Filly Ria Antonia to run in Preakness
BALTIMORE — A filly is going to challenge the boys in the Preakness for the first time since 2009 when Rachel Alexandra won.
Ria Antonia will be ridden by Calvin Borel, who guided Rachel Alexandra to victory. Ria Antonia is coming off a sixth-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks on May 2 at Churchill Downs, where she has been training.
The filly’s trainer, Tom Amoss, says the idea to run Ria Antonia against the boys came from her owners. Amoss said Monday that she has passed all the tests to take on the challenge.
Amoss says he sees the Preakness as Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome versus everyone else. He says if California Chrome runs his race in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness then he will win, but if not, it opens up opportunities for other horses, including Ria Antonia.
Ria Antonia is scheduled to jog at Churchill Downs today and arrive in Baltimore from Louisville, Ky., on Wednesday. The 139th Preakness is Saturday.
Brooks, Chandler on preliminary US squad
NEW YORK — Defenders John Brooks, Timmy Chandler and DeAndre Yedlin are among the 30 players selected by U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann on his 30-man preliminary World Cup squad.
Midfielder Julian Green, who made his national team debut last month, and forwards Terrence Boyd and Chris Wondolowski also are among the players picked who will try to earn spots at the Americans’ pre-World Cup training camp, which opens Wednesday at Stanford, California.
Klinsmann must submit a 23-man roster to FIFA by June 2.
Among those left off Monday were defender Tim Ream; midfielders Sacha Kljestan, Brek Shea, Jose Torres and Daniel Williams; and forwards Herculez Gomez and Juan Agudelo.
Half the players are from Major League Soccer, with four each from England’s Premier League and Germany’s Bundesliga. Two are from Mexico’s league, and one each from Austria, France, Netherlands, Norway and Turkey.
The Americans play exhibitions against Azerbaijan on May 27 at San Francisco; Turkey on June 1 at Harrison, New Jersey; and Nigeria on June 7 at Jacksonville, Florida. They travel the following day to their base camp in Sao Paulo.
MLS, US Soccer announce new TV deals
NEW YORK — Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer have signed new broadcast rights deals with ESPN, Fox and Univision.
The new contracts announced Monday are for eight years through 2022.
ESPN has aired MLS games since the league’s inception in 1996. Fox broadcast games from 2003-11 before NBC won the rights to the contract. NBC is in the final season of a three-year agreement.
Man City celebrates EPL title with parade
MANCHESTER, England — Manchester staged a Premier League trophy parade for the fourth straight year Monday when Man City players celebrated a second title in three years with an open-top bus tour through a packed downtown.
With morning rain giving way to blue skies, tens of thousands of City fans turned out to honor the team a day after its 2-0 victory over West Ham clinched the league championship. City also won the League Cup in manager Manuel Pellegrini’s first season in charge.
Looking down on flag-waving, horn-blowing supporters lining the streets, City captain Vincent Kompany said “Manchester is blue today — and it’s a pretty sight.”
City’s fierce rival, Manchester United, won the Premier League in 2011 and 2013.
1st black athlete in Texas-El Paso history dies
EL PASO, Texas — The first black basketball player at what would become the University of Texas at El Paso and the first at a major university in the former Southern Confederacy has died.
Charlie Brown was 83. A UTEP statement says he died Sunday in Antioch, Calif., after a long illness.
Brown led the Miners of what was then Texas Western College to Border Conference titles in 1957 and ‘59 and was the conference’s 1957 Most Valuable Player.
He transferred to Texas Western from Amarillo Junior College in 1956, joining the Miners with nephew Cecil Brown. He remained with the Miners for the next three seasons, earning all-Border Conference honors each season, and was inducted into the UTEP Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.
He is survived by his brother, Edgar.
By wire sources