Southwest Stakes draws 11-horse field

Horseracing Betting Lines

02/16/2008 - Hot Springs, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The road to the Kentucky Derby from Oaklawn Park begins in earnest on Monday with the running of the $250,000 Southwest Stakes. The one-mile dirt race has attracted 11 three-year-olds.

Liberty Bull will attempt to continue his winning ways at Oaklawn after capturing the Smarty Jones Stakes last month. The colt won the race, named after the winner of the 2004 Arkansas and Kentucky Derbies, by a neck over Isabull.

Owned by Kenneth Maier, Liberty Bull will start from post three with Eddie Razo in the saddle. Liberty Bull, trained by Tom Amoss, was second in the Sugar Bowl Stakes in December and has won two of four starts for $84,842.

Smarty Jones runner-up Isabull has drawn post seven for the Southwest and will be ridden by Tim Doocy. Doocy also had the mount on Isabull last month for trainer Steve Hobby.

Owned by Alex and Joann Lieblong, Isabull has earned $28,480 with one win in five starts.

Getting a lot of notice coming into the race is Woodford Racing's Turf War. The colt will be making his 2008 debut after a dead heat for win with Z Humor in the Delta Jackpot at Delta Downs.

Trained by Mark Casse, Turf War has earned $518,548 with three wins in five starts. Last year at Woodbine he won the Swynford Stakes and was sixth as the favorite in the Grey Breeders' Cup.

"He likes to come from behind so I just hope he gets some pace up top," said Casse.

Turf War will break from post five with Calvin Borel, the winning jockey of last year's Kentucky Derby, riding.

Here is the complete field for the Southwest in post position order: Silver Edition, Joe Bravo; He's Eze, Luis Quinonez; Liberty Bull, Eddie Razo; Sacred Journey, Julien Leparoux; Turf War, Calvin Borel; Sierra Sunset, Chris Emigh; Isabull, Tim Doocy; Denis of Cork, Robby Albarado; Gangbuster, Kirk LeBlanc; Riley Tucker, Kent Desormeaux and Royal Hudson, Richard Hamel.

Post-time for the President's Day feature is 6:02 p.m. (et).

Wwwgalttech Horseracing Betting News

<< Wiggins leads Stanford over Arizona State, to 12th straight win
Stanford, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Candice Wiggins scored 23 points in her final regular-season home game, as sixth-ranked Stanford routed Arizona State, 79-57, at Maples Pavilion. Jayne Appel and Rosalyn Gold-Onwude each scored 17,

<< Moya outlasts Lapentti to reach Brasil final
Costa do Sauipe, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Spaniard Carlos Moya outlasted Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti to reach the final at the clay-court Brasil Open. Moya looked strong in the early going, but dropped the second se

<< Barca closes in on Real Madrid for La Liga lead
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barcelona closed to within five points of the Spanish La Liga leaders, Real Madrid, Saturday with a 2-1 win over Real Zaragoza coupled with a 2-1 Real Madrid loss to Real Betis. Barca earned just their

<< Wyoming rolls over Air Force
Laramie, WY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justyna Podziemska scored 13 points and pulled down six rebounds to lead 22nd-ranked Wyoming over Air Force 60-32. Jodi Bolerjack added 10 points and Hanna Zavecz scored nine points and had a game-high 14 r

<< Naughton helps Blue Demons knock off Mountaineers
Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Deirdre Naughton scored 24 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out five assists as DePaul snapped West Virginia's nine-game winning streak with an 81-80 triumph at WVU Coliseum. Allie Quigley adde

No. 19 Utah powers past San Diego State, wins 16th straight >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kalee Whipple scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as 19th-ranked Utah remained perfect in Mountain West play with a 63-51 win over San Diego State at Cox Arena. Leilani Mitchell and Morgan Warburto

Walker, Cal cruise past Arizona >>
Berkeley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ashley Walker had a game-high 24 points and added nine rebounds, as ninth-ranked California blasted Arizona, 66-45, at Haas Pavilion. Devanei Hampton finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for Cal (

Bonnies down 14th-ranked Colonials >>
Olean, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dana Mitchell scored 14 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds as St. Bonaventure shocked 14th-ranked George Washington with a 63-60 win at the Reilly Center. Katelyn Murray also had 14 points for the Bo

Mickelson leads Quinney by one at Riviera >>
Pacific Palisades, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Mickelson did not have his best round Saturday, but he maintained his lead after three rounds of the Northern Trust Open. Mickelson managed a one-under 70 in the third round and completed 54 h

Beasley, K State crush Missouri >>
Manhattan, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Beasley scored a game-high 40 points and pulled down 17 rebounds to lead 18th-ranked Kansas State to a 100-63 win against Missouri at the Fred Bramlage Coliseum. Bill Walker added 18 points and

Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.