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UPI
28-07-2025
- Sport
- UPI
Sovereignty continues his reign among 3-year-olds with Jim Dandy win
July 28 (UPI) -- In a busy weekend of racing, Sovereignty stayed a step ahead in the ongoing 3-year-old battles with a handy victory in Saturday's Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga, while Lovesick Blues captured a spot in the Breeders' Cup Sprint and Nysos took another step toward a spot in the Breeders' Cup Classic. There's more, too so let's roll: Classic Sovereignty remains firmly entrenched atop the 3-year-old division after Saturday's seemingly effortless addition of the Grade II Jim Dandy to his victories in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Fountain of Youth. The Godolphin homebred colt by Into Mischief shrugged off a field composed of Derby and Belmont third-place Baeza, Arkansas Derby winner and Preakness Stakes third-place Sandman, Ohio Derby winner Mo Plex and Peter Pan Stakes winner Hill Road. Only Baeza was competitive, moving to challenge for the lead on the stretch turn, but then unable to keep pace though the final furlong, finishing second, 1 length back. The others were in a different race. "I just trusted my horse," jockey Junior Alvarado said. "I knew he'd pick it up when I asked him to." Trainer Bill Mott indicated before the race the Jim Dandy was a stepping stone to the Grade I Travers Stakes. He could meet another old rival in that 1 1/4-mile race as Journalism prepped last weekend with a win in the Grade I Haskell at Monmouth. Alvarado said Sovereignty should have no trouble stretching back out from Saturday's 1 1/8 miles to the 1 1/4 miles of the Travers. "We haven't asked him to do much to win this race," Alvarado said. While the 3-year-olds continue their intramural scrum, things are shifting among the older runners. The weekend's biggest revelation was Nysos, who rallied to an easy win in Saturday's $300,000 Grade II San Diego Handicap at Del Mar. The Nyquist colt wasn't asked for his best by jockey Flavien Prat and still won by 2 3/4 lengths from Mirahmadi, giving trainer Bob Baffert the 1-2 finish. Nysos was one of the hottest commodities on the 2024 Triple Crown trail before being sidelined with physical issues. Baffert said the Grade I Pacific Classic might be next. Distaff Running Away came after pacesetter Fondly turning for home in Saturday's $252,000 Grade III Monmouth Oaks, breezed by and ran on to win by 1 1/4 lengths. Fondly held second. A Gun Runner filly, Running Away stopped the timer at 1:46.26 for 1 1/16 miles on a fast track, with Victor Espinoza in the irons for trainer Wesley Ward. She has won four of her last five starts with a eighth-place finish in the Grade I Ashland at Keeneland in the middle of that string. Literate found her best stride in the final furlong of Saturday's $150,000 (Canadian) Grade III Trillium Stakes at Woodbine and outfinished the odds-on favorite, Caitlinhergrtness for a 1/2-length score. A 5-year-old Oscar Performance mare, Literate ran 1 1/16 miles on the all-weather track in 1:43.23, bagging her first graded stakes victory. Sahin Civaci rode for trainer Martin Drexler. Turf Formidable Man stuck close to the pace and close to the rail in Sunday's $250,000 Grade II Eddie Read Stakes and Del Mar, closed to take the lead in the stretch and won going away, with long-time leader Cabo Spirit hanging on for the place. Stay Hot was third as Formidable Man finished the 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:48.55. Michael McCarthy