Today's Entertainment

May 1 - 7, 2017 Page 3 ACROSS 1. "Fresh __ __ __" 9. "To __, with Love"; Sidney Poitier movie 10. Canyon sound 11. Carter or Clinton: abbr. 13. "__ of Avalor"; Disney Channel animated series 15. Role on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" 17. Matt Lanter adventure series 18. "The __-Lo Country"; Woody Harrelson film 20. Actor Kilmer's initials 21. "__ with a Plan" 23. "__! Humbug!" 24. Pompous person's problem 25. "I'd like to buy __ __, Pat" 26. Greeting from Stallone 29. Freddie Prinze __.; "Chico and the Man" star 30. Musical reality series (2) 34. Not urban 36. Joe __ of "Hill Street Blues" 38. 90 degrees from ENE 39. Breakfast or dinner 42. "__ All Night"; 2015 Liam Neeson movie 43. "NCIS: __ __" DOWN 1. "Blood & __"; 2015 Don Johnson film 2. Worry 3. "The A-__" (1983-87) 4. Initials for Trump's opponent 5. "What'd ya say?" 6. Monotonous speaker 7. Unnecessary fusses 8. Knight or Turner 9. "Late Night with __ __" 12. Actor on "NCIS" (2) 14. Actress Long 16. ...FDR, __, DDE, JFK, LBJ... 19. Orson Welles' role in the 1951 film "Othello" 20. Heflin and Morrison 22. "__ Time for Sergeants" 23. Initials for a star on "The Golden Girls" 27. __ moment; instant of sudden realization 28. "Angel dust," for short 30. "One __ Hill" 31. Red Muppet 32. "The Magic of Belle __"; 2012 Morgan Freeman film 33. Make money 35. Annapolis academy operator, for short 37. Fraternity letters 40. Deezer D series, once 41. Roker or Molinaro Solution on page 2 CoverStory By George Dickie © Zap2it Each sport's champi- onship round has its own challenges, be it baseball's lengthy grind, hockey's intensity or football's sheer physical punishment. But for degree of difficulty, one could make the case that thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown is the top of the list. Consider: Each of the three races poses sepa- rate and distinct tests. In the Kentucky Derby, it's a crowded field of 20 horses; in the Preakness Stakes, it's a short two-week rest; and in the Belmont Stakes, it's the 1 1/2-mile distance. And if that's not enough, the latter two races include fresher, better-rested horses, all pointed toward knocking off the Triple Crown hopeful. Little wonder, then, why there have been only 12 winners of all three rac- es since 1875, the most recent being American Pharaoh two years ago, who became the first since Affirmed in 1978 to suc- cessfully run the gauntlet. "When it takes 37 years between wins, it's kind of difficult to do ...," says Larry Collmus, who will call the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby when NBC airs it live from Churchill Downs in Louisville on Saturday, May 6. "But what makes the Triple Crown so great is that it hasn't changed. And where the rest of the sport has, where horses aren't running as many times as they used to, and they take all this additional time between races where they didn't used to do that, now you run into a situation where it's old school — it's three races in five weeks and you have to be able to win those three races. It's almost an impossible feat and it takes an outer-world- ly horse to do it, and luckily in 2015 we had one." But unlike two years ago, when Pharaoh had generated major buzz throughout the sport and was generally considered to be the best horse com- ing into the Triple Crown, no such clear favorite had emerged this year as of mid-April. But there is one name you may be hearing quite a bit of come Satur- day: Todd Pletcher. At this writing, the 49-year-old trainer from Dallas had five horses in the top 20 of the Kentucky Derby points standings with a sixth not far back. Of course, by the time the first Saturday in May rolls around, all, some or none may have dropped out because of injury or performance issues, or someone deciding that the horse simply wasn't right for the race. But it's no secret Pletcher would like to collect his second Derby win this week. Larry Collmus calls the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby Saturday on NBC The most difficult gauntlet in sports? The Triple Crown, says NBC's Collmus Providing for the Agricultural and Gardening Needs of our Community 711 E. WATERFORD • WAKARUSA 574.862.1163 SALES • SERVICE • RENTALS

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