Jumping at Chance to Celebrate Was Costly

It was a moment of sheer joy for Irish steeplechase jockey Roger Loughran, and he made the most of it.

Standing up in the irons aboard Central House, he raised his whip and saluted fans who had turned out to watch something called the Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase, a two-mile race at Leopardstown in Ireland on Tuesday.

The disbelieving fans stared back in silence.

Sad to say, Loughran, seeking his first victory as a professional, had misjudged the finish line and launched into his celebration 80 yards -- yes, yards -- short of the wire as riders on either side swept past him.

“These things happen,” said Central House’s trainer, Dessie Hughes.

A former jockey, unnamed, had a more fitting response.

“He had all night to celebrate the win,” he said of Loughran, whose error earned him a two-week racing ban. “Why do it there?”

Trivia time: Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is an accomplished competitor at what two sports?

Chew on this: Baseball memorabilia buff Barry Halper, who died last week at age 66, gathered more than 80,000 items worth tens of millions of dollars, many of which ended up in the Hall of Fame.

They included such treasures as a ticket from the first World Series in 1903, the jersey Lou Gehrig wore during his farewell speech at Yankee Stadium in 1939, uniforms worn by Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Mickey Mantle and Cy Young, and a Honus Wagner baseball card.

Perhaps his oddest of all, however, was another Cobb item -- his false teeth.

The winner is: The Toronto Sun is polling its readers, asking them, “Who would you most like to see vanish from the sports pages in 2006?”

The Kings’ Sean Avery trails badly with 9%, behind cyclist Lance Armstrong with 12% and the Vancouver Canucks’ Todd Bertuzzi with 22%.

The undisputed leader, with 57%, is Terrell Owens.

Keel hauled: It might have gone virtually unnoticed on these shores, but the start of the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race in Australia this week attracted a crowd of 400,000.

Coulda, shoulda: By splashing out about $132 million to acquire third baseman Troy Glaus and pitchers B.J. Ryan and A.J. Burnett, the Toronto Blue Jays have positioned themselves to challenge the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in 2006.

That should please the Baltimore faithful, said the Baltimore Sun’s Peter Schmuck.

“This has to come as great news to Orioles fans, who now know that it’s possible for a team to undergo a complete face-lift in one off-season, though they were kind of hoping that it would happen here instead of Toronto.”

Trivia answer: Judo, in which he holds a black belt, and skiing.

And finally: Calling it “some devilishly clever recruiting ploy,” Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News says Colorado’s 19-10 loss to Clemson in the Champs Sports Bowl means that, “Any high school player considering his chance of playing college ball soon had only to look at the Buffaloes to be convinced every job is open.”