Eskendereya romps in Wood Memorial
Horseracing Betting Lines
04/03/2010 - Ozone Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Odds-on favorite Eskendereya ran away down the stretch Saturday to capture the $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. The victory puts the colt among the favorites for this year's Kentucky Derby.
Eskendereya, who won the Fountain of Youth Stakes by more than eight-lengths, used a stalking ride by John Velazquez to take the lead on the final turn in the Wood and post a double-digit win over five rivals.
Setting the pace in the 1 1/8-mile race was Most Happy Fella with Jackson Bend in second and the 1-2 favorite in third. Farther back was Gotham Stakes winner Awesome Act, about four-lengths behind the leader.
On the turn for home Most Happy Fella had a short lead on the inside as Eskendereya moved to the outside to draw even. Jackson Bend was running third between the top two horses.
Eskendereya took the lead entering the stretch and proceeded to widen his advantage. The chestnut colt continued to increase his lead down the stretch to eventually hit the wire with a 9 3/4-length victory.
Jackson Bend held on for second followed by Awesome Act, Schoolyard Dreams, Carnivore and Most Happy Fella.
The time for the Wood Memorial was 1:49.97 on a fast track.
Owned by Zayat Stables, Eskendereya is the top three-year-old in trainer Todd Pletcher's stable. The colt notched his third straight win with the Wood victory which was worth $450,000. He now has won four of six starts with career earnings of $725,700.
"He has all the tools that you would like to see," Pletcher noted, "and you know the things that's exciting about him is the one thing we've been very confident all along is that he wants to run the distances of you know the classic races. I don't see a mile and a quarter or even a mile and a half in this for him, he just has tremendous natural stamina. You know he's physically a strong horse, he holds up to his races well, he eats well. You know, you can sometimes, if you get a couple of races into a campaign, you'll start to see horses start to lose a little condition, a little weight and he's thriving on it. So yeah, I think you know from all those standpoints he's got all the right tools."
After finishing second in his debut last year Eskendereya won the Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont Park in October and was ninth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita.
Eskendereya returned $3.00, $2.30 and $2.10. Jackson Bend paid $3.90 and $2.60, and Awesome Act paid $2.20 to show.
The last Wood Memorial winner to capture the Kentucky Derby was Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000.
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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES
NFL Football Sports BettingTwo 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.
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