noted the Breeders' Cup is at Del Mar again and that Formidable Man now has five win from five starts where the turf meets the surf. "He loves Del Mar," McCarthy said. "We'll space his races out and play it by ear." Filly & Mare Turf Daisy Flyer came flying through the final furlong of Saturday's $175,000 Lake George Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga and nailed pacesetting favorite Classic Q by a neck at the wire. Reining Flowers was a close third as Daisy Flyer finished 1 1/16 miles on firm turf in 1:40.19. Jose Lezcano rode for trainer Rusty Arnold and owner-breeder Calumet Farm. The Mshawish filly got her second win, following a third, beaten just a neck in the Grade III Herecomesthebride Stakes at Gulfstream Park on March 1. On Saturday at Woodbine, Candy Quest rallied from next-last of eight to win the $150,000 (Canadian) Grade III Ontario Colleen for 3-year-old fillies, hit the front by the sixteenth pole and won by 1 3/4 lengths over Somethinabouther. A Connect filly, Canda Quest ran 1 mile on firm turf in 1:33.51, with Sahin Civaci riding for trainer Mark Casse. She was last seen finishing second in the tough Penn Oaks at Penn National. La Mehana swung out four-wide entering the stretch for the second time in Sunday's $250,000 Grade II Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga and left six rivals in her wake as she won by 8 3/4 lengths. The favorite, Bellezza, was best of the rest. La Mehana, a 6-year-old, French-bred mare, ran 1 1/2 miles on yielding turf in 2:30.54 with Flavien Prat up for trainer Miguel Clement. Sprint Lovesick Blues collared pacesetter Hejazi with a sixteenth of a mile to run in Saturday's $400,000 Grade I Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar and ran on to win by 1 3/4 lengths. The favorite, World Record, was third with an even effort. Lovesick Blues, a 7-year-old Grazen gelding who raced for a $28,000 claiming tag early in his career, finished 6 furlongs in 1:08.74 for jockey Geovanni Franco, picked up his first graded stakes win and earned a "Win and You're In" spot in the Breeders Cup Turf. Smoken Wicked pressed the pacesetting favorite, Macho Music, through the first few furlongs of Friday's $200,000 Grade II Amsterdam Stakes for 3-year-olds at Saratoga, disposed of that one and drew off to win by 5 3/4 lengths. Gunmetal and Gate to Wire filled out the trifecta, while Macho Music got home fourth. Smoken Wicked, a Louisiana-bred colt by Bobby's Wicked One, ran 6 1/2 furlongs on a fast track in 1:15.64. Patriot Spirit, the odds-on favorite, asserted himself in the stretch run of Saturday's $100,000 Reigh Count Stakes at Colonial Downs, drawing off to win by 4 lengths from Inveigled. The 4-year-old Constitution colt, with Mychel Sanchez riding for trainer Michael Campbell, toured 7 furlongs on a fast strip in 1:21.01. Filly & Mare Sprint Alani dueled to the lead in Saturday's $100,000 Love Sign Stakes at Colonial Downs, shook clear passing the quarter pole and ran on to win by 1 3/4 lengths over Happy Clouds. The favorite, Top Gun Girl, faded to finish next-last. Alani, a 4-year-old Competitive Edge filly, ran 6 furlongs on a fast track in 1:09.25 toting Andy Hernandez. Turf Sprint Pushiness jumped right to the lead in Saturday's $100,000 Daisycutter Handicap for fillies and mares at Del Mar, opened a daylight advantage and held on by a nose over late-running Uncorked. A 4-year-old Kantharos filly, Pushiness ran 5 furlongs on firm turf in 56.88 under Juan Hernandez. It was the fifth win for the Michael McCarthy trainee.
