Jul 22, 2019 3 min read

At The Meadows

Classic Banker stalked Classicality from the pocket, then knifed through the slop in the lane to pull off the 24-1 upset in Monday’s $20,000 Open I Handicap Trot at The Meadows.

Although Classic Banker won last week’s featured trot at 22-1, he was given even less respect at the windows Monday. But Brady Brown gave the 9-year-old Classic Photo-Banker’s Review gelding the perfect trip, as the pair downed the rallying Barn Girl by a length in 1:54.1. Classicality saved show.

Joe Urban owns and trains Classic Banker, who extended his career bankroll to $273,615.

Tony Hall collected three wins on the 13-race card, including a pair for trainer Rich Gillock and owner/breeder Bob Key.

Clemson picked

to win ACC

Reigning national champion Clemson is the heavy favorite to win a fifth straight Atlantic Coast Conference championship.

The league said Monday that the Tigers earned 170 of 173 votes from media members at last week’s preseason media days.

Syracuse, Clemson’s likely top challenger in the Atlantic Division after a 10-win season, earned two votes while Virginia earned one as the Coastal Division favorite. The Cavaliers are the only division team that has not yet captured the Coastal crown, with a different team winning the title for six straight seasons.

In the Atlantic, Florida State was picked third followed by North Carolina State, Boston College, Wake Forest and Louisville.

In the Coastal, Miami was picked second, followed by Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Duke, North Carolina and Georgia Tech.

Ronaldo avoids

rape charge

Cristiano Ronaldo won’t face criminal charges after a woman accused the soccer star of raping her in his suite at a Las Vegas resort more than 10 years ago, the city’s top prosecutor said Monday.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he reviewed a new police investigation and determined that Kathryn Mayorga’s claim can’t be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Therefore, no charges will be forthcoming,” Wolfson said in a statement.

Ronaldo’s attorney, Peter Christiansen, was traveling Monday and not immediately available to comment. Christiansen has said Ronaldo and Mayorga had consensual sex in 2009. He denied it was rape.

She has a lawsuit pending against Ronaldo in U.S. court in Las Vegas that accused Ronaldo or those working for him of conspiracy, defamation, breach of contract and coercion and fraud. She says they allowed terms of a confidential financial settlement with Mayorga to become public.

Mayorga’s attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, has acknowledged that Mayorga received $375,000 in hush money following the encounter. He maintained that agreement was made under pressure from “fixers” trying to protect Ronaldo’s reputation.

Mayorga underwent a medical exam to collect DNA evidence shortly after she says Ronaldo assaulted her in June 2009. She spoke again with police for the new investigation, and authorities this year obtained a sample of Ronaldo’s DNA through Italian authorities.

Police said the initial investigation was closed in 2009 because Mayorga only identified her attacker as a European soccer player, not by name, and did not say where she claims the rape took place.

The investigation was reopened in last year at the request of her attorneys, shortly before they sued Ronaldo.