National sports
Smarty Jones could return as soon as Haskell Invitational
The plan is not set, but the owners of Smarty Jones want their Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner to retire from racing “in a blaze of glory.”
To that end, owners Pat and Roy Chapman said Wednesday that Smarty Jones could keep racing next year and return as early as the Haskell Invitational on Aug. 8.
“An awful lot of fans love Smarty and some may have doubts about his ability,” Pat Chapman said, referring to Smarty Jones’ loss in the Belmont Stakes that ended his Triple Crown bid.
“We don’t want him to go out that way. We want him to go out the hero that he is. And if it takes racing when he’s a 4-year-old, I hope he will be able to do it.”
Pat Chapman said trainer John Servis has yet to sign off on a racing schedule for Smarty Jones, and until he does “nothing is chiseled in stone.” Smarty is at his home track at Philadelphia Park enjoying a few weeks off.
While the Haskell is a possibility, the Pennsylvania Derby at Philadelphia Park on Sept. 6 seems all but certain, along with the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont on Oct. 2 and the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Lone Stark Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, on Oct. 30.
“We don’t know for sure, but we definitely would love to run him back in Pennsylvania Derby because that would be great for the fans,” Chapman said, “but if he can’t tolerate a long layoff he may go in the Haskell.”
The layoff between the Belmont and Haskell would be 64 days, from the Belmont to the Pennsylvania Derby would be 93 days.
Both Funny Cide and War Emblem returned in the Haskell after their failed Triple Crown tries in the Belmont. Funny Cide was third last year; War Emblem won in 2002.
Auto racing
Kenseth, Harvick penalized
Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick were each penalized by NASCAR a second time for bumping each other at the end of last weekend’s Pocono 500.
The drivers, who previously were docked 10 finishing positions in last Sunday’s race, were each fined $25,000 and placed on probation until Aug. 11, a period covering the next seven Nextel Cup races.
With Sunday’s race about to end under caution, Harvick spun Kenseth into the infield. Kenseth then did the same to Harvick on the next lap.
Kenseth and Harvick were to 20th and 21st in scoring after the race.
College athletics
Colorado president under fire
The University of Colorado president began to cry during an interview after the release of a transcript that showed her refusing to condemn a football player’s alleged use of a vulgar anatomical term to describe a female teammate.
An attorney told Betsy Hoffman during a heated legal deposition this month in a federal court case that the vulgar reference had been used by a player to describe then-teammate Katie Hnida.
The attorney asked Hoffman whether she thought the term was “a filthy and vile word.”
Hoffman replied it was a “swear word” and that its meaning depended on the circumstances in which it was used, according to a copy of the June 5 deposition released by the school Tuesday.
Asked if it could ever be used in a polite context, Hoffman replied: “Yes, I’ve actually heard it used as a term of endearment.”
Hoffman defended her answer Tuesday in a meeting with Durango Herald reporters and editors, but said she should have phrased it differently.
“I was immediately sorry I said it,” she said.
Hoffman began to cry at one point in the discussion at the Herald and left the room briefly to compose herself, the newspaper reported.
Soccer
Portland alive in U.S. Open Cup
The Portland Timbers will travel to Salt Lake City later this month to take on the Utah Blitzz in the third round of the 2004 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Utah earned its date with the Timbers by defeating the Sacramento Knights on Tuesday. The Blitzz and Timbers play on June 30. The Knights had defeated the Spokane Shadow.
Sports people
The daughter and son-in-law of the late Ted Williams have ended their two-year fight to have the baseball great’s remains removed from an Arizona cryonics lab. Bobby-Jo and Mark Ferrell spent close to $100,000 battling Williams’ estate and his son, John Henry Williams. But when the money ran out, so did their will to keep trying, and a settlement was signed Tuesday. … South African cyclist Robert Hunter won the fifth stage of the Tour de Suisse at Adelboden, Switzerland, while Germany’s Jan Ullrich held his overall lead. … Forward Dijon Thompson will return to UCLA for his senior season and not enter the NBA draft. … Seventh-seeded Hicham Arazi of Morocco ousted Spokane’s Jan-Michael Gambill 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the second round of the Nottingham Open grass-court tennis tournament.