Lookin At Lucky faces Sidney's Candy in Santa Anita Derby

Horseracing Betting Lines

03/31/2010 - Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rebel Stakes winner Lookin At Lucky and Sidney's Candy, winner of the San Vicente Stakes, highlight a field of 10 three-year-olds in Saturday's $750,000 Santa Anita Derby. The 1 1/8-mile race is the final Kentucky Derby prep at Santa Anita Park.

Lookin At Lucky, the 2009 champion two-year-old colt, has been installed as the 4-5 morning-line favorite and will start from post seven with regular rider Garrett Gomez.

Owned by Karl Watson, Mike Pegram and Paul Weltman, Lookin At Lucky is trained by Hall of Fame member Bob Baffert. The colt has won six of seven starts for more than $1.4 million.

"We were considering the Arkansas Derby on April 10 because that would have given us a week more from his last race," said Baffert, "but he worked really good here on Sunday and he's ready to run.

"Our ultimate goal is to win the Kentucky Derby and by running here on Saturday, this gives us a little extra time going into the Derby on May 1. He's done everything we've asked of him and he overcame a lot of trouble in his last race and then shipped back here real good."

Baffert has won the Santa Anita Derby five times, with Cavonnier (1996), Indian Charlie (1998), General Challenge (1999), Point Given (2001) and Pioneerof the Nile last year. He has won the Kentucky Derby three times, the last in 2002 with 20-1 longshot War Emblem.

Lookin At Lucky was second to Vale of York in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last November, but came back to win the CashCall Futurity the following month at Hollywood Park.

Should the Eclipse Award honoree win the Santa Anita Derby, he would be the first two-year-old champion to win the track's top Kentucky Derby prep since Affirmed in 1978.

Sidney's Candy will break from post four with Joe Talamo back to ride. The chestnut colt is the 3-1 second choice in the program.

Sidney's Candy, trained by John Sadler, is owned by the Sid and Jenny Craig Trust. He has career earnings of $223,560 with three wins in five lifetime starts.

While the colt likes to run on lead, Sadler doesn't believe that is the only style he has.

"He doesn't have to be in front, but he does have kind of a free-running style," said Sadler. "If he's not in front, he's going to be forwardly placed, because he's that kind of horse."

Here is the complete field for the 73rd Santa Anita Derby in post position order: Posse Power, Leslie Mawing, 50-1; Thomas Baines, Joel Rosario, 50-1; Who's Up, Victor Espinoza, 20-1; Sidney's Candy, Joe Talamo, 3-1; Setsuko, Rafael Bejarano, 20-1; Caracortado, Paul Atkinson, 5-1; Lookin At Lucky, Garrett Gomez, 4-5; Cardiff Giant, Christian Santiago Reyes, 30-1; Skipshot, Frank Alvarado, 15-1; and Alphie's Bet, Alex Solis, 8-1.

Each horse will carry 122 pounds.

The Santa Anita Derby will be broadcast on NBC with a scheduled post-time of 5:36 p.m. (et).

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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