Hall of Fame jockey Stevens ends career of over 25 years

For Hall of Fame jockey and three-time Kentucky Derby winner Gary Stevens, it took the retirement of Rock Hard Ten to confirm it was time for him to step down.

“I said, ‘That’s it. He’s retiring, I’m retiring,’ ” Stevens said Friday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Stevens, who called Rock Hard Ten the best horse he’d ever ridden, ends a riding career of more than 25 years. His last mount will be today in the final race of the fall meet aboard trainer Patrick Biancone’s Louve Royale.

Rock Hard Ten retired on Nov. 18 after an examination detected worn cartilage in his left front foot. Among other races, Stevens rode Rock Hard Ten in the 2004 Preakness. The jockey had a 6-1-0 record in seven races aboard the horse.

Stevens will go to work in January as a racing analyst with TVG, an interactive horse racing network.

The retirement was announced less than a month after the 42-year-old rider picked up his 5,000th win, which came aboard Joint Aspiration at Belmont. He’s the 20th jockey to reach 5,000 wins.

Stevens, a native of Caldwell, Idaho, played the role of jockey George Woolf in the movie “Seabiscuit.”

Gymnastics

Americans finish 1-2

Chellsie Memmel edged Nastia Liukin by 1-1000th of a point in an American gold-silver finish in the women’s all-around final at the gymnastics world championships in Melbourne, Australia.

Memmel, who placed behind Liukin in the U.S. nationals, ended the world championships with a total score of 37.824.

Liukin took silver with 37.823, making Friday’s all-around result the closest since 1985, when Soviet gymnasts Yelena Shushonova and Oksana Omelianchik tied for gold.

Australian Monette Russo won bronze.

Skiing

Miller says he is being targeted

Overall World Cup ski champion Bode Miller said he is being targeted for more doping tests since suggesting last month that regulations on banned substances be liberalized.

After telling reporters at the World Cup opener last month that he believes doping should be legalized – or at least the accepted levels of banned substances should be increased – Miller said he was required to submit to drug tests on three consecutive weekends.

“I can tell you this: Since I started talking out about the idea, I’ve been randomly tested three times, and nobody else on my team has been tested more than once,” Miller said.

The 28-year-old American – who last year became the first U.S. man in 22 years to win the overall World Cup title – said he missed one test because he had to report for testing within two hours but was six hours away. Athletes are allowed to miss two random tests in 18 months, but a third omission is treated as a positive test.

“It’s incredibly insulting to be drug tested over and over and over again,” Miller said.

•Nordic combined champion Hannu Manninen of Finland opened the World Cup season by winning a 15-kilometer freestyle event in Kuusamo, Finland.

Figure skating

Plushenko leads in Russia

Three-time world champion Evgeni Plushenko scored a personal best to take a firm lead after the short program in the Cup of Russia in St. Petersburg.

Plushenko’s 87.20 score put him nearly nine points ahead of Switzerland’s Stephane Lambiel, the current world champion. American Johnny Weir, also on the comeback trail after spraining an ankle last month, was third in the short program.

World champion Irina Slutskaya led the women’s event with 67.58 points, nearly seven points ahead of second-place Miki Ando of Japan. Yoshie Onda of Japan was third, 20 points behind Slutskaya. The top American is Emily Hughes, sister of 2002 Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes, who finished fourth.

Miscellany

Cycling champion fails drug test

Roberto Heras’ second doping test was positive, and the four-time Spanish Vuelta winner might now be banned from cycling for two years. The test showed Heras had used the performance-enhancing drug EPO in capturing this year’s Vuelta, one of the top races of the European cycling season. Heras could be stripped of this year’s Vuelta title, with runner-up Denis Menchov declared the winner. Heras said he will appeal.

•A British investment group bought a controlling stake in Formula One in a move that is not expected to change the way the racing series operates on the track. CVC Capital Partners Ltd. said it planned to keep Bernie Ecclestone, the longtime commercial head of Formula One, as chief executive. Ecclestone, a 75-year-old billionaire, has been with Formula One for 26 years.