The racing season at Del Mar will add a second meet to its season in coming years, following a vote from California racetrack officials.

The California Horse Racing Board voted on a fall meet schedule for Del Mar that will last five weeks from early November to December.

Typically Del Mar hosts horse racing season from mid-July to early September, but starting in November 2014, Horses will return for a full five weeks in the fall.

In 2014, Del Mar will host this second racing season from Nov. 5 to Dec. 7. In 2015, races will be held from Oct. 28 to Dec. 6, according to the California Horse Racing Board.

Business owners at the racetrack said they are excited about bringing in more customers.

"It brings tons of people to the area, and I mean that's what we really need is a second meet, I mean we have the best track in the country, in most people's eyes, and we only have 7 weeks of racing...So we're very excited,” said Del Mar restaurant owner Mason Meredith.

The change in dates will also give Del Mar the opportunity to host more advanced races. This will be the first time in the track’s history where fall racing is part of a major circuit.

The reason for the second racing season in Del Mar has to do with fact that Hollywood Park is closing down at the end of the year, so Del Mar along with Santa Anita will pick up additional dates to keep the California Circuit intact.

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club expects this new fall season to be more low-key, with fewer horses and fewer attendees, but it will still bring excitement to the area – and more customers for local businesses.

John Luciano, the owner of Crush restaurant in Solana Beach, says his business notices a positive difference during regular racing season. He’s looking forward to what this added second season might mean for his restaurant.

“Del Mar has been after that for a few years now. That would be a tremendous feat for Del Mar to get that,” Luciano told NBC 7.

Perhaps the most exciting news, however, is that local racing executives think the new dates will give them a better chance at possibly one day hosting the Breeder’s Cup, a major event with worldwide appeal.

"That is a significant thing that is a major, major 48 hours of racing and what that means to the community and local businesses is very important,” Del Mar Thoroughbred Club director of racing Tom Robbins said.

Editor's Note: The article originally stated the changes to the season would take place this year, but a second meet will not be added until a later date. We have since corrected the article and apologize for the error.

Sochi's anti-doping director says 2,500 drug tests will be conducted at next year's Winter Olympics, about 350 more than at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

Alexei Slautin, head of Sochi's anti-doping section, said in a statement Thursday on the Russian Sports Ministry's web site that another 600 tests are planned for the Paralympics.

The World Anti-Doping Agency says 2,149 tests were done at the previous winter games.

In all, the Sochi Games will have 13 doping control stations -- 10 at competition sites and three in the athletes villages.

Hoping to prevent another deadly accident on the San Francisco Bay, the America's Cup issued 37 new safety recommendations that teams must adopt to compete, including racing with reduced wind speeds.

The three-page list released Wednesday comes after the May 9 death of Andrew "Bart" Simpson when his AC 72 catamaran for Team Artemis capsized.He was trapped under the boat for 10 minutes and died.

Read the full list of recommendations here

Safety equipment, such as brightly colored helmets and underwater crew locating devices, training and the structural review of the AC72's are addressed.

There is also a new lower wind speed limit for race days.

MORE: Artemis Will Only Race if "Team Believes They Are Safe"

Tom Ehman is with the America's Cup staff and he said reducing wind speeds will increase safety.

"It had been 33 knots, call it 35 miles per hour, we'd been running races up to that speed in September. That's been reduced to 23 knots or 25 miles per hour," he said.

 Winds were between 25 and 35 mph when Simpson was killed. With the new recommendations sailors with be onshore if winds are that strong.

America's Cup officials say with the investigation into Simpson's death still under way it's too early to tell if any of the safety recommendations would have saved his life.

The Miami Heat opened the Eastern Conference Finals with a dramatic overtime win, securing victory at the buzzer in overtime on a LeBron James layup.

With 2.2 seconds to go, James took an inbounds pass from Shane Battier and made a beeline for the rim to hit the final shot, making it a 103-102 win over the Indiana Pacers.

James notched his ninth career playoff triple double with 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.

PHOTOS: Heat Top Pacers in Game 1

"Two teams fought hard," James said. "We were able to make one more play."

