UGA overcomes Beck’s 3 INTs, rallies past Florida
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Carson Beck threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns to offset three interceptions, and No. 2 Georgia escaped “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” with a 34-20 victory over Florida on Saturday.
The Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) won their fourth straight in the series, their longest streak since winning six in a row between 1978 and 1983. They took advantage of Florida’s quarterback woes and a special teams error in this one.
Standout freshman DJ Lagway left the game on a cart in the second quarter with a left hamstring injury and with the Gators (4-4, 2-3) leading 10-3. Without him, it was mostly ugly.
Walk-on Aidan Warner was 7-of-22 for 66 yards with an interception. Warner was thrust onto the field because Florida starter Graham Mertz tore a ligament in his left knee at Tennessee last month and is out for the season.
The Gators kept the game close thanks to a stingy defense that forced Beck into more mistakes. Jack Pyburn, Aaron Gates and Devin Moore had picks that led to a combined 10 points for Florida.
But the most significant turnover belonged to the Gators. Punter Jeremy Crawshaw failed to handle Rocco Underwood’s low snap on a 51-yard field goal attempt late in the third. It resulted in a 31-yard loss, setting up Beck’s first TD pass.
The Gators tied the score on Ja’Kobi Jackson’s 15-yard TD run. But Beck and the Bulldogs answered with a 75-yard drive, highlighted by Beck’s completions of 34 and 21 yards, and capped by his 10-yard TD pass to Dominic Lovett.
Warner threw an interception on the ensuing play, and Georgia scored two plays later to ice it.
Knight’s Choice has won the 2024 Melbourne Cup, defeating Warp Speed and Okita Soushi in a thrilling finish at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon.
The massive outsider saluted for Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan, who claimed victory in what was his first ever ride in the “race that stops a nation”.
In what was a gripping 164th staging of Australia’s most-watched thoroughbred race, Knight’s Choice proved too strong in a sprint to the finish, pulling over the top of Okita Soushi and holding off Warp Speed by the barest of margins.
Trained by John Symons and Sheila Laxon on the Sunshine Coast, Knight’s Choice was well down the betting across all markets. It was Laxon’s second Melbourne Cup triumph after she trained Ethereal to victory 23 years ago.
“This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, this is the Melbourne Cup,” Symons said.
Zardozi rounded out the first four.
As the field approached the final few hundred metres it appeared as though Jamie Kah, aboard Okita Soushi, would become just the second woman to ride the winner in the Melbourne Cup. But Okita Soushi was swallowed up as the winning post neared, with Knight’s Choice beating Warp Speed to the line after a peach of a ride from Dolan.
“We’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan, who was a contestant on the 2022 edition of “The Voice”, told Channel 9.
“It is amazing and a lot of people doubted this little horse. Doubt me now.”
Laxon was more than happy with the ride, with Dolan threading his way through the field from near last on the bend.
“He started the race, and he knew how to ride him. We didn’t give him instructions, he knew what to do,” she said.
“I love it being down for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it, and Robbie is Australian now as well, so I’m thrilled to win the Cup, and it is the people’s Cup, and that’s what it is all about.”
Knight’s Choice is just the sixth Australian-bred horse to win since 1993, and the first since Vow and Declare back in 2019.
The five-year-old gelding carried only 51kg to victory and was making its first start over the 3200m trip. It had most recently come off a fifth-placed finish in the Bendigo Cup, but had showed sparing little form this preparation otherwise.
“I watched every Melbourne Cup for the last 40 years. I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong,” Dolan said.
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