Beschwerden » with the filly every step of the way.You do

MARSEILLE, France -- Portugal likes to leave it late at this European Championship, whether Cristiano Ronaldo is having a good game or not.The Portuguese have been level after 90 minutes in every game this tournament, a run that continued Thursday as Ronaldo and his teammates drew 1-1 with Poland after extra time, before advancing to the semifinals with a 5-3 victory on penalties.With Ronaldo once again far from his best, two of the Real Madrid stars supporting cast stepped up.Eighteen-year-old Renato Sanches, Portugals youngest ever starter at a European Championship, scored the equalizer and took man-of-the-match honors with his smart movement and neat footwork.Then substitute Ricardo Quaresma struck the winning penalty in the shootout, five days after he scored an extra-time winner against Croatia in another late show by the Portuguese in the round of 16.Quaresma fired his spot-kick past Lukasz Fabianski to line up a match against either Wales or Belgium in Lyon on Wednesday, securing Portugals fourth semifinal at the last five European Championships.It was enormous pressure. I had an entire country in my hands, Quaresma said. I knew it was going to be a goal.Poland winger Jakub Blaszczykowski had come into the match at the Stade Velodrome as his teams top scorer. But he had a poor game and saw his penalty saved one-handed by Rui Patricio, allowing Quaresma to finish the job with the very next kick in front of a stand packed with Polish fans.Last week, Ronaldo had lived up to his star billing by scoring twice in a 3-3 draw with Hungary, with Portugal needing second half goals in its final group game to secure a place in the last 16. For Ronaldo, it was a rare moment of excellence at Euro 2016.On Thursday, he was back to squandering chances and misplacing his passes, leaving midfielder Sanches to step up and score Portugals equalizer in the first half. The teenager was his teams main attacking threat for much of the game.Its wonderful for the team, for me as well for scoring the goal, Sanches said. People criticize us, but we dont care because in the end were in the semis.Earlier, Poland striker Robert Lewandowski had put his team in front with the quickest goal of the tournament, scoring inside two minutes.Portugal right-back Cedric Soares misjudged a cross-field ball, allowing Kamil Grosicki to break into space on the left flank and send in a low cross for Lewandowski to convert with a first-time shot.Polands lead lasted until the 33rd minute, when Sanches lit up the game.The youngster, who has just been signed by Bayern Munich, cut in from the right and passed to Nani, who sent it back immediately with a neat backheel. Sanches then unleashed a powerful shot from the edge of the area that took a deflection off Grzegorz Krychowiak on its way past the outstretched Fabianski.Despite becoming the third-youngest scorer in European Championship history, Sanches played down his goal, calling it simply a move that just turned out that way and I scored. He also volunteered to take a penalty in the shootout and scored with a confident strike into the top-left corner.The match might have been settled in regulation time if Ronaldo hadnt missed a golden opportunity in the 85th minute. He beat the Polish offside trap with a perfectly timed run, but completely missed the ball as he tried to convert a bouncing pass from Joao Moutinho.The Real Madrid star missed another good chance early in extra time when he failed to control the ball in front of goal. The errors meant he has yet to match Michel Platinis all-time record at European Championships of nine goals. However, Ronaldo did score with Portugals opening penalty of the shootout.After the game, Ronaldo threw away his captains armband in frustration.Defeat ends Polands best run at a European Championship.Its painful, Lewandowski said. Football is a very brutal competition.Poland had never won a game in its two previous appearances at European Championships and finished last in its group as a co-host of Euro 2012.Before the tournament, in Poland they didnt expect that wed get to the quarterfinals, Lewandowski added. We have played so defensively sometimes, but weve had a good result.Poland -- which conceded just two goals all tournament -- had chances to win the game in the second half, notably when Patricio stopped a diving header from Lewandowski.However, the Poles also came within centimeters of scoring an own-goal in the 81st when Pepes pass for Ronaldo was cut out by left-back Artur Jedrzejczyk, whose sliding challenge sent the ball narrowly wide of his own post.Midfielder William Carvalho has started the last three games for Portugal but will miss the semifinal thanks to a second booking of the tournament.Both teams face sanctions from UEFA for pyrotechnic use by their fans, while play was briefly stopped in extra time by a fan who ran onto the pitch before being overcome by police. He wore a green shirt and it was not immediately clear whether he was a fan of either team.---Mike Corder contributed to this report. Wholesale Blue Jays Jerseys . 