Badge of Glory, Lil' Apollo win big races at Canterbury Park

Wagering favorite Badge of Glory won the Minnesota Oaks, while Lil' Apollo captured the Minnesota Derby in a pair of $75,000 races on Saturday at Canterbury Park.

Badge of Glory, ridden by Scott Stevens and trained by Bernell Rhone, never allowed pacesetter Sweet Tango to establish a clear lead and eventually passed her in deep stretch. Badge of Glory went on to win by 1 ¾ lengths in a 1 minute, 46.17 seconds over 1 mile, 70 yards.

"The plan was to just go," Rhone said. "If they beat us, they beat us."

Badge of Glory — whose owners and breeders are Cheryl Sprick and Richard Bremer of Lake City — paid $4.40 to win. Sweet Tango held second and B J's Angel was third.

Lil' Apollo took a different route to victory than the Oaks winner when he rallied from the back of the seven-horse Minnesota Derby field, passed the favorite Evert in mid-stretch and drew off to win by 3 ¾ lengths under jockey Dean Butler in 1:44.78 over 1 mile, 70 yards.

Lil' Apollo paid $16.40 to win. Evert finished second, nine lengths clear of third-place finisher Jantzesfancyfriend.

Lil' Apollo provided trainer Randy Pfeifer with his first Canterbury stakes victory. Lil' Apollo's owner is Alice Theisen of Albany.

Matt Waldron pitched a complete game, allowing no earned runs and five hits, as Omaha Westside defeated Eden Prairie 7-3 in an elimination game in the American Legion baseball Central Plains Regional on Saturday in Fargo, N.D.

Kent Curran took the loss for Eden Prairie, giving up four earned runs and five hits over five innings. Cody Wetmore had the only RBI for Eden Prairie, which scored two unearned runs. Omaha Westside committed four errors in the game.

Eden Prairie, the Minnesota state champion, finished the season lost 5-4 to state runner-up Burnsville on Friday and finished the season 33-14.