Rachel Alexandra in good shape after Personal Ensign loss

Horseracing Betting Lines

08/30/2010 - Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra came out of Sunday's upset loss in the Personal Ensign Stakes in good condition and will return to training on Wednesday.

Trainer Steve Asmussen said that he and majority owner Jess Jackson will talk about the filly's future following her gallop on Wednesday morning.

"How she comes back to the track is our focus now," said Asmussen. "You don't want to lose, you're not planning on losing, but you can remember what she's won and what she's done for us. My feelings for her today are the same as my feelings for her the day after the Woodward or Preakness.

"I think there's a great amount of pride in her and belief in herself. She has a tremendous amount of strength in her, and it's been called upon before and it will be called upon again."

The Personal Ensign was Rachel's first career start at 1 1/4-miles. She set the pace with Delaware Handicap champ Life At Ten right behind. The other three females were more than 10-lengths behind on the backstretch.

Sent off as the 2-5 favorite, Rachel put away Life At Ten on the final turn and had a clear lead at the top of the stretch. Persistently, 21-1 at post- time, came charging down the stretch to catch the favorite near the finish and win by a length.

Trainer Shug McGaughey said Monday that Persistently also came out of the race in good condition.

"She's doing well, I'm tired, but she seemed to come back fine," said the Hall of Fame trainer who also conditioned Personal Ensign. "A lot of times it doesn't hit them until a couple of days later, but she cooled out great. We've retooled (her schedule) to point for the Beldame ($350,000 1 1/8-miles at Belmont Park on Saturday, October 2); that's our next stop."

Life At Ten, the 9-5 second pick to Rachel, is also fine and could be entered in the Beldame versus Persistently.

"She was tired, no doubt about it," said trainer Todd Pletcher. "In that situation, if you're going to try to win, and no one else has any speed - if our objective was to be Grade 1-placed or to secure second, we would have approached it maybe a little differently. We wanted to try to win, and ultimately got tired doing that.

"I don't think we'll need to run her at 1 1/4-miles again."

Pletcher indicated that Life At Ten will be pointed toward the 1 1/8-mile Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic at Churchill Downs on November 5.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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