Peppers Pride is ready to try again.
The New Mexico thoroughbred mare is entered in a 6-furlong allowance race Saturday at Zia Park, bidding for what would be a North American record 17th career victory in as many starts.

Peppers Pride never has raced outside New Mexico and could break the mark of 16 straight wins she shares with Triple Crown winner Citation, two-time horse of the year Cigar, Mister Frisky and Hallowed Dreams.

Shes doing well, trainer Joel Marr said Monday.

Peppers Pride hasnt raced since winning the Foutz Distaff Handicap at SunRay Park on April 26. A scheduled attempt to break the record on July 27 was ruined by heavy rains and flooding at Ruidoso Downs, the remnants of Hurricane Dolly. She was slated to run at Ruidoso on Aug. 31, but Marr scratched her after more rains turned the track sloppy.

He agreed the long layoff was not an optimal training regimen.

It probably has had an effect, and well find out Saturday, Marr said. But she has been training well.

September 29, 1938 Greyhound sets the trotting world record. Of 1:55-1/4 in a time trial at the Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky.

September 30, 1989 Goalie Jeff wins the Tattersalls Pace final for 3-year-olds in 1:51.3 at the Red Mile.

October 1, 1971 Steady Star sets the pacing world record of 1:52 in a time trial at the Red Mile.

October 1, 1980 Niatross sets the pacing world record of 1:49.1 in a time trial at the Red Mile.

October 2, 1982 Fan Hanover sets the world record for female pacers in 1:50.4 at the Red Mile.

October 3, 1986 Mack Lobell sets the world record for 2-year-old trotters of 1:55.3 at the Red Mile.

October 3, 1969 Lindys Pride wins the Kentucky Futurity in straight heats at the Red Mile to complete a sweep of the Trotting Triple Crown races.

October 4, 1960 Adios Butler sets the pacing world record of 1:54.3 in a time trial at the Red Mile.

October 5, 1980 Classical Way sets the world record for female trotters of 1:55.2 in a time trial at the Red Mile.

Fourth-seeded Sabine Lisicki of Germany advanced to the second round. Of the Tashkent Open with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Dilyara Saidkhodjaeva of Uzbekistan on Monday.

Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia also advanced on the hard courts of the Dynamo Tennis Club. The fifth-seeded Rybarikova defeated Kathrin Woerle of Germany 6-4, 6-4.

—-
Tendulkar says India planning its strategy.

India is planning its strategy for combating Australia in the forthcoming test series, batsman Sachin Tendulkar said.

“The Indian team will play with a well laid-out strategy to win the four-test series,” Tendulkar was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India on Monday.

India began training for the test series on Monday in Bangalore at the National Cricket Academy.

Selectors are expected to pick the team on Wednesday for the first test match which begins Oct. 9 in Bangalore.

Tendulkar has been cleared to play in the tests after recovering from the elbow injury that forced him to miss the recent one-day series against Sri Lanka.

Tendulkar said the Indian team management would be busy over the next few days planning “the way we want to approach the series.”

“We just like to focus on our performance,” said Tendulkar, adding that India expected a tough challenge from Australia despite the touring team featuring several new players.

Tendulkar said some of the Australian players may be new to international cricket, “but that doesn’t mean they cannot deliver.”

“They’ve played a lot of cricket and we respect that. We don’t want to be caught off-track,” he said.

Tendulkar dismissed any security concerns among the Indian players after Saturday’s blast in New Delhi that killed one person and injured another 22.

The Australian team has been asked by its security officer to be extra cautious, but Tendulkar said the Indian players were confident that they would not be targeted by terrorists.

“We have full confidence that nothing bad will happen,” he said.

Amer Delic beat Go Soeda of Japan 6-4, 6-2 Monday. To advance to the second round of the Japan Open.

Defending champion David Ferrer of Spain - the top-seeded player has a first-round bye along with second-seeded Andy Roddick.

Fifth-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia rallied from a slow start for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in the women’s tournament.

Also, Ayumi Morita of Japan beat New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic 6-1, 6-4 and Marta Domachowska defeated Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-4, 7-5.

—-
Serena Williams returns in Stuttgart.

