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07/14/2010 - East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sportswriter, winner of the North America Cup, will take on nine rivals in Saturday's $1 million Meadowlands Pace at The Meadowlands. The field of 10 three-year-old pacers will leave the starting gate at 10 p.m. (et).
The 2009 champion two-year-old male pacer barely got into the race after finishing fourth in his elimination race. The first three across the wire in the three elimination heats automatically gained entry into the Pace. Sportswriter, driven by Mark MacDonald, was the fastest of the three fourth- place finishers.
The three elimination race winners were Rock N Roll Heaven, Rockin Image and Ok Commander. Each heat was valued at $50,000.
Sportswriter, trained by Casie Coleman, has eight career wins in 13 starts for $1,562,460. In 2010 the colt has just one win, The North America Cup, in five starts for $746,780.
Sportswriter, owned by Steve Calhoun, West Wins Stable and Southwind Farm, will start from the far outside post.
"He's a warrior," MacDonald said about his drive. "It seems like we've always got something to overcome with this horse. He's just such a game horse. One of these days, everything is going to come together for this horse. It's been one thing after another, but he seems to show up for the big dances. That's the main thing."
A win will make Sportswriter the ninth horse to win both the North America Cup and Meadowlands Pace. Last year Well Said turned the double joining Rocknroll Hanover (2005), Gallo Blue Chip (2000), The Panderosa (1999), David's Pass (1995), Cam's Card Shark (1994), Presidential Ball (1993) and Precious Bunny (1991).
Here is the full field for the Meadowlands Pace in post position order: Kyle Major, Jody Jamieson, 15-1; Rockin Image, Yannick Gingras, 3-1; Rock N Roll Heaven, John Campbell, 5-2; Valentino, George Brennan, 15-1; I'm Gorgeous, Andy Miller, 12-1; Delmarvalous, Brian Sears, 12-1; Nova Artist, Brian Sears, 15-1; One More Laugh, Tim Tetrick, 9-2; Fred And Ginger, Dave Palone, 10-1 and Sportswriter, Mark MacDonald, 6-1.
Delmarvalous, fourth in his elimination, replaced OK Commander who was scratched due to lameness. OK Commander developed an abscess in his right front leg after winning his Meadowlands Pace elimination.
Delmarvalous is trained by George Teague, Jr. who also trains I'm Gorgeous.
<< Del 'Cap features six top females
Stanton, DE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saturday's $750,000 Delaware Handicap has
attracted six of the leading female thoroughbreds in the nation. The winner of
the 1 1/4-mile race gains automatic entry into this year's Breeders' Cup
Ladies'
<< Johnson resigns as Vandy football coach
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vanderbilt's athletic department has called a
press conference for 2 p.m. (et) at which time head football coach Bobby
Johnson is expected to announce his resignation.
The Tennessean first reported the decisi
<< Nets name Billy King general manager
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets have named Billy
King as their next general manager.
King takes the reins from Rod Thorn, who is stepping down as team president
and general manager after 10 years on the job
<< Braves get Gonzalez from Jays in five-player deal
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves acquired shortstop Alex
Gonzalez from the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday in a five-player trade.
The Braves sent shortstop Yunel Escobar and pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes to Toronto and
also acqu
Rockets ready to match Cavs offer sheet to Lowry >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets plan to match the offer
sheet extended Wednesday to restricted free-agent guard Kyle Lowry.
Houston general Manager Daryl Morey said on his Twitter account
Wednesday afte
Melzer into Stuttgart QFs >>
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French Open semifinalist Jurgen Melzer
was a second-round victor Wednesday at the Mercedes Cup tennis event.
The second-seeded Melzer got past Germany's own Mischa Zverev, a wild card
this week, 7-
Pennetta eases into Palermo quarters >>
Palermo, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion and top seed Flavia
Pennetta of Italy was an easy second-round winner Wednesday at the $220,000
Palermo International tennis tournament.
Pennetta handled Czech Renata Voracova 6-
Schiavone will skip Slovenian event >>
Portoroz, Slovenia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French Open champion Francesca Schiavone
will miss next week's WTA Tour event in Slovenia, citing a left wrist injury.
The world No. 8 was slated to be the second seed at the $220,000 Slovenia
Open.
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).
The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.
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