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02/18/2012 - Hallandale Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eclipse Award winner Animal Kingdom made a successful return to the races on Saturday with a worst-to-first result at Gulfstream Park. The four-year-old was making his first start since last year's Belmont Stakes.
Trained by Graham Motion, Animal Kingdom was the 3-5 post-time favorite in the six-horse field and was ridden by John Velazquez. The chestnut colt, owned by Team Valor, was using the 1 1/16-mile allowance race on the turf as a prep for the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 31.
The colt originally was to start in the Tampa Bay Stakes on the grass at Tampa Bay Downs on February 25.
After trailing the field in the early going during the race, Animal Kingdom began to advance from the outside with a half-mile to run. The favorite drew even with the leaders on the final turn and took the lead entering the stretch.
"They went slow enough where he just pulled me into contention all on his own," said Velazquez. "I let him do what he wanted as opposed to wrangling him back behind horses."
Animal Kingdom drove down the stretch to register a two-length victory over 2-1 second choice Monument Hill. Bell by the Ridge was third followed by Royal Hill, Tannersville and Midnight Mischief.
"The second I started kissing at him in the stretch, he picked it right up and took off," Velazquez said. "It was a great feeling today and great to have him back. He felt as good as ever."
The time for the race on a firm turf course was 1:41.72.
"All we were worried about was having him run too big. We didn't want to see a big race and have him leave it on the track. We did not need a big race here. All we wanted was a nice quiet race and we got it," said Barry Irwin, founder and CEO of Team Valor International. "He's much better than he was last year. This race is not going to prove that, but we can tell by the way he trains and the way he looks, he's a much better horse this year."
The 2011 Kentucky Derby winner and champion three-year-old picked up $30,000 with the win and now has earnings of more than $1.96 million. It was his fourth win in eight career starts.
"Obviously, I would have been disappointed if he hadn't won today, when you've have a race that's set up for you. But this was the best thing for us. He still had to go out there and it," Motion said. "He needed a race and still has six weeks to regroup to get him to Dubai in the right way."
Animal Kingdom suffered a hairline fracture during the running of the 2011 Belmont Stakes. Prior to that he was second in the Preakness Stakes in addition to taking the Run for the Roses. In March of last year he captured the Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park.
"This horse has come a long way since October. Nothing was more heartbreaking than to see this horse stuck in a stall a week after the Belmont. He went from being the fittest horse in the country to not being able to get out of his stall. That was tough," said Motion, whose Derby winner underwent surgery to repair a fracture in his left hind leg in June. "To see him today, back to himself, obviously Im elated."
Animal Kingdom returned $3.20, $2.20 and $2.10. Monument Hill paid $2.80 and $2.10, and Bell by the Ridge paid $4.20 to show.
<< Report: Flyers get Kubina from Tampa
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers reportedly acquired defenseman
Pavel Kubina from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
TSN of Canada is reporting the trade with the Flyers sending a second and
fourth round draft pick to t
<< NHL fines Pens F Staal
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Hockey League fined Pittsburgh
Penguins forward Jordan Staal $2,500 on Saturday.
The fine stems from a play earlier on Saturday during Pittsburgh's 6-4 victory
in Philadelphia.
At the 9:56
<< No. 3 Stanford clinches another conference title
Eugene, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joslyn Tinkle scored 19 points and No. 3
Stanford clinched its 12th straight conference title Saturday with an easy
81-46 win over Oregon.
Chiney Ogwumike added 14 points and nine rebounds and Nnemka
<< No. 8 UNC improves to 56-0 at home vs. Clemson
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Harrison Barnes scored 24 points to help
No. 8 North Carolina improve to 56-0 at home against Clemson as the Tar Heels
defeated the Tigers, 74-52, at Smith Center on Saturday.
The 56-game home winning
El Camino Real Derby decided by Daddy Nose Best nose >>
Berkeley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daddy Nose Best got his nose on the wire first
to capture Saturday's $200,000 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields. The
1 1/8-mile El Camino Real is the final local prep on the road to the Kentucky
Derby.
Gordon, New Mexico dominate No. 11 UNLV >>
Albuquerque, NM (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drew Gordon poured in 27 points and grabbed
20 rebounds, powering New Mexico to a 65-45 rout of 11th-ranked UNLV at the
Pit on Saturday.
Tony Snell added 12 points for the Lobos (22-4, 8-2 Mountain Wes
St. Johns stops UConn's home win streak at 99 >>
Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shenneika Smith scored 11 points, including the
go-ahead three-pointer with eight seconds left, and St. John's toppled No. 2
Connecticut, 57-56, Saturday to snap the Huskies 99-game home winning streak.
It was t
Sedins lead Canucks over Leafs >>
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daniel Sedin had a goal and three assists as
the Vancouver Canucks pummeled the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-2, at Rogers Arena.
Alexandre Burrows had two goals while Henrik Sedin posted four assists for the
Canuc
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
Super Bowl XLIII is now set, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet each other on February 1st in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium to battle it out for the coveted Lombardi Trophy. The game kicks off at 6:00pm ET on NBC with announcers Al Michaels and John Madden covering the on-field action. Super Bowl XLIII betting odds at online bookmaker MySportsbook.com have the Steelers listed as an early -6.5 against the spread favorite.Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds
Pittsburgh earned their passage to the big game by beating their division rival, the Baltimore Ravens, 23-14 in yesterday's AFC Championship Game. The Steelers jumped on Baltimore early, building a 13-0 first half lead, and never let up on their way to a fairly easy win. Although the Ravens did close to within two points in the fourth quarter, it never appeared as if they had enough offense to pull off the upset.
The Steelers dominating defense held Baltimore to a total of 198 yards while allowing them to convert just three third downs in 13 attempts. Pittsburgh also forced quarterback Joe Flacco into three interceptions, one of which safety Troy Polamalu returned fourty yards for a touchdown.
The Cardinals, by far the playoff team with the longest odds to reach Super Bowl XLIII, did so yesterday with a 32-25 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship. Arizona charged out of the gates and built a 24-6 halftime lead that had the Eagles venerable defense reeling. Quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald did most of the damage, connecting on three first half touchdowns.
Arizona, however, could not sustain their momentum and the Eagles took a 25-24 with 10:45 left to play in the fourth. The Cardinals, with the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance hanging in the balance, mounted a fourteen play, 72 yard touchdown drive that consumed 7:52 off the clock. Warner hit running back Tim Hightower on a short screen for the go-ahead, game clinching score that will forever live in Cardinal infamy.
MySportsbook.com's Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds:
Pittsburgh Steelers -6.5 (-110), Over 46.5 (-110), -260 (Money line)
Arizona Cardinals +6.5 (-110), Under 46.5 (-110), +220 (Money line)
Matt Foust won both of his conference championship plays yesterday and he is ready to serve up plenty of Super Bowl action. Each individual play costs $15.00, however, MySportsbook.com recommends purchasing Matt's NFL Playoff Package which includes all of Matt's Super Bowl props and picks from just $45.00.
Get free Super Bowl XLIII Betting from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online Super Bowl betting with credit cards
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