Team Valor calls audible for Animal Kingdom
Horseracing Betting Lines
02/17/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saturday marks the return to competition for 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom after eight months on the sidelines. The 4-year-old colt last raced in the Belmont Stakes in June.
Owner Team Valor International and trainer Graham Motion made a surprise move on Wednesday by entering the champion colt in a $60,000 allowance race on the turf at Gulfstream Park for Saturday. The 1 1/16-mile grass race has a six- horse field with none of the other five starters having close to Animal Kingdom's credentials.
Early this month, the colt's connections announced that the Eclipse Award winner would hit the track in the Tampa Bay Stakes on February 25 to begin his 2012 season.
"He (Motion) would have worked the horse seven furlongs next Monday to get him ready for the Tampa race, but for this kind of allowance race, I think the horse will be fine on Saturday," Team Valor president Barry Irwin said. "He's doing super, but we don't want him to be too primed for a big race first time back. We want him to get something out of the race, not leave his Dubai World Cup race on the course."
Animal Kingdom will have the services again of jockey John Velazquez for the colt's second start on the turf. Motion is using the grass race as a prep for the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 31.
"I believe that I'm running him with the bare minimum of works that I would want to run him with. But with this race being this weekend, it gives me six weeks to Dubai, which I think gives me ample time for him to recover from the race," Motion indicated. "In whatever race we ran him in, the objective of running him was to get him to Dubai in the best possible shape.
"The problem with waiting until next weekend at Tampa is that it would be the only option I would have before running in Dubai. If for some reason we had bad weather like we had last weekend, I wouldn't have a backup plan. That's what's so attractive running this week."
Animal Kingdom was voted the 2011 champion 3-year-old male despite not having started the second half of the year. After finishing second in an allowance race last March at Gulfstream, the colt captured the Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park.
For the Run for the Roses, Animal Kingdom was a 20-1 long shot in the 19-horse field. Ridden by Velazquez, he powered down the stretch to a 2 3/4-length victory over Nehro.
The Preakness, two weeks after the Derby, saw Animal Kingdom go off as the 2-1 favorite versus 13 rivals. Following a slow start, Velazquez got the colt rolling, but missed by a half length from catching Shackleford and jockey Jesus Castanon.
The Belmont Stakes was a lost effort for Animal Kingdom. He finished sixth, nearly 10 lengths behind Ruler On Ice. It was later discovered he had suffered an injury that ended his 3-year-old season.
"I believe he is a special horse that did not get to show how good he was, and I hope he gets that chance this year," Motion said. "This is just a start, but it doesn't all have to happen this weekend. But I hope he gets a chance this year to show what a super horse he is."
In seven career starts, Animal Kingdom has three wins and an equal number of seconds for more than $1.9 million in purses.
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on Friday when the Los Angeles Lakers open up a home-and-home series with the
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Betting Football
NFL Football Betting OnlineIs there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.