Del 'Cap features six top females

Horseracing Betting Lines

07/14/2010 - Stanton, DE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saturday's $750,000 Delaware Handicap has attracted six of the leading female thoroughbreds in the nation. The winner of the 1 1/4-mile race gains automatic entry into this year's Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic at Churchill Downs.

Leading the field for the 73rd Del 'Cap is Candy DeBartolo's Life At Ten, winner of her last five starts. Trained by Todd Pletcher, the five-year-old mare will be ridden by John Velazquez from post six.

Perfect in three starts this year, Life At Ten is coming off a victory in the Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont Park on June 12. In February she captured the Rare Treat Stakes at Aqueduct and followed with a win of the Sixty Sails at Hawthorne in April.

"This mare never really had the opportunity to run in a Grade I and we just felt like the Phipps was the right spot for her at that time," said Pletcher. "We did strongly consider running in the Obeah as a prep for this race, but the Grade I was just too enticing. We were fortunate enough to win and we were very happy about that. This year, we have had a bit of luck running horses over a track for the first time, and I do not think having a race over the Delaware surface is as important now as it was a few years back."

As a four-year-old Life At Ten closed 2009 with consecutive wins in an allowance race and the Snit Stakes. She has won six of 13 career starts for $459,267.

"A couple of times last year, we ran her a little bit short of her best distances," Pletcher commented. "Once she got into a good steady rhythm and since we have been able to keep her at a nice series of longer races, she has really developed into what we were hoping she could be."

Pletcher has won the Del 'Cap three previous times, Irving's Baby (2001), Fleet Indian (2006) and Unbridled Belle (2007).

"It has always been a very good race for us and we have been forunate enough to have very good luck in the Delaware Handicap," said Pletcher. "We have run nice mares in this race before and we think we are bringing a good one back this time who obviously is in very good form. So we are really looking forward to this race."

Local winner Miss Singhsix comes back to Delaware after last month's win of the Obeah Stakes at the track. The five-year-old mare will start from post two with Jose Valdivia, Jr. again riding.

"The race over the track definitely helps," stated trainer Marty Wolfson," and the mile and a quarter will help her as well. Distance for this mare is really no problem and the further she goes the more effective she will be."

Owned by Team Valor, Miss Singhsix won Delaware Park's $150,000 Obeah Stakes by a neck on June 12. Fleet Indian won both the Obeah and Del 'Cap in 2006.

Miss Singhsix finished third to Life At Ten in the Sixty Sails Handicap after a third in the Rampart Stakes at Gulfstream in March and February's victory at Laurel Park of the Maryland Racing Media Stakes.

She has a career record of five wins in 19 starts with earnings of $317,138.

Here is the complete field for the Del 'Cap in post position order: Funny Moon, Alan Garcia, 7-2; Miss Singhsix, Jose Valdivia, Jr., 5-1; Milwaukee Appeal, Stewart Elliott, 2-1; Million Seller, Jeremy Rose, 15-1; Miss Match, Brian Hernandez, Jr., 12-1 and Life At Ten, John Velazquez, 8-5.

Five of horse racing's finest were honored Wednesday with their induction into the Delaware Park Wall of Fame.

The class of 2010 consists of two-time Del 'Cap winner Obeah, Hall of Fame trainer Frank Whiteley, Jr., Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero, Jr., Bohemia Stable of Mrs. Richard C. DuPont and the late Robert G. Dick of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission.

Hallnark Horseracing Betting News

<< Johnson resigns as Vandy football coach
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vanderbilt's athletic department has called a press conference for 2 p.m. (et) at which time head football coach Bobby Johnson is expected to announce his resignation. The Tennessean first reported the decisi

<< Nets name Billy King general manager
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets have named Billy King as their next general manager. King takes the reins from Rod Thorn, who is stepping down as team president and general manager after 10 years on the job

<< Braves get Gonzalez from Jays in five-player deal
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves acquired shortstop Alex Gonzalez from the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday in a five-player trade. The Braves sent shortstop Yunel Escobar and pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes to Toronto and also acqu

<< Safarova pulls out in Prague
Prague, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded heavy Czech crowd favorite Lucie Safarova pulled out of her scheduled second-round match Wednesday at the $220,000 Prague Open tennis event. Safarova was slated to meet Swe

<< Suns get Childress from Atlanta
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Suns have acquired guard Josh Childress from the Atlanta Hawks in a sign-and-trade deal for a future second- round draft pick. In addition to the draft pick, Atlanta will get a trade exception to us

"Birdman" has second surgery of offseason >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Nuggets announced forward-center Chris Andersen underwent surgery on Wednesday to repair a torn ligament in his left ring finger. A release from the team indicated Andersen broke the fin

Sportswriter headlines Meadowlands Pace >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sportswriter, winner of the North America Cup, will take on nine rivals in Saturday's $1 million Meadowlands Pace at The Meadowlands. The field of 10 three-year-old pacers will leave the startin

Johnson retires as Vandy football coach >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vanderbilt head football coach Bobby Johnson announced his abrupt retirement Wednesday after eight years guiding the program. A press conference was called for Wednesday afternoon at which time

Rockets ready to match Cavs offer sheet to Lowry >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets plan to match the offer sheet extended Wednesday to restricted free-agent guard Kyle Lowry. Houston general Manager Daryl Morey said on his Twitter account Wednesday afte

Melzer into Stuttgart QFs >>
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French Open semifinalist Jurgen Melzer was a second-round victor Wednesday at the Mercedes Cup tennis event. The second-seeded Melzer got past Germany's own Mischa Zverev, a wild card this week, 7-

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com