Whiting seeks another Run for the Roses
Horseracing Betting Lines
02/09/2012 - Hot Springs, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's been 20 years since trainer Lynn Whiting saddled longshot colt Lil E. Tee to win the 118th Kentucky Derby. The Midwest conditioner has another three-year-old in his stable at Oaklawn Park giving Whiting a chance at the 138th Run for the Roses.
Lightly raced Cyber Secret is owned by Charles Cella who happens to own the Arkansas track. The colt has just four starts on his resume with a possible start in the track's Southwest Stakes on February 20.
"He still has a lot to prove before we get too pumped up," Whiting said. "He ran big the other day, but it's on him now to move forward while being a young horse that's still learning the game. As a friend of mine once said 'he can't call his momma. He's got to do it himself.'"
Cyber Secret posted a 5 1/4-length wire-to-wire victory last week in an allowance race as the 2-1 second choice in a six-horse field. The rebound win came three weeks after a deflating ninth in a similar race as the 3-1 second pick.
"You have to feel really good about the effort," said Whiting on the win and schooled Cyber Secret in the starting gate after the January loss. "It is some vindication after he had so many problems in his last race. We know we can pretty much toss it out.
"He's still a young horse with something to prove. Times have changed, but sometimes with these Derby horses guys tend to over-do it a bit."
Cyber Secret began his career with a win at Belmont Park last October, but failed in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes when he finished seventh in the 11-horse field. He was previously trained by Bret Calhoun for Silverton Hill Farm.
The $250,000 Southwest Stakes is expected to feature Smarty Jones winner Junebugred and runner-up Reckless Jerry. The President's Day feature will be just 16 days after Cyber Secret's last race.
"With such a particularly strong program of three-year-old races, it feels like he proved he deserves that shot," said Whiting Wednesday morning. "There won't be too many other opportunities if we don't get involved now.
"We only had two weeks between the Arkansas Derby and the Kentucky Derby with Lil E. Tee and I worked him a half-mile a couple days before the (Derby). Even then I could have just let him gallop up to it. We tend to overtrain now."
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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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