D A S L Stable's Colonel Sharp, favored at 1-2 off a 13-length maiden victory April 22 at Penn National, dueled with stubborn Zen Papa down the stretch before edging away for a head victory in Thursday's featured eighth race, a $42,000 optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds, on the opening day of the Preakness meet at Pimlico Race Course.
Trained by Todd Beattie and ridden by William Otero, Colonel Sharp ran 6 furlongs in 1 minute, 11.09 seconds over a main track rated good after overnight rain. Trainer Claudio Gonzalez and jockey Kevin Gomez teamed up for a pair of wins on opening day, with Royal Caviar in the fourth race and Willful Limit in the ninth.
There was no unique winner of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 on Thursday, leaving a carryover jackpot of $2,965.84 for today's nine-race program. Multiple tickets were sold with all six winners Thursday, each returning $459.24.
Friday's Rainbow 6 sequence covers races 4-9. First-race post time is 1:10 p.m. The 28-day meet at Pimlico runs Thursdays to Sundays through June 26, highlighted by the 141st running of the $1.5million Preakness, the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, on May 21.
NBA draft: There were two interesting measurements regarding the four Maryland players at the NBA scouting combine in Chicago — Robert Carter Jr.'s weight and the hand size for Diamond Stone and Jake Layman. Carter was measured at 251 pounds, which was about 10 to 15 heavier than the weight he played at in his one season in College Park.
The 6-foot-8½ power forward looked noticeably broader than he did during the season, leading to speculation that he put on some muscle to bang in the paint should he get to the NBA next season. Carter certainly opened some eyes in his first scrimmage Thursday, scoring a game-high 22 points (19 in the first half) of the White Team's 96-93 win over the Blue Team.
Carter has been projected to be either a late second-round draft choice or go undrafted in the June 23 draft. Stone, who until recently had been projected a consensus first-round choice in mock drafts, is not participating in the 5-on-5 scrimmages in Chicago. Stone was measured at 6-10 1/4 and 254 pounds, but it's his hand size that might cause a stir.
Of the 24 players at the combine who were measured at 6 feet 8 or above in athletic shoes, Stone's hand size (8.5inches) was smaller than that of all but Layman (8.25) and Gonzaga's Kyle Wiltjer (8.25).
- Don Markus.
Soccer: Blast owner Ed Hale will be awarded the Dr. John A. Schmid Service Award Friday by the Old Timers Soccer Association of Maryland. The team will be honored for winning the Major Arena Soccer League championship.
Hockey: Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, forward Evgeny Kuznetsov and defenseman Dmitry Orlov will represent host Russia at the International Ice Hockey Federation world championship.
Local golf: Alex Perry, 27, of Timonium had a hole-in-one on the 17th hole, par 3, 150 yards at Pine Ridge.
Men's college soccer: Bill Wnek, an associate director of athletics at Loyola Maryland and an alumnus of the university, has been named the chairman of the NCAA Division I men's soccer committee effective Sept. 1.
College honors: Maryland wrestler Tyler Manion and distance-cross country runner Emily VandeWater (Hereford) received Big Ten postgraduate scholarships of $7,500, based on primarily academic achievements, to continue their education at a graduate degree program.