Horses
Triple Crown-The Preakness
May 21, 2011 | 
Author After running the best race in his career two weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby, Animal Kingdom now goes for the second leg of the Triple Crown in the Preakness Stakes. He was a 20/1 long shot in the Derby but is a 2-1 favorite in the Preakness. Animal Kingdom will race against a full field of 14 horses, which is a sign that people consider him to be vulnerable. Four horses that I feel have the best chance to win Saturday are as follows:
Animal Kingdom +200
Animal Kingdom shocked the world 2 weeks ago by winning the Derby and definitely deserves to be the favorite in the Preakness. His running style should suit Pimlico perfectly, and obviously the distances won’t be an issue. He answered every question about his ability to handle the dirt in the Derby and we expect him to be running late on Saturday.
Dialed In +450
The Derby favorite didn’t get rolling until it was too late, though he did pass horses to finish 8th. The Preakness distance won’t be a problem, as his sire, Mineshaft could run all day. He’ll have to hope for a faster pace than he got in the Derby and like Animal Kingdom, we expect him to be running late as usual.
Mucho Macho Man +600
This is one to watch on Saturday, as the cut back in distance may be just what the doctor ordered. Mucho Macho Man ran a valiant third at Churchill, but wasn’t really a threat to Animal Kingdom or runner-up Nehro.
Shackleford +1200
Man, did this one give a game effort in the Derby, holding the lead into the stretch before faltering a bit to finish fourth. He’s another who should appreciate the cutback in distance. He’ll be on or near the lead again, and it’s a matter of how far can he go? A contender for sure.
Be sure to place your preakness bets at bodog.com. My suggestion is to play a few exacta’s with the four horses that I listed above.
Kentucky Derby betting and tips
Anticipation is starting to build for this year’s Kentucky Derby and early odds for betting the first jewel in horse racing’s Triple Crown have been posted at sportsbook.com.
With a shortage of obvious standouts and few if any horses than can be dismissed outright, this year’s Kentucky Derby shapes up as a handicapper’s nightmare. One person’s nightmare, however, is another’s opportunity, or at least it can be. The first step is reducing the number of playable horses to a manageable level. Six horses that intrigues me this year are as follows:
Dialed In +350 – The current Derby favorite along with Uncle Mo, Dialed In has won three of four career starts with his win in the Florida Derby being the most significant. That’s because the winner of the Florida Derby has gone on to win the Kentucky Derby twice in the last five years (Barbaro 2006, Big Brown 2008). He’s won at Churchill Downs before and has Nick Zito, who has trained two Kentucky Derby winners, in his corner.
Uncle Mo +350 – Despite a poor performance in the Wood Memorial, trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Mike Repole have not lost faith in the two-year-old champ. “If he doesn’t go off the favorite, I’ll make him the favorite,” Repole said. It was revealed that a gastrointestinal infection slowed down Uncle Mo in the Wood, but a series a good workouts leading up to the Derby give us reason to believe he has recovered. Pletcher picked up his first Kentucky Derby win with Super Saver last year and could very well make it two in a row after being denied so many times.
Nehro +500 – Here is an intriguing option. Nehro hasn’t won a major prep race but ran second in the Louisiana and Arkansas Derbies while appearing to have more left in the tank when breaking the finish line. His endurance could treat him well with the longer Kentucky Derby distance.
Toby’s Corner +1200 – This horse won the Wood Memorial by running the same type of race many horses have run to win the Kentucky Derby. He navigated through a lot of traffic and then showed a nice finishing kick down the stretch.
Twice the Appeal +2500 – This horse has twice the appeal now that jockey Calvin Borel will get the mount. A 25-1 upset in the Sunland Derby got this horse into the field and Borel, who has won the Kentucky Derby three times in the last four years, is hoping to continue his magical run at Churchill.
My recommendation for this race is to parlay different combinations of these six horses to have a nice payday. I feel like these six horses will have the best chance of the 20-horse field and will have a nice payout.
2011 Kentucky Derby Predictions
Win: Dialed In
Place: Nehro
Show: Twice the Appeal
Triple Crown
It is never too early to look at the horses that will be competing for this years Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby will run on May 7th, followed by the Preakness on May 21, ending with the June 11th Belmont Stakes.
Led by champion Uncle Mo, a total of 364 3-year-olds have been nominated to the 2011 Triple Crown. The impressive roster of nominees to the Triple Crown provides proof that the desire to achieve horse racing’s ultimate dream of a Kentucky Derby win and Triple Crown sweep of the Preakness and Belmont Stakes is as strong as ever.
