Summer Bird wins Belmont Stakes
ELMONT, N.Y., June 6 (UPI) -- Summer Bird, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, won the 141st Belmont Stakes by two lengths Saturday at Elmont, N.Y.
Jockey Calvin Borel, aboard the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners, was denied a sweep of the Triple Crown races, finishing third aboard Derby winner Mine That Bird.
Mine That Bird was the 6-5 favorite Saturday in the 10-horse field of 3-year-olds. Summer Bird, a half-brother to the favorite, was the 11-1 fifth choice in the betting.
Summer Bird finished with a 2 3/4-length win over second-place Dunkirk.
Mine That Bird took the lead coming off the turn, with Dunkirk and Charitable Man to his inside. With a furlong to run, the favorite still had a short lead over Dunkirk as Summer Bird came with a rally.
Nearing the wire Summer Bird took the lead from Mine That Bird, who was fading.
Rounding out the finish in the final leg of racing's Triple Crown was Charitable Man, Luv Gov, Flying Private, Brave Victory, Mr. Hot Stuff, Chocolate Candy and Miner's Escape.
Borel had a chance to become the first jockey to sweep the Triple Crown races aboard two different horses in the same year. After his win in the Kentucky Derby, Borel switched to Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra, who was not entered in the Belmont Stakes.
Kuznetsova wins women's French Open
PARIS, June 6 (UPI) -- Svetlana Kuznetsova finished off both sets with service breaks Saturday and defeated No. 1-ranked Dinara Safina for the French Open women's title in Paris.
Kuznetsova dropped serve just twice in a 6-4, 6-2 win over Safina, who lost in the French Open final for the second consecutive year. Safina is 0-3 in major tournament championship matches.
It was the second Grand Slam title for Kuznetsova, seeded seventh in Paris, but her first French Open championship in two trips to the finals. She won the U.S. Open in 2004.
Safina is 20-2 since taking over the No. 1 ranking, with both losses coming in tournament title matches to Kuznetsova. She'd swept through the first six rounds of the French Open losing just one set.
She opened the match with a break, but Kuznetsova broke right back and the match remained on serve at 4-3 before Kuznetsova got her second service break. Safina answered with a break at love but Kuznetsova took the set with yet another service break.
Kuznetsova took the advantage in the sixth game of the second set with a break, after which Safina appeared rattled. Safina served to stay in the match in the eighth game but hit a backhand into the net to put Kuznetsova at match point and double faulted, ending the match.
Bettencourt, Wilson lead PGA Memorial
DUBLIN, Ohio, June 6 (UPI) -- Matt Bettencourt shot a 4-under 68 Saturday to tie Mark Wilson for the lead after three rounds of the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio.
Bettencourt and Wilson (69) were at 9-under 207 and shared a one-stroke lead over second-round co-leaders Jim Furyk and Jonathan Byrd. Both had 71s and are tied for third at 208.
Geoff Ogilvy had a 63 for the best third-round score in tournament history and was tied for fifth at 209 with Davis Love III (69).
World No. 1 Tiger Woods was tied for seventh at 211 after a 68 Saturday.
"Overall I got myself back in the tournament. I've got a shot tomorrow," said Woods, who won three straight Memorial titles from 1999-2001.
Bettencourt, a 34-year-old Tour rookie, has just one top-25 finish in his 16 starts this season.
Langer holds seniors Triton Classic lead
AUSTIN, Texas, June 6 (UPI) -- Bernhard Langer shot a 3-under 69 in Saturday's second round to maintain his lead in the seniors Triton Financial Classic at Austin, Texas.
Langer, looking for his third win of the season, overcame two late bogeys to finish 36 holes at 10-under 134. The two-time Masters champion leads Gene Jones (66) by a shot.
Jeff Sluman and Mark O'Meara are two strokes further back at 137 after both had 69 in the second round. Jay Haas (68), Tom Kite (70) and Scott Hoch (69) share fifth place at 138.
Langer, who holds a lead of more than $300,000 on this year's senior money list, already has six career wins on the over-50 tour -- twice as many as the 51-year-old German recorded on the PGA Tour.