Serena Williams would happily forgo the US$100,000 (?70,000) prizemoney that goes to the winner of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

She’d much rather drive off in the bright red convertible parked courtside.

The tournament gives the winner a choice - either a cash prize or a low-slung Porsche 911 sports car. Williams, returning to action for the first time since beating Jelena Jankovic in the final of the U.S. Open three weeks ago and regaining the world No. 1 ranking, knows which she’d prefer.

“I’ve been trying for so long to win the Porsche, it’s about time to take that 911 home,” Williams said on Monday.

Williams lost in the quarterfinals last year, to Svetlana Kuznetsova, and she could run into the Russian again at the same stage this week.

Both Williams sisters are in Stuttgart. Venus is seeded sixth and is in the opposite half of the draw, meaning the sisters cannot meet until the final. The two are also playing doubles. They won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing.

Serena will also be seeking to defend her No. 1 ranking. Jankovic, who won the China Open on Sunday, is only 21 points behind.

“I’m close to gaining the No. 1 spot again, but I’m just trying to focus on playing one match at a time and working on my game,” Jankovic said in China. “I would love to come back to No. 1 and end the year at No. 1.”

Serena has the same goal.

“The U.S. Open is not the end of the year,” Williams told reporters. “I hope to do well in the last tournaments of the year.”

The nine-time Grand Slam champion had a first-round bye and will play Li Na in her opener. The Chinese player beat Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2 in the tournament’s first match on Monday.

Third-ranked Dinara Safina and No. 4 Elena Dementieva also could end the year as No. 1. The pair and Jankovic also had first-round byes.

Dementieva won the women’s singles Olympic gold medal by beating Venus Williams in the final.

“But there is still a lot to achieve … I am still thinking of the No. 1,” she said.

Dementieva will play Sybille Bammer of Austria in the second round, while Jankovic meets Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine, who beat Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Bammer beat German wild card Tatjana Malek 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 from a break down in the final set and saved two match points.

Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova are the only top-10 players missing from the indoor tournament.

Last year’s winner, Justine Henin, has retired.

Li Na of China beat Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2 Monday. In the first match of the Porsche Grand Prix.

Li next faces nine-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, who had a first-round bye. Williams is playing for the first time since defeating Jelena Jankovic in the U.S. Open final three weeks ago and regaining the No. 1 ranking.

“The U.S. Open is not the end of the year,” Williams said. “I hope to do well in the last tournaments of the year.”

She lost in the Stuttgart quarterfinals last year to Svetlana Kuznetsova, and she could run into the Russian again at the same stage this week.

Venus Williams is seeded sixth and is in the opposite half of the draw, meaning the sisters cannot meet until the final. The two are also playing doubles. They won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing.

Jankovic also had a first-round bye, as did Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva. Dementieva will play Sybille Bammer of Austria in the second round. Jankovic meets Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine, who stopped Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Bammer downed German wild card Tatjana Malek 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 from a break down in the final set and saved two match points.

Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova are the only top-10 players missing from the indoor tournament. Last year’s winner, Justine Henin, has retired.

Results Monday from the Porsche Grand Prix. A US$650,000 (?453,000) WTA Tour event indoors at the Porsche Arena (seedings in parentheses):

Singles

First Round

Li Na, China, def. Nicole Vaidisova, Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-2.

Alona Bondarenko, Ukraine, def. Eleni Daniilidou, Greece, 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Sybille Bammer, Austria, def. Tatjana Malek, Germany, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

—-
Results Monday from the Open de Moselle. A US$530,000 (?369,000) ATP event in indoor hardcourts at Les Arenes de Metz (seedings in parentheses):

Singles

First Round

Jose Acasuso, Argentina, def. Guillermo Canas, Argentina, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

Ernests Gulbis, Latvia, def. Mario Ancic (8), Croatia, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

Janko Tipsarevic, Serbia, def. Jeremy Chardy, France, 7-6 (5), 7-5.

Carlos Moya, Spain, def. Albert Montanes, Spain, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

—-
Results Monday from the Tashkent Open. A US$145,000 WTA Tour event played on hard courts at Dynamo Tennis Club (seedings in parentheses):

Singles

First Round

Sabine Lisicki (4), Germany, def. Dilyara Saidkhodjaeva, Uzbekistan, 6-0, 6-1.

