woodbine all-weather has six, featuring Caitlinhergrtness. The winner of last year's King's Plate looks for a bounce back from an eighth-place finish in the Grade II Nassau. Sprint Saturday's $400,000 Grade I Bing Crosby at Del Mar, a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Sprint, looks like a midsummer peach orchard (you pick 'em). Well and almost evenly regarded on the morning line are Hejaz, World Record, Dr. Venkman, Mbagnick, Roll On Big Joe and Crazy Mason. Macho Music is the 2-1 morning-line pick in a field of eight for Friday's $200,000 Grade II Amsterdam for 3-year-olds at Saratoga. The Florida-bred won the Grade II Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs on Derby Day, but then faded from the lead to finish in a dead heat for seventh in the Grade I Woody Stephens going 7 furlongs on June 7. This one is 6 1/2 furlongs. Turf The eight-horse field for Sunday's $250,000 Grade II Eddie Read at Del Mar looks pretty familiar, with many of the usual suspects signed on. Among them are Balnikhov and Gold Phoenxi from the Phil D'Amato barn, George Papaprodromu's Cabo Spirit and Balladeer and stalwarts Stay Hot, Atitlan, Formidable Man and Dicey Mo Chara. Filly & Mare Turf The first three from the July 3 Wild Applause Stakes -- Classic Q, Play With Fire and Lavender Disaster -- line up again for Saturday's $175,000 Grade III Lake George for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga. Nine 3-year-old fillies are entered for Saturday's $150,000 (Canadian) Ontario Colleen at Woodbine with a case to be made for many of them. Sunday's $250,000 Grade II Glens Falls at Saratoga is another competitive heat, with six of the eight in the main field held at single-digit odds on the morning line. Around the world, around the clock England Saturday's Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot shapes up as a proper heavyweight match, which is only appropriate for a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" event. Confirmations include Calandagan from France, Coronation Cup winner Jan Brueghel, top filly Kalpana and Godolphin's all-world Rebel's Romance, whose resume already includes two wins in the Breeders' Cup Turf. Calandagan ended a string of four consecutive Group 1 seconds with a victory in the Grand Prix de Paris in his last start. The runner-up streak included the Coronation Cup, so the Gleneagles gelding has 1/2 length to find vis-a-vis Jan Brueghel, a 4-year-old Galileo colt who is joined by Coolmore stablemate and likely rabbit Continuous. Rebel's Romance should be at a square price even though Godolphin's 7-year-old globetrotter won the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup and the Group 2 Hardwicke in his last two starts, handily defeating Al Riffa in the latter. Age would be the issue against what trainer Charlie Appleby describes as "some young legs." Andrew Balding brings Pretty Polly runner-up Kalpana for the King George.
Chicago Tribune
17-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Harry Teinowitz, sports talk radio host who wrote play on sobriety after DUI arrest, dies at 64
Harry Teinowitz was a well-known figure on Chicago's sports talk-radio airwaves in the 1990s and early 2000s, at one point co-hosting a top-rated sports show on WMVP-AM ESPN 1000. A comedian by background, Teinowitz later turned a personal setback in the early 2010s — a drunken-driving arrest and a stint in rehab — into a stage comedy, 'When Harry Met Rehab' that was loosely based on his life experiences. 'Harry lived to make people laugh and to make people happy,' said his longtime collaborator, Spike Manton, who also noted Teinowitz's love for sports. 'There was just never a night he wasn't watching at least two different games.' Teinowitz, 64, died of complications from a liver transplant July 15 at his home, said his brother, Danny. He was an Evanston resident. Teinowitz was the son of Philip Teinowitz, who owned four horses that raced in the Kentucky Derby, and Lois Teinowitz. Raised in Glencoe, Teinowitz graduated from New Trier East High School and attended the University of Kansas for one year. Interested in acting, Teinowitz got a part playing a pyromaniac bed-wetter in the 1980 comedy film 'Up the Academy,' which was shot in Salina, Kansas. He transferred to Columbia College Chicago, where he earned a bachelor's degree. Teinowitz dabbled in acting and had small role playing a teen at a party in the 1983 film 'Risky Business' starring Tom Cruise, which was shot on the North Shore, before pursuing a career as a stand-up comedian. Teinowitz was a regular at comedy clubs all over the city and suburbs in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, he and Manton started 'Funny Money,' an annual comedy benefit for the Greater Chicago Council of the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse. 'I was very impressed with the charity, and I had a real sense of giving something back to the community,' Teinowitz told the Tribune in 1993. In the mid-1990s, Teinowitz and Manton began co-hosting a sports comedy radio show on Saturday nights on WMVP-AM. The pair developed something of a cult following, and got to know many athletes. In March 1996, the duo were promoted to host middays on WMVP. That show lasted just nine weeks before the station changed formats. Teinowitz performed some fill-in work on WMVP — including taking part in a 1997 interview that Steve Cochran held with O.J. Simpson, in which he asked the disgraced former football star his first pick in a fantasy football draft — and in late 1997 co-hosted an hourlong fantasy football show on WMVP. Teinowitz also briefly co-hosted an evening program on WCKG-FM with Pete McMurray. Returning to WMVP in October 1998 amid a relaunch of the sports-talk format, Teinowitz signed a deal to co-host afternoon drive with Manton. The following year, the pair shifted to evenings, and they also picked up a weekend morning fantasy football show, starting in 2000. He also did some work for the ESPN network. Teinowitz returned briefly to his acting roots in 2000, with a role in 'Return to Me,' a popular film shot in Chicago. In 2001, Teinowitz began his longest and best-known run on the airwaves, co-hosting an afternoon drive-time show on WMVP with veteran radio personality Dan McNeil and former NFL lineman John Jurkovic. The show's mouthful of a name? 