Ice Box heads Belmont field of 12

Horseracing Betting Lines

06/02/2010 - Elmont, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kentucky Derby runner-up Ice Box has been installed as the 3-1 morning-line favorite for Saturday's running of the $1 million Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park.

Neither Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver nor Preakness champ Lookin At Lucky will race Saturday in the 142nd edition of the 1 1/2-mile Test of Champions, the first time since 2006 that the Belmont will be without both winners of the first two legs of the Triple Crown.

Preakness runner-up First Dude is the second choice at 7-2 and Withers Stakes champ Fly Down is third at 9-2.

Ice Box, trained by Nick Zito, will start from post six with Jose Lezcano in the saddle. Zito is also the trainer of Fly Down, who will be ridden by John Velazquez and will break from post five.

"Ice Box, we tried to duplicate the same training method as before the Derby," Zito said. "We sharpened him up before the Derby; we're doing the same thing before the Belmont and hoping it works. Fly Down had the same workout before the Dwyer [Stakes]. We put a lot of miles on them every morning, because it's in [their breeding] to go a distance of ground.

"Hopefully, they'll have that firepower in the end. It's not an exact science, as you can see. Those workouts, regardless of whatever, it's not how you get the horses to go a mile and a half, a mile and a quarter, a mile and an eighth -- it's what they do every single day."

Owned by Robert LaPenta, Ice Box was the winner of the Florida Derby and was fifth in the Fountain of Youth Stakes, both at Gulfstream Park. The chestnut colt has career earnings of $906,534 with three wins in eight starts.

Fly Down, owned by Richard Pell, was sixth in the Louisiana Derby and is the winner of three of five lifetime starts for $182,070.

Zito has won the Belmont twice before, with Birdstone in 2004 and Da' Tara two years ago. Da' Tara was owned by LaPenta.

First Dude will start from post 11 with Ramon Dominguez in the saddle. Dale Romans trains for Donald Dizney.

This year the colt was fifth in the Florida Derby and third in the Blue Grass Stakes. He skipped the Kentucky Derby before his second-place finish to Lookin At Lucky in the Preakness.

In a seven-race career he has just one win, four seconds and a third for $352,160.

Here is the complete field for the Belmont Stakes in post position order: Dave in Dixie, 20-1, Calvin Borel; Spangled Star, 30-1, Garrett Gomez; Uptowncharlybrown, 10-1, Rajiv Maragh; Make Music for Me, 10-1, Joel Rosario; Fly Down, 9-2, John Velazquez; Ice Box, 3-1, Jose Lezcano; Drosselmeyer, 12-1, Mike Smith; Game On Dude, 10-1, Martin Garcia; Stately Victor, 15-1, Alan Garcia; Stay Put, 20-1, Jamie Theriot; First Dude, 7-2, Ramon Dominguez and Interactif, 12-1, Javier Castellano.

Post-time for the Belmont Stakes is scheduled for 6:27 p.m. (et). The latest weather forecast for the race calls for a slight chance of a thunderstorm and post-time temperature around 75.

Wwwipodlounge Horseracing Betting News

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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