Sports briefs: Nov. 11

Horse racing

Three-time Grade I winner Zensational retiring to stud

Zensational, the first horse to win three consecutive Grade I sprint events, was retired from racing and will stand at Hill 'n' Dale Farms in Lexington.

"Zensational has all the ingredients to be a top class sire," said Bob Baffert, who added that multiple Eclipse Award winner Indian Blessing and Grade I winner Behaving Badly already are lined up.

Zensational, by Unbridled's Song out of the Claiborne mare Joke, won five of eight starts with career earnings of $669,300. His Grade I wins were in the Pat O'Brien Stakes, the Bing Crosby Stakes and the Triple Bend Handicap.

Zensational's stud fee will be $25,000.

■ All horses that ran in the Breeders' Cup have tested negative for illegal performance-enhancing drugs. The California Horse Racing Board said testing was completed Tuesday and all the samples came back clear from the UC Davis laboratory. The tests checked for more than 45 anabolic steroids and hundreds of other prohibited drugs.

■ Churchill Downs will give free general admission to all U.S. veterans and active military on Wednesday with proof of identification. Gates open at 11:30 a.m. and the 10-race card starts at 12:40 p.m.

Track and field

Bolt, Gay up for athlete of year award

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva are the leading contenders for the IAAF athlete of the year awards. Bolt set three world records last year at the Beijing Olympics and broke two of those marks — in the 100 and 200 meters — in August at the world championships in Berlin.

Isinbayeva broke her own world record by clearing 5.06 meters at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich in August. Her performance beat the mark of 5.05 she cleared at the Beijing Games a year earlier.

Lexington native Tyson Gay, Kenenisa Bekele, Steven Hooker and Andreas Thorkildsen also are in the running, as are Sanya Richards, Valerie Vili, Blanka Vlasic and Anita Wlodarczyk.

The winners will be announced on Nov. 22.

Tennis

Safin says Agassi should give back titles

Former No. 1-ranked Marat Safin said Andre Agassi should give his tennis titles back after confessing he tested positive for a banned substance during his career and lied about it to the ATP.

Agassi admitted in his autobiography Open that he used crystal meth in 1997 and failed a drug test, a result he says was thrown out after he lied by saying he "unwittingly" took the substance.

Safin, who will retire after this week's Paris Masters, said in an interview with L'Equipe newspaper on Tuesday that Agassi should "give his titles, his money and his Grand Slam titles" back.

"I'm not defending the ATP, but what he said put it in a delicate position," Safin said. "The ATP allowed him to win a lot of tournaments, a lot of money. It kept his secret. Why does he need to be so cruel with it?"

Agassi, who retired in 2006, won 60 titles, including eight Grand Slams, during his career. He recently said that he had to speak about his lies because he couldn't live with it anymore.

"If he is as fair play as he says he is, he has to go to the end," Safin said. "You know, the ATP has a bank account and he can give the money back if he wants."

obituaries

German goalkeeper Enke dies

A goalkeeper expected to play for Germany at the World Cup died after being hit by a train in what police suspect is a suicide. He was 32. Robert Enke played for the German club Hannover. Team president Martin Kind confirmed his death, and police later released a statement saying a man had been fatally struck by a train Tuesday night. The statement said the "first police indications are that it was a suicide."

"You expect many things, but not something like that," Kind said. "I do not know how and why it happened, but I do not think that it had anything to do with football."

Enke had been diagnosed with a bacterial stomach ailment and missed nine weeks before returning 11 days ago and playing two Bundesliga games. He had not been selected for Germany's exhibition games against Chile on Saturday and Ivory Coast on Wednesday. But Coach Joachim Loew had said Enke remained the leading candidate to be Germany's goalie at next year's World Cup in South Africa.