08/28/2008 - Freehold, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Art Official, Meadowlands Pace champ, is the 9-5 morning-line favorite for Monday's Cane Pace at Freehold Raceway. The $392,850 one-mile event is the first leg of the Pacing Triple Crown.
Coming off a convincing win in a Cane elimination race, Art Official will be driven by Ron Pierce from post seven. Pierce has three Cane Pace victories on his resume.
Trained by Joe Seekman for Sawgrass Farms, Art Official has won four straight and six of his last seven starts. The colt has won nine of 15 races this year and has earned $1 million.
Another Cane elimination winner, Badlands Nitro, is the 5-2 second choice and will be coupled with Rudy Rednose. Badlands Nitro will be driven by Brian Sears from the inside post and Rudy Rednose will start from post four with David Miller. Sears won the 2007 Cane with Always A Virgin.
"He came out of the (Battle of Brandywine) good," said trainer and co-owner George Teague, Jr. about Badlands Nitro. "He had nothing else on his schedule leading up to the Little Brown Jug, so we decided to enter. He's very versatile, real handy. He can spring off the wings when he needs to and he can follow cover. He's a real perfect-gaited horse."
Along with the Battle of Brandywine, Badlands Nitro captured the Art Rooney Pace at Yonkers and the Max Hempt Memorial at Pocono Downs. He was second to Somebeachsomewhere in the North America Cup.
The three-year-old has earned $1.1 million this year with nine wins in 12 starts. Rudy Rednose has won four of 11 starts this year for $188,986.
Here is the entire field for the Cane Pace final in post position order: Badlands Nitro, Brian Sears 5-2; McCedes, Daniel Dube 6-1; Moon Beam, Yannick Gingras 3-1; Rudy Rednose, David Miller 5-2; U Smooth Talker U, John Campbell 15-1; Lis Deo, Tim Tetrick 9-2; Art Official, Ron Pierce 9-5 and Major General, Andy Miller 10-1.
The second leg of the Triple Crown, the Little Brown Jug, is set for Thursday, September 18 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Ohio and the Messenger Pace, will be Saturday, October 25 at Yonkers Raceway. No Pan Intended was the last horse to complete the Triple Crown sweep in 2003.
<< Ferrer, Murray, Blake reach third round in Flushing
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fourth-seeded Spaniard David
Ferrer, sixth-seeded Brit Andy Murray and ninth-seeded American favorite James
Blake were a trio of second-round winners Thursday at the 2008 U.S. Open, the
fourth and fina
<< Havret leads by two at Gleneagles
Perthshire, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gregory Havret carded a five-under-par
68 Thursday to take a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the Johnnie
Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
Havret's fellow Frenchman Christian Cevaer is
<< Around FCS: Week 1 - Top 25 Predictions
Philadelphia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
No. 1 Appalachian State at No. 6 (FBS) LSU (Saturday, 5:00)
Everyone knows about Appalachian's historic 34-32 upset over college football
winningest program, Michigan, to jump-start a wild 2007 season in
<< United to face Celtic, Villarreal in CL group play
Monaco, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United, which won the Champions
League last season, was drawn into Group E of the 2008-09 edition on Thursday
with Scottish champions Celtic, Spanish runners-up Villarreal and Danish club
AaB.
Wigginton powers Astros by Reds >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ty Wigginton homered twice as Houston clipped
Cincinnati, 3-2, in the rubber match of a three-game set from Minute Maid
Park.
Humberto Quintero also homered for the Astros, who won the final two games i
Giambi and Yanks avoid sweep by Red Sox >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer in
the seventh inning to tie the game and singled home the winning run in the
bottom of the ninth, as the New York Yankees salvaged the finale of a three-
game s
Royals extend agreement with Omaha until 2010 >>
Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals announced Thursday
that the franchise has extended its Triple-A affiliate agreement with Omaha
through the 2010 season.
Omaha, which currently plays in the Pacific Coast League,
Atletico signs Banega on loan from Valencia >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atletico Madrid signed Argentinian midfielder
Ever Banega on loan from La Liga rivals Valencia on Thursday.
The 20-year-old only joined Valencia in January but struggled to break into the
first-team picture
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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