'McNeil, Jurko and Harry.' The trio's time in the spotlight was marred by a variety of disputes, with McNeil drawing a suspension from the station in 2002 after a heated off-air exchange that involved McNeil shoving Teinowitz, and a two-day suspension for all three after a heated on-air discussion between McNeil and Teinowitz over Teinowitz's credibility. Despite the rancor — the Tribune's Ed Sherman called McNeil 'the cynical radio man' and Teinowitz 'the hopeful fan' — the show was successful, edging ahead of rival WSCR-AM in the ratings later in 2002 and performing well against competitors for the rest of their run together. 'I'm very laid back,' Teinowitz told the Tribune in 2005. 'Mac's very high-strung. I admire that he wants the show to be successful, and I admire the time and energy he puts into it. But I'm not crazy about his bedside manner. To that he would say, 'Get over it.'' Teinowitz and McNeil continued to spar from time to time, with an ugly on-air exchange in 2006 over Teinowitz asking for help to get his car parked devolving into an uglier off-air scene and another suspension. Teinowitz remained at WMVP after McNeil exited the station in 2009. He continued in his role supplying one-liners and a seemingly unrealistic amounts of optimism for Chicago sports teams. 'That's the outlook he had on life as well, even to his detriment,' Manton said. 'He didn't know how to hold a grudge. He was a hopeful fan, period.' In 2011, Skokie police caught Teinowitz driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit. Teinowitz apologized on the air at the start of the next show he appeared on, and soon afterward he entered a rehabilitation program voluntarily. He returned to the airwaves about six weeks later. In 2013, WMVP parted ways with Teinowitz. The following year, he reunited with Manton to co-host an afternoon-drive show on the short-lived low-power radio station WGWG-LP 87.7 FM The Game. After The Game folded, Teinowitz was a fill-in host on WGN-AM for sports talk shows and non-sports shows. He worked frequently with Bill Leff, and also co-hosted WGN's weekend sports show, 'The Beat.' 'For somebody who grew up listening to Harry, to get to work with him was an honor, and what I learned quickly was that however big Harry's personality was, his heart was bigger,' said Mark Carman, a co-host. 'He was incredibly supportive to numerous people, myself included, who were trying to make their way in the business.' In 2021, the Greenhouse Theater Center in Lincoln Park staged 'When Harry Met Rehab,' a comedy about sobriety Teinowitz co-wrote with Manton. Loosely based on Teinowitz's life, the play starred Dan Butler of 'Frasier' fame and Melissa Gilbert, who starred as Laura Ingalls Wilder on 'Little House on the Prairie.' 'The macho persona of the Chicago sports guy does not, of course, easily admit error nor vulnerability. It took some guts for Teinowitz to tell his story without any excuses,' Tribune theater critic Chris Jones wrote in December 2021. 'When Harry Met Rehab' was staged in an off-Broadway theater in New York City last fall, under the title 'Another Shot.' In recent years, Teinowitz had suffered heart and liver problems. He received a liver transplant in 2023. A marriage to Wendy Teinowitz ended in divorce. Other survivors include a sister, Nancy; another brother, Billy; and two children, Lucy and Reggie. A funeral service is set for 1 p.m. Monday at Weinstein & Piser Funeral Home, 111 Skokie Blvd., Wilmette, followed by a reception at Maggiano's Little Italy, 4999 Old Orchard Shopping Center, Skokie.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Yahoo
Social media reacts to Aaron Rodgers getting married
Aaron Rodgers says he is a married man. The 41-year-old four-time MVP announced the news at a press conference June 10 at his new team facility with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Speculation ran rampant after Rodgers was spotted with a ring on when he attended the Kentucky Derby last month. Advertisement 'Yeah, it's a wedding ring,' Rodgers told reporters June 10, adding, 'Been a couple of months.' Rodgers has not identified his partner. In December 2024, Rodgers publicly mentioned having a girlfriend named Brittani. It isn't clear whether he married Brittani this offseason. More: Aaron Rodgers calls the Green Bay Packers an 'iconic franchise' in his first day with Steelers Rodgers' first day with the Steelers was June 10. The Super Bowl champion with the Green Bay Packers in 2011 will play his former longtime team on Oct. 26 in Pittsburgh. He and the Steelers face the New York Jets, where Rodgers spent the last two seasons, on Sept. 7, the opening weekend of NFL action. Advertisement Here are some of the best reactions from social media to the news: This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Social media reacts to Aaron Rodgers getting married
