08/28/2008 - Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning Horse of the Year Curlin returns to the races Saturday in the $500,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga Race Course versus seven rivals. This will be the first ever start for the colt at his home track.
Owned by Stonestreet and Midnight Cry Stables, Curlin has been made the 3-5 morning-line favorite for the 1 1/8 mile race and will start from post five with regular rider Robby Albarado in the saddle.
"You have little kids wanting to know about Curlin and that alone shows you just how special he is," said Albarado, who won this race with Mineshaft in 2003. "Curlin's got it all, speed, stamina, heart, ability, but now, as time goes on, he's got an aura about him. He's matured and he knows how special he is. He's an amazingly popular animal."
The colt enters the Woodward with earnings of $9,496,800. A win in the race would boost Curlin's earnings to $9,796,800, and he would surpass Skip Away, who is currently second on the all-time thoroughbred money-winning list with $9,616,360. Cigar holds the record with $9,999,815.
"As magnificent looking as he is on the outside, he's probably even more magnificent on the inside," said trainer Steve Asmussen.
Curlin's last race was on turf in the Man o'War at Belmont Park when he finished second to Red Rocks. He won the $6 million Dubai World Cup this year along with the Stephen Foster Handicap.
Divine Park, winner of the Met Mile at Belmont Park this year, is a respectable 3-1 in the program with Alan Garcia back to ride. The pair will break from the post just to the inside of Curlin.
Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin for owner James Barry, Divine Park is currently on a three-race win streak that includes the Westchester Handicap. The four- year-old colt has career earnings of $607,935 with six wins in eight starts.
Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito has the 8-1 third choice in the Woodward with Wanderin Boy. The seven-year-old will start from the outside post in the eight-horse field with Julien Leparoux riding.
Wanderin Boy, who is owned by Stone Farm, is coming off an allowance victory at Saratoga and was third in the Alysheba at Churchill Downs in May. In last year's Woodward the chestnut horse was seventh to Lawyer Ron.
In 22 lifetime starts, he has won nine races for earnings of $1,013,759.
Here is the complete field for the Woodward in post position order: A.P. Arrow, Cornelio Velasquez 20-1; Loose Leaf, Eibar Coa 15-1; Past the Point, Edgar Prado 15-1; Divine Park, Alan Garcia 3-1; Curlin, Robby Albarado 3-5; Dr. D.F.C., Aldo Arboleda 50-1; Out of Control, John Velazquez 12-1; and Wanderin Boy, Julien Leparoux 8-1.
<< Goodell reinstates Adam Jones
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has reinstated
cornerback Adam Jones.
Goodell granted the former Titans cornerback his reinstatement on Thursday,
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<< Golf Tidbits: Ladies, study that English
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A story earlier this week announced to the
world that the LPGA Tour is going to make all of its players learn how to
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<< Venus, Safina charge into third round at U.S. Open
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time champion Venus Williams
and Olympic silver medalist Dinara Safina were easy second-round winners
Thursday at the U.S. Open.
The seventh-seeded Williams waltzed past 32-year-old Rossana De L
<< Line of Scrimmage: Your Guide to the 2008 NFL Season
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shawne Merriman is clearly excited about
the start of the 2008 NFL season, perhaps even more so than you or me.
The prospect of not being on the field when the Chargers host the Carolina
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United to face Celtic, Villarreal in CL group play >>
Monaco, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United, which won the Champions
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AaB.
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Philadelphia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
No. 1 Appalachian State at No. 6 (FBS) LSU (Saturday, 5:00)
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winningest program, Michigan, to jump-start a wild 2007 season in
Havret leads by two at Gleneagles >>
Perthshire, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gregory Havret carded a five-under-par
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Ferrer, Murray, Blake reach third round in Flushing >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fourth-seeded Spaniard David
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The NFL preseason is approaching. Time for players, coaches and teams to turn over a new leaf. General managers have hired some new coaches, while coaches have added some offensive and defensive assistants to try and improve things. Here’s a look at some changes to look for in the preseason.
New York Jets: The Jets were one of the surprise teams in the NFL last season, making the playoffs under hard-driving first-year coach Eric Mangini. Mangini rebuilt the offensive line with rookies D'Brickashaw Ferguson (the No. 4 pick in the 2007 Draft) and Ohio State center (the 29th pick in the first round). This season he upgraded the defense with rookie linebacker David Harris (Michigan) while the secondary picked up a much needed top-notch corner in Pitt CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14 overall).
The Jets have added balance to the offense for QB Chad Pennington with RB Thomas Jones, essentially stolen from the Bears. He will upgrade a New York ground game that was 20th in rushing with a weak 3.5 yards per carry. They have their first true feature back since Curtis Martin. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer prefers ball control, like his father Marty. In preseason, behind Pennington you’ll see second-year QB Kellen Clemens and mobile newcomer QB Marques Tuiasosopo.
