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05/03/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - 0 for 24? Make that 1 for...who's counting!
Seconds after Super Saver cruised past the finish line in the 136th Kentucky Derby, all of Todd Pletcher's previous setbacks meant absolutely nothing. The four-time Eclipse Award-winner can no longer be viewed as the most preeminent trainer in the country without a Derby victory.
Pletcher seemed to not even be fazed by finally getting the monkey off his back and handled the win as one would have expected - cool, calm and collected.
The horse that got him to this point wasn't the highly-touted Eskendereya, who had to bow out of the race one week earlier, but WinStar Farm's Super Saver, who wound up the 8-1 second-choice in the Run for the Roses.
The homebred had a few things in his favor this past Saturday, first of which was an affinity for the wet going - the colt already owned a prior victory in the slop last September at Belmont Park.
Second, a win over the Churchill Downs surface is always a plus and Super Saver had that going for him as well.
Third, and perhaps most important, he had Calvin Borel in the saddle.
Winning the Kentucky Derby has become old hat for Borel as the veteran jockey flat-out owns the race with three victories in the last four years.
The Louisiana native had Super Saver on the rail (his trademark spot) for almost the entire length of the Derby and the bay colt responded with a 2 1/2- length win over the late closing Ice Box. The final time for the 1 1/4-mile event was 2:04 2/5 seconds over the sloppy track.
Speaking of Ice Box, the Florida Derby winner suffered through a nasty trip having to steady on three separate occasions during the race. His second-place finish should put to rest any negative thoughts of horses coming into the Kentucky Derby off a six-week layoff.
As was the case with Super Saver, another horse that hugged the rail almost the entire way was Paddy O'Prado. The third-place finisher had pretty much the same trip as the winner, but was always a few lengths behind. Still, a very good performance from a colt whose lone conventional dirt race was a seventh- place finish last July.
Longshot Make Music for Me closed well from last to wind up fourth completing a superfecta worth $202,559.20.
It was the fourth straight year the winner had just two prep races in his three-year-old campaign - something to keep in mind when handicapping the 2011 Kentucky Derby.
OTHER TOP PERFORMANCES
Noble's Promise wasn't even expected to enter the race after a dismal fifth- place finish in the Arkansas Derby. The Kenny McPeek-trained colt was suffering from a lung infection, not to mention receiving cuts and scrapes during the running of the race.
However, the gritty three-year-old, with a pedigree that most experts thought wouldn't allow him to compete at 10 furlongs, came through with a sensational effort taking the lead approaching the top of the stretch before fading to fifth at the wire.
Lookin At Lucky, the 6-1 favorite, had another eventful trip, his fourth in his last five appearances. The two-year-old champ was up against it way back on Wednesday when he drew post position one, and the race played out exactly as expected.
After getting roughed up by Noble's Promise early on, he was then mugged by Stately Victor forcing jockey Garrett Gomez to steady his mount. The three- time grade 1 winner was all the way back in 18th position ahead of just Ice Box and Make Music for Me after the first quarter-mile before closing strongly around the turn.
It's interesting to note that five of the final top eight finishers were 15th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th after a blistering 46-second first-half mile. The only horse far back early on that failed to fire was Awesome Act, who wound up next-to-last in the 20-horse field.
On the other hand, kudos go out to Super Saver and Noble's Promise for being the only two colts in the first flight of horses to earn purse money - Super Saver $1,425,200 for the win and Noble's Promise $60,000 for finishing fifth.
WHERE WAS THE VALUE?
The wait for the Derby is a long one, especially over the winter when most of the betting action is in the form of assorted prep races.
Another way to have action is to play one, two, or all three Kentucky Derby Future Wagers. All are risky plays as witnessed by the late defections of Quality Road, The Pamplemousse, I Want Revenge and Eskendereya over the last two years.
Still, there are ways to beat the system.
Super Saver, who went off at 8-1 on race day, was an incredible 35-1 in Pool 3 based on his initial three-year-old prep race at Tampa Bay Downs. The 2010 Kentucky Derby winner was slightly lower odds in the first two wagers closing at 20-1 in Pool 1, followed by 24-1 in Pool 2.
A two-dollar Pool 3 exacta wager with Super Saver over Ice Box also cleaned house compared to Derby Day as the payoff came back a whopping $1,077.40 instead of the minuscule $152.40 at the track.
On the other hand, the exacta in Pools 1 and 2 failed to light up the board since Ice Box was not a single entrant in the first two future wagers. Those payoffs with Super Saver over the "field" were very similar to the actual price at Churchill Downs. The Pool 1 exacta returned just $176.40 while the number in Pool 2 came back a tad higher at $259.20.
LOOKING AHEAD TO BALTIMORE
The Preakness is less than two weeks away on May 15 at Pimlico, and as of now, a full field is expected with Super Saver leading the charge.
Others considering the second leg of the Triple Crown are Lookin At Lucky, Paddy OPrado, Make Music for Me, Schoolyard Dreams, Caracortado, Dublin, Pleasant Prince, Jackson Bend, Hurricane Ike, A Little Warm, Aikenite, Bushwacked and Turf Melody
Remember, two of the last four Preakness winners did not race in the Kentucky Derby, a far cry from the previous trend that had just one non-Derby starter (Red Bullet) win the race since Deputed Testamony rolled home in the slop back in 1983.
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My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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