Dwyane Wade scored 19 points, Chrish Bosh had 17 points, and Chris "Birdman" Andersen scored 16 points off the bench.

Seconds after Ray Allen missed one of two free throws that could have iced the game, Paul George forced overtime when he hit a 3-pointer from 32 feet with under a second to go in the fourth quarter.

He also appeared to give the Pacers a win in overtime when he drew a questionable foul call on Dwayne Wade while throwing up a desperation 3-pointer. He hit all three free throws to give the Pacers a one-point lead, but the reigning MVP made sure it would not last.

George scored 27 points, David West scored 26, and Roy Hibbert had 19 with 9 rebounds for Indiana.

Complete Miami Heat Coverage

Quizzically, Pacers coach Frank Vogel benched Hibbert on defense in the final two Heat possessions, likely fearing he would not be able to defend an outside shot from Chris Bosh. In both possessions, James drove to the hoop for go-ahead buckets.

"I would say we would probably have him in next time," Vogel said.

Early on it looked like the Pacers had lulled Miami into the kind of defensive slugfest that would normally favor Indiana. They led 42-37 at the half, forcing 13 Heat turnovers limiting James' and Bosh's minutes due to foul trouble.

Miami picked it up in the second half with a healthy dose of Andersen. Playing in a big lineup alongside Chris Bosh for stretches, he got multiple easy baskets at the rim by sneaking up on Hibbert on the weak side.

"Welcome to the Eastern Conference finals," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Back and forth the whole way."

The Heat were out-rebounded by Indiana 43-38, but Miami had 16 offensive rebounds, including one in the final minute of overtime when Bosh made a putback (only his second rebound of the game) and got fouled, tying the game on the ensuing free throw.

"We're excited about the win," James said. "But we have to get better going into Game 2.

 The series continues with Game 2 on Friday night in Miami.

St. Louis starter Tyler Lyons pitched seven strong innings to win in his major league debut. The Padres countered with Burch Smith, who lasted less than two innings in just his third big league game. St. Louis won it 5-3 to take two of three at Petco Park. 

Special Section: San Diego Padres

Smith gave up three runs in the first and another in the second before getting pulled by manager Bud Black. After the game Black told reporters the young pitcher would head back to the minors.

Lyons was impressive. One of the few mistakes he made was a seventh inning pitch that Jedd Gyorko deposited over the center field fence. The 438-yard blast was his seventh of the season.

The Padres are off Thursday and begin a three game series in Arizona on Friday.

Brian Urlacher will not play for another team in the 2013 season.

The sure-bet hall of fame middle linebacker released a post on the social media site WhoSay.com letting fans know that he will be ending his career as a Bear.

"After spending a lot of time this spring thinking about my NFL future, I have made a desicion," he wrote.

Urlacher, 34, played 13 seasons for Chicago, earning numerous honors including Defensive Player of the Year in 2005 and Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2000. Urlacher was selected to 8 Pro Bowls.

The defensive stalwart parted ways with the team shortly after the free agency period began. Bears General Manager Phil Emery offered Urlacher a deal that amounted to just over the veteran minimum to stay with the club, Urlacher declined the offer and moved on.

See the statement below.

The Padres are one of the hottest teams in baseball. Since starting 5-15, they've gone 16-8, a 24-game stretch matched only by the St. Louis Cardinals, who happen to have the best record in the National League.

Those Cardinals tried to put the Padres in their place on Tuesday night at Petco Park.

St. Louis got a great start from Cy Young candidate Adam Wainwright and blew out the home team 10-2.

Wainwright went 7.1 innings, allowing one run and striking out six. Interestingly, it's the 9th time he's faced the Padres, but only his first win in the East Village.

The Padres pitching was nowhere near the same level. Edinson Volquez gave up five runs in six innings and Anthony Bass served up a grand slam to Daniel Descalso in the 8th inning.

The one bright spot for the Padres was second baseman Jedd Gyorko. The rookie had three of the Padres' seven hits. Gyorko leads all major league rookies in hits, multi-hit games, runs, total bases, and walks. If he keeps it up he has a chance to finish in the top 10 in NL Rookie of the Year voting, and playing in San Diego, a place national media outlets forget exists until Norv Turner goes on a post-game press conference tirade (like that ever happened), that's a tremendous feat!

