Upcoming schedule for Saturday's winners in flux
Horseracing Betting Lines
02/06/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - This past Saturday had a trio of major stakes races for three-year-olds on the Kentucky Derby trail. Where the winners of the races will start next is not firmly decided.
Odds-favorite Alpha vanquished his rivals in the Withers Stakes at Aqueduct. Ridden by Ramon Dominguez, the colt stalked the pace and went on to post a 3 1/4-length win over longshot Speightscity.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Sunday morning that the colt's next start will be decided after talking to Godolphin Racing's Simon Crisford.
"We'll look at the Gotham/Wood, talk to (racing manager) Simon Crisford and see if we want to run him two more times, or one more time," noted the trainer. "We like having him here in New York."
The Gotham Stakes is slated for March 3 and the Wood Memorial will go off on April 7. McLaughlin indicated he might ship Alpha to Florida to train for the Wood.
Withers runner-up Speightscity, trained by Gary Contessa, is probable for the Gotham. The three-year-old went off for the Withers at 44-1.
"He had a very bad trip (when fifth in the Count Fleet)," Contessa's assistant Marcelo Arenas said Sunday. "But he's a nice horse, and we really think he's the best horse we have in the barn. We believed in him, and he showed us yesterday he can do it. He ran a big race."
At Santa Anita 43-1 longshot I'll Have Another upset the field in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes. Trainer Doug O'Neill really likes the chestnut colt owned by J. Paul Reddam.
"He's an incredibly talented colt," O'Neill said after the win, "and we decided to take a chance in here. We thought he could hit the board and we'd move forward, but he ran unbelievable. Mario (jockey Mario Gutierrez) gave him a great ride. He's always trained fantastic, but we never saw this coming to be honest with you. This is incredible. We'll look at the Santa Anita Derby."
The $750,000 Santa Anita Derby will go off on April 7 at 1 1/8-miles on Santa Anita's dirt track.
Liaison, the 3-2 favorite in the Lewis, was interfered with down the stretch by Groovin' Solo and lost his jockey Rafael Bejarano.
"I had my hole when I saw two horses that split out," Bejarano observed. "I had plenty of room in between horses. When I asked my horse to go, he was coming little by little, but the horse on the outside (Groovin' Solo) was lugging in a little bit. I started screaming to let him know I was there and he (Victor Espinoza) tried to correct his horse, but at the same time when he corrected his horse, he was just coming in too much.
"The horse on the inside (Isn't He Clever) didnt even give me a chance to check his horse because he was coming out too. At least the outside horse tried to correct himself but the other horse from the inside didn't do that. He just kept going and was coming out little by little, but he didn't even try to check his horse. That's why it felt so tight and I clipped heels. I ended up clipping heels with Victor's horse because Corey Nakatani's horse (Isn't He Clever) was coming out and it was enough to push me out."
Groovin' Solo was disqualified to last after crossing the finish line in third.
Unlike I'll Have Another who went from 12-1 in the morning-line to 43-1, Battle Hardened went off at 9-2 from 12-1 in the program. Trained by Eddie Kenneally, Battle Hardened broke his maiden with the win in the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
"We'll definitely take a real good look at the Tampa Bay Derby (March 10) and it's very likely," Kenneally said following Saturday's win. "We knew when his races started to go longer he was going to be a better horse. Two-turn races are what he wants to do and he is very good at it."
Coming up this Saturday is the seven-furlong Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
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Football Betting
NFL Football Betting OnlineThe San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
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