Quality Road cuts into Zenyatta's lead

Horseracing Betting Lines

06/01/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Quality Road, fresh off a victory in the Met Mile, has closed the gap with Zenyatta in the latest NTRA Thoroughbred Poll. Holding on in third is Preakness Stakes winner Lookin At Lucky, who also remains first in the three-year-old poll.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Quality Road won the Met Mile on Memorial Day by 1 1/2-lengths over Musket Man and was rewarded with five additional first-place votes from last week.

Zenyatta, who will start in the Vanity Handicap on June 13, has 13 first-place votes and 184 points. She leads Quality Road by 14 points, 12 fewer than the last poll.

Lookin At Lucky is third with 116 points followed by Rachel Alexandra (67), Blind Luck (63), Misremembered (61), Blame (51), Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver (50), Unrivaled Belle (37) and Tuscan Evening (35).

In the NTRA Three-Year-Old Poll, Lookin At Lucky received 16 first-place votes and 187 points. His lead over Super Saver increased by five points. Super Saver garnered two first-place votes and 157 points.

Ice Box, second in the Run for the Roses, is third with 148 points and will start in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

Kentucky Oaks champ Blind Luck is fourth with 96 points followed by First Dude with 95 points. Although retired, Eskendereya still received one first-place vote and 58 points to move up to sixth.

Coming in seventh is Jackson Bend with 55 points followed by Paddy O'Prado (50), Evening Jewel (39) and Sidney's Candy (36).

Wwwipodlounge Horseracing Betting News

<< Kyle Busch shuts down Malsam's truck team
Mooresville, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch Motorsports will cease operations of its No.56 Camping World Truck Series team, while driver Tayler Malsam will head to the Nationwide Series and accept a ride with Braun Racing'

<< De Foy, Weber honored with media awards
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Hockey League Hall of Fame announced Marc de Foy will receive the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for hockey journalism and Ron Weber will receive the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for out

<< Eastern Kentucky's home opener pushed back
Richmond, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eastern Kentucky's home opener against Division II Kentucky State has been pushed back one week to Oct. 2 due to a scheduling conflict. The starting time has yet to be announced for the game originally schedul

<< Pirates trade for P Eveland
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired left-hander Dana Eveland from the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday in exchange for minor league pitcher Ronald Uviedo. The 26-year-old Eveland compiled a 3-4 record with a

<< Houston, New York aiming for consistency in mid-week clash
Harrison, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Dynamo travel to take on Red Bull New York in a mid-week Major League Soccer fixture between two teams that have taken decidedly different paths to their current .500 records. The Dynamo have b

RSL's Saborio named MLS Player of the Month for May >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Salt Lake forward Alvaro Saborio was voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Month for May, it was announced on Tuesday. Saborio scored four goals and three assists in five games, helping Real

Astros RP Sampson hits disabled list >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros placed pitcher Chris Sampson on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday with tendinitis in his right rotator cuff. In 22 relief appearances for Houston this season, the right-handed Sampson ha

Rangers F Anisimov has surgery >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Rangers forward Artem Anisimov underwent successful surgery to remove a bone chip in his right wrist on Tuesday. Anisimov suffered the injury during the just-completed World Champions

CHL, IHL merge to form 'AA' level super league >>
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Central Hockey League (CHL) and the International Hockey League (IHL) have entered into a letter of intent to form a "AA" level super league beginning in the 2010-11 season, the leagues announc

Perfect game allows Halladay to claim NL weekly award >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off throwing the 20th perfect game in major-league history, Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay was named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending May 30. Last Saturday, Ha

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com