News » ray leads the tournament with four points -- th

As noted in this space last week about the strongly run Breeders Cup Juvenile by Classic Empire and Not This Time, there is much optimism for this years class of 2-year-old males. More encouraging signs came Saturday in stakes victories from Mastery and Gunnevera.Mastery, a most eye-catching debut winner at Santa Anita just two weeks before the Breeders Cup, won the Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar, a springboard to the Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity on Dec. 10. Mastery was supposed to win the Bob Hope. He was 1-5. So it says something about Mastery that he also managed to impress.Mastery absolutely toyed with runner-up California Diamond through the stretch run of the Bob Hope. The official win margin was 1-1/4 lengths, but it would have been significantly larger if Mastery had been asked to run. The thing that was most striking about the stretch run of the Bob Hope, however, was the contrasting profiles of the two protagonists.California Diamond might not be the second coming of Hindoo, but he had seven starts before Saturday; he won five, four of which were stakes, including three straight stakes scores. California Diamond had all the seasoning that Mastery lacked, and yet Mastery performed through the stretch as though hes been doing this racing thing forever.If there is one caveat regarding Masterys victory Saturday, it was that the pace he set was slow -- in fact, the slowest of the five main-track races on the Del Mar card -- and by a significant margin. But there are a couple of points that might mitigate the slow fractions. For one, even though he was in front, Mastery still shut himself off, which I take as a strong indicator that he will successfully rate off the early lead.The other consideration is how Mastery finished. If he didnt finish well after that slow pace, then there wouldnt be nearly as much to get excited about. But Mastery went his seventh and final furlong in 11.61 seconds, which is fast, and strongly suggests stretching out will be no issue for him.Gunneveras win in the Delta Downs Jackpot was more of an in your face performance. He lagged early off a fairly strong but contested pace, and overwhelmed his field with a move at least five wide on the far turn that eventually carried him to the lead and then on to a near six-length romp.Gunneveras Delta Jackpot was flashy, but it is important to put his effort in some context. Gunnevera was the only member of the 10-horse field to have won a graded stakes race (he won the Grade 2 Saratoga Special in August), and he was also the only one in the field to have prior Grade 1 stakes experience (he finished fifth in Keenelands Breeders Futurity in his most recent outing).That said, one of the several things to like about Classic Empire even before he won the Breeders Cup Juvenile is he won the Breeders Futurity despite stretching out to two turns for the first time in his first representative start in three months; Im not counting his Hopeful appearance, when he wheeled coming out of the gate as the favorite as a representative outing. It should be noted that Gunnevera was in a similar position when he ran in the Breeders Futurity.The Breeders Futurity was Gunneveras first start in two months, and it was also his first start around two turns. He wasnt able to overcome those hurdles the way Classic Empire did. Gunnevera was put to a heavy drive on the far turn at Keeneland, yet he gave a little ground and position through the Breeders Futurity stretch run. But while that says Gunnevera has quite a bit of improving to do before he can be considered on the same level as Classic Empire, the outing in the Breeders Futurity worked perfectly for Gunnevera in the context of the Delta Jackpot.Unfortunately, the 2-year-old filly division this year hasnt been as compelling as the juvenile males has been, but that may begin to change after the smashing victory from Shanes Girlfriend in the Delta Downs Princess Stakes one race before the Jackpot.Shanes Girlfriend, a romping if surprising (she was 8-1 in a field of nine) debut winner at Santa Anita late last month, shipped and stretched out for the Princess, and ran off to score by just over 13 lengths. Now, it must be noted that there was not one graded stakes winner among the nine opponents she crushed Saturday, yet I still feel Shanes Girlfriend upstaged Gunnevera.The Princess was run at a mile, the Jackpot was at 1 1/16 miles; thats close enough to make pace comparisons. When you do, youll find the Princesss pace was faster to the first quarter (23.06 to 23.18) and substantially faster to the three-quarter mark (1:11.71 to 1:12.52). Shanes Girlfriend did what she did being right on top of that faster early pace, a pace