Monmouth Park welcomes Horse of the Year

Horseracing Betting Lines

07/20/2010 - Oceanport, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra has safely arrived at Monmouth Park in preparation of her start in Saturday's 1 1/8-mile Lady's Secret Stakes. The four-year-old champion filly was taken from her summer residence at Saratoga Race Course and got to Monmouth Park about 9 a.m. (et) Tuesday morning.

"She shipped just fine, everything's great," said trainer Steve Asmussen's chief assistant Scott Blasi, who arrived with Rachel. "She'll gallop up to the race and school in the paddock on Friday afternoon."

In order to lure the filly to Monmouth for the Lady's Secret the track increased the purse from $150,000 to $400,000. This will be the filly's second race at the New Jersey shore track.

Last year Rachel, co-owned by Jess Jackson and Hal McCormick, won the $1 million Haskell Invitational versus three-year-old males.

Entries for the Lady's Secret Stakes will be drawn on Wednesday. Racing secretary Mike Dempsey expects four or five other females to take on the reigning Horse of the Year.

"It looks like she'll be facing four or five rivals," said Dempsey. "The race will be drawn on Wednesday when we'll obviously know for sure, but right now my best estimate is a field of five, perhaps six."

Rachel, who has Calvin Borel as her jockey, has won 12 of 17 career starts for $3,216,730. This year she has won one of three races for $258,376.

In her last start this year she won the Fleur de Lis by 10 1/2-lengths on June 12. She came up short in her initial two starts of 2010. She was second to Zardana at the Fair Grounds in the New Orleans Ladies Classic and runner-up to Unrivaled Belle at Churchill Downs in the La Troienne.

Borel will also ride in the Haskell Invitational for the second straight year. The veteran jockey, who was aboard Rachel in last year's victory, will guide Kentucky Derby champ Super Saver in the 1 1/8-mile race on Sunday, August 1.

"From what I hear, Super Saver is doing very well," Borel commented. "He put on a little weight which is good to hear because he really had to run hard in the Derby. He's not a big horse at all, and I think the Derby and Preakness took a little out of him.

"I spoke with Elliott Walden (Director of Racing for WinStar Farms) the other day and he told me that Super Saver looks great and is really training well. He's had a bit of a break since the Preakness, and it looks like a pretty tough field, but he should be ultra-tough in there."

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Super Saver was eighth in the Preakness Stakes behind 2009 champion two-year-old colt Lookin At Lucky. Lookin At Lucky, trained by Bob Baffert, is expected to ship in from California for the Haskell.

Goldclubcasion Horseracing Betting News

<< Tottenham, Arsenal ban vuvuzelas
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tottenham became the first English Premier League club to ban vuvuzelas Tuesday, and fellow London side Arsenal followed suit. The vuvuzela, a plastic horn that produces a humming sound, was prominent a

<< Chelsea goalie Cech injures calf in training
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech had to leave training early Tuesday with a calf problem, putting his status for the start of the English Premier League season in doubt. Cech, 28, underwent scans Tuesday a

<< Phils option disappointing Kendrick to Triple-A
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies optioned struggling starter Kyle Kendrick to Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Tuesday, recalling pitcher Andrew Carpenter to take his place. Kendrick suffered the loss as the Phils dr

<< Big Guns in the Big Sky
Ogden, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Big Sky Conference will not be short on offensive firepower this coming season. From the top down, the conference is laden with talented, proven, and productive offensive threats. Preseason favorite Montana

<< Crafty Yzerman making his mark with Lightning
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman brought a copious amount of credibility to the organization when he was hired in May. Less than two months later, he has also brought in a mass of talent t

Gerrard commits to Liverpool >>
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - England captain Steven Gerrard ended speculation about his future Tuesday, committing to Liverpool following a meeting with new coach Roy Hodgson. Gerrard and Spain striker Fernando Torres have

Changes spice up SWAC competition >>
Birmingham, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Prairie View A&M quarterback K.J. Black remembers - rather painfully, perhaps - some of the blitzes that came his way during Southwestern Athletic Conference play last season. "It kind of woke me up," sa

Kovalchuk happy to return to New Jersey >>
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils made it official on Tuesday and re-introduced superstar left wing Ilya Kovalchuk, who agreed to a 17-year contract worth a reported $102 million on Monday. Kovalchuk was acquired by

AL West: A's won't go down without a fight >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When it comes to predicting the American League West in recent years, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have done their best to eliminate any uncertainty by monopolizing the division for the past few seasons. Last year, t

Germany coach Loew signs two-year extension >>
Berlin, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Germany boss Joachim Loew signed a two-year extension Tuesday that will keep him with the team through Euro 2012. Loew, who took over after the 2006 World Cup, has led Germany to second place in Euro 2008

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.