SPORTS N STUFF

This sport is all about keeping and even keel because for every victory there is the agony of defeat around the corner but even the most hard-core online sports players have to think about the range of emotions for trainer Graham Motion last weekend on both sports betting coasts.

First, lets take a look at the bad news for the Motion camp and it came in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate when his student Lucky Chappy was anything but lucky losing a nose decision to Daddy Nose Best when tons best of the rest.

Chappy raced 5 wide, engaged the winner at the top of the lane, and just could not hold him off. It was the smallest sports betting victory margin in this race in 31 runnings of the race. Chappy was ridden by New York based rider Alan Garcia and this is what he had to say about the effort, Garcia: “When you come this far to win a race and get beat like that….heartbreaking. He broke a little slow out of there and it took him a little while to get going. He finished well. Im looking forward to the next one. Its going to be good.”

More on Chappys next one later.

As for the good news, it came in the form of last years Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom.

The runner returned and defeated five horses in a 1 1/16-mile contest at Gulfstream.

After breaking slowly and trailing for a half-mile, the budding star moved into contention down the backstretch, was kept outside of the two leaders as they moved around the turn, then took the lead approaching the top of the stretch under John Velazquez.

The rider had this to say, Velazquez:“They went slow enough where he just pulled me into contention all on his own. I let him do what he wanted as opposed to wrangling him back behind horses. The second I started kissing at him in the stretch he picked it right up and took off. It was a great feeling today and great to have him back. He felt as good as ever.

Animal Kingdom came out of the Belmont Stakes with a fractured hock, an injury that required surgery. He had been working steadily for trainer Graham Motion at Palm Meadows in South Florida for his betting sites return.

Motion has a method to his madness, Motion: “Obviously, I would have been disappointed if he hadnt won today, when you have a race thats set up for you. But this was the best thing for us. He still had to go out there and win it. He needed a race and still has six weeks to regroup to get him to Dubai in the right way. This horse has come a long way since October. Nothing was more heartbreaking than to see this horse stuck in a stall a week after the Belmont. He went from being the fittest horse in the country to not being able to get out of his stall. That was tough. To see him today, back to himself, obviously Im elated.

The chestnut colt was using the race as a prep for the $10 million Dubai World Cup next month and dont be shocked if Lucky Chappy is on the same plane to Dubai aiming for the UAE Derby.