Before writing about the Chargers addition of 6-foot-8. 345-pound left tackle Max Starks, I wanted to do some research.

The 9-year veteran owns a pair of Super Bowl rings and is known as a tremendous team player with a great work ethic. Basically, the anti-Jared Gaither.

He played every snap of the 2012 season at left tackle for the Steelers (the team he spent all nine years with), an amazing accomplishment when you consider he tore his ACL in Pittsburgh's playoff loss to the Broncos in 2011. Yes, that was the Tim Tebow game.

He is without a doubt a big upgrade from Mike Harris for the Chargers. However, all the folks who say he's already vaulted to the top of the San Diego depth chart may be thinking too much about his name and past success.

Starks has been a good player for a long time. However, last year he was not nearly as effective as he has been.

Starks only allowed five sacks, a good number. But in this case, that good number is misleading. Starks was blocking for Ben Roethlisberger, one of the most difficult quarterbacks in the NFL to get on the ground.

The alarming number is 40. That's how many quarterback hurries Starks allowed in 2012. I saw enough tape to know a whole lot of those hurries would have been sacks if a less elusive QB (say, someone like Philip Rivers) were in the pocket.

According to the website ProFootballFocus.com, which measures NFL players using advanced statistics, Starks was worse than King Dunlap, the other player the Chargers signed to play left tackle and the man who's worked with the first team offense during organized team activities.

In 2012 the Chargers gave Gaither a ton of money, but didn't have a backup plan. This year they may not have a clear-cut Plan A, but at least they know they'll have a viable option if they have to go to Plan B.

The San Diego Chargers agreed on a contract with former Pittsburgh Steelers left tackle Max Starks today, according to the team.

Starks played with the Steelers for nine seasons and was with the team when they won two Super Bowls in 2005 and 2008.

The 31-year-old player suffered a torn ACL in 2011, but was able to play last season.

Starks stands at 6-foot-8 and weighs 345 pounds.

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The NFL is poised to declare on Tuesday which city will host the the 50th Super Bowl in 2016: Santa Clara or Miami.

A total of 32 owners are meeting in Boston and they are expected to announce their decision on Super Bowl L about 11 a.m. The winning bid needs 24 votes.

If the new 49ers stadium is chosen, it will be the first time in 28 years that the Big Game will have been played in the Bay Area. The last time was in 1985 at Stanford Stadium.

MORE: Bay Area Prepares to Make its Super Bowl Bid

Most expect Santa Clara to win the bid. It may not even be so much about what the Bay Area has going for it, as what Florida doesn’t.

The Sunshine State recently failed to pass a funding mechanism that would’ve provided needed improvement’s to the aging Sun Life stadium where the Dolphins play, considered a linchpin of its bid.

The new, high-tech San Francisco 49ers stadium, which will top $1.2 billion when the construction is complete, is set to open in 2014. Levi's recently announced a $220 million naming rights deal to brand the new arena, Levi's Stadium.

In addition, the Bay Area's Super Bowl committee has lined up $30 million dollars in funding pledges from Bay Area companies like Apple, Google and Hewlett-Packard. A total of $8 million of that is earmarked for Bay Area charities.  

The runner-up of Tuesday's vote gets to contend for  Super Bowl LI.

NBC Bay Area's Joe Rosato Jr. and Bob Redell contributed to this report.

Alleged racial epithets led to some punches landed on a 68-year old football coach -- which landed a San Jose Sabercats assistant coach in jail in Florida, according to reports.

The SaberCats -- the Bay Area's indoor Arena Football League team -- had just wrapped up a win over the Jacksonville Sharks when assistant coach Cedric Shawn Walker, 42, reacted to "alleged racial epithets," according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Tim Johnson, 68, the Sharks' assistant general manager, found himself pinned against a wall by Walker "on more than one occasion," reported the Mercury News, which cited reports and interviews produced by the Florida Times-Union.

