Rags To Riches finishes second in return

The filly phenom can be beaten after all.

Lear’s Princess overtook Belmont Stakes winner Rags To Riches in the stretch and pulled off an upset Saturday in the $250,000 Gazelle Stakes at Belmont Park.

Rags To Riches, one of racing’s most popular stars after becoming the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont, was sent off as the 2-5 favorite but was unable to hold off the surging Lear’s Princess in the final furlong.

Lear’s Princess is no slouch, though. The bay filly trained by Kiaran McLaughlin won her first three starts, then finished second in the Coaching Club American Oaks and the Alabama Stakes -- races Rags to Riches missed because of a series of summer setbacks.

Rags To Riches, ridden by John Velazquez, moved into the lead around the final turn, but Lear’s Princess caught her midway through the stretch and won by half a length, covering the 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.86.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Rags to Riches was coming off a 98-day layoff in which she spiked a fever several times and was sent to the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., for a series of tests to make sure nothing was wrong.

The Gazelle was supposed to be a triumphant return for the “Belle of Belmont” in a final prep before the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Monmouth Park on Oct. 27, but Lear’s Princess played spoiler.

TENNIS

Davenport reaches final at Bali Open

Lindsay Davenport advanced to the final of the Bali Open at Nusa Dua, Indonesia, in her first singles tournament since having a baby in June.

Davenport easily defeated Sara Errani, 6-1, 6-3. In today’s final, she will play second-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, who defeated qualifier Sorana Cirstea, 7-5, 6-1.

Davenport double-faulted as she served for the first set, and then double-faulted twice more as she surrendered her serve again at the start of the second. But she rallied and closed out the match by winning the final five games.

“It’s amazing,” Davenport said. “You always hope and you want to do well. But each time you come back from whatever, you always have a bit of self doubt.”

Russia moved to within one victory of its third Fed Cup title by taking a 2-0 lead over Italy in the best-of-five format at Moscow. Anna Chakvetadze struggled past Francesca Schiavone, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, in the opening match, and Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Mara Santangelo, 6-1, 6-2. Reverse singles and doubles in the best-of-five format are today.

Second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez defeated fourth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, to reach the final of the China Open at Beijing. He will play Tommy Robredo, who beat Nicolas Kiefer, 7-6 (5), 7-5.

SOCCER

Arsenal wins to take Premier League lead

Arsenal scored three goals in the second half to beat Tottenham, 3-1, in the English Premier League and extend to nearly eight years its unbeaten streak over its north London rival.

Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice at White Hart Lane, with Cesc Fabregas putting Arsenal ahead for the first time in the 80th minute. Gareth Bale gave Tottenham the lead in the 15th. Adebayor scored in the 65th and added Arsenal’s third goal in the 90th.

Arsenal went to the top of the standings with the win because of 0-0 draws in matches involving Liverpool and Chelsea.

Arsenal leads with 13 points, followed by Liverpool and Manchester United and Chelsea with 11.

BASKETBALL

Spain beats Greece, 82-77, to reach final

Pau Gasol scored 23 points, Jose Calderon made some big plays down the stretch and Spain beat defending champion Greece, 82-77, to reach the final of the European Championship at Madrid.

After Jorge Garbajosa made two free throws to give Spain an 80-76 lead with 18 seconds to play, Theodoros Papaloukas bobbled the ball as he drove the lane. Juan Carlos Navarro, who also finished with 23 points, then made two free throws at the other end. Calderon, a Raptors guard, scored 18 points.

Vassilis Spanoulis led Greece with 24 points and five assists in the game played in front of a capacity crowd of 15,500.

Diana Taurasi and Swin Cash have won three championships together. Today, one of them will add another.

The college and Olympic teammates will face each other in Game 5 of the WNBA finals at Auburn Hills, Mich. Cash and the Detroit Shock will be going for their third title in five seasons. Taurasi’s Phoenix Mercury is looking for its first.

“My team is going to come out shooting and firing and making baskets,” Phoenix Coach Paul Westhead said. “This is the fitting cap to the season, and we’d play this game anywhere. We’re going in expecting to win a championship.”

Restricted free-agent guard Charlie Bell said that he does not want to return to the Milwaukee Bucks this season.

“They told me they were going to take care of Mo Williams and that they would take care of me, but they haven’t,” Bell told the Associated Press. “I’m either going to sign an offer sheet with another NBA team, or I’m going to accept a great deal to play in Greece.”

The Bucks signed Williams, a point guard, to a six-year, $51.5 million contract in July.