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O'Brien, 18, youngest jockey to win Breeders' race
Frazier severely ill with cancer, says manager
Del Potro's Tour finals bid checked by Granollers

O'Brien, 18, youngest jockey to win Breeders' race

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 06:45 PM PDT

Published: Sunday November 6, 2011 MYT 9:46:00 AM

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky: Eighteen-year-old Joseph O'Brien became the oungest jockey to win a Breeders' Cup race when he piloted Irish raider St Nicholas Abbey to an easy victory in the $3 million Turf Saturday.

O'Brien is the son of St Nicholas Abbey trainer Aidan O'Brien, who claimed his second Breeders' Cup race of the day after winning the Juvenile Turf earlier with Wrote.

St Nicholas Abbey took the lead in the stretch and hit the wire two and one-quarter lengths ahead of English raider Sea Moon. Brilliant Speed finished third in the field of nine.

"It's a dream come true," the younger O'Brien said after the mile and one-half race.

He added: "I've been coming to the Breeders' Cup since I was very small, but to ride here and ride a winner - it's out of this world."

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Frazier severely ill with cancer, says manager

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 06:45 PM PDT

Former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, who earned boxing immortality after three epic fights with Muhammad Ali, is in hospice care with liver cancer, his manager said Saturday.

"Smokin' Joe" Frazier, 67, was diagnosed with liver cancer about a month ago after meeting with more than one doctor and is now in hospice care in Philadelphia, his business and personal manager of seven years, Leslie Wolff, told Reuters.

"We are doing everything we can ... but I would be a liar if I did not tell you it is very serious," Wolff said.

Wolff said Frazier, who won the Olympic heavyweight boxing gold medal for the United States in 1964 in Tokyo and held the world heavyweight boxing crown from 1970 to 1973, was in a "very painful and serious situation."

But Wolff added: "Joe is a fighter. Joe doesn't give up."

Doctors are still exploring various medical options for Frazier, who has 11 children.

Frazier is eternally linked with Ali thanks to their trilogy of fights in the 1970s which rank among the most famous ever in the sport. Frazier won the first and Ali took the next two.

Frazier won the world heavyweight title in 1970, knocking out champion Jimmy Ellis, after Ali had been stripped of the championship in 1967 for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War due to his Muslim beliefs.

'FIGHT OF THE CENTURY'

Ali was reinstated in boxing and met Frazier on March 8, 1971 at New York's Madison Square Garden, in a bout billed as "The Fight of the Century." Frazier sent Ali to the canvas with a left hook in the 15th round. Ali got up but Frazier won by unanimous decision.

That brutal encounter left both men hospitalised and Frazier later lost his title in 1973 to the hard-hitting George Foreman.

The second Ali-Frazier fight was on January 28, 1974, again at Madison Square Garden, with Ali winning a 12-round decision.

Ali then beat Foreman to reclaim the championship and he went on to defend it in the third Frazier fight on October 1, 1975, in a fabled encounter in the Philippines known as "The Thrilla in Manila."

The two punished each other for 14 rounds, then Frazier's trainer and cornerman Eddie Futch stopped the fight before the 15th while Frazier fumed in the ring corner with one of his eyes swollen shut. Frazier never forgave Futch for giving Ali a victory by technical knockout.

Frazier, who was born in segregated South Carolina in 1944 as the youngest of 12 children, amassed a career record of 32-4-1.

He retired after a second loss to Foreman in 1976, then came out of retirement for a fight in 1981 before ending his career for good. His only losses were to Ali and Foreman.

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Del Potro's Tour finals bid checked by Granollers

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 04:14 PM PDT

VALENCIA, Spain, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Juan Martin Del Potro's chances of securing a berth at this month's World Tour finals dwindled when the Argentine was upset 6-4 7-6 by unseeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the semi-finals of the Valencia Open on Saturday.

Del Potro's defeat means Czech Tomas Berdych, who lost to Japan's Kei Nishikori in the first round in Basel this week, becomes the sixth player to qualify for the eight-man, season-ending event in London, the ATP said on their website (
www.atpworldtour.com).

"It feels great to qualify for the second consecutive year," said Berdych, who made his debut at the finals last year. "It was one of my goals at the beginning of 2011 and my results have been very consistent this season."

Del Potro, the sixth seed in Valencia, would have overtaken Nicolas Almagro in ninth in the Tour finals race had he beaten Granollers, but now has only next week's Paris Masters left to clinch a place at the O2 Arena.

The 2009 U.S. Open champion, runner-up to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last week in Vienna, had looked to be getting back to something near his best after more than eight months out last year with a wrist injury.

However, Granollers continued his impressive form at the Spanish indoor hardcourt event, where he lost in last year's final to compatriot David Ferrer. BITTER TASTE Del Potro, due to represent Argentina in next month's Davis Cup final against Spain, said he would have to win in Paris to have a chance of qualifying for the finals. "Right now I am just thinking about Paris and the Davis Cup," the 23-year-old told a news conference. "You learn from every defeat and there is not much time until the last tournament of the year so it's important to shake off any bitter taste." The 2011 title match in Valencia will not be a repeat of last year's final after top seed Ferrer was beaten 7-5 1-6 6-3 by Argentine wildcard Juan Monaco in Saturday's second semi. Ferrer, the world number five, has already qualified for the Nov. 20-27 Tour finals along with Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer. Frenchman Tsonga and American Mardy Fish are currently in seventh and eighth in the finals race.

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Sabtu, 5 November 2011