Magdalena Rybarikova (5), Slovakia, def. Kathrin Woerle, Germany, 6-4, 6-4.

Sofia Shapatava, Georgia, def. Kinnie Laisne, France, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

—-
Results Monday from the AIG Japan Open. A US$869,000 (?605,000) ATP event and US$175,000 (?121,000) WTA Tour event on hard courts at Ariake Colosseum (seedings in parentheses):

Singles

Men

First Round

Amer Delic, United States, def. Go Soeda, Japan, 6-4, 6-2.

Takao Suzuki, Japan, def. Yuichi Sugita, Japan, 3-6, 7-6 (6).

Lee Hyung-taik, South Korea, def. Satoshi Iwabuchi, Japan, 6-1, 6-4.

–

Women

First Round

Marta Domachowska, Poland, def. Aiko Nakamura, Japan, 6-4, 7-5.

Ayumi Morita, Japan, def. Marina Erakovic, New Zealand, 6-1, 6-4.

Kaia Kanepi (5), Estonia, def. Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Carlos Moya beat Albert Montanes 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 Monday. In the first round of the Open de Moselle in an indoor match between Spaniards.

Moya, once ranked No. 1, played in his second final of the year last month in Romania. He improved his record against Montanes to 2-1.

The only seed playing, No. 8 Mario Ancic of Croatia, was upset by French Open quarterfinalist Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 7-6 (3), 6-4. Gulbis will next face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who defeated French wild card Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (5), 7-5.

In an all-Argentine match, Jose Acasuso held off Guillermo Canas, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to win for the first time in three visits to Metz.

Last year’s winner, Tommy Robredo of Spain, isn’t playing at Metz this year. Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic is seeded first.

Argentina heeded its players wishes and proposed to play the Davis Cup final. Against Spain at the indoor Orfeo Stadium in Cordoba.

Another indoor arena, Islas Malvinas Stadium in Mar del Plata, was its alternative choice submitted to the International Tennis Federation on Monday.

“The Argentine Tennis Association decided to give priority to athletic advantage and for that reason proposes Cordoba as the first option and Mar del Plata as the alternative,” the AAT said in a brief press release.

Argentina is hosting its first final from Nov. 21-23 and has been under some pressure from the ITF to choose a venue with a minimum 12,000 seats.

The AAT ruled out its regular Davis Cup venue, the 14,000-seat, outdoor clay Parque Roca Stadium in Buenos Aires, because of the risk of late spring rain, and the superior mastery of clay by Spain, led by top-ranked Rafael Nadal. The AAT initially decided the final will be on a fast indoor court to play to the strengths of leading players David Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro.

If confirmed, it will be the first time Argentina will play a home tie not on outdoor clay. It had until Wednesday to declare its choices to the ITF.

Argentina’s players and captain Alberto Mancini began recommending the Orfeo while beating Russia in the semifinals two weekends ago.

The Orfeo, in Nalbandian’s home town, seats 9,000, but officials say 3,000 more can be added to meet ITF requirements.

Islas Malvinas Stadium was built for the 1995 Pan American Games.

Goalkeeper Gregory Coupet compares playing for France. To a form of “dictatorship” in which coach Raymond Domenech forbids players to say what they think.

Coupet, who has had tense relations with Domenech since being dropped in favor of Fabien Barthez for the 2006 World Cup, says Domenech’s stringent regime means players are effectively gagged.

“The players are not allowed to speak,” Coupet said in an interview published on the Web site of France Football magazine. “I can speak because I got out of there. But it’s a dictatorship that’s in place. The FFF (French Football Federation), the staff, everyone needs to look in the mirror.”

After learning that Domenech preferred Barthez for the 2006 World Cup campaign, a furious Coupet packed his bags and left France’s pre-tournament training camp in the French Alps, only to change his mind and come back. Coupet and Domenech patched up their differences and Coupet played in all three of France’s matches at the European Championship last summer.

France drew 0-0 with Romania, and then Coupet was at fault for two goals in France’s 4-1 defeat to the Netherlands, before making amends with a solid performance in the 2-0 defeat to Italy that ended France’s Euro 2008 campaign.

