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ARCADIA, Calif. -- Three geldings, including two bred

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ARCADIA, Calif. -- Three geldings, including two bred in California, scored victories in the Breeders' Cup while European horses won three other races Saturday.

Irish import Goldikova successfully defended her title in the $2 million Mile against 10 male rivals, setting the stage for Zenyatta to go against 13 boys in the $5 million Classic later at Santa Anita.

Zenyatta's 13-0 career mark was on the line in North America's richest race, with such stars as Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird and Ireland-based Rip Van Winkle looking to send her into expected retirement with a blemish on her record.

Goldikova helped Freddy Head make history as the first to win the Mile in consecutive years as both a trainer and a jockey. He rode Miesque to victories in 1987 and '88.

Goldikova won the Mile by a half-length over long shot Courageous Cat. Ridden by Olivier Peslier, she ran the distance on the turf in 1:32.26 and paid $4.80 to win as the 7-5 favorite.

* Baseball

Name pitching coach: Former Indians special assistant Tim Belcher is the team's new pitching coach, the first member of manager Manny Acta's staff. Belcher has spent the past eight years working with pitchers at all levels of Cleveland's farm system and also scouted other teams.

The 48-year-old went 146-140 with a 4.16 ERA in a 14-year career. Belcher pitched for seven major league teams. Former pitching coach Carl Willis was fired along with manager Eric Wedge. Willis spent seven seasons with the Indians.

Remove pair: The Detroit Tigers have removed outfielder Marcus Thames and catcher Matt Treanor from the roster, clearing the way for both players to become free agents.

Thames, a Tiger since 2004, hit .252 last season with 13 homers and 36 RBIs in 87 games. Treanor played in four games before undergoing surgery on his right hip April 30.

Lee to stay: The Philadelphia Phillies picked up Cliff Lee's $9 million option for 2010.

The team announced the expected move two days after losing the World Series to the New York Yankees. Lee's contract expires after next season, though general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said the team is open to signing the star left-hander to a long-term deal.

Ramirez back: Manny Ramirez is coming back to the Dodgers next season.

The team announce the slugger exercised his $20 million contract option for 2010. His agent Scott Boras informed general manager Ned Colletti of the decision, which Ramirez had until this month to make.

* Elsewhere

Carried away: New York City office workers who got carried away during the Yankees victory parade apparently began tossing files and documents out the window when they couldn't get their hands on confetti.

A financial auditor who attended Friday's the parade tells The New York Post that he found all kinds of personal financial documents in the mountains of shredded paper tossed from skyscrapers as the players rode up Broadway in Manhattan. They included pay stubs, banking data, law firm memos and even some court files.

Busy signal: An overwhelming demand for Olympic tickets appears to have swamped the Web site for the Vancouver Games.

Tickets were to go on sale Saturday morning, but ticket buyers could only get a message saying the link appears to be broken. More than 100,000 tickets to the 2010 Winter Games were to go on sale. Anyone attempting to call the 1-800 Olympic phone number for help was getting a busy signal.

Hornish 11th: Jeff Gordon is suddenly having all kind of success at Texas Motor Speedway, a track where he had never won until earlier this season. Gordon captured his first pole of the season, waiting until the second-to-last race to extend his streak of 17 consecutive seasons with a pole, with a qualifying lap of 191.117 mph Friday at the 11/2-mile, high-banked Texas track.

Sam Hornish Jr. is starting 11th in today's race.

Mickelson leads: Tiger Woods stalled with pars. Phil Mickelson poured it on with birdies.

The back nine Saturday at the HSBC Champions changed names atop the leaderboard, as Mickelson made three birdies over the last five holes for a 5-under 67 that took him from a two-shot deficit to a two-shot lead over Woods and Nick Watney in the final World Golf Championship of the year.




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