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.

Mertocasino Horseracing Betting News

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NCAA Football Betting

Many fans thought it was the best side in the nation by the end of last season. This year, the polls have built on Georgia's momentum and granted it the No. 1 preseason ranking, followed by Ohio State and USC. (The Associated Press has the Buckeyes at No. 2; USA Today took the Trojans.)

"To have people believing we have one of the best teams in the nation going into this thing, it's exciting for us," Bulldogs coach Mark Richt told the AP. "I don't think anything is guaranteed, but we certainly have put ourselves in position where at least the college football world thinks we're pretty good."

Georgia Bulldogs - 9.5 wins

There's no question they're good, but the Bulldogs have one of the toughest 12-game schedules in the nation, mostly because they play in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference. Away games at No. 15 Arizona State, No. 7 LSU and No. 10 Auburn loom large, with contests between the hedges versus No. 24 Alabama and No. 18 Tennessee as well as the World's Largest Cocktail Party in Jacksonville versus No.5 Florida.

Ohio State Buckeyes - 10 wins

Like the Bulldogs, the Buckeyes also have a number of tough road contests in 2008. After two scrimmages dressed up as real games versus Youngstown State and Ohio, it's off to face USC. Other tough away games include No.13 Wisconsin in October and No. 20 Illinois in November. Granted, it should be pretty easy sledding at the Horseshoe. In fact, the only ranked team that travels to Columbus is No. 22 Penn State, in October.

USC Trojans - 10.5 wins

A similarly light schedule awaits the Trojans of Southern California, which is why the oddsmakers' total is one win more and the over is currently commanding -150 odds. Pete Carroll's troops only play three ranked teams in 2008, and all of those games are at home. After what should be an easy trip to Virginia to start things off on Aug. 30, the Trojans get two weeks to prepare for Ohio State in Los Angeles. Their two other ranked opponents, No. 21 Oregon and No. 15 Arizona State, visit in consecutive weeks to start the month of October. After that, the competition eases up. Of course, this is the same highly-touted school that lost to Stanford in 2007 and Oregon State in 2006. And don't discount the fact that USC plays its biggest rivals, Notre Dame and UCLA, back-to-back to close out the regular season. On paper, the Trojans are far superior, but motivation will be high for the Irish and Bruins, especially if their historic foes are in national-title contention.

Odds to Win the Heisman Trophy

Tim Tebow, Florida - 7/2
He won it last year, so it's no surprise he's the favorite to do it again, making him just the second player to go back-to-back. Ohio State's Archie Griffin turned the trick in 1974 and 1975, and Tebow's coach, Urban Meyer, is pretty sure his star quarterback can match the Buckeyes legend.

"There has never been anyone quite like him," Meyer told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I am very lucky to be his coach."

Chris Wells, Ohio State - 5/1

The man they call "Beanie" was a star recruit out of high school, so it's not like nobody knew who the star tailback was before he rushed for 576 yards as a freshman in 2006 and 1,609 as a sophomore. But perhaps his finest moment came last year versus Michigan when he rumbled for 222 yards and two touchdowns in the Buckeyes' 14-3 victory over the hated Wolverines.

Knowshon Moreno, Georgia - 8/1

If the Bulldogs are to live up to expectations, they'll need a huge effort from their sophomore running back. This might be the last year of college ball for Moreno, who rushed for 1,334 yards and for 14 touchdowns as a freshman, while adding 253 receiving yards on 20 receptions, so expect big things for the man from Belford, N.J.

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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.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

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.

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