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CLIPPER SERIES
COLUMBIANA -- The third race in the Clipper Cross County Series will be held at 7 p.m. today behind Columbiana High School.
It will be held on the 3K junior high school course at the Ward Athletic Complex.
Entry fee is $10. Runners can preregister online or sign up before the race beginning at 6 p.m.
MORE BIG RACES SCHEDULED
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) -- Churchill Downs Incorporated and the New York Racing Association on Monday announced a six-race championship series over a span of five months that includes the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes and a $5 million prize pool, set to begin next year.
The first and third legs of the Triple Crown are scheduled next year for the traditional five weeks apart between May 1 and June 5. A spokesperson for the Maryland Jockey Club said a date for the Preakness next year has not yet been announced and declined comment on the championship series of races in Kentucky and New York.
JUDGE GIVES CLARITY
DENVER (AP) -- The judge who granted some athletes the right to play another year in college issued a new order Sunday that makes clear that does not include football players who signed pro contracts this summer then had a change of heart.
U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney responded to an NCAA request for clarity about her Friday ruling that granted a fifth year to athletes who graduated high school in 2022 and were not included in the new NCAA rule that allows five seasons of eligibility for Division I players.
She said the decision still stands. But the clarification said her ruling had no impact on other NCAA rules, which would include its prohibition on players signing pro contracts, then coming back to college.
The NCAA filed its intention to appeal the case later Sunday night.
NOTRE DAME-USC TO RISE AGAIN
The Notre Dame-Southern California college football rivalry will start again in 2030.
The schools announced Monday they have agreed to a four-game home-and-home series. Notre Dame will play in Los Angeles on Aug. 31, 2030, and the Trojans will visit South Bend, Indiana, on Aug. 30, 2031. The meetings in 2032 and 2033 will be played in the first three weeks of the season.
The teams met each non-pandemic season from 1946-2025, typically in October or November, in what became known as “the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football.” The exception was the 2020 season when most schools played a conference-only schedule.
The 2030 date opened up when defending national champion Indiana canceled a home-and-home series with the Irish that was scheduled for 2030 and 2031, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcement had been made.
Negotiations between Notre Dame and USC to continue the annual series became challenging after the Trojans joined the Big Ten in 2024. The Trojans expressed that they did not want to play nonconference games after September. Notre Dame beat the Trojans 34-24 in South Bend last Oct. 18, and the series officially went on hiatus in December when the Irish announced they had filled the last open spot on their 2026 schedule with a game at BYU.
BRACKET BUSTER IN THE STAKES
NEW CUMBERLAND, W.Va. -- The $200,000 West Virginia Governor's Stakes on the West Virginia Derby undercard has drawn a competitive field of nine including Bracket Buster, who competed in Grade I stakes as a 3-year-old, and Neoequos, who competed in the 2025 Grade I Kentucky Derby.
The 1 1/16-mile Governor's Stakes is race seven on a nine-race program that begins at 5 p.m. on Sunday, August 9. The race was won the last two years by Hit Show, who won the Group I Dubai World Cup in between his two Mountaineer victories.
Bracket Buster, a 4-year-old Vekoma colt owned by BBN Racing and others, would make his first start of 2026 in the Governor's Stakes. Trained by Victoria Oliver, he won the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park and two starts later finished second in the Grade I Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course last year.
Bracket Buster shows a series of consistent, steady workouts at Keeneland, and thus far in 11 starts, he has earned more than $792,000. John Velazquez who rode Bracket Buster in his maiden score at Keeneland in April 2024, is named to ride.
USA RETAINS COACH
Mauricio Pochettino is staying with the U.S. soccer team, agreeing Monday to a four-year contract to coach the Americans through the 2030 World Cup.
The 54-year-old Pochettino, who took over the national team in October 2024, led the U.S. to the round of 16 at this year’s World Cup, where the tournament co-hosts were eliminated in a 4-1 loss to Belgium.
Still, he helped the seeded U.S. team to a pair of firsts in the expanded 48-nation tournament, clinching advancement from the group stage with a game to spare and winning three games in a single World Cup. The team captivated American fans with excited audiences in stadiums and record television viewers.
“The magic thing that happened during the World Cup, the connection with the people, of course with the whole organization and everything was a key point,” Pochettino said during a Zoom news conference from his home in Barcelona, Spain.
Since reaching the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup, the U.S. has lost four round-of-16 games.