Coupet blamed Domenech for France’s below-par showing at the Euro.

“Domenech plays around with people, but if you do that you end up falling flat on your face,” Coupet told France Football. “All this is very sad because there is an enormous amount of quality in this group that is being wasted. It’s crazy that guys with so much talent should feel so ill at ease.”

Domenech can still call up Coupet, but the Atletico Madrid goalkeeper doubts it after his comments.

Coupet also criticized the FFF for keeping Domenech in a job, saying the federation sought easy scapegoats for the Euro debacle.

“They fired the doctor and the press officer … isn’t that a bit scary?” Coupet said. “We were useless at the European Championship because of the doctor and the guy in charge of press relations … it’s a disgrace!”

Real Madrid is looking to end its poor away record in the Champions League by beating Zenit St Petersburg on Tuesday.
The nine-time champion has not won in seven matches on the road since beating Steaua Bucharest 4-1 in Romania in October 2006.

“It’s difficult to play on the road,” Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster said through a translator. “We must win in St. Petersburg or Turin. It’s better not to postpone the task.”

Madrid beat Champions League newcomer BATE Borisov 2-0 in its first Group H game, while UEFA Cup and European Super Cup champion Zenit lost the opener to Juventus 1-0.

“Statistics mean nothing,” Zenit coach Dick Advocaat said. “In any case, Real Madrid is the favorite in our group. The rest of the teams will contend for places from two to four.”

Schuster said the match will be difficult.

“Zenit lost its first match to Juventus and that will force them to play with extra motivation,” said Schuster.

Madrid will be without its core midfield of Wesley Sneijder, Jose Maria “Guti” Gutierrez and Fernando Gago. They are all skipping the trip to St. Petersburg to recover from leg injuries.

“It will be a very difficult game,” Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster said. To make it out of the group

New Madrid signing Rafael van der Vaart has carried the midfield responsibilities and scored a team-leading four goals.

Spain midfielder Ruben de la Red can play his first Champions League match for Madrid after serving a suspension, while Schuster will have to bench one of his strikers - Ruud van Nistelrooy, Gonzalo Higuain or all-time Champions League leading scorer Raul Gonzalez - despite all three being in good form.

Van Nistelrooy’s importance to the Spanish champion showed again on Saturday after the former Netherlands striker got his third goal of the season in injury time to lead Madrid over Real Betis 2-1 and into second place with its fourth straight league win.

“I’m not the team savior. I work as hard as my teammates and only do what I’m expected, to score goals,” Van Nistelrooy said. “We know about winning in the last minute and it will bring us a lot of strength playing against Zenit.”

Advocaat said his team would play careful defense and will try to capitalize on rare chances.

“I’m sure Real will not give us many chances, and we must not waste them as we did against CSKA,” he said.

Zenit lost to CSKA Moscow 3-1 last week and has a very slim chance of defending its Russian title.

“We practically lost our chance,” Advocaat said. “But we will fight for second or third place to play in the Champions League next season.”

The Russian champion beat Lokomotiv Moscow 3-0 on Saturday without forward Andrei Arshavin, who was suspended but returns Tuesday.

“The game may become a key one for his (Arshavin’s) future,” said Konstantin Arsaniya, Zenit’s transfer manager. “Right after this match, a decision may be made to let Arshavin go and play in Europe after the end of the domestic season (in November).”

Zenit had previously declined to sell Arshavin to FC Barcelona and Tottenham.

Advocaat announced Monday that he had sidelined defender Ivica Krizanac for a locker-room argument with goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev after the CSKA match. Krizanac blamed Malafeev for the defeat.

Zenit striker Fatih Tekke, who has been sidelined with a knee injury since August, is expected to be back in the starting lineup on Tuesday, but Vladislav Radimov pulled a muscle during practice Monday.

Another Zenit striker, Pavel Pogrebnyak, who missed this year’s European Championship because of injury, is eager to score on Tuesday against Madrid’s goalkeeper.

“I have been thinking about facing Real Madrid since the draw,” Pogrebnyak said. “I missed playing Spain and scoring against Iker Casillas at Euro 2008, but now I hope to do it on the club level.”