Eagle Poise captures Valedictory Stakes

Horseracing Betting Lines

12/04/2011 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eagle Poise, ridden by Patrick Husbands, edged past Harrods Creek right before the wire to win Sunday's $150,000 Valedictory Stakes on closing day at Woodbine Race Course. The five-year-old gelding covered the 1 3/4-miles in 2:57.62 on the synthetic surface.

Breeders' Cup Marathon winner Afleet Again and last year's Valedictory runner- up Eye of the Leopard went off as the 2-1 co-favorites in the six-horse field. Eagle Poise, second in the 2009 Valedictory, was 3-1 and Bill Mott's Harrods Creek was 7-2.

Longshot Getta Rhythm set the pace followed by Harrods Creek, Eye of the Leopard, Alpha Bettor, Eagle Poise and Afleet Again. With a mile to run Getta Rhythm, 36-1 on the board, still had the lead with Harrods Creek running second followed by Eye of the Leopard, Eagle Poise, 11-1 longshot Alpha Bettor and Afleet Again. The BC Marathon champ, ridden by Cornelio Velasquez, began to get going with six-furlongs to go.

Midway up the backstretch the top two runners had separated themselves from the rest of the field as Afleet Again continued to advance. On the final turn Harrods Creek, with Chantal Sutherland riding, moved to the lead with Eagle Poise going past Eye of the Leopard into second and Afleet Again moving into fourth.

Down the stretch Eagle Poise and Harrods Creek hooked up for the drive. The two battled through the stretch until Eagle Poise was able get his head on the wire ahead of Harrods Creek.

Eye of the Leopard, 2009 Queen's Plate winner, finished third followed by Afleet Again, Alpha Bettor and Getta Rhythm

Owned by Riverdee Stable, Eagle Poise is trained by Graham Motion conditioner of this year's Kentucky Derby champ Animal Kingdom. Eagle Poise notched his sixth victory, worth $90,000, in 20 career starts for total earnings of $423,604.

The gelding was coming off a win over Eye of the Leopard at Woodbine on November 11 in an allowance race.

"I was very happy with the effort and the result," said Motion about the neck win three weeks ago. "I was impressed. Patrick (jockey Husbands) showed great confidence in the way he rode him. He probably knows him a little better than I do."

Motion, based at Fair Hill, MD, assumed the training of Eagle Poise over the summer.

Eagle Poise returned $8.80, $4.80 and $3.20. Harrods Creek paid $4.70 and $3.30, and Eye Of The Leopard paid $2.50 to show.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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