Stevie Wonderboy Will Miss Kentucky Derby

Stevie Wonderboy, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner last fall in New York and the 2-year-old champion of 2005, has a hairline fracture in his right front leg and will miss the Kentucky Derby.

Trainer Doug O’Neill noticed ankle swelling after Stevie Wonderboy -- a 3-year-old son of Stephen Got Even, owned by Merv Griffin -- had worked six furlongs in 1:13 3/5 on Monday morning at Hollywood Park. X-rays revealed the fracture.

The injury means the streak of no Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner winning the Kentucky Derby will continue. The Breeders’ Cup was first run in 1984.

“It just shows that in this business you have to go one day at a time,” O’Neill said. “It’s a gut shot, but the main thing is he’s going to be OK and that we will get him back.” O’Neill said Stevie Wonderboy will undergo surgery Wednesday at Hollywood Park, then will be shipped to Griffin’s ranch in La Quinta next week to recuperate. He’ll probably spend 90 days at the ranch, then return to the track.

Purchased by Griffin for $100,000 at about a year ago, Stevie Wonderboy has won three of six and earned more than $1 million.

-- Bob Mieszerski

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Kansas State Coach to Have Neck Surgery

Kansas State Coach Jim Wooldridge will have surgery Wednesday to remove a bulging disk in his neck, and it is uncertain when he will return to the team. Assistant Jimmy Elgas will be the interim coach.

The Wildcats are 12-7 overall and 3-5 in the Big 12 after losing last week to Baylor and Oklahoma State.

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The referees who worked the Florida State-Duke game were suspended for one game for what the league said was an unnecessary technical foul on a Seminole player. The crew of Mike Eades, Ray Natili and Ed Corbett shouldn’t have assessed a technical on Florida State’s Alexander Johnson in the second half of Duke’s 97-96 overtime win Saturday, said John Clougherty, coordinator of men’s basketball officials for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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North Carolina rejoined the top 25 in the Associated Press men’s poll after a two-week absence, and the top five teams remained the same. Connecticut was No. 1 for the third straight week, followed by Duke, Memphis, Villanova and Gonzaga. UCLA moved up one spot, to No. 13.

BASEBALL

Judge: Twins Can Leave Metrodome After Season

The Minnesota Twins don’t have to play in the Metrodome beyond the 2006 season, a St. Paul, Minn., judge ruled in a decision that could increase pressure on lawmakers to approve financing for a new ballpark.

Hennepin County District Judge Charles Porter sided with the Twins in a lawsuit against the team’s public landlord.

The ruling gives franchise owner Carl Pohlad more power to move his team, although no city is publicly courting the Twins.

Last year, the Twins teamed with Hennepin County on a $478-million proposal that didn’t require state funding.

The partners needed state approval to raise the county sales tax without a voter referendum.

The legislature didn’t vote on the proposal, and the year’s delay has added $30 million to the proposal’s cost.

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Japanese relief pitcher Takashi Saito is close to signing a minor league contract with the Dodgers.

Saito, 35, who would be invited to spring training, posted a 3.82 earned-run average in 106 innings last season for the Yakahama Bay Stars, his team of the last 12 years.

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Prosecutors in Tampa, Fla., dropped drunk driving charges against Baltimore Oriole relief pitcher Todd Williams, who was arrested after authorities said he caused a three-car crash in November.

A Breathalyzer test after the crash showed Williams had no alcohol in his blood, but he was charged with DUI with property damage after failing a field sobriety test.

Tests showed he had legal prescription drugs in his system, and his lawyer showed he failed the field sobriety test because he had injured an ankle in the crash.

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New Boston center fielder Coco Crisp avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $2.75-million, one-year contract with the Boston Red Sox, who also announced their $3-million deal with free-agent shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

To make room for Gonzalez, the Red Sox designated first baseman Roberto Petagine for assignment.

Gonzalez hit .264 with five homers and 45 runs batted in last season for the Florida Marlins.

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Colorado Manager Clint Hurdle and General Manager Dan O’Dowd agreed to one-year contract extensions through the 2007 season.

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Daniel Cabrera of the Baltimore Orioles gave up only one run and two hits over five innings, pitching the Dominican Republic’s Licey Tigers past Mexico’s Mazatlan, 3-1, in a Caribbean Series game at Maracay, Venezuela.

MISCELLANY

Floyd, Quigley Team Up to Win Skins Game

Raymond Floyd and Dana Quigley won the Champions Skins Game at Wailea, Hawaii, teaming to win 10 skins and a record $510,000 to beat Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson in the alternate-shot event. Nicklaus and Watson won eight skins and $260,000, and the teams of Arnold Palmer-Peter Jacobsen and Gary Player-Hale Irwin were shut out.

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Former NBA star Ralph Sampson pleaded not guilty at Richmond, Va., to charges that he lied about his finances to obtain court-appointed counsel in a federal child support case.

The charges stem from a child support case in which Sampson, 45, was charged with failure to pay more than $300,000 in child support to two daughters by different women. Under a plea agreement, he was to repay the child support and be spared prison time and fines.

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King announcer Bob Miller, despite being in a category that included the Dodgers’ Vin Scully, was voted best television play-by-play announcer by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters. Besides Scully, the other finalists in the category were the Clippers’ Ralph Lawler, who was inducted into the group’s Hall of Fame, and the Angels’ Steve Physioc.

Other winners included Scully, for radio play-by-play; the Angels’ Rex Hudler, television analyst; USC’s Paul McDonald, radio analyst; radio station 570’s Lee Hamilton, talk-show host; and the Dodgers’ Jaime Jarrin, foreign language broadcaster.

FSN West was honored for best television staff, and radio station 980 was honored for best radio staff.

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Oklahoma has hired Northwestern offensive line coach James Patton to serve in the same position on the Sooners’ staff.... Longtime Wisconsin assistant football coach John Palermo has accepted a job as defensive line coach at Miami. Clint Hurtt was hired as assistant defensive line coach.

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Dinara Safina advanced to the second round of the Gaz de France tennis tournament at Paris, beating Anna Chakvetadze, 6-2, 6-1.... Maria Elena Camerin upset second-seeded Shinobu Asagoe, 6-3, 6-2, at the Pattaya Women’s Open in Thailand.

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The Indianapolis 500 will start one hour later this year because of Indiana’s switch to daylight-saving time. That means the May 28 race, which was changed last year from the traditional 11 a.m. start to noon to boost television ratings, will begin at 1 p.m. to keep its national television schedule unchanged.