War Emblem’s Status Is in Doubt for Pacific Classic

The status of favored War Emblem became uncertain for Sunday’s $1-million Pacific Classic at Del Mar after the Kentucky Derby winner worked a disturbingly fast five furlongs Tuesday at the track.

War Emblem’s time was an excessively quick 57 3/5. Ridden by Dana Barnes, his regular exercise rider, War Emblem sped away on the backstretch when another horse in training galloped alongside.

“It wasn’t as smooth as we would have liked,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “That other horse jumped in front of him, and that set him off. He really rambled that first quarter, in something like 22 [seconds] and change. Dana got him under control, but he had already gone a half-mile. He came out of it all right, but we’ll have to see how he is. We’ll know in a couple of days. If he comes out of it all right, we’re going [to run], but we’ll have to see.”

War Emblem, who has won the Preakness and the Haskell since his Derby victory May 4, would be facing older horses for the first time if he runs in the Pacific Classic. Even before War Emblem’s fast workout, a surprisingly large number of challengers were lining up. There will probably be a record field for the Pacific Classic, which has never drawn more than nine horses in 11 runnings.

Trainers of 13 other horses are considering the race. Among the possibles are Came Home, Bosque Redondo, Milwaukee Brew, Sky Jack, Momentum, Grey Memo, Arbiter, Bonus Pack, Pleasantly Perfect, Tapatio, Jimmy Z., Seinne and Speedy Pick. The post-position draw is scheduled for Thursday.

Bill Christine

Pro Basketball

Former Clipper coach Bill Fitch and the team settled competing lawsuits arising from his 1998 firing. Although terms were not disclosed, Clipper attorney Bob Platt confirmed the settlement.

The legal battle between the Clippers and Fitch started in April, 2001, when the team sued Fitch for breach of contract, claiming he had a duty to try to get another NBA coaching job. Such a job would have voided some or all of the $4 million otherwise owed under Fitch’s 1997 contract extension, according to the lawsuit.

In his countersuit filed in June, 2001, Fitch said he had tried to get a coaching job and would continue to look for the “right opportunity.”

As expected, former All-Star Shawn Kemp was waived by the Portland Trail Blazers after the team restructured his contract. Terms were not disclosed. Kemp was working under a seven-year, $107-million contract he signed with Seattle in 1997.

Washington Wizard center Jahidi White will have knee surgery and could sit out the first month of the regular season.

College Football

Adam Wade, a former standout at Valley View High in Moreno Valley and a starting linebacker at Colorado State, has been suspended from the team for at least one game for his part in a Feb. 7 dormitory fight.... Jason White, a junior who sat out most of last season because of a knee injury, will be Oklahoma’s starting quarterback.... Ohio State fullback Jesse Kline is leaving the team for health reasons.

Miscellany

The Amateur Athletic Union--one of the most powerful forces in amateur sports--has found its name linked with a federal conviction of a top regional official in Concord. N.H.

The national AAU was not a party to the indictments that led to Tuesday’s conviction of Mike Sweeney, who was running bingo operations for the New England AAU, one of 56 regional affiliates of the organization.

Nevertheless, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, the New England bingo operation generated $12.3 million during the past five years under the national organization’s tax identification number.

Sweeney’s conviction, combined with questions about the national AAU’s failure to report revenue earned under its tax ID number, could mark the beginning of a troublesome period for the nonprofit organization.

Sweeney, former president of the New England AAU, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of bank fraud.

England’s Iain Percy and France’s Xavier Rohart thrived in the best winds of the week in the third race of the 81st Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship at Marina del Rey. Brazil’s Torben Grael leads the competition, followed by Rohart, San Francisco’s Paul Cayard, Percy, San Diego’s George Szabo and Ireland’s Mark Mansfield.

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Irvine gymnast Tabitha Yim, the runner-up in the last two U.S. championships, will not compete in the TJ Maxx International Gymnastics Challenge on Thursday at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim because of a sprained left ankle. The “USA vs. the World” competition will feature two-time U.S. champion Tasha Schwikert, U.S. champion Paul Hamm and Olympic gold medalists Svetlana Khorkina and Alexei Nemov of Russia.

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The condition of actor Jason Priestley, who crashed his race car Aug. 11 at Kentucky Speedway, was upgraded to stable at an Indianapolis hospital.

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Joseph Bramlett, 14, the youngest golfer to compete in the U.S. Amateur, shot a 12-over-par 82 at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and missed the cut at 19-over 159.

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John Merrick of Long Beach and Anthony Kim of La Quinta finished in a five-way tie for second at three-under 137 and advanced to match play, which begins today.

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Other qualifiers included Henry Liaw of Rowland Heights, Peter Tomasulo of Long Beach and Chris Botsford of Pasadena.

Yugoslavia defeated the U.S., 9-4, in the opening round of the water polo World Cup at Belgrade.