Casual Trick offers encouraging runner-up effort

Horseracing Betting Lines

01/02/2012 - Hallandale Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunday's $100,000 Gulfstream Park Derby put new names on the Kentucky Derby futures list for this year. The 1 1/16-mile race was the first stakes event of the year for Run for the Roses hopefuls.

Reveron won the race under jockey Fernando Jara after pressing the pace set by Nachas and Joy. Finishing second was Casual Trick who raced third most of the way for trainer Nick Zito.

"He ran very hard but he was fighting me a little bit to pass that horse in the stretch. The winner was more experienced than mine and my horse was still a little green today. He just broke his maiden and was going two turns for the first time," said jockey John Velazquez of Casual Trick's runner-up finish. "I think he's still learning. He actually handled the two turns really well. If he continues to mature and get better, I think he's going to be very good."

The inaugural Gulfstream Park Derby was Casual Trick's third career start. He was fifth at Saratoga back in August and came back two months later to win at Churchill Downs.

"The Gulfstream Park Derby is a two turn race, a mile and a sixteenth. I thought right off the bat to see how good he is. I think he's really, really good," Zito said prior to the running of the race. "Hopefully, his pedigree jumps up. I know it's quick. I'm asking him to do something unusual, but sometimes we do that. These are the horses that take us to the promised land, not us. Hopefully, he can do it."

Casual Trick, a son of 2006 Preakness champ Bernardini, is owned by Robert LaPenta who also owns 2011 Florida Derby winner Dialed In. The four-year-old is back in training at Palm Meadows under the guidance of Zito.

Dialed In, who underwent knee surgery last year, worked three-furlongs Monday morning. The colt was timed in 35 seconds as he prepares for this year's racing season.

Dialed In won the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park last winter along with the Florida Derby. Sent off as the 5-1 favorite in the Kentucky Derby, the colt finished eighth after running last in the 19-horse field. He followed with a fourth-place finish in the Preakness.

Wwlottoballs Horseracing Betting News

<< Cousins needs to start acting like a pro
Philadelphia, Pa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You can make a strong argument that DeMarcus Cousins was the most physically gifted player in the 2010 NBA Draft. After all, a 6-foot-11, 270-pound man with skill can turn heads quickly in a game bastardiz

<< Some bold predictions for 2012
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The turn of the calendar brings so much promise. New Year's resolutions are made and two weeks later, gyms will be back to normal attendance rates. Cigarette sales will return to averages and people will

<< This Week in Golf -- January 5th through January 9th
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - HYUNDAI TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS, Plantation Course at Kapalua, Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii - The breaks take less and less time, don't they? Seemed like yesterday the PGA Tour ended for the

<< Celtic continues to cruise with win over Dunfermline
Dunfermline, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic continued its exceptional form in the Scottish Premier League with a comfortable 3-0 win over last-place Dunfermline at East End Park on Monday. The Bhoys have now won 10 successive games

<< Blackhawks sign first-round picks McNeill, Danault
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks signed forwards and 2011 first-round draft picks Mark McNeill and Phillip Danault to three-year contracts. The 18-year-old McNeill was selected by the Blackhawks with the 18th o

Troicki, Bogomolov Jr. open with wins in Doha >>
Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth seed Viktor Troicki and sixth seed Alex Bogomolov Jr. were among Monday's winners at the season-opening $1.024 million Qatar Open. The Serbian Troicki got past Czech Lukas Rosol 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), while the

In the FCS Huddle: Breaking down Sam Houston State >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Head football coaches in the Southland Conference are not allowed to pick their own team in the preseason poll, so this past summer the coach of the defending champion relied on what he noticed late last seas

Syracuse strengthens hold on No. 1 ranking >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Syracuse strengthened its hold on the top spot in the latest Associated Press men's college basketball poll. The Orange (15-0) earned 60 first-place votes -- six more than last week -- and a total of 1,61

Lady Bears continue stranglehold of top poll spot >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baylor again remained a unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press women's college basketball poll. The Lady Bears received all 39 first-place votes for a total of 975 points from a nat

Ohio State stays perfect with win over Iowa >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Samantha Prahalis had 30 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals, as the eighth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit to beat the Iowa Hawkeyes, 84-71.

MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.