that was actually the strongest sustained pace (emphasis on the word sustained) all day at Delta, and all day at Delta Saturday was 11 races.And for the record, Shanes Girlfriend completed her mile in 1:37.98. Gunnevera got his mile in 1:38.64. Yes, I know Gunnevera had another sixteenth to go after that mile split, but he certainly wasnt speeding up late, even if he was drawing away. Cheap NFL Jerseys . But when it comes to determining if Raymond will find a place on the Leafs roster when training camp concludes in a week, well, that decision will ultimately fall to the head coach. Cheap Jerseys Throwback . Three came down to the fourth quarter while quarterbacks continued to shine in all four games; so important to the overall quality of the game. http://www.cheapnfljerseysfastshipping.com/ . -- Ohio States Urban Meyer has never had any issue acclimating to the biggest stages in college football. Wholesale Stitched Jerseys . Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game. Stitched NFL Jerseys .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury.LONDON -- A late header by Laurent Koscielny capped a spirited comeback for Arsenal as they drew 2-2 against Napoli before a home crowd at the Emirates Cup on Saturday. Earlier, Galatasaray beat FC Porto 1-0 to take a lead in the two-day preseason tournament. Arsenal was down 2-0 at halftime after clinical strikes by Napolis forwards caught them off guard, with Lorenzo Insigne taking advantage of a defensive blunder by Carl Jenkinson in the seventh minute to open the scoring. A long pass from Marek Hamsik 20 minutes later found winger Goran Pandev, who cut wide and curled the ball in from a tight angle. Arsenal had a chance to equalize on a penalty between those goals, when Napolis Valon Behrami felled Kieran Gibbs in the box. But Lukas Podolski was denied by Napolis newly-signed goalkeeper, Pepe Reina. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger reacted in the second half by inserting Theo Walcott for pace on the right flank and the team pressed higher up the pitch, dominating possession and creating multiple chances. Olivier Giroud pulled one back with a spectacular overhead kick goal from a corner and almost added a second two minutes later with a header. But it was Koscielny who levelled the score with three minutes to go before the end of regular time. The French centre-back headed home the ball after Reina had made a stunning save on a header by Per Mertesacker. Wenger declared himself satisfied with his players response. He said they suffered early on because they were not pressing enough, something the Italian team took advantage of. "They are good at counterattacking. It took us some time to adjust defensively," Wenger said. He refused to be drawn about Arsenals attempts too sign Liverpool forward Luis Suarez, saying negotiations were ongoing.dddddddddddd In the first match of the Emirates Cup, Turkeys Galatasaray beat Portugals Porto in a match decided by penalties. Galatasarays Felipe Melo converted one in the 71st minute after a run into the box by defender Emmanuel Eboue, who was playing at the Emirates Stadium for the first time since leaving Arsenal in 2011. Porto had dominated possession in the early stages but could not capitalize on its opportunities. Jackson Martinez was denied on the first penalty by Galatasarays goalkeeper Fernando Muslera early in the first half while Lucho Gonzalez failed to equalize late in the match, drawing his spot kick wide to the left. Galatasaray grew in confidence in the second half, with Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder linking up effectively and testing Muslera on several occasions. Porto had to rely on counterattacks, in particular on the speed of their Brazilian winger Kelvin. Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim acknowledged his side was lucky to earn full points from the match. "In the first half Porto was better than us. Our play wasnt very satisfactory but in the second half we pressed more and we performed better," Terim said. He decried mistakes in defence that had conceded the two penalties and exposed the goal, but said the team was still feeling the after-effects of preseason training. After the first two matches, Galatasaray leads the tournament with four points -- three for winning and one for a goal. Arsenal and Napoli follow with three points each and Porto lag with none. The Emirates Cup concludes on Sunday, with Napoli playing Porto before Arsenal takes on Galatasaray. China NFL Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Online Stitched Hockey Jerseys Wholesale Baseball Jerseys Football Jerseys Outlet College Jerseys For Sale Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys For Sale Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '