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2B – Daily News – Friday, May 6, 2011 Will Uncle Mo be a go for the Kentucky Derby? LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — To go or not to go. Uncle Mo’s connections still weren’t saying whether the talent- ed colt will run in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. The sleek bay colt was recovering from a stomach ailment, but looked good as he galloped over the Churchill Downs track on Thursday, though appearances could be deceiving. Uncle Mo looks about as exotic as his name — average size, with no distinguishing marks like the white splash on Zenyat- ta’s forehead. But his power is apparent as soon as he starts running. Last year’s juvenile champion, Uncle Mo is the 9-2 second choice behind 4-1 early favorite Dialed In. Owner Mike Repole anxiously awaited results from the latest vet exam, and promised to end the drama by announcing a decision Friday. ‘‘If he’s not what we deem to be 100 percent tomorrow, he’s not going to be 100 percent on Saturday,’’ he said. Repole said he won’t sacrifice Uncle Mo’s health to satisfy his 30- year dream of having a horse in Amer- ica’s greatest race. Either way, he won’t be shut out. He has Stay Thirsty in the full field of 20 horses. Still, the fast-talking Queens native, who got rich selling his Vitaminwater company to Coca-Cola, doesn’t want to leave his best horse in the barn. ‘‘It’s tough,’’ he said. ‘‘Racing needs superstars and if he’s 100 per- cent, Uncle Mo could be that super- star.’’ He sure looked it after winning last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on the same Churchill Downs track and tak- ing a perfect record into the Wood ‘‘I want this horse to be the best horse in the country and not just for me, but for racing.” Uncle Mo owner Mike Repole Memorial. There, Uncle Mo led the field with a quarter-mile to go, but two horses passed him and he finished third by a length. Afterward, Uncle Mo’s appetite fell off and raised suspicions. An exam turned up the stomach prob- lem. Outwardly, Uncle Mo looks as healthy as, well, a horse. Internally, no one’s sure exactly what’s going on. That’s the quandary. Uncle Mo could be fine. Or Repole and trainer Todd Pletcher could be risk- ing a repeat of the Wood Memorial. ‘‘If he runs and he runs seventh, Todd and I will look at each other and guess he wasn’t 100 percent,’’ Repole said. ‘‘If he runs and he wins by seven lengths, we can look at each other and say ‘Wow, we’re geniuses.’’’ Count three-time Derby winner Bob Baffert among those who discount Uncle Mo’s bellyache. ‘‘From what I’ve seen visually, there’s nothing there that tells me the horse isn’t ready to run,’’ the trainer of Midnight Interlude said. ‘‘He’s a good horse, I’m not believing that crap.’’ Pletcher wasn’t talking Thursday. But he’s said Uncle Mo responded well to treatment and his appetite has returned. Repole said he’s gone off much of his medication. ‘‘We got to listen to what Uncle Mo is telling us,’’ Repole said, ‘‘and he’s telling us he’s getting better. He’s telling us he’s progressing. ‘‘If the three vets say,‘yes’ and Todd says,‘no,’ the answer is ‘no,’ ‘‘ he added. It’s not as easy or obvious a call as last year, when Pletcher’s can’t-miss horse, Eskendereya, dropped out at the start of Derby week with a career-end- ing leg injury. Or in 2009, when Derby favorite I Want Revenge was scratched on the morning of the race with a bad ankle. ‘‘I’ve seen this movie. Everyone else has seen this movie,’’ Repole said. ‘‘It’s a horrible movie and I don’t want to play a major role in it, either.’’ Neither does jockey John Velazquez, who is still searching for his Derby win after 12 tries. ‘‘If he’s right, I don’t think he can be beaten,’’ Velazquez said. ‘‘I’m expect- ing a big race, nothing else.’’ The ultimate decision on Uncle Mo might fall to Velazquez. If the colt doesn’t feel right warming up, Velazquez has the obligation to notify the track veterinarians that Uncle Mo isn’t ready to run 1 1/4 miles. Of course, it may not come to that if Friday’s decision is no go. If Uncle Mo doesn’t make the Derby, it’s possible he could turn up in the Preakness on May 21. If not, Repole said he’ll wait until Saratoga in July. ‘‘I want this horse to be the best horse in the country and not just for me, but for racing,’’ he said. Haas gets off to a hot start at Quail Hollow it.’’ afford to make a few mis- takes. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Of all the times Bill Haas has played Quail Hollow, he never had a round quite like this. Haas had stress-free birdies on all the par 5s and did little wrong on the rest of the holes Thursday in the Wells Fargo Champi- onship, matching the tour- nament record for lowest opening round with an 8- under 64 for a two-shot lead. ‘‘I’ve got good feelings around this place,’’ Haas said. It was his best score by four shots at Quail Hollow on the PGA Tour, and way better than two dozen rounds he played as a kid when he would tag along with his father, Jay Haas, on the special trips they made to the course. Haas had a two-shot lead over David Toms and Jonathan Byrd, who each had a 66 in the morning when it was barely above 40 degrees at the start of the tournament with a north wind that is uncommon for this tournament. Ultimately, the after- noon turned out to be per- fect — much like Haas and his round. He did have a few key par saves, such as the 10- foot putt he made at the turn on the 18th hole. The key for Haas, though, was getting off to a good start on the slightly tougher back nine, and knowing he could Defending champion Rory McIlroy made some errors early, and he never quite caught up. In his first trip back to America after his Sunday collapse in the Masters, the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland opened with a 75. ‘‘The story of the day for me is I really didn’t hit it very well, which is unlike me,’’ McIlroy said. ‘‘It’d be the strength of my game and today I just wasn’t striking it well. My timing was off just a little bit.’’ Pat Perez and Lucas Glover were at 67, while Rickie Fowler overcame a rugged start — two bogeys on his opening three holes — to lead a group at 68 that included Vijay Singh and Stuart Appleby. Phil Mickelson, in his first event since the Mas- ters, hit two balls in the water on par 5s and scram- bled for par each time. The first one was critical. He already was 1 over for the tournament through six holes when he came out of the pine straw and into the pond at No. 7. He holed a 12-foot par putt, then made birdie on the next four holes. He wound up with a 69, along with Padraig Har- rington. ‘‘I hadn’t played in a few weeks, and to shoot under par was a good start,’’ Mickelson said. ‘‘It could have been a lot better, could have been a lot worse. I’ll certainly take The cold air made Quail Hollow play even longer in the morning, and it was particularly tough on the guys who don’t blast it. Toms fits into that category, which explains why he had to hit fairway metals for his second shot on three par 4s. The good news is he made par on all of them, and threw in seven birdies for a 66. ‘‘It was cold this morn- ing, and we were all out there with our jackets and sweaters on and playing these long par 4s,’’ Toms said. ‘‘If I can shoot 3 under on the front nine, as long as it played, I’ll take that any day.’’ Toms won the first edi- tion of this tournament in 2003. Byrd rarely plays well here. Except for a tie for fifth a few years ago, he missed the cut in his other five appearance. He almost thought about skipping the Wells Fargo Champi- onship, except that it’s close to his South Carolina roots. ‘‘It’s pretty odd,’’ said Byrd, who opened the year with a playoff win at Kapalua. ‘‘If it wasn’t close to home, I might start say- ing, ’I just don’t play well there, I need to go home.’ But my family is close to home here in Columbia, South Carolina, and it’s not far from Clemson. They just knock it out of the park at this golf tournament, and it’s a tournament I can’t miss.’’ Haas wouldn’t miss it, either — not now, certainly not as a kid. He grew up in Greenville, S.C., although his father was a member and they often made the 90- mile drive to Quail Hollow. ‘‘My dad would say, ’Let’s go play Quail tomor- row.’ It was a bigger deal than just playing at home,’’ he said. Haas figures he played some 30 rounds before turning pro. He also has good memories of the times he played the tourna- ment with his father, older brother (Jay Jr.) and his uncle (Jerry Haas). Even so, nothing com- pares to playing and mak- ing so many birdies. Haas opened his round with a 3-wood onto the 10th green for a two-putt birdie, and a 7-iron to 15 feet on the 12th, which played as the second- toughest hole in the open- ing round. Then came a 30- foot birdie on the 14th, and an easy up-and-down from the front bunker on the par- 5 15th for a birdie. He knew birdie chances awaited on the front with two par 5s, and he made birdie there, too. Haas tinkered with a belly putter at Hilton Head a few weeks ago because the greens are flat. He was back to a conventional put- ter on the contoured greens of Quail Hollow, and wound up making his share of them. ‘‘Putted well,’’ he said, ‘‘which leads to every- thing.’’ Warriors’ Curry wins NBA’s sportsmanship award NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Curry of the Gold- en State Warriors has won the Joe Dumars Trophy pre- sented to the NBA player who best exemplifies sports- manship. Curry received 88 of a possible 347 first-place votes from fellow players. Luol Deng of the Chicago NBA PLAYOFFS Conference Semifinals Today’s games Chicago at Atlanta, 4 p.m., ESPN Series tied 1-1 L.A. Lakers at Dallas, 6:30 p.m., ESPN Dallas leads series 2-0 Other series Memphis and Oklahoma City tied 1-1 Miami leads Boston 2-0 Other series Tampa Bay beat Washington 4-0 Bulls was second with 84 votes and Portland’s LaMar- cus Aldridge was third with 56. The NBA announced Thursday it will make a $10,000 donation on behalf of Curry to Habitat For Humanity East Bay, which uses volunteers to build affordable homes for fami- lies. Each team nominated NHL PLAYOFFS Conference Semifinals Thursday’s results Vancouver 4, Nashville 2 Vancouver leads series 3-1 Today’s games San Jose at Detroit, 4 p.m., CSNC San Jose leads 3-0 Philadelphia at Boston, 5 p.m., VS Boston leads series 3-0 one player for the award, and a panel of former play- ers selected six divisional winners. The other nomi- nees were Charlotte’s D.J. Augustin, New Jersey’s Deron Williams and San Antonio’s George Hill. The NBA will donate $5,000 on behalf of each PGA Wells Fargo Championship At Quail Hollow Club Charlotte, N.C. Purse: $6.5 million Yardage: 7,469; Par 72 (36-36) First Round Leaders Bill Haas 32-32— 64 -8 Jonathan Byrd 33-33— 66 -6 David Toms 33-33— 66 -6 Lucas Glover 32-35— 67 -5 Pat Perez 33-34— 67 -5 Stuart Appleby 32-36— 68 -4 Carl Pettersson 34-34— 68 -4 Rickie Fowler 32-36— 68 -4 Vijay Singh 33-35— 68 -4 Jim Herman 34-34— 68 -4 player to a charity of their choice. MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Galaxy 4 2 3 15 11 9 Colorado 4 3 1 13 11 9 Seattle 3 3 3 12 11 9 Salt Lake 4 1 0 12 8 2 Portland 3 3 1 10 10 13 FC Dallas 3 3 1 10 10 10 Chivas USA 2 2 3 9 8 6 Vancouver 1 4 3 6 11 14 QUAKES 14 2 5 6 10 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA New York 4 1 2 14 10 2 Philadelphia 4 1 1 13 5 2 Houston 3 2 3 12 12 8 Columbus 3 1 3 12 7 5 D.C. 3 4 1 10 12 17 N. England 2 3 3 9 8 12 Toronto FC 1 3 4 7 7 13 Chicago 1 3 3 6 10 13 Kansas City 1 4 1 4 10 13 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. ————————————————— Today’s game Philadelphia at Portland, 7:30 p.m. Sharks look for sweep DETROIT (AP) — The storied history of the Detroit Red Wings does not happen to include coming back from a 0-3 deficit in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Pavel Datsyuk is confident Detroit can do it, figuring out a way to beat the San Jose Sharks four straight times after losing three in a row by a goal each time. ‘‘If we do not believe, we should just go home,’’ Datsyuk said Thursday. ‘‘We believe 100 percent.’’ Just three NHL teams have pulled off the feat. The 2010 Philadelphia Flyers, 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and 1975 New York Islanders are the only teams in league history to win a series after losing the first three games. ‘‘We also have enough respect for our opponent to know that if there’s a team that can do it, it would be Detroit,’’ Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. ‘‘So, that should help us prepare. Our lesson that we were taught last year should help us. We know the storm is coming, we’ve experienced that, but we’d like to be part of that storm. ‘‘We’d like to push back and be ready to play when the puck is dropped.’’ The Sharks will have their first chance to advance to the Western Conference finals — for the third time in the fran- chise’s two decades — on Friday night in Detroit. Captain Joe Thornton wants to take advantage and elim- inate the Red Wings. ‘‘You don’t want them to get any momentum,’’ Thornton said. ‘‘We’re taking the mental attitude that it’s a must-win game.’’ The Sharks seem to be beating the Red Wings mentally and physically, becoming the first team to have eight post- season wins in row by a goal each time in league history. McLellan hopes that doesn’t make the Sharks cocky. ‘‘I want to separate last year from this year, but I believed we learned a very valuable lesson in Game 4,’’ he said. The Sharks lost Game 4 to Detroit 7-1 on the road, then bounced back to eliminate the Red Wings with a 2-1 victo- ry. ‘‘We did not come back,’’ Datsyuk said. ‘‘Now, we have another chance.’’ Detroit’s Mike Modano, who leads all U.S.-born NHL players in goals and points, has been a healthy scratch for all but one game during the playoffs and the center nearing his 41st birthday sounds like he’s leaning toward retirement. He might not get another opportunity to play in the NHL. ‘‘The knee-jerk reaction is to kind of say that’s it and be done with it because the frustration level is fairly high at this point,’’ he said. ‘‘But I’ll let the dust settle and make a deci- sion.’’ That is Nicklas Lidstrom’s plan as well. The 41-year-old defenseman, a finalist to win his seventh Norris Trophy, reiterated that he isn’t ready to think or talk about his future. ‘‘I’m going to wait until this season is over and then make a decision on what I want to do,’’ Lidstrom said. A’s (Continued from page 1B) trying to transfer it out of his glove and toss it to Anderson hustling to cover the base. The slow-to-score A’s struggled again to produce at the plate behind a sharp starter pitcher. Anderson struck out five and allowed seven hits in nine innings, baffling Cleve- land’s hitters on a sun-baked day at the Coliseum. He just didn’t