Upcoming schedule for Saturday's winners in flux
Horseracing Betting Lines
02/06/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - This past Saturday had a trio of major stakes races for three-year-olds on the Kentucky Derby trail. Where the winners of the races will start next is not firmly decided.
Odds-favorite Alpha vanquished his rivals in the Withers Stakes at Aqueduct. Ridden by Ramon Dominguez, the colt stalked the pace and went on to post a 3 1/4-length win over longshot Speightscity.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Sunday morning that the colt's next start will be decided after talking to Godolphin Racing's Simon Crisford.
"We'll look at the Gotham/Wood, talk to (racing manager) Simon Crisford and see if we want to run him two more times, or one more time," noted the trainer. "We like having him here in New York."
The Gotham Stakes is slated for March 3 and the Wood Memorial will go off on April 7. McLaughlin indicated he might ship Alpha to Florida to train for the Wood.
Withers runner-up Speightscity, trained by Gary Contessa, is probable for the Gotham. The three-year-old went off for the Withers at 44-1.
"He had a very bad trip (when fifth in the Count Fleet)," Contessa's assistant Marcelo Arenas said Sunday. "But he's a nice horse, and we really think he's the best horse we have in the barn. We believed in him, and he showed us yesterday he can do it. He ran a big race."
At Santa Anita 43-1 longshot I'll Have Another upset the field in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes. Trainer Doug O'Neill really likes the chestnut colt owned by J. Paul Reddam.
"He's an incredibly talented colt," O'Neill said after the win, "and we decided to take a chance in here. We thought he could hit the board and we'd move forward, but he ran unbelievable. Mario (jockey Mario Gutierrez) gave him a great ride. He's always trained fantastic, but we never saw this coming to be honest with you. This is incredible. We'll look at the Santa Anita Derby."
The $750,000 Santa Anita Derby will go off on April 7 at 1 1/8-miles on Santa Anita's dirt track.
Liaison, the 3-2 favorite in the Lewis, was interfered with down the stretch by Groovin' Solo and lost his jockey Rafael Bejarano.
"I had my hole when I saw two horses that split out," Bejarano observed. "I had plenty of room in between horses. When I asked my horse to go, he was coming little by little, but the horse on the outside (Groovin' Solo) was lugging in a little bit. I started screaming to let him know I was there and he (Victor Espinoza) tried to correct his horse, but at the same time when he corrected his horse, he was just coming in too much.
"The horse on the inside (Isn't He Clever) didnt even give me a chance to check his horse because he was coming out too. At least the outside horse tried to correct himself but the other horse from the inside didn't do that. He just kept going and was coming out little by little, but he didn't even try to check his horse. That's why it felt so tight and I clipped heels. I ended up clipping heels with Victor's horse because Corey Nakatani's horse (Isn't He Clever) was coming out and it was enough to push me out."
Groovin' Solo was disqualified to last after crossing the finish line in third.
Unlike I'll Have Another who went from 12-1 in the morning-line to 43-1, Battle Hardened went off at 9-2 from 12-1 in the program. Trained by Eddie Kenneally, Battle Hardened broke his maiden with the win in the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
"We'll definitely take a real good look at the Tampa Bay Derby (March 10) and it's very likely," Kenneally said following Saturday's win. "We knew when his races started to go longer he was going to be a better horse. Two-turn races are what he wants to do and he is very good at it."
Coming up this Saturday is the seven-furlong Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
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Problem with Bears?
Chicago, IL - New Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and star linebacker Brian Urlacher shot down reports of a rift, saying they're simply not true.
"There's nothing between us," Cutler said Thursday, when he reported to training camp. "I just want to put that to rest. There never has been anything between us."
Urlacher added: "I never said what I was quoted as saying and that's it. I have a lot of respect for Jay. I think Jay knows that."
Former Bears receiver Bobby Wade caused a stir when he told Minneapolis radio station KFAN-AM that Urlacher used a profanity while questioning Cutler's manhood during a conversation in Las Vegas last weekend. Wade, who now plays for the Vikings, said Urlacher used a profane version of the word "wimp" during the interview that had to be edited out.
go radio station WSCR-AM also reported that Urlacher had to be restrained from confronting Cutler during organized team activities.
"I wouldn't go face-to-face with Brian, anyway," Cutler said. "No, that's never happened. I've hung out with Brian away from the facility numerous times and we've always gotten along."
Urlacher, noting he was limited by a groin injury, denied the reports in an interview with the Chicago Tribune and did it again when he reported to camp.
"I didn't practice this summer, so I don't know how I would fight the guy if I didn't practice," Urlacher said. "We have no problems. I'm excited about football starting. I'm excited to have him as our quarterback."
Why would Wade say that?
"I don't know," Urlacher said. "Maybe he's jealous because we have a good quarterback now."
Cutler said the first he heard of any friction was when he got a call from Urlacher to clear the air. Urlacher, however, said he had already taken several calls from teammates wondering if the reports were true when Cutler phoned.
"He called me and I said, What's up (expletive), what are you doing?'" a grinning Urlacher said, uttering the same word he allegedly used with Wade. "It's so dumb to me that this even got to this point, but it did and then here we are."
better place after going 9-7 and missing the playoffs for the second straight year. They have a franchise quarterback for the first time in decades after acquiring Cutler in an offseason trade with Denver. But there are questions about his attitude following a fallout with Broncos management and new coach Josh McDaniels.
His critics include former Bears coach Mike Ditka and former Indianapolis and Tampa Bay coach Tony Dungy, one of Smith's mentors. Smith, however, said Cutler has been a model teammate so far while denying any animosity with Urlacher.
"There's no issue with Jay and Brian, except Brian and Jay are both excited about being teammates for our club this year," coach Lovie Smith said. "No more than that. We can't spend a whole lot of time on something that isn't true. I have talked to the players. Whenever something comes out, you have to address it, but it's a non-issue."
In some ways, Cutler is getting a second chance in Chicago, an opportunity to repair his reputation.
Smith said another quarterback - Michael Vick - deserves one, although he doesn't see it happening with the Bears, who lack an experienced backup. The former Atlanta Falcons star, who served a 23-month sentence for running a dogfighting ring, said Thursday he is getting close to signing with a pro football team.
"A second chance, like everyone in society who has paid their debt to society," Smith said. "He deserves a second chance. As far as we're concerned, we like this team that we have right now."
Particularly the new quarterback.
"Me and Brian have been on a good relationship since I've been here, and I expect it to continue that way," Cutler said.
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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK
NFL Football Trash TalkTrash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.