Ching's hat trick helps Dynamo snap 10-game skid
Soccer Betting Lines
08/21/2010 -
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Ching scored a hat trick and the Houston Dynamo edged the Chicago Fire in a seven-goal thriller Saturday night, 4-3, at
Robertson Stadium to snap a 10-game winless skid in Major League Soccer.
Ching scored once in the first half and added two more in the second half, one
on a bicycle kick, as the teams combined for six second-half goals.
Houston (6-10-5) won for the first time since May 22 when it beat D.C. United.
The Dynamo had six losses and four draws during their winless streak. Lovell
Palmer also scored, and Richard Mulrooney played a part in all four goals.
Calen Carr and Wilman Conde scored for Chicago (6-6-6), which also got an own
goal from Bobby Bowell. Freddie Ljungberg had both assists for Chicago.
Houston opened the scoring in the 31st minute when Chicago goalie Sean Johnson
dropped a corner kick from Mulrooney and Ching fired into an empty net for his
fourth goal of the year.
Palmer doubled Houston's lead five minutes into the second half off an assist
from Mulrooney. Palmer took the pass and slotted to the bottom right for his
second goal of the season.
Chicago responded in the 55th when Ljungberg set up Carr, who scored the game-
winner Wednesday night in a 2-1 win over New England, and he slipped the ball
past Houston goalie Pat Onstad.
Ching pushed Houston's edge back to two goals just a few minutes later, as he
found a loose ball off another Mulrooney corner and used a bicycle kick at the
edge of the six-yard box to beat Johnson in the 59th.
Chicago cut the deficit in half in the 70th when Boswell and Chicago's Patrick
Nyarko were battling for a ball at the edge of the area and it bounced off the
Dynamo defender and rolled inside the right post.
Wilman Conde added his first goal of the season in the 81st off an assist from
Ljungberg, as the Fire erased the two-goal deficit.
Ching made sure Houston's winless run wouldn't continue, as he got on the end
of another corner from Mulrooney and headed inside the right post from about
six yards out for his sixth of the season.
Houston hosts the Colorado Rapids in its next game Aug. 28, when Chicago hopes
to rebound at Ljungberg's former team, Seattle Sounders FC.
<< Miyazato still in front at Safeway Classic
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Miyazato, the first-round leader of this 54-hole event, finished two round
<< Three-for-three: Kyle Busch sweeps Bristol week
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Busch, who won
<< Shea helps Dallas slip past Chivas
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brek Shea's goal in the 71st minute helped FC
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Shea scored his fifth goal of the season from a
<< Marlins P Nolasco to miss start with knee injury
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida Marlins right-hander Ricky Nolasco will
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<< Mets sink Pirates in rain-shortened affair
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Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rudy Carpenter completed 8-of-11 passes for 79
yards and the game-winning touchdown to lead Tampa Bay to a 20-15 come-from-
behind win over Kansas City at Raymond James Stadium.
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Kansas City, KS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Birahim Diop scored two goals and assisted
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Diop scored twice in
Lowrie homer leads Red Sox past Jays in 11 >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jed Lowrie led off the bottom of the 11th inning
with the game-winning homer, as Boston outlasted Toronto, 5-4, in the middle
test of a three-game set from Fenway Park.
Lowrie crushed a Casey Janssen (4-2) off
Enright and Upton carry DBacks past Rockies >>
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barry Enright pitched into the seventh inning
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ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning, as Arizona topped Colorado, 3-1, at
Chase F
Daniel leads Saints over Texans >>
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chase Daniel completed 15-of-21 passes for
182 yards and three touchdowns, leading the New Orleans Saints to a 38-20
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The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.
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