Length

Move To Strike charged to the lead and kept his opponents at bay to win yesterday's $75,000 Star De Naskra Stakes at Pimlico. The race was restricted to 3-year-old Maryland-breds. Jockey Rick Wilson rode the son of Two Punch to victory in 1 minute, 11.3 seconds for six furlongs on the main track. Second-time starter Known Back Home closed into a head wind to gain the place, a half-length behind. Hands On forced the issue from the start but tired through the lane and had to settle for third.

Sandy Apgar, an erstwhile pretender to being a public servant during the Clinton era, enthusiastically recommends that Maryland fall into the public-private partnership trap along with benighted states like Virginia ("The future of infrastructure," May 9). I'd like to know how inviting the pork farmers to engage in policy-making and priority-setting to increase the price of pork is going to benefit Mr. Apgar's "taxpayers. " I'm one of those taxpayers; the fat-cat corporations Mr. Apgar would woo with my money, not so much, according to the COST figures columnist Dan Rodricks cites in his column about CEO whining ("Complaining CEOs need to take a hike," May 9)

Sainty, a 3-year-old not nominated for the Triple Crown, won the $38,380 Horatius Stakes yesterday at Laurel Park.Sainty, who is owned by Harry and Tom Meyerhoff and trained by Bud Delp, led the seven-furlong race from the start and finished in 1: 24.The winner paid $12.80, $5.40 and $3.60. Dr. Best, who finished two lengths behind Sainty, paid $9.80 and $5.00. Stormy Cloud, the favorite, paid $2.80 to show.Pub Date: 2/03/97

It's roughly a week before the Baltimore Rock Opera Society debuts its most ambitious production to date, and musical director John DeCampos is "freaked out" from the pressure. He is not alone. "People are getting stressed out. Sometimes people are getting short with each other," DeCampos, 30, said. "There's a general nervousness about the show. " It's hard to blame him. Founded in 2007, the BROS has established a reputation in the local arts scene as a do-it-themselves theater ensemble guided by metal, beer and over-the-top silliness.

NEW YORK-Less than a week after the dramatic introduction of his spring and summer haute couture collection in Paris, Yves Saint Laurent sent his pre-fall ready-to-wear clothes to New York. The show was workmanlike, not grand. Retailers sat at tables flanked by their assistants with lists of style numbers and prices in front of them.Instead of having the grand runway at the Hotel Intercontinental decorated with floral displays worthy of Versailles, the models slipped into their dresses behind some screens in the back of the company's Fifth Avenue offices.

Tulip Hill Farm's Lightning Paces scored a one-length victory over Forty Eight Hours in the $36,000 Optional Allowance Purse, the feature at Laurel Park yesterday. Forty Eight Hours raced to the front in the seven-furlong race, but was traveling only a length in front of Lightning Paces as the pair raced down the backstretch and through the far turn. Straightening out for home, jockey Greg Hutton sent Lightning Paces ahead and they pulled away to win in 1 minute, 23 2/5 seconds. The favorite finished second, and Sir Richardwinalot was third.

STANTON, Del. - Xtra Heat, trained by John Salzman at Laurel Park, cruised to victory in the $100,000 Sweet & Sassy Stakes yesterday at Delaware Park and likely will make her next start against male competitors in the $1 million, Grade I Breeders' Cup Sprint on Oct. 27 at Belmont Park. Ridden by Rick Wilson, Xtra Heat won by 11 1/2 lengths as the 1-9 favorite. Racing on the lead the entire way, the 3-year-old daughter of Dixieland Heat cut fractions of 22.29 seconds for the quarter mile and 45.64 for the half mile before completing the six furlongs in 1 minute, 10.26 seconds over a fast main track.

LAUREL -- Blue By Who remained unbeaten this year with a one-length victory in the eighth race at Laurel Race Course yesterday.The 7-year-old gelding swept to the lead in mid-stretch, making him 4-for-4 in 1991. He was ridden by Rick Wilson.Dynastical finished second in the $35,000 claiming race, another length in front of early leader Big Blue Boy.Blue By Who has won 25 of 82 career starts. The victory pushed his earnings to $205,751.

Miss Buckles, ridden by Michael Hunter, took a one-length victory in the Delicate Ice Allowance feature race yesterday at Pimlico Race Course.Miss Buckles, trained by Christian Stables of Pennsylvania, paid $8, $3.80 and $3.Perfect Escape, Tim Peterson up, ran a strong second, paying $3.20 and $2.60, while the show horse, Winnstay Princess, ridden by Charles Fenwick III, paid $7.The carry-over for tomorrow's races will be $44,631, because there were no...

