Miami Gardens, Florida – Formula One returns to the United States for the first time in six months, with the Miami Grand Prix being the first stop.

But Las Vegas’s spectacular debut last November was considered one of the finest races of the 2023 season, while the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, is a staple event that appeals to die-hard F1 fans.

Miami was the big party when it started in 2022, but the question is if its status has slipped to the point that Sunday’s race is only the first of three events in what has traditionally been NASCAR country.

Tyler Epp, president of the Miami Grand Prix, acknowledged that ticket sales for the third running of the event had been “soft,” but predicted an increase ahead of Sunday’s race. Epp feels the United States can support three events since they are so diverse.

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F1 Now Makes 3 Stops A Season In The United States. Could Miami Become A Victim Of Oversaturation?

“It feels like the decision to make this race about Miami and everything that Miami has to offer was the right decision because it does separate us from Las Vegas and Austin, and frankly Montreal and Mexico and all of North America,” he said. “I still believe we are a unique property. We are the first of the three, and we like our position.

“The communication between the three races in the States is good,” he said. “We haven’t seen the market softened directly because of Vegas, at least we don’t think so, and we root for the other races in this country to make sure the power of F1 continues to drive for the fanbase.”

Teams have praised Miami’s progress since it introduced the 19-turn, 3.361-mile course in the parking lot of Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL’s Dolphins. Team hospitality was relocated to the field last year when the stadium was decommissioned in 2022, and the entire track was resurfaced ahead of the 2023 event.

The track includes 11 pedestrian bridges, more than any other on the Formula One schedule. The width of some bridges has been quadrupled to improve foot circulation across the enormous complex, which hosts concerts and parties while cars turn laps.

“If you compare where we are now, three years later, to where we were at the start, it is a huge difference,” said Williams team principal James Vowles. “This was a carpark, fundamentally, that they converted into a top-tier Formula 1 track.”

When asked if adding Las Vegas to the F1 calendar had “diminished” Miami’s position as a see-and-be-seen event, seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton reacted angrily.

“Diminished? No, I believe the sport has grown in popularity around here. It’s gotten a lot more attention,” Hamilton explained. “Every city I visit, people are excited. It is now recognized as a sport in the United States. Previously, it was only an annual event. Now we’re part of the culture here, which is pretty fantastic.”

Max Verstappen won the first two races in Miami and, after winning four of the first five this season, is anticipated to win again on Sunday. His domination has prompted criticism about the racing’s competitiveness, notably in Miami.

In March, event organizers announced Guenther Steiner, former Haas team principal, as a race ambassador. The popular Steiner from the F1 docuseries on Netflix has relished promoting the event. He does not believe the circuit is a problem.

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F1 Now Makes 3 Stops A Season In The United States. Could Miami Become A Victim Of Oversaturation?

“The race track is a very good race track, it’s just that sometimes some races are more interesting than other ones,” commented Steiner. “If you’ve got Max dominating the way he was the first two races, whatever I say to (organizers), they cannot do anything about that.”

McLaren boss Zak Brown anticipates more Red Bull staff leaving the company due to team principal Christian Horner’s claims of unethical behavior against an employee.

According to reports, Brown’s Assessment Adrian Newey, the chief technical officer and architect of Red Bull’s championship-winning cars, is set to leave the company in early 2025. Brown said he would have been surprised to learn Newey was leaving Red Bull six months ago, but the Horner issue has resulted in an increase in employment applications circulating the paddock.

“Given everything that’s gone on since the start of the year and knowing Adrian pretty well, and he’s a very high-integrity individual, I’m not surprised he’s moving on,” he added. “What’s going on there is somewhat destabilizing. He’s the first domino to fall, but based on the resumes floating around, I doubt he’ll be the last.

Red Bull’s parent firm exonerated Horner of misbehavior, and his accuser was suspended. The employee has protested Red Bull’s decision, and representatives have filed a complaint with F1’s regulating body on his behalf.

Carlos Sainz Jr. is taking his time finding a seat for 2025 and has denied that he turned down an offer from Audi.

“That’s not correct,” Sainz remarked. Some things do not depend entirely on me, and there will be some waiting to be done. It’s not like we’re entirely halted; we’re still interacting with folks and doing what we can to advance.”

Audi is taking over the Sauber team, and existing drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu have contract seasons. Audi has already recruited Nico Hulkenberg of Haas as their first driver, leaving only one spot open.

After only the fifth race of the season, Hulkenberg’s signing last month surprised Bottas.

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F1 Now Makes 3 Stops A Season In The United States. Could Miami Become A Victim Of Oversaturation?

