California Derby attracts seven for Saturday

Horseracing Betting Lines

01/11/2012 - Berkeley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The first of two stakes races for three-year- olds at Golden Gate Fields this winter goes off on Saturday with the running of the $100,000 California Derby. The 1 1/16-mile race is a prep event for the track's $200,000 El Camino Real Derby on February 18.

The seven horse field is led by Russian Greek, winner of the track's Gold Rush Stakes. Russian Greek, trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, will start from post six with Aaron Gryder in the saddle.

Owned by Olympia Star Inc., Russian Greek opened his career with a win at San Rosa last July. In November the colt was fifth in the Golden Nugget at Golden Gate before rallying from last to win the Gold Rush by a neck over Marshal Marini. He has banked $61,700.

Breaking from post five will be Blacky the Bull, the third-place finisher in the Gold Rush. Trained by Jeff Bonde, the colt had been eighth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint behind Secret Circle. In five starts Blacky the Bull has a win and a third for $42,780. Kerwin John has the riding assignment aboard Blacky the Bull.

Also coming out of the Gold Rush is fourth-place finisher Cahill Chrome. The chestnut gelding will be ridden by Juan Hernandez from post four.

Cahill Chrome, trained by Roger Hansen, reeled off three straight wins before the Gold Rush. In nine career starts he has earned $56,182.

Here is the field for the California Derby in post position order: Senor Rain, Kevin Krigger; Hodge, Russell Baze; Unveiled Heat, Abel Cedillo; Cahill Chrome, Juan Hernandez; Blacky the Bull, Kerwin John; Russian Greek, Aaron Gryder and Reconstruction, Frank Alvarado.

Post-time on Saturday is scheduled for 7:22 p.m. (et).

Justsoccerchance Horseracing Betting News

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.