War Pass sends clear message with opening start

Horseracing Betting Lines

02/25/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If there was any doubt about last year's champion two-year-old colt War Pass, those doubts were extinguished on Sunday. The Eclipse Award winner made his first start of the year in a $60,000 allowance race at Gulfstream Park.

Under the experienced handling of jockey Cornelio Velasquez the three-year-old showed himself to be ready for a campaign leading to the Kentucky Derby. He easily disposed of four rivals in the one-mile race.

"He's a very happy horse," said Velasquez. "He's the best horse in the country right now. He's better than last year, he galloped out really strong. He wanted to win today."

War Pass posted a 7 1/2 length win while covering the mile in 1:36.38. Velasquez never had to do much more than stay in the saddle as the colt began to answer questions about his stamina.

"You still have anxiety no matter how you look at it," noted trainer Nick Zito. "When horses haven't run for a long time, there are injuries every day, so I know how grateful I am. He's unbelievable. That's what we wanted for him."

Owned by Robert LaPenta, War Pass is expected to make his next start on Saturday, March 15 in the 1 1/16 mile Tampa Bay Derby. Street Sense captured last year's Tampa Bay Derby leading to his Kentucky Derby victory.

"Three weeks from now it will be a little tougher," Zito continued. "I was happy for the fans. I'm a fan myself. I'm grateful to Gulfstream Park for putting the race on. He broke like a rocket. It would have been nice if he had sat back, but as long as he keeps winning, I'm happy. He's a special horse, he really is."

War Pass is undefeated in five career starts with better than $1.4 million in earnings. Last year he won the Champagne Stakes before taking the Breeders' Cup Juvenile by nearly five lengths.

If things continue to go well for War Pass, the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on Saturday, April 5 would be his final race before the Run for the Roses.

LaPenta and Zito also won Sunday's $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park with Cool Coal Man. The colt made a three wide move from fourth place on the final turn to win the 1 1/8 mile event.

Zito is still mapping out Cool Coal Man's schedule, but the Florida Derby on Saturday, March 29 is a possibility.

"I can't say where or what race he'll will run in," Zito noted, "possibly the Florida Derby. He's not a big horse. He'd need to have a good 30 days from now. We'll see."

Cool Coal Man is a winner of four of seven starts for more than $300,000. He turned the tables on Anak Nakal, another Zito trained thoroughbred. Anak Nakal, eighth on Sunday, won last year's Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes when Cool Coal Man finished seventh.

It must be noted that the final time for the Fountain of Youth was revised to 1:49.53 from 1:51.86.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

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