Awesome Act and Eskendereya face off in Wood Memorial

Horseracing Betting Lines

03/31/2010 - Ozone Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Local winner Awesome Act and Fountain of Youth champ Eskendereya top a field of six three-year-olds in Saturday's $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. The 1 1/8-mile race is the last prep for these horses heading to the Kentucky Derby.

Awesome Act will be ridden for the second consecutive time by Eclipse Award winning jockey Julien Leparoux. The pair will start from post two for owners Susan Roy and Vinery Stables. The chestnut colt is trained by Jeremy Noseda.

"He's fit and doing well," said assistant trainer Wayne Tanner. "He's feeling the joyous spring."

Awesome Act made himself the local Kentucky Derby favorite with his win in last month's Gotham Stakes. That was his first start since finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf last November.

Awesome Act recorded his first stakes victory with the Gotham and has won two of seven career starts for $221,691.

The Gotham was the first on dirt for Awesome Act. He had started five times on turf and once on an artificial surface. He lost the Juvenile Turf to Pounced by 1 1/4-lengths following a late rally.

Eskendereya will break from post three with John Velazquez again in the saddle. The chestnut colt was the 5-1 favorite last weekend when betting closed in the final Kentucky Derby Future Wager while Awesome act finished at 13-1.

Owned by Zayat Stables, Eskendereya is the top three-year-old in trainer Todd Pletcher's stable. The colt notched his second straight win with the Fountain of Youth and the third in five career starts. The chestnut colt has earnings of $275,700.

"We felt off such a big effort in the Fountain of Youth, six weeks to his next prep made more sense," noted Pletcher. "Followed by four weeks to the Kentucky Derby."

After finishing second in his debut last year, he won the Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont Park in October and was ninth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita.

Here is the complete field for the Wood Memorial in post position order: Most Happy Fella, Rosie Napravnik; Awesome Act, Julien Leparoux; Eskendereya, John Velazquez; Schoolyard Dreams, Ramon Dominguez; Jackson Bend, Calvin Borel and Carnivore, Justin Shepherd.

All entrants will carry 123 pounds in the Wood which has a post-time of 5:12 p.m. (et).

The race will televised on NBC.

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Is 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.