Walker, who is 6-feet, 245 pounds, may have been one of the San Jose coaches who broke Sharks trainer Josh Gregoire's nose when Gregoire tried to break up the fight, the newspaper reported.

Walker was arrested and charged with battery on a person 65-years-or-older, the newspaper reported. He was released from jail Sunday after he was arrested Saturday.

A statement from the SaberCats calls the incident "unfortunate," and fingered the "verbal altercation" with the "alleged" racially-fueled words as the cause of the fracas.

The slurs were "directed toward members of the SaberCats coaching staff by a front office official of the Sharks," the team said in its statement. "The Jacksonville Police Department is currently investigating the situation and the SaberCats organization will have no further comment at this time."

According to the Jacksonville coach, "San Jose won the game, so I don't know why they had a problem."

The Padres beat the Cardinals 4-2 at Petco Park on Monday night. This is impressive for quite a few reasons.

First, the Padres have won five of their last seven games. All of those games have been played against teams with winning records (Baltimore, Washington, St. Louis). So they're showing they can hang with the best teams in the league.

The Padres have won 12 of their last 15 games at home. Since April 24, when they were a truly horrific 5-15, the Friars have gone 16-8, tied with the Cardinals for the best record in the National League during that time.

Jason Marquis threw six innings, allowing two runs (one earned) to get his 6th win of the year. Marquis has won five straight starts, tying his career-high.

Will Venable hit his 7th home run of the season, a solo shot in the 7th inning. Venable has hit six of his seven homers at Petco, which is crazy by itself. His career high FOR AN ENTIRE SEASON is six homers at home. In 2012 he only hit two dingers in the East Village.

And, Chris Denorfia had three hits, raising his average to .301 for the season (a team-high). Deno drove in the tying run with a single in the 6th inning, and made a tremendous diving catch on the leadoff hitter in the 9th to help Huston Street earn the save.

Bud Black summed it up afterwards quite fittingly.

"We're playing well," said Black. "We just have to keep it going."

Also of note, Logan Forsythe was taking ground balls and running before the game. He's close to coming off the disabled list. Ditto Cameron Maybin, who says his wrist is feeling much better. He's been catching fly balls and taking batting practice for nearly a week.

San Diego Chargers staff has decided to limit linebacker Manti Te'o’s access to the media until mid-June.

The football player’s personal life has been highlighted ever since he played at Notre Dame, where he was at the center of an elaborate hoax which involved a fake girlfriend. Since then, he has been drafted by the Chargers.

And Te’o still seems to be a ways off from warding questions about his past.

Maxim recently featured “Manti Te'o's Fake Girlfriend” on its annual list of the world’s 100 hottest women. The magazine said, “We think it might be nice to have an invisible girl of our own to love.”

Te’o then reportedly went to a Maxim promotional party in Los Angeles last week, where women featured on the list were in attendance.
 
On Monday, the media was not granted access to Te’o. During a Q-and-A session that afternoon, new coach Mike McCoy was asked by reporters why Te’o will not face the press until the mini-camp from June 11-13.

“Well we have a plan for him like everyone else,” said McCoy. “He’s here, he’s a young player and the organization has a schedule for him like we do every other player of putting him in front of the media, we’ll do it accordingly.”

The coach was then asked if he thought it was appropriate for Te’o to attend the Maxim party.

“Well he’s going to make certain decisions that he’s going to make and we’ll keep that in-house with what we think and what we do with that,” said McCoy.

McCoy added that he was unaware that Te’o attended the magazine event.

"I get it fans!!!! Won't happen again!" -- Keenan Allen, Chargers rookie, posted that to Twitter Saturday after the unfortunate choice of hats he made when shooting a Vine video. 

The wide receiver just happened to be wearing an Oakland Raiders hat in the video.

You can just imagine how well that went over with Chargers fans.

On Monday, when members of the media had a chance to interview Allen about the controversy, he did talk about the incident and apologized.

He didn’t want to talk about it in depth and didn’t explain why he chose the hat.

He told the media that he made a mistake and talked with the team about it.

Defense captain Eric Weddle talked to him about it and Allen said that it won’t happen again.

