Big step up for three-year-old filly

Horseracing Betting Lines

09/01/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In an effort to solidify her position as 2009 Horse of the Year, owner Jess Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen will enter three-year-old filly Rachel Alexandra in Saturday's $750,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

"Hal McCormick (co-owner), my family and I, like other fans of horse racing, want to see her tested," said Jackson in announcing that 'Rachel' would run in the Woodward. "If she goes up against older male horses, we'll be better able to get a measure of her greatness."

The filly's connections are taking this rare and exciting route because 'Rachel' will not run in the Breeders' Cup World Championships in November on the synthetic track at Santa Anita Park. Jess Jackson doesn't like the all- weather surfaces, especially after Curlin failed at Santa Anita in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic.

In the current NTRA Thoroughbred Poll, 'Rachel' remains in first-place over champion mare Zenyatta by 24 points, 208-184. The filly has 19 first-place votes to the mare's two. While various parties are working to bring the two together in a race, so far nothing has materialized.

The move to have 'Rachel' compete against older male horses is not unprecedented. In 1972 Summer Guest became the only three-year-old filly to compete in the Woodward, which was run for the first time in 1954. Summer Guest, ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr., finished second to entrymate Key to the Mint. However, she was disqualified and placed third. That was when the Woodward was contested at Belmont Park over 1 1/2 miles.

"It's great to have an opportunity to run her on the stage that is Saratoga, one I think she is deserving of," said Asmussen. "To run her in a race that Curlin was fortunate enough to win last year, we realize what a tall order it is for her. Most likely Saturday, it will take a career effort for her.

"I think she knows she's a star. I think she accepts the pressure that's put on her, and she thrives on it."

Unfortunately, the field the filly will face is not a star filled one. There are some good handicap horses, Whitney Handicap winner Bullsbay, Stephen Foster champ Macho Again and Asiatic Boy who has career earnings of more than $3 million.

In some ways there's nowhere else to go with Rachel Alexandra. She devastated the field by a record 20 1/4-lengths in the Kentucky Oaks, then became the first filly in 85 years to win the Preakness. She won by 19 1/4-lengths in the Mother Goose Stakes and posted a six-length victory in the $1.25 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

'Rachel' is working on an eight race winning streak, including all seven starts this year. Lifetime she has won 10 of 13 races for nearly $2.5 million.

More interesting, or puzzling, is the fact that this will be the second straight race for 'Rachel' that will not be televised on a major network. The Haskell was not picked up anywhere, other than the racing channels. If the filly has become such a popular figure, then where is the television coverage of her races?

Someone is definitely dropping the ball when it comes to broadcasting these historic thoroughbred races.

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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.

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