08/30/2008 - Campbellville, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first four Breeders Crown races of the year took center-stage Saturday night at Mohawk Racetrack. The remaining eight events will be held at The Meadowlands on Saturday, November 29.
In Saturday's initial Breeders Crown race, Corleone Kosmos, who nearly won last year's Breeders Crown Open Trot before going off stride, won the 2008 $638,580 edition by a length over Arch Madness. Driven by Hall of Famer John Campbell, the six-year-old gelding trotted the mile in 1:51 4/5.
"Much better than losing. Redemption is sweet," said Bryan Owen of the winning stable. "He got the total perfect trip for him, and when he got out at the top of the stretch I thought this is our race to lose."
Trained by Darren McCall, the gelding has won 17 of 43 career races and earned more than $1.6 million.
Corleone Kosmos paid $8.70, $4.00 and $3.20. Arch Madness returned $5.00 and $3.30, and Digital Image paid $4.60 to show.
In the $352,815 Breeders' Crown Mare Trot, 2-1 second choice Brigham Dream defeated Susies Magic by a half-length. Another half-length back was Exotic Destination in the 10-horse field.
Winner of last week's elimination race, Brigham Dream trotted the mile in 1:53 2/5. Luc Ouellette drove the four-year-old mare to her second victory of the year.
Brigham Dream has won 11 of 26 career starts for $665,000.
Brigham Dream returned $6.30, $4.30 and $3.30. Susies Magic paid $10.70 and $7.30, and Exotic Destination paid $12.20 to show. Falls For You, the 4-5 favorite, was last.
My Little Dragon became a three-time Breeders Crown champion Saturday night with a win in the $352,815 Mare Pace. Driven by Brian Sears, the five-year-old mare paced the mile in 1:50 1/5.
Darlins Delight was two-lengths back in second and Hana Hanover finished third.
My Little Dragon was a Breeders Crown champion at ages two and three. She has earned $2.2 million in 48 lifetime starts with 23 victories.
Sent off as the 3-2 favorite, My Little Dragon returned $5.30, $3.70 and $3.00. Darlins Delight paid $5.10 and $2.90, and Hana Hanover paid $7.50 to show.
Closing the night in the $532,150 Breeders Crown Open Pace, Mister Big avenged last year's loss by defeating Artistic Fella by three-lengths. A nose separated them at the wire in the 2007 Breeders Crown.
Driver Brian Sears recorded his second Crown win of the night as Mister Big paced the mile in 1:50. Kenneth J was third.
Mister Big, a five-year-old, beat Artistic Fella in the recent Canadian Pacing Derby and was last year's champion older male pacer. He has earnings of $3 million in 63 career starts and 25 wins.
Mister Big paid $2.80, $2.20 and $2.10. Artistic Fella returned $3.20 and $3.20, and Kenneth J paid $9.10 to show.
In other harness racing news, Hambletonian champ Deweycheatumnhowe held off Celebrity Secret down the stretch to capture the $565,000 World Trotting Derby Saturday at the DuQuoin, IL State Fair. It was his 17th straight win and the time for the mile, 1:50 4/5, is the fastest by any trotter in 2008.
"The only thing I was concerned about, he raced once in two weeks," said trainer Ray Schnittker. "He had two weeks off after the Hambo, never raced him, only trained him. I think that in the next couple weeks, when he hits Lexington, he should be getting really tight again. I'm going to try to keep him fresh, keep him going. It seems like that's working."
Schnittker, who is also the driver and co-owner, said that the colt's next start will be eliminations and final of the Canadian Trotting Classic on September 6 and 13 and then to Lexington's Red Mile for the Kentucky Futurity on October 4.
Perfect in all 17 lifetime starts, Deweycheatumnhowe picks up $282,500 with the win and now has career earnings of $2,250,746.
<< Columbus takes over first place with win at FCD
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Crew took over first place in Major
League Soccer's Eastern Conference table with a 2-1 win over FC Dallas at
Pizza Hut Park on Saturday.
Guillermo Barros Schelotto tallied his league-leading 1
<< Roberts remains among leaders at Pebble Beach
Pebble Beach, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Loren Roberts birdied the 18th hole
Saturday to remain tied for the lead after two rounds of the Wal-Mart First
Tee Open.
Roberts posted a three-under 69 to finish 36 holes at nine-under-par 13
<< McCoy and Longhorns dominate Owls
Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colt McCoy threw for 222 yards and three
touchdowns and ran for 103 yards and a score, as the No. 11 Texas Longhorns
rolled to a 52-10 victory over Florida Atlantic in the season opener for both
teams.
<< Polk, fifth-rounder Thomas Among Chargers' Cuts
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Outside linebacker Carlos Polk and fifth-
round Draft choice Marcus Thomas were among 20 players released as the San
Diego Chargers trimmed their roster to the 53-player maximum on Saturday.
Polk played in 64
Saints Cuts Include Mehlhaff, Palko >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kicker Taylor Mehlhaff and quarterback
Tyler Palko were among the players waived on Saturday as the New Orleans
Saints reduced their roster to 53 players.
Mehlhaff, a sixth-round choice out of Wisconsin in
Dodgers snap eight-game skid, inch closer in NL West >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manny Ramirez went 4-for-5 with a double and
two solo home runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers snapped a season-high
eight-game losing streak with a much-needed 6-2 victory over the Arizona
Diamond
South Florida rolls Tennessee-Martin in opener >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Moise Plancher and Mike Ford each had two rushing
touchdowns as 19th-ranked South Florida dominated Tennessee-Martin, 56-7, in
the season opener for both teams from Raymond James Stadium.
Plancher finished with
Auburn cruises past UL-Monroe in season opener >>
Auburn, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Todd threw for 70 yards and a score on 9-
of-18 passing and Robert Dunn recorded a 66-yard punt return TD as 10th-ranked
Auburn pounded Louisiana-Monroe, 34-0, in the season opener for both schools
at Jord
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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