Special Section: San Diego Chargers

The Raiders and Chargers have had a healthy animosity for one another since their days in the AFL.

The rivalry is so well-known in San Diego, a well-known bail bondsman once used Raiders fans in his popular television ads.
 

The Padres beat the Nationals 2-1 on Saturday night. It will come as no surprise the game was played at PETCO Park.

San Diego has won 10 of its last 13 games in the East Village. This time they did it with great pitching, a couple of timely hits, John Baker's right arm.

Eric Stults took a no-hitter in to the 6th inning before giving up a leadoff single to Kurt Suzuki. Stults ended up going 8 innings with 5 strikeouts and only one run allowed to get the win.

Yonder Alonso hit his 5th homer of the year in the second inning, a solo shot to tie him with Will Venable for the team lead.

Everth Cabrera drove in the game-winning run in the 8th inning with a single to score Alexi Amarista. Cabrera is in a nice little groove. He's reached base in 11 of his last 21 plate appearances.

Finally, Baker got the start behind the plate. He threw out Steve Lombardozzi trying to steal twice, both with perfect throws that had Lombardozzi out by a foot. The last one came on a strike out, throw out double play in the 9th inning that helped Huston Street earn the save.

On Sunday, the Padres try to split the series with the Nats. Andrew Cashner gets the start against former All-Star Dan Haren.

Even if Melvin Ingram was healthy, the Chargers would have needed pass rushing help. With last year's first round pick after tearing his ACL, it was imperative to find someone who can get to the quarterback.

So, General Manager Tom Telesco went to a familiar face.

The Chargers agreed to a 2-year contract with 7-time Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney on Saturday. The deal is reportedly worth $8.75 million, but includes incentives that could push it over $13 million.

Freeney spent the first 11 years of his career with the Colts, where he racked up 107.5 sacks.

He's a natural defensive end, but last year switched to outside linebacker when the Indianapolis moved to a 3-4 scheme. Freeney had a career-low five sacks getting used to his new position, but that number still would have made him 4th on the Chargers 2012 sack list.

Freeney is also 33 years old, about the age pass rushers start to hit their career wall. Still, he has earned a reputation as a solid presence in the locker room, something the Bolts could use with the departure of Takeo Spikes.

History will have to wait at least one more year.

Orb, the Kentucky Derby champion who many hoped would become the first Triple Crown winner in 35 years, finished fourth in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, as 15-1 longshot Oxbow pulled off a surprise wire-to-wire win at Pimlico.

"It's so special," said Oxbow jockey Gary Stevens, who came out of retirement this year at age 50. "We were kind of flying under the radar after the Derby. Didn't get a lot of respect."

Oxbow trainer D. Wayne Lukas seemed to take pleasure from dashing Orb's Triple Crown hopes.

"I get paid to spoil dreams," Lukas said.

Orb's fate may have been sealed days before the race, when he drew the No. 1 post position along the rail -- only two horses have won the Preakness from that position over the last 63 years. Sure enough, Orb got boxed in against the rail by a pack of horses early in the race, and could never find room to break free.

Meanwhile, Oxbow pulled ahead of the pack and never relinquished the lead.

"When I hit the half-mile pole, I just said, 'Are you kidding me, is this happening?'" said Stevens, who worked for NBC as a racing analyst during his seven-year retirement.

Oxbow finished the 1 3/16th-mile race in 1:57.54. Itsmyluckyday finished second, Mylute finished third and Orb, the 3-5 favorite, finished fourth.

But nobody ever gave Oxbow a serious threat.

It's a landmark win for Lukas: Oxbow's Preakness victory marks the trainer's 14th Triple Crown win, the most ever. He's won the Preakness six times, and the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont four times each. He passed James Fitzsimmons, who has won 13 Triple Crown races.

Jockey Gary Stevens has now notched three wins apiece at the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont over his career.

Oxbow's win means the Triple Crown drought continues.