“The timing is quite early and a little surprising, but the driver market is clearly moving, and it also makes sense. He’s German, and Audi has made it obvious that they want a German driver, so everything’s fine. “Let’s see what happens next,” Bottas stated.

Next year, Lewis Hamilton will take Sainz’s place at Ferrari. Sainz and Hulkenberg were colleagues at Renault at the end of the 2017 season and in 2018, but Sainz has stated unequivocally that he would not rush into a 2025 choice.

Mercedes must replace Hamilton, and Verstappen’s statements that he is satisfied with Red Bull raise questions. Verstappen’s contract with Red Bull expires in 2028, but a schism between Horner and Verstappen’s father has led to speculation that Jos Verstappen is attempting to negotiate his son’s departure from the company.

“The only guarantee I have is that I want to make the correct decision. That’s why it’s taking a little longer, and I want to consider all of the choices before making a decision,” Sainz explained.

SOURCE – (AP)

Nashville, Tennessee – Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet won’t deny that being one of the NHL’s last eight clubs standing matters a lot.

An all-Canadian second-round matchup versus the Edmonton Oilers?

Even better.

“We know the next series will be tough,” Tocchet said Friday night after his Canucks defeated Nashville 1-0 in Game 6.

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The Canucks Ready For All-Canadian Second-Round After Eliminating Nashville

The Jack Adams finalist for NHL coach of the year led the Canucks from 11th in the Western Conference last year to third this season. They won the Pacific Division with 109 points and all four games against Edmonton.

The Canucks survived a low-scoring series against Nashville, with the final four games decided by one goal.

With 1:39 remaining, Pius Suter broke a scoreless tie with his second goal of the postseason, becoming the latest winner in a Canucks series-clinching game. That surpassed Daniel Sedin’s goal with 2:03 remaining in Game 6 of the 2010 conference quarterfinals.

Even so, the Canucks had to kill a penalty in the last 33.9 seconds when Nashville removed goalkeeper Juuse Saros for an extra attacker.

Canucks captain Quinn Hughes, a Norris Trophy finalist, said it was a fantastic feeling.

Vancouver had not won a playoff series outside of the epidemic bubble in 2020 since reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011. During that run, the Canucks also won the series against the Predators in Game 6 in Nashville.

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The Canucks Ready For All-Canadian Second-Round After Eliminating Nashville

“We stuck to what we wanted to do the whole game,” he remarked. “We did not crack. We played excellent team defense. I think (rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs) played brilliantly. We knew we would have our looks. Brock made an excellent play, and Pius delivered an outstanding finish.

The Canucks are now in the second round, having missed the playoffs for the seventh time in franchise history last season. They advanced in 2020, 2009, 2007, and 1974.

This will be their first postseason series against the Oilers since 1992 when Edmonton won the second round in six games. The Oilers have been resting after defeating the Los Angeles Kings in five games on Wednesday night.

“I have thought about it for more than two seconds to be honest with you,” Canucks forward J.T. Miller said of facing the Oilers.

Tocchet will have to choose which goalie to start. Thatcher Demko, a Vezina Trophy finalist, has resumed skating following an injury that sidelined him after Game 1, and Casey DeSmith has been well enough to back up Silovs in the last two games.

All three goalies won at least one game in the first round, marking only the seventh occasion in NHL history that a team won a playoff series with at least three different goalies and the third in 50 years. Philadelphia did it in 2011; Detroit did it in 1988.

Silovs made 28 stops to become the 14th rookie goalkeeper in NHL history to complete a series with a shutout and only the fifth in 30 years. Silovs, at 23 years and 42 days, became the youngest goalie in franchise history to record a postseason shutout. Demko was the only other goalie to do so before reaching 25.

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The Canucks Ready For All-Canadian Second-Round After Eliminating Nashville

“For him to step in as a young kid like that, into playoff games, big games, and play the way he did, it was awesome,” defenseman Tyler Myers said of Silovs. “It was great to see.”

Vancouver will need to generate more offense after taking 92 shots in the first five games. That was the fewest to begin a playoff series through five games since 1960, trailing only Washington, which had 90 in the 1998 Eastern Conference playoffs.

“Hopefully, some of those goals will go in for us in the next series,” he said.

SOURCE – (AP)

Louisville, Kentucky – As a huge crowd cheered, American Pharoah came from behind to aim his final two challengers in the stretch. In the 2015 Kentucky Derby, the bay colt and jockey Victor Espinoza raced to the lead with a furlong to go and finished a length ahead of the field.

“There’s nothing like winning the Kentucky Derby,” recalled Espinoza, who has won three times. “To me it’s the most important thing in horse racing.”