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Can a relatively short hitter win the Masters?It has been done before, most recently by Bernard Langer in 1994 and Ben Crenshaw in 1995. It will be done again, with reigning British Open champion Justin Leonard this year's leading candidate.Told yesterday that he has disproved the theory that players need length to win on the PGA Tour, Leonard said, "I wasn't aware there's a theory that length is everything. It's a great asset. It's a bigger asset on some courses. But if that was true, I probably wouldn't be here sitting and talking to you."

Laurel Park Moon Philly wins Md. Media by 91/4 lengths Moon Philly circled the Laurel Park oval Saturday to the delight of her scores of owners at Country Life Farm. Along with the bettors who had backed her down to odds of 1-5, the Malibu Moon filly was the popular winner of the $125,000 Maryland Racing Media Handicap. Jeremy Rose placed Moon Philly behind the pacesetter Touch the Birds at the start of the 11/8-mile test and stayed outside of that one until the far turn.

Toward the end of the summer, I was up in Cape Cod and visited this adorable vintage bridal shop with my future mother-in-law and bridesmaid Lindsey. I found a great veil with three rows of satin edges that was both beautiful and inexpensive, so I bought it. It has been in my car, in a bag ever since. Two weekends ago, I went to Betsy Robinson to try on my dress for two out-of-town bridesmaids. I brought my trusty vintage veil only to discover that vintage equaled really, really yellow.

Martin Scafidi's Winning Image left no doubt about her intentions when she shot to the lead in the $100,000 Willa on the Move Stakes on Saturday. Just 1 minute, 11seconds later, she proved she was the best of six fillies and mares in the Laurel Park feature. Jose Caraballo had the ride on the 5-year-old daughter of Southern Image and slowed her nearing the finish line to win by a length and a quarter over late-rallying long shot Withgreatpleasure. Made to Love Her took third. Multiple stakes winner Red's Round Table, who left the starting gate as the betting favorite, prompted the front-runner around midstretch before giving way and finishing last.

Each week The Sun's John McIntyre presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be acquainted, another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. This week's word: DOLICHOCEPHALIC There are classifications for noggins, but the basic one is whether yours is long or wide. If you have a long head,a skull with a breadth that it less than 75 or 80 percent of its length, you are dolichocephalic (dahl-uh-koh-suh-FAL-ik)

Rapid Redux won for the 19th time in as many starts this year, taking Tuesday's sixth race at Laurel Park by outstepping five starter allowance runners. The victory, the 21st straight for the 5-year-old, ties the modern-day United States record for victories in a calendar year, which is shared by Triple Crown winner Citation (1948) and Hall of Famer Roseben (1905). "I love the horse," owner Robert Cole said. "The trainer has done an incredible job. I feel very blessed. It's an incredible feat of luck and incredible skill by the horse.

Colonial Players' season opener of Agatha Christie's "The Unexpected Guest" begins with several minutes of suspenseful darkness, before a stranger enters the unlit house and shines his flashlight on a woman holding a gun. The stage lights brighten to reveal the woman's dead husband, and the players are off to another exciting season. Director Richard Atha-Nicholls also kept his cast in the dark, in a sense, as he did not allow the performers to read the end of the play until just two weeks before opening night.

The Grade III, $150,000 Martha Washington Breeders' Cup was a one-horse show yesterday.Mysterious Moll had no real challenges and led from gate to wire in beating eight rivals and winning her third straight turf test for owner Stanley Ettinger.The margin over Wolfer was a length for the 6-to-5 choice, who took command immediately, stretched her lead to several lengths, then won in 1: 42 1/5 over 1 1/16 miles.Rick Wilson picked up the mount when regular rider Jose Espinoza's visa expired. The new jockey was impressed.

LAUREL -- Absolutely Great gave a hint of greatness when winning yesterday's allowance feature at Laurel Race Course by 12 1/2 lengths.Ridden by Mike Luzzi, the filly led all the way when making her first start for trainer Eddie Gaudet after a six-race career in New York. The filly received the bleeder medication Lasix yesterday for the first time; the diuretic is banned in New York.The victory was the first for Luzzi since he won the $350,000 Brooklyn Handicap at Aqueduct on Saturday aboard Timely Warning.

Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group was dubbed "Ginger. " Exelon Corp. was code-named "Allspice. " On a few occasions, Constellation board members met in private rooms at the Center Club, a members-only downtown restaurant. At one point, Constellation officials even frosted the glass of the boardroom at its headquarters to hide the Wall Street financial advisers who had come to Baltimore. And when a Constellation executive met with lawyers in Washington, he swapped his usual bag with the company logo for a plain briefcase so as not to be recognized.

It's about money Phil Rogers , Chicago Tribune There's a familiar refrain that has been heard around the majors for at least the last couple of decades. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke has been singing it this week, wondering why so many players get hurt when they're in better shape than ever. "Nobody did sit-ups 20 years ago, and nobody tore intercostals and obliques," Roenicke said. "There were a few but not many. You come (into camp) in shape. So you think it would happen less now, but it's happening more.