In the lead-up to the Preakness, Orb seemed like a prime candidate to end that drought, and bettors made him a heavy favorite. His breathtaking late push in the Kentucky Derby had people believing: He emerged from the back of the pack down the stretch, blew past a large group of horses and pulled away from the pack for a dominant win. Combined with a pedigree to make race fans drool -- his blood lines includes two Triple Crown winners, Seattle Slew (1977) and Secretariat (1973) -- many thought the three-year-old colt would take a place among the horse-racing elite.

Instead, he'll become another in a long line of almosts and what-ifs. Only 11 horses have won the Triple Crown, and none since Affirmed in 1978.

Orb wasn't the only one trying to make history on Saturday who came up short in Baltimore.

Rosie Napravnik, the jockey riding Mylute, hoped to become the first female jockey to win the race. Instead Mylute finished in third place.

Kevin Krigger, the jockey riding Goldencents, hoped to become the first African-American jockey to win the race since 1898. He too came up short as Goldencents finished in fifth place.

The one area I can thing of where location is more important that real estate is pitching.

Jamie Moyer threw in the Big Leagues until he was 49 years old, despite having a fastball that would have a hard time breaking through a stretched out Bounty paper towel roll, because he could put the ball where he wanted to.

Padres starter Burch Smith has a fastball in the high-90's. When the 23-year-old learns to put it where he wants to consistently, he's going to be something special.

Smith rebounded from his dismal MLB debut in Tampa (1 IP, 6 ER) to throw 5.1 innings against the Nationals at PETCO Park on Friday night. Smith struck out 8 Nationals with occasionally stellar command.

However, he also allowed three home runs, two to Adam LaRoche (who has now hit 10 homers at PETCO Park, the most by any visiting player), on fastballs he left too far out over the plate.

Smith will likely be sent back down to the minor leagues when Carlos Quentin returns from paternity leave, but he showed he has the kind of stuff to be successful in the Show.

The Padres were able to get Burch another no-decision with a 9th inning rally. An error and three straight singles off Washington closer Rafael Soriano (by Chase Headley, Yonder Alonso and Kyle Blanks) turned a 5-3 Nationals lead in to a 5-5 tie.

Alas, Soriano was not the only closer to have a rough night. Huston Street got the first two outs of the 10th inning, then gave up a solo home run to Chad Tracy.

It's the 6th homer Street has allowed already this year, tying his career high for any full season that he didn't spend at Coors Field.

Washington won 6-5, taking the first two games of the series. On Saturday Eric Stults goes up against Dan Haren.

Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade granted a South Florida teen's wish and showed up at her senior prom on Friday.

Nicole Muxo said that she was called up to the dance floor, where she was told that Wade was on the phone.

“So I talked to him on the phone, and as I was talking to him the doors opened and he walked out and I was completely shocked, I had no idea that he was going to even call," said Muxo, who attends Archbishop Coleman Carroll High School in West Kendall. "So I was super-excited, everyone else was super-excited in there.”

Photos show Wade taking pics with the teen and others before the prom at the La Jolla Ballroom in Coral Gables. He also was snapped at the dance.

Muxo said Wade brought her flowers and then they danced.

Wade tweeted about the prom and shared photos on Twitter.

"I had a blast at Prom w @nicole_muxo... Never be 2 scared to ask.. They might just say… " Wade Tweeted.

Muxo thanked the NBA player for coming by.

"It meant a lot to me. It made my dreams come true," she said.

Initially Wade had said he wasn't aware of the YouTube video, in which Muxo makes her pitch to the NBA superstar while wearing a No 3. Wade jersey. Kanye West's "The Glory" plays in the background.

WATCH the YouTube video here.

"My senior prom is coming up, and I have everything set for a perfect night except for one thing: a perfect date," she says.

In the video she called Wade her favorite basketball player and used signs and "Prom?" written on basketballs to ask Wade to the big event.

Muxo had told NBC 6 South Florida she asked out Wade because he's her favorite player and because he's a positive role model for a lot of people.

It wasn't the first time she asked him out.

"Back when I met him last year, I asked him to Homecoming, but the season was about to start, and he had practice, so he couldn’t make it, so I thought, why not take another shot and ask him to prom?” she said.

BMX racer Arielle Martin is making a quiet comeback after her near-fatal injury right before last summer's Olympic Games.

