Three races, three horses claim victories

Horseracing Betting Lines

06/07/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2010 Triple Crown series provided little intrigue over the five weeks. No 'super horse' stepped forward for the races after the elimination of the injured Eskendereya.

Lookin At Lucky, 2009 champion two-year-old colt, was the 3-1 morning-line Kentucky Derby favorite, but drew the rail post which basically eliminated him from winning. Santa Anita Derby winner Sidney's Candy went out too fast and faltered.

Kentucky Derby champ Super Saver was the 5-2 program favorite for the Preakness after winning the Run for the Roses at 8-1. He failed to hit the board as Lookin At Lucky got the win.

Neither winner from the first two legs of the Triple Crown came to the Belmont Stakes. Kentucky Derby runner-up Ice Box was the tentative morning-line favorite at 3-1 with Preakness runner-up First Dude the 7-2 second choice.

Ice Box was never a factor in the race and First Dude finished third after being passed right before the wire by Fly Down. Belmont Stakes winner Drosselmeyer got an excellent ride by Mike Smith who was aboard the colt for the first time.

Not a single horse started in all three Triple Crown races. After last year's excitement over 50-1 longshot Mine That Bird winning the Run for the Roses and filly Rachel Alexandra outlasting the gelding to capture the Preakness, only 45,243 people decided to come out to the Belmont Stakes.

"I think with the three different horses. Super Saver, Looking at Lucky, and Drosselmeyer today," WinStar Farm manager Elliott Walden said Saturday, "I think you can group all three of them together. It's hard to really differentiate between them until we get into the Haskell and the Travers and the Breeder's Cup Classic.

"I think the rest of the year will decide who the best is. As we sit here today, I've got to believe that we have two of the top three in Drosselmeyer and Super Saver and watching Super Saver train all week, being up here, he's doing great. I'm excited to see him get the opportunity to get back and redeem himself. We'll see. I can't really differentiate between any of the three. Bob Baffert's horse, Looking at Lucky is a very good horse as well. It's going to be an exciting second half of the year."

An oddity occurred during the running of the Belmont Stakes. Uptowncharlybrown finished fifth, but was disqualified to 12th. The chestnut colt, ridden by Rajiv Maragh, lost the eight-pound lead weight pad during the race to force the disqualification.

"It was a very strange situation," said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. "I've never had that happen to me, but I'm sure it has happened before."

Jockey Alex Solis went from being in a Long Island hospital on Saturday to making history on Sunday.

The veteran rider was briefly hospitalized for high blood pressure Saturday at Belmont Park where Solis was to ride Tanda in the Acorn Stakes. Tanda would finish third with Mike Smith riding.

"He went to the hospital and got a clean bill of health," said the jockey's agent Brian Beach. "He was OK when he got there, but right before the race after he had been on an Equicizer for a half-hour another doctor came in and Alex's blood pressure was up."

Solis was well enough to ride at Monmouth Park on Sunday. He guided Mandurah to a new world record for a one-mile turf race at the Jersey Shore track.

Mandurah went 1:31.23 over the firm course in a $55,500 starter handicap race. The old record of 1:31.41 was held by Mister Light, who set the mark on January 3, 2005 at Gulfstream Park as a six-year-old.

"He's a very talented horse," noted Mandurah's trainer Grant Forster "We thought he'd like the firm turf at Monmouth, which he did very well. We purchased him privately as a four-year-old and gelded him. He always trained well in the morning, but didn't show up in the afternoon. But over this winter we got him in some races and gained his confidence back."

Owned by Greene Colvin, the six-year-old gelding will continue on in the Malouf Auto Group Starter Series with a 1 1/16-mile race on Saturday, June 26.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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