Skip Away Looks Like Horse of Year

Skip Away extended his winning streak to nine and moved his career winnings to more than $9.5 million with a convincing 1 3/4-length victory over Gentlemen in the $500,000 Woodward Stakes at New York’s Belmont Park on Saturday.

The victory, which virtually guaranteed Skip Away horse-of-the-year honors, moves the 5-year-old gray to within $500,000 of Cigar’s North American record of $9,999,815 in career earnings. Skip Away has won $9,506,360.

It also means there are only two races remaining in Skip Away’s racing career, the $1-million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont on Oct. 10 and the $4-million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs at Kentucky.

In front of 20,237 at Belmont, Skip Away led throughout the stretch, defeating Gentlemen and third-place finisher Running Stag, the European horse who was the longest shot in the field at 49-1.

“He did the running and Jerry [Bailey] did the steering,” trainer Sonny Hine said. “I wasn’t worried.”

“That was a lot of fun, and was a very fast time on a slow race track,” Bailey said of Skip Away’s time of 1:47 4/5 for the 1 1/8 miles.

Hine, who purchased Skip Away for $22,000 as a 2-year-old, plans to retire him to stud after his next two races.

Tennis

Times have soured for Patrick Rafter since winning the U.S. Open a week ago.

Rafter is threatening to quit the Australian Davis Cup team if captain John Newcombe or coach Tony Roche step down because of a feud with losing finalist Mark Philippoussis.

“If those guys go I’m going to resign too,” Rafter told the Brisbane Sunday Mail newspaper.

Rafter also called rival Pete Sampras a “crybaby” after defeating him the past two Opens.

Roche indicated this week he might resign after Philippoussis, who has declined recently to play Davis Cup, accused him of showing bias toward Rafter by sitting in Rafter’s box during the Open final. Newcombe said he would leave with Roche, his former doubles partner.

Australia plays Uzbekistan next weekend.

Motivated by a frantic home crowd, Martina Hingis defeated Conchita Martinez to tie Switzerland with Spain after two matches of the Fed Cup world group final at Geneva.

Hingis, the No. 1 player in the world, defeated Martinez, 6-4, 6-4, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario defeated Patty Schnyder, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Today, Sanchez Vicario, ranked fourth in the world, plays Hingis and Schnyder faces Martinez, ranked seventh. The same four players will also play in the doubles match.

Defending champion Tim Henman of Britain and top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia won semifinal matches and will face off in the final of the President’s Cup at Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Both players still have a chance to earn a berth in the ATP Championship in Germany later this year. Marcelo Rios, Sampras and Rafter already have enough points to qualify. . . . Defending champion Felix Mantilla and 1996 champion and fellow Spaniard Albert Costa advanced to the final of the clay-court Samsung Open at Bournemouth, England.

Golf

The United States built a five-point lead over Europe heading into today’s singles showdowns at the Solheim Cup at Dublin, Ohio. The U.S. team won five of the eight points available to take a 10 1/2-5 1/2 lead going into today’s 12 singles matches.

Juli Inkster led the way for the United States by spearheading come-from-behind victories with two different partners. The United States now needs 14 of the 28 possible points to retain the Cup, while Europe needs 14 1/2 points to take it away. The United States won the cup, 17-11, in 1996 at Wales.

A month short of his 50th birthday, Bruce Fleisher briefly put any thoughts of graduating to the Senior PGA Tour on hold with a nine-under-par 63 at the PGA Tour’s B.C Open at Endicott, N.Y. He holds the lead after three rounds with a 12-under 204. That was one shot better than Nolan Henke, who shot a 67 in the third round. . . . Bruce Summerhays landed one drive on a cart path and the next in a creek and shot a 69 to fall into a five-way tie at seven-under 133 after two rounds of the $1.1-million Kroger Senior Classic at Mason, Ohio.

Soccer

Jason Kreis scored the only goal as the Dallas Burn (15-16) clinched the fourth and final playoff spot from Major League Soccer’s Western Conference with a 1-0 victory over the Kansas City Wizards (12-19) at Kansas City. . . . Diego Serna had two goals and an assist and the Miami Fusion (15-16) clinched an MLS playoff berth with a 3-1 victory over D.C. United (23-8) before 23,425 at Washington. . . . Substitute Wolde Harris dribbled through two defenders to score the winning goal in the 68th minute as the Colorado Rapids beat the Columbus Crew, 2-1, at Denver. The Rapids (15-16) clinched third place in the Western Conference. . . . The New England Revolution (11-19) won its third game in a row, beating the Tampa Bay Mutiny, 3-0, at Foxboro, Mass.

Miscellany

Matt Kenseth tuned up for his first Winston Cup start by leading 158 of 200 laps and holding off determined rookie Kevin Grubb to win the Busch Series MBNA Gold 200 at Dover, Del. Kenseth will make his debut in NASCAR’s elite division today as a substitute for Bill Elliott in the MBNA Gold 400. Elliott, a four-time winner on The Monster Mile, is not driving because his father died Thursday. . . . Rick Carelli edged Ron Hornaday to win the inaugural Ram Tough 200 at Gateway International Raceway at Madison, Ill. Carelli, who started fourth in his Chevrolet, never was out of the top five and led 72 of the 160 laps over the 1.25-mile oval.

Nova Peris-Kneebone, the first Aborigine to win an Olympic gold medal when she played on Australia’s field hockey team in 1996, won gold in the women’s 200 meters at the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with a time of 22.77 seconds.