Their undisciplined play resulted in turnovers an

OCEANPORT, N.J. -- In a race eerily reminiscent of the Preakness, which also was run over a sloppy track, Exaggerator made a middle move to contention on the backstretch of the Haskell Invitational, then forged to the front in upper stretch to upset Nyquist in a major 3-year-old stakes at Monmouth Park on Sunday.The difference, though, is Exagerrators Preakness victory moved him to near the top of the 3-year-old division. In the Haskell, he arguably grabbed the No. 1 spot.Weve won three Grade 1 races this year now, said Matt Bryan, the principal of Big Chief Racing, a co-owner of Exaggerator. I feel like we have a leg up now.In the Haskell, Nyquist, Awesome Slew, Gun Runner, and American Freedom all showed speed from the gate. Entering the first turn, American Freedom was fanned four wide and Gun Runner dropped back off the pace after racing three wide between horses. The quarter went in a quick 22.78 seconds.On the backstretch, American Freedom took a short lead outside Nyquist with Awesome Speed and Gun Runner racing behind them. At this point, Exaggerator, who was last early, began a steady advance while racing well out in the track under jockey Kent Desormeaux.From the three-quarter pole to the half-mile pole I wasnt asking him to go anywhere, he was just galloping, Desormeaux said.Desormeaux took a light hold of Exaggerator on the far turn, while American Freedom and Nyquist continued to duke it out on the lead through fractions of 46.62 and 1:11, with Gun Runner looming three wide.It got to the point that I thought I was going to get there too soon, so I slowed him down, Desormeaux said.Nearing the furlong pole, American Freedom, with Rafael Bejarano up, began to get the best of Nyquist and jockey Mario Gutierrez.Exaggerator forged to the front from the outside and he and American Freedom came close to making contact as Exaggerator went by. Exaggerator then came inward in front of American Freedom while drawing away to win by 1-1/2 lengths.Bejarano lodged a claim of foul against American Freedom and Desormeaux for interference in the stretch, but it was not allowed.After the race, an angry Bejarano said, This guy, he always does that. Whenever hes outside he always comes in, and he crossed over on me. It cost me the race, you know.Desormeaux said he and American Freedom did not make contact and that it was a big race. Once I was clear, of course I came over and kicked some mud back at him.American Freedom held second by two lengths over 31-1 shot Sunny Ridge, who bested Nyquist for third by a neck. Gun Runner finished fifth while Awesome Slew, who was close-up early, tired badly to be last in the six-horse field.Exaggerator has now won the Santa Anita Derby, Preakness, and Haskell this year for trainer Keith Desormeaux. He finished second in the Kentucky Derby to Nyquist, who also won the Florida Derby.At a post race press conference, Julie Clark, Desormeauxs assistant trainer, said weve talked about the Travers being the next race, and I havent heard anything different. We are headed back to Saratoga tomorrow.Keith Desormeaux, who watched the race in California, told TVG, I will absolutely consider the Travers at Saratoga for him next.American Freedom could also be Travers-bound, according to trainer Bob Baffert, who also watched the race at Del Mar.Well decide tomorrow whether to bring him back home or send him to Saratoga, Baffert said by phone. Were probably going to the Travers.Doug ONeill, the trainer of Nyquist, had no excuses after the race.We will regroup, see how he comes out of it and go from there, ONeill said. I thought Mario rode him perfectly. Thats how he had to ride, with confidence.Exaggerator paid $7.20 to win as the second choice behind even-money favorite Nyquist. Exaggerator is now four for five over wet tracks in his career. He covered 1-1/8 mile in 1:48.70.The Haskell was Exaggerators first start since he tired badly to finish 11th of 13 horses in the 1-1/2-mile Belmont Stakes. He remained at Belmont with Clark overseeing his training after that race.He was gassed after the Belmont, Clark said. He was as slow to recover after a race as Ive seen. It took him about a week to recover.Exaggerator was put back in training at Belmont and worked a slow half-mile there July 9. He was then sent to Saratoga, where he worked five furlongs July 16 and six furlongs July 23.Exaggerator was originally being pointed to the Travers, but on Wednesday a decision was made to re-route him to the Haskell.We were talking for two weeks trying to decide where to go, said Bryan, his owner.Clark explained that Exaggerator had not been visually impressive in his Saratoga works, which played a part in the decision to come to the Haskell. She said in his first work, Exaggerator started looking around in the stretch and the jockey had to pump on him. She said the track was playing slow in his second work.He actually started training better once we got him to Saratoga, Clark said. I dont think the heavy Belmont going was to his liking. