Sports Briefs: Baffert, Justify look for glory at Pimlico
Preakness Stakes up next for La Cañada Flintridge super trainer
With one leg of a historic journey already secured, La Cañada Flintridge super trainer Bob Baffert is looking for more glory at Saturday’s 143rd edition of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
The race is set to go at 3:48 p.m. (PST) and will be televised on NBC and streamed on NBC Sports Live.
Baffert enters sky high after his impressive 3-year-old colt Justify captured horse racing’s biggest prize – the Kentucky Derby – on May 5 at Churchill Downs by 2 1/2 lengths.
The triumph marked the fifth Derby victory for Baffert, which moved him into second place and only one title behind the six crowns of Ben A. Jones.
As for Justify, ridden by jockey Mike Smith, the horse moved to 4-0 in breaking the 136-year-old Apollo Course as no horse had won the Derby having not started as a 2-year-old since the 19th century.
Justify’s victory immediately brought up talk of Baffert’s last great horse American Pharoah, which won the Preakness in the second leg of what was an eventual Triple Crown and Grand Slam victory.
Justify enters Saturday as the 1-2 favorite versus much less competition. At Churchill Downs, Justify held off a field of 19 horses. At Pimlico, he’ll just have to take down seven challengers.
Justify’s biggest threat appears to be Good Magic, a 3-1 underdog ridden by Chad Brown, which finished runner-up at the Derby.
La Cañada’s Machida closes out season with top-25 effort
La Cañada High aquatics sophomore Tatsuya Machida ended the season for the area finishing 21st at the CIF State Diving Championships at West Clovis High on Friday morning.
Machida tallied 181.80 points and was one of 27 competitors to reach the quarterfinal round.
Unfortunately for Machida, the youngster was one spot short out of advancing to the semifinals as only the top 20 divers move on
Machida was edged by Buchanan’s Marcos Garcia (184.75), who took 20th. Machida was the only area swimmer or diver to compete at the two-day state finals.
Youth football registration
The La Cañada Gladiators Youth Football program is accepting registration and payment online for the 2018 season.
Applications are available on the Gladiator webpage at www.lcgladiators.org.
The program is open to girls and boys, ages 6-14. The Gladiators field one flag team and four tackle squads.
Practice begins July 23 and the regular season starts in early September and ends the first weekend in November.
Early registration is encouraged, as spaces fill up quickly and team rosters are capped at 33 players for each tackle team and 20 players for the flag squad.
For more football information, contact Kevin Lacey at (818) 248-1800 or email at klacey@lcgladiators.org.