Otago Daily Times
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Obituary: Roy Ayers, musician
Roy Ayers, US funk, soul and jazz composer and vibraphone player, during a live concert performance at the Kool Jazz Festival, at the Riverfront Stadium in Cincinatti, Ohio, USA, in July 1976. Photo: Getty Imaes Jazz composer Roy Ayers was as known for the music his songs ended up in as he was for his own work. Mary J. Blige, N.W.A., Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Mos Def and Ice Cube all sampled the vibraphonist, keyboardist, composer and vocalist's 1976 Everybody Loves the Sunshine, and Ayers believed that he had more sampled hits than anyone, even the much re-utilised James Brown. The Los Angeles-born Ayers started out as a session player in the 1960s but found fame after striking out on his own. His blend of jazz and funk struck a chord just as disco was emerging and songs like Running Away and You Send Me were hits. Ever in demand as a musical collaborator, Ayers worked with artists as diverse as Rick James and Tyler the Creator. Roy Ayers died on March 4 aged 84. — APL/agencies
BBC News
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Actor Marcus Harris publishes first novel after stroke
An actor known to audiences in the 1970s as one of Enid Blyton's Famous Five has released his first Harris played Julian in ITV's adaptation, which was filmed in the New Forest and Dorset in 1978 and 1979, and has also served as the mayor of Wallingford in Harris said he was driven to write his thriller, Running Away, two-and-a-half years ago after he suffered a doing so, he fulfilled a lifelong ambition to get a book published. "I have always wanted to write and I have always been writing and had a number of things rejected by various agents and publishers," Mr Harris told BBC Radio Solent."Two-and-a-half years ago I got out of bed on a Saturday morning and I hit the bedroom floor and luckily my wife got me into hospital within the hour because I had had a major stroke."I took five-and-a-half hours to come through it – my wife was told I was probably not going to make it and the family was assembled."As I woke up and come round having survived with no detriment at all, I thought, what are the things I haven't done with my life?"Mr Harris said he looked back fondly on the summers spent filming the Blyton classic."To live in Exbury and to film in the New Forest and Dorset for two years was just an amazing experience," he said."To live in a hotel and be treated like celebrities – that we weren't at that stage – was just absolutely phenomenal."He said once the programme ended, he suffered a "huge crash" – but that being recognised on the street "made for an interesting couple of years". You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Washington Post
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Everybody vibed with Roy Ayers
There's a kind of hip, laid-back, feel-good mood that we call 'vibing.' The vibraphone isn't the source of that slang term, but the instrument has a strong claim on epitomizing it anyway. Its metallic, resonant sound is so inherently cool and mellow that even its lightning-fast virtuosos — mainly in jazz, where the vibes most often appear — sound more chilled-out than they really are. Roy Ayers, who died March 4 at 84, understood this perhaps better than any other vibraphonist. He had the chops to run rings around many of his peers, and he did just that as a sideman on some of the hardest-grooving soul jazz of the 1960s. But when he broke through in the '70s as a name artist and as a crossover jazz-funk hitmaker, it was as the metaphoric ice cube in a hot drink. In doing so, Ayers taught us all how to vibe. You can hear it in his breakthrough record, the soundtrack to the 1973 blaxploitation classic 'Coffy.' All the requirements for blazing-hot funk to break out are there in the movie's theme: energetic drums, slippery bass, percussive guitar and horns. Yet there sits Ayers, putting tranquil chords into the rhythmic accents, keeping the whole thing at a simmer rather than a boil. (Even his solo, which carries a lot of oomph, goes down with the cool sensation of a rainfall.) As Ayers's star rose, so did the cool in his music; the simmer went down. By the time of his signature hit, 1976's 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine,' he had mastered it so thoroughly that the song didn't need a vibraphone solo: Even the instrument's accents are barely noticeable, washed out in the mix by guitar and Fender Rhodes. Yet the mellowness they brought to Ayers's music is the whole ballgame. And look how Ayers described the atmosphere surrounding the tune's creation: 'The sun was down, but the vibe in the studio was really nice,' he told the Guardian in 2017. 