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots on Saturday in the Oklahoma City Barons 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Heat. The Oilers signed Bryzgalov to a one-year $2 million contract last Friday after shedding payroll by dealing defenceman Ladislav Smid to the Flames. Wholesale China Jerseys . 24 Baylor in a Big 12 clash between teams trending in opposite directions. 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LOS ANGELES -- UCLA sustained several blows in the first half against Cal State Northridge, then delivered a knockout punch in the second half.Thats the way UCLA coach Steve Alford saw it as a poor first half, muddied by turnovers and missed shots, had the Bruins trailing at halftime. The No. 16 Bruins scored 62 second-half points and struck first, early and often as they dominated Cal State Northridge 102-87 on Sunday night.Freshman Lonzo Ball made a 3-pointer and went coast-to-coast with a one-handed dunk to start a span of seven consecutive points by UCLA. The Bruins took a 47-42 lead.How he started the second (half), he was a heavyweight fighter ready to knock you out, Alford said. How we started the first half, we wanted to rope-a-dope. We dont have anybody in our locker room thats Muhammad Ali. They dont understand the rope-a-dope. Theyre too young. We wanted to come out throwing punches first and early and I didnt think we did that. Its not necessarily their fault. Its a learning process.Isaac Hamilton had 22 points, and Bryce Alford 20.The Bruins had 20 turnovers, which was troubling, but used an improved second-half shot selection and made 58.8 percent of their shots compared to just 39.4 percent in the first half.They came in with a chip on their shoulders, Hamilton said. Being ranked, a lot of teams will do that and play hard. What we have to do, and Coach says, first five minutes, you have to throw the first punch and continue from there and let the momentum swing our way.UCLA (2-0) had 11 turnovers in first half, shot 39.4 percent from the field and trailed 42-40.Kendall Smith scored 21 points for the Matadors (1-1). Aaron Parks and Tavrion Dawson each added 18 points.I told the guys, if you believe in yourself and we can play this hard every night and push the ball with this type of energy, were going to win a lot of basketball games, Cal State Northridge coach Reggie Theus said. The hard thing about nonconference games, and we have a really tough nonconference schedule, is that you can play well and still lose. This game was probably won in a matter of 5-8 minutes where it got out of hand for us.Cal State Northridge has beaten UCLA just one time in the 10-game series history, but in the games first 20 minutes it appeared the Mattadors could do it again.dddddddddddd The Matadors beat the Bruins 78-74 in Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 22, 2000, almost 16 years ago. CSUN would go on to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history that season.BIG PICTURECal State Northridge: This is just what Theus -- the former NBA player and coach -- wanted in terms of a test by scheduling difficult preseason road games. Playing difficult opponents should serve the Matadors well in terms of confidence and better prepare them to try to contend for a Big West Conference title.UCLA: The Bruins took a step backward in struggling against the Matadors for 20 minutes. Their undisciplined play resulted in turnovers and those mistakes must be cleaned up before the Pac-12 schedule starts. The Bruins executed much better offensively in the second half and made the right adjustments.SUCCESSFUL TRANSFERCSUN Guard Kendall Smith, a transfer from UNLV, played well against the Bruins and had 12 of his 21 points in the second half. Smith, who is in his second season with CSUN but first full season, had several fastbreak, uncontested dunks, including two in the first half that propelled CS Northridge to the halftime lead.QUOTABLEThats the mindset weve got to have. I dont know if ... any of our other guys had that mindset to start the game. Thats kind of the mindset you learn. Youre not going to go from one game to the next and score 119 points again and win by close to 40. It doesnt work that way. These are all learning things. Well get it. -- Alford on how the Bruins went from a 39-point win in their first game to trailing at halftime in their second.POLL IMPLICATIONSUCLA didnt do itself any favors by trailing at halftime against Cal State Northridge, but the Bruins pulled away in the second half and shouldnt lose any ground with a 15-point victory.UP NEXTCal State Northridge continues its tough preseason schedule with a second consecutive road game at a Pac-12 school on Tuesday night at Stanford.UCLA has several days off before hosting San Diego on Thursday, the third of four consecutive home games in a friendly stretch at Pauley Pavilion to start the season. ' ' '