07/16/2008 - Del Mar, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Well Armed, third in the Dubai World Cup, heads a field of 10 older thoroughbreds for Saturdays $300,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar. The 1 1/16 mile race gives the winner an automatic pass into the 2008 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile as part of the "Win and You're In" program.
The San Diego also serves as the local prep for the $1 million Pacific Classic on Sunday, August 24. Not entered in the San Diego is 2007 Pacific Classic winner Student Council who is training at Saratoga. The six-year-old, however, is expected to be at Del Mar on August 24.
"Our goal is to win back-to-back runnings of the Pacific Classic," said owner Millennium Farms' Ro Parra. "Tinners Way and Skimming did it, and the way Student Council is training, we plan to give it a try, too. If conditions are right, we may run him first in the Whitney (July 26 at Saratoga), with the end of season goal being the Breeders' Cup Classic at Oak Tree."
Well Armed, trained by Eoin Harty for WinStar Farms, will be making his first start since his third-place result behind Curlin in Dubai. Earlier this year the five-year-old gelding defeated Heatseeker in the San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita and was second in the San Pasqual behind Zappa and ahead of Heatseeker.
Aaron Gryder will again be in the saddle and the pair will start from post six. Well Armed has career earnings of $850,803 with four wins in 16 career starts.
Highly regarded Surf Cat returns to Del Mar after 11 months. Second in the Pat O'Brien Handicap in his lone local start of 2007, Surf Cat is coming off a third-place finish in the Californian behind Heatseeker and Tiago. In April he notched his second straight in Hollywood Parks Mervyn LeRoy Handicap,
The six-year-old is trained by Bruce Headley and will be ridden by David Flores from post two. Surf Cat has won nine of 19 lifetime starts for $955,420.
Two years ago Magnum went off as a solid 9-2 pick in the Pacific Classic before finishing seventh to Lava Man. After missing all of 2007, the seven- year-old has posted three consecutive fourth-place results this year.
Owned by Herrick Racing and trained by Darrell Vienna, Magnum has drawn post four with Martin Pedroza riding.
In 2006 Magnum was second in the Santa Anita and Oaklawn Handicaps and won the Lone Star Park Handicap. He has career earnings of $681,249 with five wins in 23 starts.
Here is the complete field for the 67th edition of the San Diego Handicap: Mostocolli Mort, Tyler Baze; Surf Cat, David Flores; Rebellion, Rafael Bejarano; Magnum, Martin Pedroza; Racketeer, Corey Nakatani; Well Armed, Aaron Gryder; Global Hunter, Mike Smith; Tall Texan, Victor Espinoza; You Got Me Rocking, Joel Rosario and Mr. Napper Tandy, Joe Talamo.
The San Diego will be shown on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. (et).
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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.
Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.
Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.
Memphis vs. Ohio State
Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.
UCLA vs. Kansas
In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.
With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action. Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”. By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.
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