Rematch between Blame and Quality Road not immediate

Horseracing Betting Lines

08/09/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saturday's dramatic stretch drive between Blame and Quality Road in the Whitney Handicap will have to satisfy race fans for more than a month. The earliest the two four-year-olds will meet again appears to be the Jockey Club Gold Cup in October.

Whitney winner Blame, co-owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, will be given time off until the October 2nd running of the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park.

"Seth Hancock (of Claiborne Farm) was here this morning (Sunday) and we firmed things up - the Jockey Club Gold Cup will be his next race," said trainer Al Stall, Jr. "It will be that, and then the Breeders' Cup Classic. We'll take him back to Keeneland in a couple of weeks, let him train there, and bring him back up to Belmont."

Trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed that beaten favorite Quality Road will start in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga on September 4, a race won last year by Rachel Alexandra.

"If he continues to do well, I see no reason to change our plans," Pletcher said. "It was still a very good effort and we lost to a very good horse."

The Whitney turned out to be one of the best races of the year.

Quality Road, who was sent off as the 1-2 favorite in the six horse field, set a modest pace in the 1 1/8-mile stakes. Undefeated in three starts this year coming into the Whitney, Quality Road appeared set for a big win under jockey John Velazquez.

"He was basically alone on the lead," Pletcher noted. "He's generally a little more focused when he has a target (but) there wasn't anyone eager to take the lead."

Quality Road had a clear lead at the top of the stretch until Blame, ridden by Garrett Gomez, dug in to offer up a challenge.

"I thought if he (Blame) were in striking distance at the three-eighths pole, he had a shot," said Stall. "He really does have a great punch from the three- eighths pole, and Garrett was just reeling Quality Road in, reeling him in. Inside the eighth pole, you could see he had a little more momentum than Quality Road."

Blame drew even with Quality Road in deep stretch and was able to get past the favorite only yards before the wire.

"I was just biding my time until we turned for home," winning jockey Gomez said following the race. "I just didn't want to sit too long because he's got a long, consistent run and just keeps coming."

Gomez timed his ride perfectly to edge out Quality Road by a head in the 1 1/8-mile effort.

"He (Quality Road) got beat spotting an extremely good horse five pounds," Pletcher commented. "Not taking anything away from Blame; we look forward to trying him at equal weights."

Third-place finisher Musket Man came out of the Whitney in good shape and will continue to face the best in the handicap division.

"He looks pretty good, no problems," Musket Man's trainer Derek Ryan said on Sunday. "We'll probably keep him going long now for the rest of the year. One of these days he's going to get a legitimate pace and a race will set up for him. I'll probably either run him back here (in the Woodward) or wait for the Hawthorne Gold Cup, then the Breeders' Cup."

The 1 1/4-mile Hawthorne Gold Cup at Hawthorne Race Course is the same day as the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Saturday, October 2.

Also coming out of the Whitney was 2009 Kentucky Derby champ Mine That Bird. Winless since taking last year's Run for the Roses, Mine That Bird was fifth and will probably start in the Woodward.

"Right now that would be the next stop," said trainer D. Wayne Lukas. "I'll talk to the owners, get their input, but that's definitely an option."

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!

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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.

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