Year's best take to the track on Saturday

Horseracing Betting Lines

08/06/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Undefeated champion mare Zenyatta and leading older male horse Quality Road, the two top-rated thoroughbreds in training, are each slated to race Saturday afternoon, though separated by about 3,000 miles.

Zenyatta will go after a third straight Clement L. Hirsch Stakes victory at Del Mar, while Quality Road is the odds-on favorite for the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.

Quality Road will be the first to leave the starting gate. The four-year-old colt, trained by Todd Pletcher, has five challengers to contend with in the 1 1/8-mile Whitney.

Owned by Edward Evans, Quality Road has returned to racing in 2010 after a disastrous Breeders' Cup Classic. The colt did not get a chance to run in the Classic because of his refusal to be loaded into the starting gate.

"Unfortunately he gets a little bit of a bad rap from, you know, the one isolated incident at the Breeders' Cup when, you know, part of it was his fault and part of it was the way he was handled," Pletcher said this week.

"But since then," Pletcher continued, "he's been absolutely perfect in every situation."

Quality Road came back this year an even better horse than he was at three, the year he won the Florida Derby. With John Velazquez riding, he has moved to the head of the class in the handicap division with three straight wins in 2010.

"We've been very fortunate so far that everything has gone according to plan," Pletcher noted. "We've gotten the first three races and those have gone very well. We're coming up to the next step which, you know, by watching him train he seems to be in as good a form as ever, even better so, you know, everything's gone the way we want it to go. And, you know, there's still some more left to do and each race is very, very important."

Quality Road has picked up victories this year in the Hal's Hope, Donn Handicap and Met Mile. Saturday's Whitney start will be the first of his races that, hopefully, will get him to the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in November.

"In this particular year, we've kind of laid out a schedule at the beginning of the year," Pletcher said. "Talking to Mr. Evans and Chris Baker as Farm Manager and Racing Manager that, you know, this is kind of what we had in mind was to open with the Donn and then, you know, a break in the Met Mile and then, you know, probably another break in the Whitney and hopefully the Woodward and then the Breeders' Cup."

The Woodward, which was won by Rachel Alexandra last year, will be held at Saratoga on the first Saturday in September.

"If the Whitney goes according to plan and he comes out of it well and we feel like he's ready to run back in the Woodward," Pletcher commented, "we would like to run back in the Woodward.

A little more than three hours after Quality Road goes in the Whitney, Zenyatta will break from the gate in the Clement L. Hirsch. This will be her fourth start of the year.

The late-running champion is coming off a second straight win in the Vanity Handicap and now goes for a third straight triumph in the Hirsch.

To owner Jerry Moss, Zenyatta is more than a racehorse.

"She is perfection in a very important way," Moss said. "She didn't just happen to show up in the barn and then all of a sudden start winning all these races all in a row; it took a tremendous effort by a great group of people headed by (trainer) John Shirreffs. There are 14 different people that touch her every day. It is quite amazing. And they're all just great to her and they all deserve a large part of this."

Zenyatta is ridden by Mike Smith who is another promoter for the champion.

"She's extremely intelligent," Smith noted. "If you've ever gotten the opportunity to be around her, she's just amazing. I mean she's so, so intelligent. I mean from - she knows when there's a time when you can walk up to the stall and she can be the most loving thing in the world. She'll let you pet on her."

This year the six-year-old has been showing a lot of showmanship, winning races by the smallest of margins. In the Vanity, the undefeated superster appeared to be running out of room to gain the victory, but she closed late receiving credit for a half-length win over St Trinians even though it looked a lot closer.

Saturday's Hirsch offers the mare a chance to win her 18th consecutive race without a defeat. Her rivals are less than stellar, but Zenyatta still has to run and cross the wire first.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.

Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The 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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