A Little Warm comes up hot in Delaware

Horseracing Betting Lines

06/29/2010 - Stanton, DE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three months after finishing second in the Louisiana Derby, A Little Warm got back into action Tuesday afternoon at Delaware Park. The three-year-old colt returned to racing in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race as the 3-2 morning-line favorite.

Ridden by John Velazquez, A Little Warm ran second behind Miner's Reserve on Delaware's main track. Miner's Reserve, trained by Nick Zito and ridden by Jeremy Rose, took the four horse field up the backstretch and around the final turn.

Sent off as the 3-5 favorite, A Little Warm finally drew even with the 6-5 second choice at the top of the stretch. The favorite notched his second win of the year and the third of his career with a 2 1/4-length victory over Miner's Reserve. A Little Warm stopped the timer at 1:43.60.

There was no show wagering due to the small field. A Little Warm returned $3.20 and $2.10, Miner's Reserve paid $2.60.

"We did not feel our horse was 100 percent going into the race today," said trainer Tony Dutrow, "and for him to give us a performance like that and to fight as hard he did to beat a really nice horse, I think we have to be really happy and looking forward to his future."

Owned by Edward Evans, A Little Warm was originally considered for the Preakness Stakes on May 15. However, he was withdrawn from consideration about a week before the Triple Crown race following an unsatisfactory endoscopic examination.

A Little Warm began 2010 by winning the $100,000 Spectacular Bid Stakes on January 9 at Gulfstream Park. He then came up second to D'Funnybone in the $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes at the South Florida track.

Tuesday's win put A Little Warm's career earnings at $308,880 in eight starts.

Dutrow has the colt nominated to the Barbaro Stakes for three-year-olds at Delaware Park on July 10. However, it appears A Little Warm will rejoin the top echelon of three-year-olds this summer.

"I think right now, Mr. Evans is looking at the Jim Dandy (July 31) at Saratoga for his next start," noted Dutrow.

The Jim Dandy is the traditional prep race for the Travers at Saratoga at the end of August. One day after the Jim Dandy is the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

In 2009, Rachel Alexandra won the Haskell with Summer Bird in second. Summer Bird came back to win the Travers and eventually be voted the year's champion three-year-old colt.

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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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