Jim Dandy Stakes up for grabs Saturday

Horseracing Betting Lines

07/28/2010 - Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saturday's $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course has attracted an evenly matched field of nine three- year-olds. The 1 1/8-mile contest is the local prep for the $1 million Travers on Saturday, August 28.

Heading the field is Belmont Stakes runner-up Fly Down. The chestnut colt, trained by Nick Zito, will be making his first start since the Belmont and will start from the far outside post with Jose Lezcano aboard.

"He's coming off a 1 1/2-mile race," Zito said Monday. "Obviously, we know his fitness level. We're hoping he's a little sharp for the race. He's a very good horse. He looks good."

Owned by Richard Pell, Fly Down has won two of four starts this year, including the Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park on May 8. In his career the colt has won three of six starts and $382,070.

Another Zito entrant is Miner's Reserve. The lightly raced colt will be ridden by Calvin Borel from post six.

Trainer Todd Pletcher will be represented in the race by Aikenite, owned by Dogwood Stable. The colt will start from post four with David Cohen riding.

Aikenite notched his first win of the year in an allowance race at Belmont Park on June 19. In his six races of 2010 he has one win, one second and one third-place finish for $109,606. His best stakes results were a third to Eskendereya in the Fountain of Youth in February and a second in the Derby Trial to Hurricane Ike on April 24.

"As a younger horse, he wasn't a particularly ambitious work horse, and to me, he's gotten more aggressive," said Pletcher. "We're still trying to find his best distance. This will be a race that determines what he's going to do down the road.

"He did very well at a one-turn mile; whether that's going to translate into a top-class mile and an eighth effort, that's what we're getting ready to find out."

Former Kentucky Derby contender Winslow Homer continues his comeback from an early injury. The Fox Hill Farm colt will break from post seven with Ramon Dominguez in the saddle.

Trained by Tony Dutrow, Winslow Homer suffered a small stress fracture in his cannon bone after winning the Holy Bull Stakes in January at Gulfstream Park. He did not race until last month's Iowa Derby when he finished third to Concord Point.

The gray colt has earned $177,825 in five career starts with three wins and a pair of thirds.

Dutrow also has Louisiana Derby runner-up A Little Warm entered. The colt will be ridden by John Velazquez from post five.

Here is the full field for the Jim Dandy in post position order: Steinbeck, Garrett Gomez; Afleet Express, Javier Castellano; Stormy's Majesty, Edgar Prado; Aikenite, David Cohen; A Little Warm, John Velazquez; Miner's Reserve, Calvin Borel; Winslow Homer, Ramon Dominguez; Friend Or Foe, Rajiv Maragh and Fly Down, Jose Lezcano.

Post-time for the Jim Dandy will 5:50 p.m. (et).

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.