Trainers Todd Pletcher and Bob Baffert have both nominated 20 3 year-old horses for the Triple Crown. Trainer Steve Asmussen has nominated 17. Pletcher is looking for his second straight Derby triumph after winning it last year with Super Saver. Super Saver’s half-brother, Brethren, remained undefeated for Pletcher after easily taking the race at Tampa Bay Downs, running the mile-and-a-sixteenth in 1:45.07.
One horse that will not win the Kentucky Derby is Boys At Tosconova, who has been taken out of training. Despite not having raced since Dec. 21, Coax Liberty returned full of run to easily outdistance favored Breathoffreshheir to take the $65,000 Dearly Precious Stakes at Aqueduct by two lengths. Look for that horse to be a contender in the Triple Crown races.
Each day the racing odds are up at sportsbook.com from over 20 race tracks including Aqueduct, Santa Anita, Tampa Bay Downs and Dover Downs. Also, be sure to check out the Daily Race Analysis offered by sportsbook.com. Lots of great information is available to you on the website including track information and the weekly racing calendar. All this extra preparation will give you an advantage when betting on horses. The harder you work in your pre-race studies the better chance you will be at being profitable when betting on the ponies.
Horse Racing in North America
Horse racing in North America differs from such events held in some other parts of the world. Yes, the horses still race and bets can still be placed, but the types of bets placed in America compared to Europe can be different. It is worth keeping that in mind if you fancy a wager while on holiday in the U.S. Check out the differences before you gamble is good advice.
The styles of the races are also different and the length of the courses can vary greatly. The race courses have no jumps and the track itself is oval. Horse racing in America is all about the speed and the stamina of the horse rather than its skill at jumping over hurdles and fences as in many parts of the world. These flat courses have a dirt, synthetic or grass surface, varying in length between 5 furlongs and 1.5 miles.
There are two types of race, handicap and conditions races. The conditions races have the biggest prize money and are the ones that most owners love to win for the prestige that comes with victory. The handicap races judge a horse’s ability before the start and add weight to the saddle of the best horses accordingly, the idea being that this will produce a closer finish.
The Triple Crown is the highlight of the horse racing social calendar and is comprised of three events, The Preakness Stakes, The Belmont Stakes and the Kentucky Derby. The Breeder’s Cup, which is also held annually but at differing locations, is another very popular horse racing event.
Betting on horses in North America is regulated and sanctioned by the individual state governments.
It is now possible to place bets online with reputable companies as well as to bet at the course on race day.
Posted in Horses | 
Tags: Belmont Stakes, Breeders Cup, Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Sportbook.com, Sportsbook, Triple crown | 
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Saratoga Race Course
Saratoga race course is located in Saratoga Springs, New York. It was opened in 1863, making it the oldest venue for organized sports in the United States. Two men, John Hunter and William R Travers had the track constructed.
The Travers Stakes is the oldest thoroughbred horse race and it is held at Saratoga race course every year. The Saratoga race meet now lasts for six weeks ending on Labor Day; originally it only ran for four days.
There are two popular nicknames for the Saratoga race course. The first, The Spa, is due to the fact there are natural springs nearby, the second, The Graveyard of Champions, is due to the fact that many champions have been surprisingly defeated here after having a run of good races. A horse called Man o’ War had 21 consecutive wins under his belt before he ran at Saratoga where he was defeated. Another horse, Gallant Fox was beaten by a complete outsider Jim Dandy who had odds of 100-1 during the Travers Stakes race. Secretariat, fresh from winning the triple crown was defeated by Onion at Saratoga. Some might think the course was cursed with the bad luck that seems to befall its champions.
Anyone who had a bet on Jim Dandy perhaps made himself or herself rather rich on the day of his surprise win. Sometimes when you are gambling a stroke of luck like that can really brighten your day. Having said that how many people would have actually bet on a horse at those odds, and if they did would they have had the courage to gamble enough to win really big?
Betting on Horses
Betting on horse races in the U.S. is quite simple. The three common ways in which to place your bet are, to win, to place or to show. A bet placed ‘to win’ is also called a straight bet. This basically means that the money that you bet (your stake) is placed on the horse to win only. If the horse comes in first then you are a winner. A bet placed ‘to place’ means that you win if your horse comes in either first or second. A bet placed ‘to show’ means you are a winner if your horse comes first, second or third. As the latter two options increase your chances of winning, your odds will be cut accordingly so that the final winnings will be a reduced amount.
Many people think there is a winning formula or a system to use that can guarantee picking winners. It really is just a game of luck; that is why it is called gambling. However you can be lucky more often if you study the form of the horses, and to some extent the jockeys. Analysis of the horses’ weaker or stronger points against the course they will be running on, the conditions of the ground and several other variables, will certainly help you to predict the likely winner. In theory this is certainly correct; in practice it is not as correct as often as we would all like.