This Saturday, America’s longest-running sports event will celebrate its 150th anniversary. It is two years older than the Westminster Dog Show. The Derby has weathered two world wars, the Depression, and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it was run in virtual quiet without the customary 150,000 spectators.

Derby Day is celebrated on the first Saturday in May. It features beautiful hats, supporters dressed in their Sunday best, mint juleps served in souvenir glasses, the audience chanting “My Old Kentucky Home,” and the winner receiving a hand-sewn garland of red roses. The Derby was the second-most-watched sporting event in 2023, trailing the Super Bowl.

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The Kentucky Derby Is Turning 150 Years Old. It’s Survived World Wars And Controversies Of All Kinds

“I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s on their bucket list to attend and the one horse race they watch every year,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, a two-time Derby champion with Fierceness as this year’s early favorite.

The fact that only 3-year-olds are eligible for the Derby adds to its uniqueness. It is also the only race in America with a field of 20 horses. Since 2013, horses must accumulate points in qualifying events to gain entry. Previously, the money won in graded stakes races determined the field.

“It’s very difficult to keep them on track to get to the Derby, get into the Derby, and then, hopefully, everything goes well and you get a good, clean trip,” said trainer Brad Cox, a Louisville native who will saddle Catching Freedom, Encino, and Just a Touch on Saturday.

Louisvillians take pride in their city’s 1875 history, preparing at-home versions of high-calorie treats such as Benedictine dip (grated cucumber, cream cheese, sour cream, and mayo), Derby pie (chocolate chips and almonds) and cocktails when they aren’t at the track.

Thirteen of the fifteen jockeys in the first Kentucky Derby were black, including Oliver Lewis, who led Aristides to victory in front of 10,000 applauding fans in 1875.

Black riders won 15 of the first 28 Kentucky Derbys, and there were none from 1920 to 2000. As Jim Crow laws were implemented, segregation extended throughout the country, including horse racing, where Black riders found it practically impossible to obtain a license.

In 2021, Kendrick Carmouche became the final Black jockey to compete in the event.

Black trainers also dominated the Kentucky Derby’s early years, winning seven of the first seventeen from 1875 to 1891. Larry Demeritte will saddle long shot West Saratoga on Saturday, becoming only the second since 1951 and the 17th overall.

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The Kentucky Derby Is Turning 150 Years Old. It’s Survived World Wars And Controversies Of All Kinds

Following the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black EMT, by police during a botched narcotics raid at her Louisville home, protesters calling for racial justice and an end to police violence gathered at Churchill Downs in 2020 and 2021.

Women have had an intermittent presence in the Kentucky Derby. Only six riders have competed in the race, the last being Rosie Napravnik in 2014. Seven women have trained Derby runners, with Vicki Oliver last doing so in 2021.

“It’s an incredibly hard race just to get into, let alone win,” he remarked.

Cox was named the winner of the 2021 race nine months after Medina Spirit was disqualified for failing a drug test — only the second such DQ in race history — and Mandaloun was promoted to first.

“We’re all trying to win this race to experience the thrill of victory,” Cox said, “and we’ve yet to do that.”

Last year, 12 horses died at Churchill Downs in the weeks leading up to the Derby, damaging the race’s image. An independent investigation ruled out any faults and found no single cause. The track continued to train but relocated the remainder of its spring racing event to western Kentucky.

The trainer who won a record-tying six races for the third consecutive year will not be in Louisville. Churchill Downs Inc. suspended Bob Baffert after Medina Spirit failed a drug test, upsetting the 2021 results.

Baffert challenged his original two-year suspension in court but lost a year ago. Last August, the track announced extending the suspension until 2024. It said there were “continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing he poses.”

Churchill Downs Inc., the track’s publicly traded parent corporation with shareholders to satisfy, has spent $500 million on renovations and modernizations during the last decade. Its newest attraction is the $200 million paddock, where visitors willing to spend up to $12,000 may dine and watch the horses being saddled before the races.

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The Kentucky Derby Is Turning 150 Years Old. It’s Survived World Wars And Controversies Of All Kinds

In its 150th year, the Kentucky Derby purse has been increased to a record $5 million, with the winning owner receiving $3.1 million.

Despite modifications to the race and the track over the years and the incorporation of current events, the first Saturday in May remains.

“The one thing that hasn’t changed is that you have 20 of the best 3-year-olds from all over the world,” said trainer Doug O’Neill, who has won the Kentucky Derby twice.

Pletcher continued, “It seems like the one mainstay that we can really rely on.”

SOURCE – (AP)