Digger goes gate to wire to win Fire Plug Stakes
Digger sped to the lead, turned back the 4-5 favorite and drew off to a driving victory in the $70,000 Fire Plug Stakes on Saturday at Laurel Park. Never menaced at any point, Digger and jockey Mike Luzzi completed the six-furlong distance in a stakes-record 1 minute, 9.13 seconds and finished 3 3/4 lengths ahead of Celtic Innis, who nipped Malibu Kid for second. Ravalo, the post-time favorite, faded to fourth. "I had to use him a little bit to get there, but he was ready today," Luzzi said. "He warmed up like a champ. Bruce is on fire in New York, and he brought some fire down here. I know Ravalo. I rode him and won on him a few times. I thought we were on the faster horse. It felt like I still had more. I hadn't asked him, and I think Richie [Migliore on Ravalo] was riding his horse. I thought as soon as I set him down he'd kick on, and he did." Claimed for $50,000 last summer by Scott Lake for Repole Stable and transferred to Bruce Brown in October, the son of Yonaguska entered the Fire Plug off a determined victory in Aqueduct's Gravesend Handicap the day after Christmas. Digger is now 6-for-11 with 10 1-2-3 finishes at Laurel. During the 2007 fall meeting, he won three Maryland-bred stakes races while in Richard Dutrow's barn. "He's really coming into his own right now," Brown said.
Monday: : Laurel Park will offer a nine-race program Monday afternoon for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. There will not be a live program Wednesday.
Et cetera
Fox 1370 to air 9 Caps games starting today vs. Flyers
The Washington Capitals will broadcast nine games in the Baltimore area on Fox 1370 Sports Radio (WVIE). Coverage begins today with a 3 p.m. game against the Philadelphia Flyers and continues Tuesday with a 7 p.m. game against the Detroit Red Wings.
Pro lacrosse: : David Gross, commissioner of Major League Lacrosse, announced that Smartlink CEO Brendan Kelly and Hometown Lacrosse LLC will take over management of the Washington Bayhawks and lead a group of investors in acquiring the team. Former Bayhawk and All-MLL attackman Spencer Ford will be general manager, and John Tucker will serve as head coach, his second season with the team.
Pro football: : Former Morgan State standout Jarrell Guyton signed with the Montreal Alouettes, the defending Canadian Football League champions. Guyton, a linebacker, was the 2008 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Guyton played last season with the Maryland Sting, a Colonial Football Alliance minor league team based in Baltimore County.
College softball: : UMBC named former Robert Morris standout Jill Dorsch an assistant coach. Dorsch spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Saint Francis (Pa.), where she served as the pitching and hitting instructor and helped guide the Red Flash to the 2008 Northeast Conference tournament.
College football: : Morgan State senior linebacker George Howard and senior defensive lineman Justin Lawrence were named Friday to the Sheridan Broadcast Network's Black College All-American team, which features players from Division I and Division II historically black colleges and universities. Howard was the 2009 MEAC Defensive Player of the Year after leading the conference with 130 tackles. Lawrence was a two-time All-MEAC first-team selection.
College track and field: : UMES senior Allodin Fothergill was named MEAC Athlete of the Week after winning the 500-meter dash at the Metropolitan Coaches Invitational on Jan. 9 in New York in a school-record 1 minute, 3.10 seconds.
Women's college lacrosse: : Jenn Wells, who played attack and helped Liberty win back-to-back Carroll County championships, was among five players who signed letters of intent with UMBC.
Men's college lacrosse: : Former Towson standouts Casey Cittadino, '06, Danny Cocchi, '03, Ben DeFelice (Towson High), '04, Jonathan Engelke, '08 and Reed Sothoron, '05 were named to the Colonial Athletic Association's 25th anniversary team.
- From Sun staff and news services