'Pure vibes.' He knew what he and his instrument represented when they came together. It translated easily to Ayers's other landmark tunes, such as 1976's 'Searching' — which even restored the burning horns that 'Sunshine' stripped out but achieved a similarly chill result. The next year's 'Running Away' brought Ayers a genuine dance club hit, the kind that merited a longer version on a 12-inch record. Those are the versions where we really expect the song's kinetic energy to throttle up to 11. Instead, though, the big feature of 'Running Away's' extended mix is … a vibraphone solo. It plays right into the groove, offering a lyrical complement to the propulsive rhythm. But make no mistake: It's a coolant, and it feels like one. Ayers tapped into a tremendous power when he put the chill-out into funk and dance music. There's a reason that version of him became a musical and cultural force. His recordings are part of the foundation of contemporary R&B and hip-hop. The likes of Jay-Z, a Tribe Called Quest, Mary J. Blige and Jill Scott have all woven samples of Ayers's tracks into their own. 'Sunshine' alone is a cottage industry; 'Searching' isn't far behind. When the jazz-rap pioneer Guru wanted to create that vibe, he bypassed the samples and got the man himself. Ayers appeared on the seminal 1993 hip-hop album 'Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1' and subsequently toured with Guru. In all cases, Ayers's presence comes with a mission to turn the temperature of the music down — to create a vibe. Ayers's vibe was one that never ceased to be relevant. In 2018 he even landed the gig that's become the signifier of musical-cultural relevance in the United States: an NPR Tiny Desk concert. Then 77 years old, Ayers was flanked by a much younger trio of jazz-, funk- and hip-hop-schooled musicians. In his hands, though, they were slowed-down, relaxed, riding a gentle groove. They were vibing.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Roy Ayers, a jazz legend who influenced hip-hop and R&B musicians, dies at 84
NEW YORK (AP) — Roy Ayers, a legendary jazz vibraphonist, keyboardist, composer and vocalist known for his spacy, funky 1976 hit 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine' that has been sampled by such R&B and rap heavyweights as Mary J. Blige, N.W.A., Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Mos Def and Ice Cube, has died. He was 84. The Ayers family said in a Facebook post that he died Tuesday in New York City after suffering from a long illness. 'He lived a beautiful 84 years and will be sorely missed,' it said. Ayers had 12 albums land in the Billboard 200 album charts, the highest being 'You Send Me' in 1978 at No. 48. His 'The Best of Roy Ayers' spend 50 weeks on the Contemporary Jazz Album chart. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. His music never went out of style, appearing in the 2019 'Queen & Slim: The Soundtrack.' His song 'Running Away' propelled A Tribe Called Quest's 1989 opus 'Description of a Fool,' and the song was sampled by Big Daddy Kane and Common. Ayers was heard on Tyler, the Creator's album 'Cherry Bomb' and Erykah Badu's 'Mama's Gun.' 'Well, I have more sampled hits than anybody," he said in a 2004 interview with Wax Poetics magazine. "I might not have more samples than James Brown, but I've had more sampled hits. Oh, man, and there's a few I don't know about.' One of Ayers' most popular albums was "Lifeline," which peaked at No. 9 on what has become the Top R&B/Hip-hop chart in 1977 and contained the hit 'Running Away,' which peaked at No. 19 on the R&B chart and became a massive club hit. During a visit to Johannesburg in 2017, Ayers offered some rhythmic advice for youth in the city's Soweto area: Get serious, be inspired, rap on, keep on and 'eventually you'll get it.' 'You guys, you have to pick your plateau. Get serious about everything,' said Ayers. He also named a few musicians who have inspired him: Nigerian Fela Kuti ('he was really like a genius'), Herbie Mann ('he taught me the business') and Miles Davis ('He was the coolest. He was the grandmaster. He was out of sight'). After debuting on record with hard bop tenor saxophonist Curtis Amy's group in 1962, he teamed with jazz flutist Mann to record three albums for Atlantic Records — 'Virgo Vibes,' 'Stoned Soul Picnic' and 'Daddy Bug' — and wrote and produced the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film 'Coffy' starring Pam Grier. He also moved on to work with David 'Fathead' Newman, the tenor mainstay of Ray Charles' great '60s orchestra. In 2017, he appeared alongside such acts as Tom Petty, the Shins, Alabama Shakes, Charles Bradley and William Bell at the eclectic Arroyo Seco Festival in Los Angeles. Ayers is survived by his wife Argerie, and their children Mtume and Ayana Ayers.
