Thunder center Enes Kanter seeking U.S. help, citizenship

After having his Turkish passport canceled and receiving death threats, Enes Kanter is back safely in the United States and says he hopes to stay here for good as an American citizen.

After he was held in Romania by authorities there because his Turkish passport was canceled by Turkish authorities, Kanter said he plans to take steps toward becoming a U.S. citizen.

There will be no Triple Crown bid in the Belmont Stakes, and now it’s likely that the race won’t have the Kentucky Derby or Preakness winner.

[...] what it will have is the unluckiest horse in this year’s Triple Crown, Classic Empire, as well as international intrigue with the Japanese invader Epicharis, as part of a card whose Breeders’ Cup-style quality will serve Belmont Park well this year without the marquee attraction of having a Triple Crown on the line.

There’s no doubt a Triple Crown attempt would have been the preferred scenario for the New York Racing Association, but the eighth-place finish in the Preakness Stakes by Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming ended that hope Saturday.

Neither Always Dreaming nor Cloud Computing, the Preakness winner, are on that list, and though they haven’t been officially ruled out, indications are that neither will run, hence their absence from Daily Racing Form’s accompanying list of prospective runners.

The last time the Belmont did not have a Derby or Preakness winner was 2012, when I’ll Have Another was scratched with a career-ending injury the day before he would have bid for the Triple Crown.

Yusaku Miyazato made an 18-foot birdie putt on the eighth playoff hole to grab the fourth and final spot in the U.S. Open from the sectional qualifier in Ono City, Japan.