In Brief
HORSE RACING
Churchill Downs track reopens
two days after tornado strikes
Racing resumed Friday at the famed Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, home of the Kentucky Derby, two days after a tornado caused damage to the barn area and forced the track to cancel racing.
Fans began arriving at 4 p.m. for "Downs After Dark," the Louisville track's popular nighttime racing series. Track officials canceled Thursday's racing after a tornado Wednesday evening damaged several barns and forced up to 100 horses to be moved.
Additional races will be added to next week's programs to make up the nine races lost from Thursday's card, track officials said.
Also: Florida Derby winner Dialed In is being taken out of training and will have surgery next week on his right knee.
Dialed In finished eighth as the Kentucky Derby favorite and was fourth in the Preakness. Trainer Nick Zito said in a statement the colt had clean X-rays after the Preakness but now shows a chip in the knee.
Santa Anita will add natural sand to its new dirt track during a 10-day maintenance project beginning July 11.
The Arcadia, Calif., track converted its troubled synthetic surface back to natural dirt in December. Immediately after the installation, the track was hit with near-record rainfall, and the composition of the newly installed soils was altered, resulting in too much silt and clay.
MOTOR SPORTS
Sato, Patrick claim front row
for IndyCar race today in Iowa
Takuma Sato won his first pole in the IndyCar series for today's race in Newton, Iowa, and Danica Patrick will join him on the front row.
Sato had the top qualifying run, finishing just ahead of a surging Patrick.
It's the best start of the year for Patrick, who is still looking for her first IndyCar win on American soil. Her only victory came in Japan in 2008.
Sato's previous best start was third last year at Mid-Ohio. He ran strong at Iowa a year ago before he hit the wall 73 laps from the finish.
Also: NASCAR racer Clint Bowyer said he wants to sign a contract extension with Richard Childress Racing, and the only thing standing in the way of a new deal is sponsorship money.
Bowyer is in the final year of his contract with RCR. His name recently was linked as a replacement for Kasey Kahne at Red Bull, but any potential deal fell apart when Red Bull said this week it will leave NASCAR after the season.
Steady rain washed out qualifying in the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.
MISCELLANEOUS
Bulls standout Pippen clarifies
'greatest player' statement
Scottie Pippen made it clear he thinks Michael Jordan is the best basketball player ever -- not LeBron James.
Speaking to reporters at a youth camp in the Chicago suburb of Lisle, Ill., Pippen said he simply was giving "LeBron some props as a player" when he suggested to ESPN radio last month that James could be better than Jordan.
Pippen said we "all know that (Jordan is) the greatest player that ever played the game." He said his comments were taken "a little bit out of context."
Jordan's running mate as the Bulls won six championships in the 1990s, Pippen caused quite a stir last month after the Heat beat Chicago in the Eastern Conference finals.
A team ambassador, he told ESPN Radio that while Jordan "is probably the greatest scorer," James "may be the greatest player to ever play the game."
Also: The Memphis Grizzlies extended a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Marc Gasol, giving them the chance to match any offer he might get this offseason.
The 7-foot-1-inch Gasol averaged 15.0 points, 11.2 points and 2.2 assists in helping the Grizzlies upset top-seeded San Antonio to open the playoffs before pushing Oklahoma City to seven games in the semifinals.
Winnipeg's new NHL team will take off as the Jets.
The Atlanta Thrashers are no more, having moved north across the border this month. Team chairman Mark Chipman announced the name change at the NHL Draft in St. Paul, Minn.
Claude Noel, who coached the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose last season, was named the coach of the Jets earlier in the day.
The MGM Grand Garden will be the site of the Sept. 17 world welterweight title fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Victor Ortiz.
An MGM official confirmed the hotel will host Mayweather's first fight in 16 months. HBO Pay Per View will televise the fight.
A bill to legalize mixed martial arts in New York is in trouble again with the state Assembly wrapping up its session with no plans to approve it.
Assemblyman Steven Englebright of Suffolk County, one of the bill's sponsors, said legislators still have strong feelings on both sides and unless something extraordinary happens, it won't pass this year. The bill cleared two Assembly committees this month.
The interim president of UNR said he expects the school's athletic department to have a $1.5 million deficit at the end of the fiscal year.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that interim president Marc Johnson blames the shortfall on state budget cuts.
State funds for the school's athletic department fell from $7 million in 2008-09 to just more than $5 million during this fiscal year, which ends Thursday.
Olympic bronze medalist Walter Dix won the national title in the 100 meters, and Justin Gatlin finished second to gain a spot on the U.S. world team in a successful return to major competition after a four-year doping ban.
Dix finished in 9.94 seconds at the U.S. Championships in Eugene, Ore., to beat Gatlin by 0.01. Michael Rodgers, the 2009 national champion, finished in 9.99 to get the third spot at worlds.
Tyson Gay withdrew from the meet because of a hip injury.