Jacksonville Jaguars: The heat is on Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as the Jaguars flopped last season despite a ton of talent. Keep in mind that under Del Rio the Jaguars have been outstanding in preseason with a 12-4 SU, 11-5 ATS August mark. Their defense is loaded, it’s the offense that has been stuck in first gear the last few years.
Enter a new offensive coordinator in Dirk Koetter, the former Boise State and Arizona State pass-happy coach. He will try and upgrade a passing game that ranked 24th last season. Del Rio has criticized wide receivers and Matt Jones this summer, both of whom have battled injuries. It will be interesting to watch the “new” Jaguars passing game in preseason.
Arizona Cardinals: Word out of Arizona is that the players like new coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator last year. We think of Arizona as all-passing because their running game has been awful of late because of a poor offensive line. However, keep an eye on the running game in preseason as they’ve made a lot of changes.
The new coach brings in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line (Grimm did a marvelous job building the Steelers line). They took Penn State OT Levi Jones in the first round and signed two offensive linemen, Mike Gandy and Al Johnson, to provide depth. Reggie Wells was moved from right tackle to left guard and they want more speed out of the offensive line for pulling and traps, a Pittsburgh staple under Bill Cowher.
Atlanta Falcons: While all the attention has been focused on QB Mike Vick’s off-field problems, new coach Bobby Petrino is revamping the Falcons from an all-running team to a more balanced one. Petrino likes the experience of backup QB Joey Harrington and he has veteran backup Chris Redman, who used to play for Petrino at Louisville and knows his offenses better than anyone. Petrino wants Vick to be more of a pocket passer.
The addition of FB Ovie Mughelli is a sign Petrino wants a power rushing attack behind a physical fullback and newcomer WR Joe Horn should upgrade what was a below average wideout corps. Petrino is changing their old zone-blocking scheme to a more traditional in-line blocking scheme and the offensive line is bigger. Rookie DE Jamaal Anderson was grabbed in the first round and the secondary got younger with former Auburn cornerback David Irons, who the Falcons think was a steal as a sixth-round pick.
Cleveland Browns: The 2007 Browns look like a double-edged sword. There was the excitement of the offseason, trading for RB Jamel Lewis, upgrading the offensive line with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas (the No. 2 pick in the draft) and free agent LG Eric Steinbach, then trading for Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn when he fell to No. 22. GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel feel they have a talented, balanced offense with these new pieces, plus TE >Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.
However, were these moves made in desperation? And were they foolish ones? The Browns gave up their 2008 first-round pick for Quinn and we all know QBs take time to develop. And even first-round QBs can be busts (Joey Harrington, Akili Smith). We also don’t know if the offensive line is that much improved (31st in rushing in 2007) and they did nothing to improve a defense that was awful against the run (142 yds pg allowed).
The Browns have a new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski. This is a young offense and Quinn looked tentative, indecisive and inaccurate early in camp. Crennel will play Charlie Frye, Quinn and Derek Anderson in preseason. And there is a mixed bag for rookie QBs receiving significant starts: Tim Couch (14), Kerry Collins (13), Ben Roethlisberger (13), Vince Young (13), Joey Harrington (12), Matt Leinart (11) and Kyle Boller (nine). While all the focus will be on the Browns new-look offense, I’m more concerned with the defense.
Carolina Panthers: Coach Jon Fox loves the ground game, but Carolina has made some interesting changes for 2007. Fox fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning and brings in Jeff Davidson to run the offense. Davidson has brought in zone-blocking schemes to the Panther offense, a dramatic change for a system that's been built around a power-running style.
In zone-blocking, offensive linemen are responsible for blocking any defender who appears in their zone, instead of focusing on one defender. The Broncos and Falcons have had success with the system, which features smaller, more athletic offensive linemen and can create running lanes on the inside and outside. Keep an eye in preseason on how Carolina adjusts as it will take time to learn the system. Fox has been one of the top coaches in preseason, with a 15-5 SU, 12-7-1 ATS August record.
Dallas Cowboys: WR Terrell Owens is still here, but QB Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells are gone. New head coach Wade Phillips takes over, replacing Parcells. He ran the Chargers defense last season. Phillips was chosen by teary-eyed owner Jerry Jones partly because he is one of the best 3-4 coaches in football and the Cowboys have loaded up on players for that scheme.
Remember that Phillips was blitz-happy with the Chargers last season and early reports out of the Dallas camp have mentioned how the Cowboys have been blitzing a lot, a departure from Parcells. The theme of the 2007 Dallas defense appears to be one of attack.
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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.
Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.
Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.
Memphis vs. Ohio State
Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.
UCLA vs. Kansas
In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.
With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action. Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”. By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.
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