Martin, 27, was injured last year only one day before leaving for London to compete as part of the U.S. BMX team. She is still trying to overcome the heartbreaking crash.

"When I lay in bed at night, I'm just thinking about overcoming it, mentally and emotionally,” she said.

It was July 30, 2012 - her birthday - when the top qualifier put on her Olympic Uniform for the first time in one final practice.

“We were flying out the next day to London so my bags were already packed,” Martin said. “And I just remember getting on the track and thinking wow, I feel amazing."

But, 45 minutes into training - the unthinkable became reality when the lifelong dream of going to the Olympics disappeared in a flash.

"My chain came off, my rear wheel locked and I went up and over the bike so I was almost in a superman position, which just exposed my liver,” she said. “I was 15 feet up in the air flying about 30 mph."

The impact almost killed her, puncturing a lung and nearly splitting her liver in half. Instead of flying to London, she spent the following two weeks in a hospital room.

The closest she hot to the games was seeing her initials on replacement Brooke Crain's hand in the finals.

"And that small little act in that moment meant the world to me,” she said.

Four surgeries later, Martin is now back competing at an elite level - not an Olympian like Crain, rather an Olympic qualifier.

Saturday will mark the first major competition on American soil for Martin since the accident, when she competes in the U.S. National Championships.

She says she is not afraid of the big jumps and has even had some spills along the way.

BMX program director Jamie Staff calls it one of the greatest comebacks the sport has ever seen is.

"The fact she even tried to comeback is one thing,” he said. “That she's had a successful comeback is another."

For Martin - the lone hurdle is overcoming a broken heart. Before London, she missed qualifying for the Beijing Olympics by a single point due to a crash.

"I hope that my experiences can show others out there you can come back from devastating injuries and still be able to do what you love and chase your dreams,” she said.

While the 2016 Olympics are a little far off, Martin is taking her comeback one pedal at a time.

The BMX National Championships at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center starts at 11 a.m. on Saturday May 18. The event and parking are free and open to the public.

All eyes will be on Orb Saturday afternoon when the Kentucky Derby champion takes his post at the Preakness Stakes, aiming to win the second leg of the elusive Triple Crown.

The colt's resounding victory at the Derby, marked by a surge of power in the final stretch, has fueled hopes for the first Triple Crown triumph since 1978, when Affirmed won the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

Orb, the even-money favorite at Pimlico, will either dash those hopes or move one step closer to the coveted crown.

For fans hoping to see the first Triple Crown in decades, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. In the Derby, on May 4, Orb handily beat five of the eight horses he will take on in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness Stakes. Since then, his performance in training has earned stellar reviews.

Hall of Fame trainer Claude R. "Shug" McGaughey called Orb's workout at Belmont earlier this week "breathtaking," "spectacular" and even better than his performance leading up to the Derby, according to the Associated Press. The colt ran four furlongs in 47.18 seconds and five furlongs in 59.54.

But the widespread optimism was dampened just days later when Orb drew the rail, or No. 1 post—a position that has launched only two Preakness victors since 1950. Running from that position, other horses could crowd Orb against the rail, making it difficult for Orb to find room to maneuver to the head of the pack.

"Obviously, if I was going to pick it out, I wouldn't have picked the 1," McGaughey told the AP when the positions were drawn. "But with only nine horse in there to run a mile and three-sixteenths, with a rider like Joel (Rosario), he's going to figure out what to do. He'll have him in the right spot."

The shorter race could also favor some of the horses that faded at the end of the mile-and-a-quarter Derby. Goldencents—partially owned by Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino— was one of the favorites heading into the Kentucky Derby, but finished 17th in a field of 19 horses. That performance hasn't deterred bettors from putting their money on the colt in the Preakness. Heading into the race he's among the four favorites, with 8-1 morning line odds.

Mylute, who has 5-1 odds after placing fifth in the Kentucky Derby, is another Preakness favorite. The horse will be ridden by rising star Rosie Napravnik, who will be the third female jockey ever to compete in the Preakness Stakes. She heads into the weekend with more wins than any other jockey posting for the race, besides Joel Rosario, who will be riding Orb.

