Art Official captures Cane Pace

Horseracing Betting Lines

09/01/2008 - Freehold, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Art Official, the Meadowlands Pace winner, made a successful beginning Monday in his quest for this year's Triple Crown with a win in the 54th Cane Pace at Freehold Raceway. The $392,850 one-mile race is the first leg of the Pacing Triple Crown.

The second leg of the Triple Crown, the Little Brown Jug, is set for Thursday, September 18 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Ohio, and the Messenger Pace, will be Saturday, October 25 at Yonkers Raceway. No Pan Intended was the last horse to complete the Triple Crown sweep in 2003.

Driven by Ron Pierce, Art Official took the lead the first time the eight- horse field went up the backstretch on the half-mile track. The 3-5 favorite was never headed once he took the lead from Badlands Nitro.

Art Official controlled the race through the second half-mile and held off Badlands Nitro to post a neck victory over the 6-5 second choice. Finishing third was Moon Beam with Mccedes fourth.

The time for the Cane Pace was 1:51 1/5.

The win gave driver Pierce his fourth Cane Pace victory. Art Official, trained by Joe Seekman for Sawgrass Farms, adds $197,000 to his 2008 bankroll which now totals $1,197,000. He has won 10 of 15 starts this year, including his last five.

Art Official paid $3.20, $2.20 and $2.10. Badlands Nitro, who was coupled with Rudy Rednose, returned $2.20 and $2.10, and Moon Beam paid $2.80 to show.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.