Florida Derby wide open with 11 starters

Horseracing Betting Lines

03/17/2010 - Hallandale Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A field of 11 three-year-olds has been entered for Saturday's $750,000 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. The 1 1/8- mile race is historically a major stepping stone on the road to the Kentucky Derby.

In 2009, Quality Road won Florida Derby and Fountain of Youth Stakes, and last month he came back to win the Donn Handicap.

Eskendereya, winner of this year's Fountain of Youth Stakes, will skip the Florida Derby for the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 3.

Trainer Todd Pletcher will instead start highly regarded Rule in the race. The colt has won his last four starts, including the Sam F. Davis Stakes last month at Tampa Bay Downs.

For the Florida Derby, Rule will start from post seven with John Velazquez again in the saddle. Rule is owned by WinStar Farm and has career earnings of $716,700 in six starts with four wins.

A horse that will bring back a lot of memories is Lentenor, a full-brother to 2006 Florida and Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro. Lentenor is also owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson and trained by Mike Matz.

Lentenor has drawn post two with Alan Garcia riding. The colt will be making his stakes debut on Saturday. In four career starts, he has one win, two seconds and a third for $42,200.

Pleasant Prince, fourth in the Fountain of Youth, will break from post four with Eclipse Award winner Julien Leparoux back to ride. The chestnut colt is trained by Wesley Ward for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey.

In the Fountain of Youth, Pleasant Prince came from ninth to hit the board, more than 10-lengths behind the winner. The colt has earned $47,620 with one win in six starts.

Here is the complete field for the 59th Florida Derby in post position order: Soaring Empire, Eddie Castro; Lentenor, Alan Garcia; Pulsion, Corey Nakatani; Pleasant Prince, Julien Leparoux; Game On Dude, Jeremy Rose; First Dude, Ramon Dominguez; Rule, John Velazquez; Ice Box, Jose Lezcano; Miner's Reserve, Kent Desormeaux; Best Actor Javier Castellano and Radiohead, Edgar Prado.

Post-time for the Florida Derby is scheduled for 6:20 p.m. (et).

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

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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