War Pass sends clear message with opening start

Horseracing Betting Lines

02/25/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If there was any doubt about last year's champion two-year-old colt War Pass, those doubts were extinguished on Sunday. The Eclipse Award winner made his first start of the year in a $60,000 allowance race at Gulfstream Park.

Under the experienced handling of jockey Cornelio Velasquez the three-year-old showed himself to be ready for a campaign leading to the Kentucky Derby. He easily disposed of four rivals in the one-mile race.

"He's a very happy horse," said Velasquez. "He's the best horse in the country right now. He's better than last year, he galloped out really strong. He wanted to win today."

War Pass posted a 7 1/2 length win while covering the mile in 1:36.38. Velasquez never had to do much more than stay in the saddle as the colt began to answer questions about his stamina.

"You still have anxiety no matter how you look at it," noted trainer Nick Zito. "When horses haven't run for a long time, there are injuries every day, so I know how grateful I am. He's unbelievable. That's what we wanted for him."

Owned by Robert LaPenta, War Pass is expected to make his next start on Saturday, March 15 in the 1 1/16 mile Tampa Bay Derby. Street Sense captured last year's Tampa Bay Derby leading to his Kentucky Derby victory.

"Three weeks from now it will be a little tougher," Zito continued. "I was happy for the fans. I'm a fan myself. I'm grateful to Gulfstream Park for putting the race on. He broke like a rocket. It would have been nice if he had sat back, but as long as he keeps winning, I'm happy. He's a special horse, he really is."

War Pass is undefeated in five career starts with better than $1.4 million in earnings. Last year he won the Champagne Stakes before taking the Breeders' Cup Juvenile by nearly five lengths.

If things continue to go well for War Pass, the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on Saturday, April 5 would be his final race before the Run for the Roses.

LaPenta and Zito also won Sunday's $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park with Cool Coal Man. The colt made a three wide move from fourth place on the final turn to win the 1 1/8 mile event.

Zito is still mapping out Cool Coal Man's schedule, but the Florida Derby on Saturday, March 29 is a possibility.

"I can't say where or what race he'll will run in," Zito noted, "possibly the Florida Derby. He's not a big horse. He'd need to have a good 30 days from now. We'll see."

Cool Coal Man is a winner of four of seven starts for more than $300,000. He turned the tables on Anak Nakal, another Zito trained thoroughbred. Anak Nakal, eighth on Sunday, won last year's Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes when Cool Coal Man finished seventh.

It must be noted that the final time for the Fountain of Youth was revised to 1:49.53 from 1:51.86.

Sprotsillustrated Horseracing Betting News

<< Red Sox agree to terms with Colon
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox announced on Monday that they have agreed to terms with pitcher Bartolo Colon on a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. Colon was on the disabled list twic

<< Bobcats' Wallace suffering post-concussion symptoms
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Charlotte Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace developed post-concussion symptoms over the weekend after suffering a Grade 3 concussion Friday during the third quarter of the team's game against the Sacrame

<< Tipsarevic takes opener; Santoro retires in Zagreb
Zagreb, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eighth-seeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic was among Monday's winners, while fourth-seeded Frenchman Fabrice Santoro retired from his opening-round match at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors tennis event. Tipsarevic tr

<< UConn still tops women's poll
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Connecticut remained the top team in the latest Associated Press women's college basketball poll. The Huskies are atop the rankings for the second straight week and for the ninth time in the last

<< Kerzhakov returns to Russia with Dinamo Moscow
Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russian international striker Alexander Kerzhakov will return to Russia with Dinamo Moscow after the club paid an estimated $10 million to Sevilla for the services of the 25-year-old. Kerzhakov jo

Creamer wins, remains No. 5 >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paula Creamer remained No. 5 in the world rankings for women's golf following her win Sunday at the Fields Open in Hawaii. Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam, Suzann Pettersen and Karrie Webb remained

Edwards wins rain delayed Auto Club 500 >>
Fontana, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carl Edwards captured the rain-delayed Auto Club 500 at the Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway). The No.99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford crossed the finish line ahead of Jimmie Johnson under caution after

U.S. women drawn into Group A of CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The U.S. has been drawn into Group A along with Jamaica and Mexico for 2008 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying from April 2-12 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The U.S. will open the tournament on April 4 vs. Ja

Rangers sign McCarthy, six others >>
Surprise, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers signed pitcher Brandon McCarthy to a one-year contract Monday. McCarthy went 5-10 with a 4.87 earned run average in 23 games (22 starts) for Texas last season. He spent his previous

Stars' Boucher activated from IR >>
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars activated defenseman Philippe Boucher from the injured reserve list Monday after missing the last 38 games due to a shoulder injury. In 28 games this season Boucher has registered one go

Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship

(September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

One of the largest sportsbook sites on the Internet, MySportsbook.com currently lists the top two drivers in the point standings as the early favorites to win the Nextel Cup. Entering the Chase for the Cup with a slim five-point lead in the point standings, 2003 NASCAR champ Matt Kenseth has been made a slight favorite to win his second Cup at 7/2 betting odds. 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick has betting odds listed at 5/2 and four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon is listed at 6/1 to capture the Nextel Cup this year.

Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father who won six NASCAR titles, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands at 8/1 to breakthrough with his first Cup victory. Staying with the family theme, MySportsbook.com lists 2005 Rookie of the Year Kyle Busch at 14/1 to succeed big brother Kurt’s 2004 NASCAR title. While Kasey Kahne was the final driver to qualify for the Chase with a third place finish last week, the oddsmakers give him a fighting chance at 10/1 mainly due to several mile-and-a-half tracks remaining on the schedule. Despite going winless on the NASCAR circuit this season, Jeff Burton enters the Chase at 5/1 to capture the Cup title. Meanwhile, rookie Denny Hamlin is 4/1 to win the championship, while veteran driver Mark Martin enters the Chase for the Cup as a 15/1 long shot to win his first NASCAR title in his 24th and final season.

MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com.

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

Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.