Rachel Alexandra debuts in New Orleans Ladies

Horseracing Betting Lines

03/08/2010 - New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rachel Alexandra, 2009 Horse of the Year, is set make her 2010 debut this Saturday at the Fair Grounds in the $200,000 New Orleans Ladies. The 1 1/16-mile test has attracted four females to take on the four-year-old filly.

Owned by Jess Jackson and Hal McCormick, Rachel Alexandra has drawn post two with Calvin Borel once again in the saddle. The filly is trained by Eclipse Award winning trainer Steve Asmussen.

"It was just an easy half," Asmussen said about Monday's final workout before Saturday. "It's hard to compare her to anybody else so we just gave her an easy half and let him get along with her and it looked like she went beautiful. She's a beautiful mover. That's how she runs and that's what makes her special. She went over the racetrack very well, it was in great shape this morning. That's all we could hope for. She got the breeze in, did very well, looked good."

Rachel went undefeated in 2009 in eight starts with earnings of better than $2.7 million. Following wins in the Martha Washington, Fair Grounds Oaks and Fantasy Stakes, she won the Kentucky Oaks by more than 20-lengths.

The filly then went on to victories in the Preakness, Mother Goose, Haskell Invitational and Woodward.

Rachel Alexandra will follow her start Saturday with an ultimate showdown versus Zenyatta. The two female thoroughbreds are to finally meet at Oaklawn Park in the $5 million Apple Blossom Invitational on Friday, April 9.

Zenyatta is based at Hollywood Park where she has been working out. Owned by Jerry and Ann Moss, Zenyatta will start in the $250,000 Santa Margarita Invitational on Saturday.

Zenyatta's trainer John Shirreffs will bring Bayakoa Handicap winner Zardana to the Fair Grounds for the race from California. The six-year-old mare will be ridden by David Flores from post three.

Zardana is the winner of seven of 18 lifetime starts for owner Arnold Zetcher. For her career she has earnings of $308,421 and is coming off a fourth-place finish to St Trinians in the Santa Maria Handicap.

Here is the complete field for the New Orleans Ladies in post position order: Fighter Wing, Corey Lanerie, 117; Rachel Alexandra, Calvin Borel, 123; Zardana, David Flores, 121; Unforgotten, Miguel Mena, 117 and Clear Sailing, Shane Sellers, 117.

The New Orleans Ladies has an approximate post-time of 6:15 p.m. (et).

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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%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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