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The giant slalom world champion slipped during her first run in the morning, landing on her back and then twisting forward before getting her leg caught in the protective material on the side of the slope. Long about 4:30 on Friday afternoon, after he has set the feed and neatened up the double-wide stall of a certain chestnut racehorse, Raul Rodriguez will wander over to the Santa Anita Park grandstand in Arcadia, California,?in time to watch the $2 million Breeders Cup Distaff.He wont be alone. The Distaff could be the most compelling event in the 13-race Breeders Cup gallery, which will be spread over two warm and dry Southern California days and feature such international stars as California Chrome, Tepin, Flintshire and Found.The Distaff, at 1? miles on the main track, has become that perfect storm of a horse race. Those getting the most attention are Beholder, who won the Distaff in 2013 on her way to the 3-year-old filly championship; Stellar Wind, who finished an unlucky second last year to clinch 3-year-old filly honors; and Songbird, the de facto 3-year-old filly champion of 2016 who will be facing her elders for the first time.Rodriguez, 59, is the groom who takes care of California Chrome for Art and Alan Shermans stable. They dont have a runner in the Distaff hunt -- California Chrome takes center stage on Saturday in the $6 million Classic -- but Rodriguez will be cheering on Songbird for all hes worth. His son Edgar Rodriguez is Songbirds regular exercise rider and boon traveling companion, a role he has played throughout the fillys career of 11 starts without a defeat.Such father-son stories are not uncommon around the racetrack. Racing is, after all, a family business, whether the family is the Whitneys, the Hancocks or the House of Windsor.Ben Jones and his son Jimmy were the dominant American classic trainers for two decades from 1938 to 1958. Marion Van Berg perennially was among the leading trainers before his son Jack won nine national titles in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.There were four generations of the Burch clan who that their marks in the game, as did the Parke brothers of Idaho, while California has had its own Jones boys, from Farrell to Gary to Marty.The Breeders Cup of 2016 is no less a family affair. Aidan OBrien will go head-to-head with his son, the fledgling trainer Joseph OBrien, in the Juvenile Fillies Turf on Friday. Keith Desormeaux will send out With Honors in the Juvenile Fillies, while his brother Kent has three Breeders Cup rides, including First Lady Stakes winner Photo Call in the mile.The Ortiz brothers have become a family to reckon with -- Jose and Irad have 15 Breeders Cup mounts between them. Norman Casse, son of Mark Casse, rarely lets defending mile champ Tepin out of his sight, while Riley Mott has become an important part of the operation for his Hall of Fame father, Bill Mott.ddddddddddddRaul and Florentina Rodriguez have three sons.Raul Jr. is 32, Edgar just turned 30, and Freddie is 28, said their father. Two years apart. After the last one, I told my wife, Thats it. No more.The Rodriguez family comes from the state of Jalisco in Mexico, where Edgar and Raul Jr. were born. Freddie was born in Northern California after Raul went to work at Golden Gate Fields, eventually landing a job with the Shermans.When he was old enough, Edgar worked at the barn, Raul said one morning this week in California Chromes secluded corner of the Santa Anita backstretch.When he started to gallop horses, Art comes to me and says, Hes pretty good. Has he ridden before? Raul said. Yes, I said. Since he was little, he rode quarter horses at our farm all the time -- all the boys.Raul Jr. is a groom with the Sherman stable, and Freddie works alongside Edgar in the Jerry Hollendorfer barn, where Songbird resides. Edgars adventures with Songbird began last year when the daughter of Medaglia dOro made an impressive debut at Del Mar.I remember Edgar told me when she was entered, I should come out and see the race, Raul recalled. He said she looked like something special. He was right, dont you think?When Songbird took to the road this year for a campaign that included a monthlong stay at Saratoga for the Coaching Club American Oaks and the Alabama, Hollendorfer and his assistant Dan Ward made sure Edgar was with the filly every step of the way.You dont like to let her out of your sight for too long, Ward said. But Edgar knows her so well. He took good care of her.Watching the younger Rodriguez aboard Songbird is a treat. Then again, she could make any rider look good, but Edgar clicks in perfect harmony with her occasional fussing before they dip into the silky smooth rhythm that has held up through 16 months of training and competition.She is bigger now, sure, Edgar said. More mature. And she never gets tired.His father, who has California Chrome as a benchmark Thoroughbred, has nothing but admiration for his sons work with Songbird.She has a lot of condition, Raul said. You can see that. Im very excited to watch her run because its going to be a great race.And what if the Rodriguez family sweeps the table with victories in both the Distaff and the Classic?Well, we were too busy to celebrate Edgars birthday the other day, Raul replied. So, well do that next week at Los Alamitos, get a nice table and have dinner. Maybe well have even more to celebrate. ' ' '