Rachel Alexandra garners first win of 2010

Horseracing Betting Lines

06/12/2010 - Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra notched her first victory of the year Saturday in the $200,000 Fleur de Lis Handicap at Churchill Downs. The four-year-old filly snapped a two race streak of finishing second.

With regular rider Calvin Borel in the saddle, Rachel broke first from the gate in the 1 1/8-mile race. She was quickly joined on the lead by 5-1 second choice Jessica Is Back.

Garrett Gomez guided Jessica Is Back to the lead around the clubhouse turn with the 1-10 favorite to her outside in second. Racing in third was Distinctive Dixie followed by Made for Magic and Multipass in the five horse field.

Jessica Is Back continued on the lead up the backstretch with Rachel right next to her. The favorite edged to the lead around far turn as Distinctive Dixie ranged up from the outside.

On the final turn Rachel had taken over the lead as Distinctive Dixie and jockey Robby Albarado moved into second on the outside.

Unlike her first two starts of the year, Rachel had a lot left in the tank and Borel was not afraid to push her. She took complete control of the race at the top of the stretch and powered away from the field.

Reminiscent of 2009, Rachel ran away from her competition to post a 10 1/2- length win over Distinctive Dixie followed by Jessica Is Back, Multipass and Made for Magic.

Rachel covered the 1 1/8-miles in 1:48.78 on a fast track.

Owned by Stonestreet Stables and Harold McCormick, the victory was worth $120,000 giving the filly $245,696 for the year. Rachel has now won 12 of 17 career starts for $3,194,050.

Trained by Steve Asmussen, Rachel came up short in her initial two starts this year. She was second to Zardana at the Fair Grounds in the New Orleans Ladies Classic and runner-up to Unrivaled Belle at Churchill Downs in the La Troienne.

Zardana is entered in Sunday's Vanity Handicap versus Zenyatta at Hollywood Park and Unrivaled Belle was second in Saturday's Ogden Phipps to Life At Ten at Belmont Park.

There was no show wagering in the Fleur de Lis. Rachel Alexandra paid $2.20 and $2.10, and Distinctive Dixie paid $5.60.

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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.