Placing a bet using these parameters dos not take into consideration the human factor. The horse could get spooked by something during the race or just have an off day. The jockey could become dismounted; the horse could even take a tumble. Nothing is certain in the field of horse racing, gambling isn’t a surefire way to earn big money, but it sure is fun to try.
The Story of Alydar
The story of the race horse Alydar is probably unknown to those outside of horse racing circles unless you are a big fan of true crime.
Alydar’s racing career is perhaps best known for the fact he lost out to his major rival, Affirmed, in every leg of the Triple Crown event. Alydar came an extremely close second to Affirmed every time, which is a feat never repeated by two rivals. A bookies’ favorite Alydar’s fate was not a happy one.
Calumet Farm was a popular thoroughbred breeding and training stables; it was home to many champions including Alydar. On November 14th 1990 emergency surgery was performed on Alydar’s leg, as it appeared to have been broken the previous evening. The leg broke again and the next day, November 15th Alydar was put to sleep. J T Lundy the owner of Calumet Farm (due to his marriage to Cindy Wright, granddaughter of Calumet Farm’s founder William M. Wright) claimed the $36 million insurance policy payout on Alydar. It later appeared that Lundy’s mismanagement and reckless investments had forced the once thriving Calumet Farm into near financial devastation, and this stroke of good luck, coming into such a lump sum right when it was needed, certainly raised eyebrows.
Further investigation found that Lundy had driven into Alydar’s stall and tied a rope around the horse’s leg. After attaching the other end to his truck he had driven off at such force it broke Alydar’s leg. When Lundy discovered Alydar would survive this ‘accident’ he orchestrated it to happen again, this time dealing the fatal blow.
Lundy was eventually charged with insurance fraud and served jail time for his crime.
Seabiscuit
Seabiscuit, the subject of several films, documentaries and books was an American thoroughbred race horse that became a symbol of hope during the terrible years of the Great Depression.
Seabiscuit was born and reared on Claiborne Farm in Kentucky. He never gave the impression of being a champion as he was small and slept for longer than was considered normal. Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons who was also the trainer of the great horse Gallant Fox initially trained him. Fitzsimmons thought the horse was just lazy.
He was eventually sold on and soon got used to his new jockey and started to win races. Seabiscuit’s performance yo-yoed but in total 1937 saw him win 11 of his 15 races. When his jockey suffered a serious accident riding another horse his trainer replaced him with George Woolfe; together they rode several races narrowly missing the top spot. After winning a tough race at the Del Mar race track Seabiscuit went head-to-head with War Admiral at the Pimlico race course. War Admiral was the favorite to win with bookies odds of 1-4. Seabiscuit won in what was to be an extremely thrilling race.
Seabiscuit suffered an injury shortly after that race and was sent to recover with his old jockey. Soon they were both ready to race again. After a slow start they started to win once more and headed for the Santa Anita Handicap, the only prize to elude Seabiscuit. After a less tan spectacular start Seabiscuit soon found his pace. He won by a length and a half and the crowds erupted.
Seabiscuit died in 1947 at Ridgewood Ranch and his burial place is a closely guarded family secret.
The Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is arguably the most popular horse racing event in America. It is the first leg of the Triple Crown followed by the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. A horse has to win all of the three events to be a Triple Crown winner.
The race itself is for three-year-old thoroughbred horses and is held on the first Saturday in May every year. It is the culmination of a two week long event known as the Kentucky Derby Festival. Dubbed as ‘the two most exciting minutes in sport’ or ‘the fastest two minutes in sport’ the Kentucky Derby is now run over 1.24 miles at Churchill Downs.
A man called Meriwether Lewis Clark Jnr. had seen the Epsom Derby in England and upon his return home started the Louisville Jockey Club as a way of raising money to start his own race course. That course became known as Churchill Downs, and the rest is history.
The Kentucky Derby is one of the oldest thoroughbred horse races in the U.S. first being run in 1875 over a distance of 1.49 miles. The fastest time recorded in the Kentucky Derby was the record set in 1973 by Secretariat. The time was 1 minute, 59 and 2/5th seconds. This is a record that has stood for 38 years and still counting.
Betting on a race such as the Kentucky Derby is easy even if you are unable to get to a betting shop. You can register online with Sportsbook.com and place your bets quickly, simply and securely over the internet. Gambling is not a sure fire way to win big money, but it can be fun and quite profitable when enjoyed responsibly.
