San Diego Handicap attracts 10 starters

Horseracing Betting Lines

07/16/2008 - Del Mar, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Well Armed, third in the Dubai World Cup, heads a field of 10 older thoroughbreds for Saturdays $300,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar. The 1 1/16 mile race gives the winner an automatic pass into the 2008 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile as part of the "Win and You're In" program.

The San Diego also serves as the local prep for the $1 million Pacific Classic on Sunday, August 24. Not entered in the San Diego is 2007 Pacific Classic winner Student Council who is training at Saratoga. The six-year-old, however, is expected to be at Del Mar on August 24.

"Our goal is to win back-to-back runnings of the Pacific Classic," said owner Millennium Farms' Ro Parra. "Tinners Way and Skimming did it, and the way Student Council is training, we plan to give it a try, too. If conditions are right, we may run him first in the Whitney (July 26 at Saratoga), with the end of season goal being the Breeders' Cup Classic at Oak Tree."

Well Armed, trained by Eoin Harty for WinStar Farms, will be making his first start since his third-place result behind Curlin in Dubai. Earlier this year the five-year-old gelding defeated Heatseeker in the San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita and was second in the San Pasqual behind Zappa and ahead of Heatseeker.

Aaron Gryder will again be in the saddle and the pair will start from post six. Well Armed has career earnings of $850,803 with four wins in 16 career starts.

Highly regarded Surf Cat returns to Del Mar after 11 months. Second in the Pat O'Brien Handicap in his lone local start of 2007, Surf Cat is coming off a third-place finish in the Californian behind Heatseeker and Tiago. In April he notched his second straight in Hollywood Parks Mervyn LeRoy Handicap,

The six-year-old is trained by Bruce Headley and will be ridden by David Flores from post two. Surf Cat has won nine of 19 lifetime starts for $955,420.

Two years ago Magnum went off as a solid 9-2 pick in the Pacific Classic before finishing seventh to Lava Man. After missing all of 2007, the seven- year-old has posted three consecutive fourth-place results this year.

Owned by Herrick Racing and trained by Darrell Vienna, Magnum has drawn post four with Martin Pedroza riding.

In 2006 Magnum was second in the Santa Anita and Oaklawn Handicaps and won the Lone Star Park Handicap. He has career earnings of $681,249 with five wins in 23 starts.

Here is the complete field for the 67th edition of the San Diego Handicap: Mostocolli Mort, Tyler Baze; Surf Cat, David Flores; Rebellion, Rafael Bejarano; Magnum, Martin Pedroza; Racketeer, Corey Nakatani; Well Armed, Aaron Gryder; Global Hunter, Mike Smith; Tall Texan, Victor Espinoza; You Got Me Rocking, Joel Rosario and Mr. Napper Tandy, Joe Talamo.

The San Diego will be shown on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. (et).

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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