Monmouth Park

A bogey-free 64 yesterday gave Luke Donald a 1-shot lead over Brian Davis and a 2-shot edge on Matt Jones after the first round of the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Donald posted the lowest round in the event since Padraig Harrington shot a final-round 63 to win in 2005 at Mirasol, and the 64 was the best in 704 tournament rounds since the event moved to PGA National - where Mark Wilson's winning score a year ago...

You want a local horse to root for in the Breeders' Cup? Look no further than Wild Gams in today's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Yesterday morning, watching his filly gallop at Monmouth Park, trainer Ben Perkins Jr. wore a Drexel lacrosse sweatshirt. His daughter plays for the Dragons. Perkins himself is a Wharton graduate. He always jokes about how all his Penn classmates read the Wall Street Journal while he perused the Daily Racing Form. The son of a longtime top Monmouth trainer, Perkins eventually put all his skills to use taking over the family business.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Appropriately called the Classic, it will be the final race in the 2-day $24.145 million extravaganza that is the Breeders' Cup. With $5 million and Horse of the Year on the line, when the nine horses line up at 5:35 p.m. on Saturday at Monmouth Park, 10 very hard furlongs will await. Nearly half the field could claim Horse of the Year with a win. In his final race, Street Sense could claim a unique position in the history of the sport. With a victory, Street Sense would have the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Kentucky Derby, Travers Stakes and the BC Classic.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - On Saturday, Betty Moran will be at Monmouth Park, at the 24th Breeders' Cup World Championships, rooting for a couple of horses. But she doesn't have to worry about their futures. Along with her son Michael, Moran is the co-breeder of Classic contender Hard Spun, the son of Danzig who was born at her Brushwood Stable in Malvern and sold privately to Wilmington's Rick Porter for $400,000. But another Breeders' Cup horse has been much more profitable for Moran. She is the owner of Jeremy, the 5-1 second choice in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Mile.

Sheiks and princes and high-rollers from all over the globe will descend on a charming little Jersey Shore racetrack next weekend, and some of them will be bringing along their horses. But horse racing's biggest day - the 24th Breeders' Cup World Championships - isn't about wearing the fanciest hat. And there won't be any infield beer fests. Kid Rock won't be there, or K-Fed, or the rest of the B-listers who flock to Louisville on the first Saturday in May. "This is the Super Bowl," said Bob Kulina, vice president and general manager of Monmouth Park.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The Breeders' Cup has been every bit the championship event John Gaines envisioned when he came up with the concept a quarter century ago. It is why the name is now the BC World Championships. The idea was simple. Get all the best horses together in every division on one stage for a grand finale near the end of the racing season. Held in California, New York, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Illinois and Canada, the BC has been everything imagined and maybe a little more. The 2007 event will have more than ever.

The Haskell was just another nice race on the summer schedule - until 1987. Has it really has been 20 years since the greatest race in the history of Monmouth Park? It was Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Alysheba, Belmont Stakes winner Bet Twice and Lost Code, the incredibly fast horse that was winning every Derby but the one in Kentucky. Bet Twice, based at Monmouth, was Philly's horse before Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex and Barbaro. Owned by Bob Levy, with a slew of partners, some famous, Bet Twice had been second in the Derby and Preakness before romping in the Belmont.

Kentucky Derby runner-up Hard Spun worked out this week at Delaware Park and is being pointed toward the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 5. Preakness Stakes winner Curlin also is a likely Haskell starter. Jockey Mario Pino is back on the mount after being replaced for the Belmont, where Hard Spun finished fourth. Pino was replaced after a third-place finish in the Preakness. Hard Spun breezed five furlongs in one minute and one-fifth second on Monday.

After missing the start of the race because his helicopter couldn't find a place to land, Denny Hamlin rallied to take the checkered flag in a wacky NASCAR Busch Series race at the Milwaukee Mile last night. Substitute driver Aric Almirola started the race in Hamlin's car and NASCAR officially credited Almirola with the victory. It was the first time a relief driver had won a race in one of NASCAR's top three series since Darrell Waltrip won at Talladega in place of Donnie Allison on Aug. 7, 1977.

After Hard Spun's first race in the fall at Delaware Park, owner Rick Porter of Wilmington passed up an opportunity to sell the colt to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and a major force in thoroughbred racing and breeding. Holding on to his horse turned out to be a wise choice for Porter. Yesterday, Sheikh Maktoum's Darley Stable announced that it had purchased Hard Spun's breeding rights. After the Kentucky Derby runner-up's racing career is finished, he will stand at Darley Farm in Lexington, Ky. No financial terms were disclosed.