Rachel Alexandra has last work before year's debut

Horseracing Betting Lines

03/02/2010 - New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rachel Alexandra, 2009 Horse of the Year, had her final major workout Tuesday morning before her 2010 debut. The four- year-old filly breezed six-furlongs at the Fair Grounds in preparation for the $200,000 New Orleans Ladies on Saturday, March 13.

With regular exercise rider Dominic Terry aboard, Rachel went the six-furlongs in 1:13 3/5 on a track listed as fast. She went seven-furlongs in 1:26 2/5 and 1:41 1/5 for a mile.

"I was hoping she'd go a little quicker," trainer Steve Asmussen said. "She settled off the other horse (Depaul) really nicely. She stayed with her left lead trying to stay with the other horse, then she switched to her right lead and accelerated. We're happy with where she's at. The main thing is she's healthy and this is a step in the process to getting her back to her previous level.

"She was a little keen early. She was very aggressive and hard-held early. For him (Terry) to still have control with one in front of her was very impressive. It was a little slower from the five-eighths to the three- eighths."

Owned by Jess Jackson and Hal McCormick, Rachel Alexandra could face as many as 10 challengers in the 1 1/16-mile New Orleans Ladies. When nominations for the race closed this past Saturday 16 fillies and mares were named.

Seven of the horses are considered probable with several others listed as possible. Among the probables are Clear Sailing, a four-year-old filly trained by Glenn Delahoussaye and owned by Keith and Ginger Myers.

"She's doing great," said Delahoussaye. "She's going to work Wednesday and we'll see how she works and how she comes out of it and take things from there. We're working her Wednesday with the intention of running her in the New Orleans Ladies."

Clear Sailing is the winner of three of four career starts with earnings of $92,940. Last month she won the $60,000 Pelleteri Stakes at the same distance as the New Orleans Ladies. The daughter of Empire Maker is undefeated in her last three starts, all with jockey Shane Sellers.

"I don't think there's any trainer in the world who's insane enough to say he's looking forward to running his horse against Rachel Alexandra," said Delahoussaye, "but for me this race is not about whether it's Rachel or not Rachel in there against our horse. The New Orleans Ladies fits the progression about where I wanted to be at this point in time.

"Right now we're trying to keep our filly's races at least a month apart, because my owners have this dream of winning a stakes races at Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week. The New Orleans Ladies would keep us on a schedule for Churchill's La Troienne Stakes on Kentucky Oaks Day. That's our long term goal."

According to Fair Grounds stakes coordinator Scott Jones, other probable starters for the Ladies include Bayakoa Handicap winner Zardana, trained by Zenyatta's trainer John Shirreffs; Double Espresso, winner of the Pan Zareta Stakes at the Fair Grounds and Unforgotten, second in last year's Chicago Handicap behind 2009 champion female sprinter Informed Decision.

Rachel Alexandra will follow her start in March with an ultimate showdown versus Zenyatta. The two female thoroughbreds are to finally meet at Oaklawn Park in the $5 million Apple Blossom Invitational on Friday, April 9.

Zenyatta is based at Hollywood Park where she has been working out. Owned by Jerry and Ann Moss, Zenyatta will start in the $250,000 Santa Margarita Invitational on March 13.

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NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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