Pyro set to light it up in Louisiana Derby

Horseracing Betting Lines

03/03/2008 - New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pyro, winner of the Risen Star Stakes, heads a field of nine for Saturday's $600,000 Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds. The 1 1/16 mile race is a major event on the way to the Kentucky Derby.

Owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, Pyro has career earnings of $696,718 with two wins in five starts. Trained by Steve Asmussen, the three-year-old is the 7-5 morning-line favorite and will start from post three with Shaun Bridgmohan again in the saddle.

Following a win in his initial lifetime start, Pyro was third in an allowance race and then posted two straight second-place finishes in the Champagne Stakes and Breeders' Cup Juvenile. It was War Pass who got the best of Pyro in those two stakes races.

If all goes according to plan Pyro will race in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on Saturday, April 12 prior to the Kentucky Derby.

Asmussen's other starter in the Louisiana Derby will be J Be K, who will break from post four with Kent Desormeaux riding. Owned by Zayat Stables, J Be K is undefeated in two career starts and is 12-1 in the program.

Making his 2008 debut is highly regarded Tale of Ekati, who is 7-2 in the morning-line. The colt will be ridden by Edgar Prado from post six.

Tale of Ekati is trained by Barclay Tagg for Charles Fipke. The three-year-old has won two of four starts, including last year's Futurity at Belmont Park. He was fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and second in the Sanford Stakes at Saratoga, and brings a bankroll of $313,200 into Saturday's race.

California Derby winner Yankee Bravo is the third choice at 4-1. Trained by Paddy Gallagher, the colt will start from post eight with Alex Solis riding for the third straight time.

Yankee Bravo came from last in a 12-horse field to win the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields in late January. He is perfect in three career starts for $142,049. The colt is nominated for the Santa Anita Derby on April 5.

Here is the complete field for the Louisiana Derby, which has a post-time of 5:48 p.m. (et): Stevil, Calvin Borel 15-1; My Pal Charlie, Julien Leparoux 20-1; Pyro, Shaun Bridgmohan 7-5; J Be K, Kent Desormeaux 12-1; Unbridled Vicar, Corie Lanerie 20-1; Tale of Ekati, Edgar Prado 7-2; Blackberry Road, Robby Albarado 10-1; Yankee Bravo, Alex Solis 4-1; and Majestic Warrior, Garrett Gomez 9-2.

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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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