get much support, a growing theme for Oak- land’s starters this season. Barton’s two-out, RBI- single in the fifth drove in Mark Ellis to give Oakland a 1-0 lead. The A’s stranded two more runners in the inning, with Conor Jackson grounding out to end the threat. The Indians briefly got to MLB West Division American League WL Pct GB Angels 18 14 .563 — Texas A’s 17 14.548 .5 16 16 .500 2 Seattle 14 17 .452 3.5 East Division WL Pct GB New York 17 12 .586 — Tampa Bay 17 14 .548 1 Baltimore 14 16 .467 3.5 Boston 14 17 .452 4 Toronto 14 17 .452 4 Central Division WL Pct GB Cleveland 21 9 .700 — Kansas City17 14 .548 4.5 Detroit 15 17 .469 7 Minnesota 11 18 .379 9.5 Chicago 11 21 .344 11 ————————————————— Thursday’s results Cleveland 4, Oakland 3, 12 innings Detroit 6, New York 3 Kansas City 9, Baltimore 1 Los Angeles 11, Boston 0 Tampa Bay 3, Toronto 1 Texas at Seattle, late Today’s games Oakland (G.Gonzalez 3-2) at K.C. (O’Sullivan 1-1),5:10 p.m.,CSNC Tampa Bay (Shields 2-1) at Baltimore (Britton 5-1), 4:05 p.m. Detroit (Coke 1-4) at Toronto (Litsch 2-2), 4:07 p.m. Minnesota (S.Baker 1-2) at Boston (Wakefield 0-0), 4:10 p.m. New York (Nova 2-2) at Texas (Harrison 3-3), 5:05 p.m. Cleveland (Masterson 5-0) at Los Angeles (Chatwood 2-1), 7:05 p.m. Chicago (Humber 2-3) at Seattle (F.Hernandez 3-2), 7:10 p.m. Saturday’s games Oakland at Kansas City, 4:10 p.m. Minnesota at Boston, 10:10 a.m. Tampa Bay at Baltimore, 10:10 a.m. Detroit at Toronto, 1:07 p.m. New York at Texas, 5:05 p.m. Cleveland at Los Angeles, 6:05 p.m. Chicago at Seattle, 6:10 p.m. Anderson with singles from Marson and Michael Brant- ley to open the sixth. Then Asdrubal Cabrera drove both home with a single up the middle to put the Indians ahead 2-1. Indians starter Jeanmar Gomez allowed one run, six hits and two walks in 5 2-3 innings. NOTES: A’s All-Star closer Andrew Bailey is scheduled to face hitters for the second time this week Saturday in Kansas City, manager Bob Geren said. Bailey hasn’t pitched this season because of a strained right forearm. .. A’s CF Coco Crisp and DH Matsui also had scheduled days off with the quick turnaround after Wednesday night’s game. MLB West Division National League WL Pct GB Colorado 18 10 .643 — GIANTS 15 16 .484 4.5 Dodgers 15 17 .469 5 Arizona 13 16 .448 5.5 San Diego 12 19 .387 7.5 East Division WL Pct GB Philadelphia21 9 .700 — Florida 19 11 .633 2 Atlanta 18 15 .545 4.5 Washington 14 17 .452 7.5 New York 13 18 .419 8.5 Central Division WL Pct GB St. Louis 18 14 .563 — Cincinnati 16 15 .516 1.5 Pittsburgh 15 16 .484 2.5 Chicago 14 16 .467 3 Milwaukee 13 18 .419 4.5 Houston 12 19 .387 5.5 ————————————————— Thursday’s results New York 5, San Francisco 2 Atlanta 2, Milwaukee 1 Cincinnati 10, Houston 4 Philadelphia 7, Washington 3 St. Louis 6, Florida 3 Colorado at Arizona, late Today’s games Colorado (Jimenez 0-2) at San Francisco (Cain 2-2),7:15 p.m.,CSNB Cincinnati (Volquez 2-1) at Chicago (Garza 1-3), 11:20 a.m., WGN Atlanta (D.Lowe 2-3) at Philadelphia (Cl.Lee 2-2), 4:05 p.m. Houston (W.Rodriguez 1-3) at Pittsburgh (Maholm 1-4), 4:05 p.m. Los Angeles (Kuroda 3-2) at New York (Niese 1-4), 4:10 p.m. Washington (Zimmermann 2-4) at Florida (Nolasco 3-0), 4:10 p.m. Milwaukee (Wolf 3-2) at St. Louis (J.Garcia 3-0), 5:15 p.m. Arizona (Galarraga 3-2) at San Diego (Stauffer 0-1), 7:05 p.m. Saturday’s games Colorado at San Francisco, 6:05 p.m. Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs, 10:10 a.m. Milwaukee at St. Louis, 1:10 p.m. Atlanta at Philadelphia, 4:05 p.m. Houston at Pittsburgh, 4:05 p.m. LosAngeles at New York, 4:10 p.m. Washington at Florida, 4:10 p.m. Arizona at San Diego, 5:35 p.m. San Jose Sharks Wells Fargo Championship Golden State Warriors