Debonair Joe Pays $107.80 in Upset

Debonair Joe, who couldn’t beat $12,500 claimers at Fairplex Park less than three months ago, and jockey Julie Krone, who was still retired a couple of months ago, teamed for an unlikely stakes win at Hollywood Park on Saturday.

Closing strongly once clear in the stretch, the 4-year-old Ole’ gelding, who was the longest shot in the field at nearly 53-1, was up to beat 3-1 third choice F J’s Pace by half a length in the $100,000 Vernon O. Underwood. The final time for the six furlongs was 1:09. He paid $107.80 for a $2 win bet.

Men’s Exclusive, trying for a third consecutive victory in the Underwood, had to settle for fourth.

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California horses and riders won two of the four races in the inaugural Great State Challenge at Sam Houston, with 6-1 shot Crackup taking the $275,000 Juvenile under jockey Tyler Baze and Continental Red, the 2-1 second choice, surviving a stewards’ inquiry to win the $275,000 Classic under Patrick Valenzuela.

-- Bob Mieszerski

Winter Sports

One day after three American women finished in the top 10 in a World Cup downhill in Canada, three American men did the same.

Daron Rahlves finished third, Marco Sullivan sixth and Bode Miller eighth at Beaver Creek, Colo., for the best downhill performance by U.S. men in 30 years. Austria’s Stephan Eberharter won the event.

The last time the United States had three male skiers in the top 10 of a downhill was in 1972 at Kitzbuhel, Austria, when Mike Lafferty was fourth, Eric Poulsen sixth and Dave Currier 10th.

Americans Travis Mayer and Toby Dawson finished third and fourth in the men’s moguls final of a World Cup freestyle event at Sauze d’Oulx, Italy. Mikko Ronkainen of Finland was the winner.

Among the women, Americans Shannon Bahrke, Michelle Roark and Shelly Robertson were second, fourth and sixth in an event won by Kari Traa of Norway.

Baseball

The Dodgers are among the clubs pursuing free-agent outfielder Reggie Sanders, a member of the last two National League championship teams. Sanders batted .250 with 23 home runs and 85 runs batted in for the San Francisco Giants last season, and hit 33 homers for the 2001 World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks.

Meanwhile, Jeff Klein, the agent for second baseman Jeff Kent, said his client would be willing to play first base for several teams, including the Dodgers.

The Giants offered Kent arbitration so they would receive draft picks as compensation if the 2000 NL most valuable player signed with another club.

The Texas Rangers cut ties with Ivan Rodriguez, refusing to offer salary arbitration to the 10-time all-star catcher who made his major league debut with the team at age 19 midway through the 1991 season.

Rodriguez has a career batting average of .303 with 215 home runs and 829 runs batted in.

Left-handed pitcher Jamie Moyer, 40, signed a $15.5-million, three-year contract with Seattle....Second baseman Ray Durham crossed the Bay from Oakland and signed a $20.1-million, three-year contract with San Francisco....The New York Yankees decided not to offer arbitration to relievers Mike Stanton and Ramiro Mendoza, but extended arbitration offers to six-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens and backup third baseman Ron Coomer.

Miscellany

North Carolina defensive lineman Carl Smalls was shot and killed Saturday morning at a fraternity party in a rented house at Columbia, S.C.

A lawyer for Seattle’s OneWorld Challenge questioned key witness Sean Reeves for four hours as hearings began in Auckland, New Zealand, in a case that could lead to the team’s dismissal from the America’s Cup.

OneWorld Challenge, backed by billionaires Craig McCaw and Paul Allen, is accused of stealing and using design information from Team New Zealand, Italy’s Prada and 1999 challenger America True.

Reeves is accused of trying to sell OneWorld’s design information to three other teams.

OneWorld has advanced to the semifinals of the challenger series.