Departing, who skipped the Derby, could also pose a threat to the even-money favorite. The horse arrives at Pimlico with four wins this year, including a big victory two weeks ago at the Illinois Derby, where he managed to pull ahead of the pack and finish by 3 1/4 lengths.

Govenor Charlie, trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, and Titletown Five, co-owned by Packers Hall of Famers Paul Hornung and Willie Davis, will also make their Triple Crown debuts in the second leg of the contest.

Govenor Charlie, who descends from the 1998 Derby and Preakness winner Real Quiet, has 12-1 odds, while Titletown Five is a much longer shot. Despite his 30-1 odds, Titletown Five's trainer D. Wayne Lukas still has a decent chance to taste victory. The Hall of Fame trainer has two other horses in the race— Oxbow and Will Take Charge.

The $1 million race begins at 6:20 p.m. and will be streamed live on NBC Live Extra beginning at 4:30 p.m.

If Orb wins, he'll race for the Triple Crown at Belmont on June 8. Twenty-two horses have won the first two legs of the Triple Crown, but only 11 have won all three. 

Trailing 5-0, the San Diego Padres had the bases loaded with one out in the fifth inning and were poised to do a little damage against Stephen Strasburg.

Special Section: San Diego Padres

A groundout by Everth Cabrera brought in one run, but then Strasburg struck out Will Venable to end the threat.

Strasburg went on to pitch a career-high eight innings against his hometown Padres, snapping a seven-start winless streak, and Bryce Harper and Adam LaRoche homered to lead the Washington Nationals to a 6-2 victory against San Diego on Thursday night.

Strasburg's 54th big league start was his first professional appearance at Petco Park. The big right-hander went to high school in suburban Santee and pitched for Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn at San Diego State before the Nationals took him with the first overall pick in the 2009 amateur draft. He pitched twice at Petco Park for SDSU.

He allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits while striking out four and walking three. He got the final out of the eighth on his 117th pitch.

San Diego's Jedd Gyorko led off the fifth with a double that caromed off the base of the stands in left and Alexi Amarista walked. With one out, pinch-hitter Kyle Blanks hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, whose throw to second sailed over Steve Lombardozzi for an error that loaded the bases. Everth Cabrera's groundout brought in a run before Strasburg struck out Will Venable.

"He worked his way out of that jam," Padres manager Bud Black said. "We tried to get a little closer. He got Cabby on that groundball and then ended up striking out Will. That's a situation we talked about where he made a couple of pitches to minimize the damage and that got him through the middle part of the game.

"The difference was the fourth and fifth inning for them and us not getting the big hit when we had the bases loaded."

Strasburg (2-5) had gone seven innings 10 times, including three this year.

In Strasburg's only other appearance against the Padres, he lasted just four innings in a 6-1 loss at Washington on May 15, 2012.

Strasburg held the Padres scoreless through four innings and allowed only one run in the fifth despite loading the bases with one out.

"He kept the ball down for the most part," Yonder Alonso said. "We had the bases loaded there and we couldn't get it done. I still feel like when we did get the fastball we just didn't put good swings on it. When we did, we didn't find the holes and they made some good plays. They played good defense behind him."

Harper, back in the lineup three nights after running full-on into the scoreboard in right field at Dodger Stadium, hit a monster shot estimated at 431 feet to straightaway center field on the first pitch he saw from Tyson Ross with two outs in the seventh. Harper's homer nearly reached the base of the batter's eye. It was his 11th.

Harper's violent collision with the wall at Dodger Stadium left the 20-year-old slugger with 11 stitches in his chin and a sore body. Harper said he felt a little better but his whole left side was still sore. He played left field and batted third.

LaRoche hit a two-run homer into the sandy play area beyond the fence in right-center off Edinson Volquez (3-4) with one out in the fourth for a 2-0 lead. It was his fifth.

The Nationals added three runs off Volquez in the fifth, on a two-run single by Ryan Zimmerman and an RBI single by Steve Lombardozzi.

Volquez allowed five runs and five hits in five innings, struck out seven and walked four. Chris Denorfia hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth.