SPORTS FOLDEROL

Lord help me … but once I discovered the English Premier  League several years ago and took  WAYNE ROONEY  as  my favorite futbol player … the next step was to get hooked  on Manchester United. Talk about bad – make that terrible –  timing! … The once-great franchise guided by  SIR ALEX  FERGUSON  was about to became an also-ran during a  parade of coaches … none of whom could live up to the  tremendous pressure … and leading to last year’s eighth- place finish, an all-time low … under  ERIK TEN HAG ,  who would have been fired except the new bosses in town  couldn’t find anyone to their liking … so they gave him  another make-good-or-be-gone contract that extends though  the 2025-26 campaign even if there are no guarantees the  Dutchman will be around that long. Injuries – 60 to be exact – plagued ManU in 2023-24.  Naturally, there were other factors, too, but lack of quality  depth (at least...

  Bummer! …  BOB BAFFERT  will not have a horse in the Aug. 10 Arlington Million at Colonial Downs. Entries for the Gr. I stakes race … as well as the co-featured Gr. II Secretariat and Gr. II Beverly D … closed last week without a Thoroughbred from the Hall of Fame trainer … Maybe he didn’t get notification in time that his two-year-plus suspension by Churchill Downs had been lifted. That’s one explanation … Don’t forget: All tracks owned by CD, Inc., including the one in New Kent County, were effected by the ban after Baffert-trained  MEDINA SPIRIT  won the 2021 Kentucky Derby then was disqualified for having a banned substance. Originally the suspension was for two years but later increased through 2024 for reasons thought to be related to a suit brought by the owners of  MUTH , also trained by Baffert, to compete in this year’s Derby … A Kentucky judge ruled the suit had no merit … Muth was not in the Derby field … and Churchill subsequently decided to ...

Some opinion, mostly fact: Gotta love it … Week 3 of Colonial Downs’ 2024  Thoroughbred meet gets underway Thursday (July 25) …  with the four top trainers (to date) women … from   BRITTANY RUSSELL  (6 starts, 4 wins) to  MARY  EPPLER  (2 for 2) to  NIALL SAVILLE  (3 starts, 2 wins) to   LYNN ASHBY  (2 for 5) Credit  “DERBY BILL”  WATSON  for the update ... I know, I know … there’s a long  way to go … seven weeks to be exact but … who knows? A  female finishing first in a sport dominated by men? At least  it got our attention … followed by learning about the front- running foursome. Russell, for example, has career earnings  of $21,434,886. In 2,030 starts, her horses have won 494  races, placing 350 times and coming home third 301 … So  far in 2024, the numbers are equally impressive: 345 -- 72W,  48P, and 50 show … operating out of the Fair Hill Training  Center in Elkton, Md ...

  There is no guarantee, of course, but it seems  likely Thoroughbred Hall of Fame trainer   BOB BAFFERT  will bring a horse or two  … or more (hopefully) … to Colonial Downs  this summer … now that his suspension for  winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby with a  doped-up entry has been removed … You  might recall Baffert became persona non  grata at Churchill Downs as well as all tracks  it owns (like Colonial) after a post-Derby test  found  MEDINA SPIRIT to have an illegal  drug in its system. The three-year-old  Thoroughbred was disqualified … and the 71  year old much-decorated trainer told no horse  in his barn would be allowed to compete at  Churchill or any of its affiliated tracks for  two years … in what was considered an  unusually harsh penalty … especially for  someone who had saddled six Derby, seven  Preakness and four Belmont Stakes winners  including two – ...