HORSE RACING

Bodemeister early 4-1 favorite for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby

Bodemeister was made the early 4-1 favorite for the Kentucky Derby, with Union Rags the second choice in a full field of 20 horses.

Trained by three-time Derby winner Bob Baffert, Bodemeister drew the No. 6 post on Wednesday. Six horses have won from that position, the last being Sea Hero in 1993.

Bodemeister is the stronger of Baffert’s two horses, having won the Arkansas Derby by 9 1/2 lengths in the most dominating performance among the Derby prep races. His other, Liaison, landed in the No. 20 spot for Saturday’s race.

PREP SCHOOLS

SOFTBALL: A’nyce Butler belted a triple while driving home three runs to lead Hebron Academy to a 14-1 victory over North Yarmouth Academy at Yarmouth.

GIRLS’ LACROSSE: Tilly Burzynski had three goals and an assist, and Kaitlyn Wurzer made 14 saves for Bewrick Academy in an 11-5 victory at Lexington (Mass.) Christian Academy (3-6).

Andrea Zannos and Shannon Farrell each had two goals for Berwick (8-2).

SOCCER

SPANISH LEAGUE: Real Madrid clinched its 32nd league title and first in four years with a 3-0 win at Athletic Bilbao, and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi broke the European club scoring record with a hat trick in a 4-1 victory against Malaga that raised his season total to 68 goals.

Gonzalo Higuain scored for Real in the 16th minute, Mesut Oezil doubled the lead four minutes later and Cristiano Ronaldo added his 58th goal of the season in the 50th.

Madrid (30-2-4) has 94 points and a seven-point lead over Barcelona (27-3-6) with two games left. The Catalans had won the previous three titles.

ALTIDORE HURT: American forward Jozy Altidore sustained a head and back injury in AZ Alkmaar’s 1-1 tie at NEC Nijmegen in the Dutch League.

Altidore clashed with NEC defender Pavel Cmovs in the 29th minute and was knocked unconscious on the sideline.

Altidore, AZ’s top scorer with 15 league goals and 19 overall, returned to play for only two minutes. The extent of Altidore’s injury couldn’t be ascertained.

BASKETBALL

D-LEAGUE: Maine Red Claws guard Morris Almond was named to the All-NBA D-League third team.

Almond averaged a team-high 23.4 points and 37.9 minutes in 29 games with the Red Claws. He also averaged six rebounds.

Almond was signed by the Washington Wizards on April 16.

GOLF

U.S. OPEN: Scotland’s Paul Lawrie is passing up a spot in the U.S. Open, citing his poor performances in the major championship.

— From staff and news services