Sharks load up for playoffs

Hockey Betting Lines

02/28/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Doug Wilson must quickly be moving up Joe Thornton's Christmas card list.

Not only did San Jose's executive vice president and general manager rescue Thornton from hockey purgatory last season, also known as Boston, but Wilson has picked up some nice pieces for Thornton this campaign as well.

The Sharks came out big winners in Tuesday's trade deadline when they acquired forward Bill Guerin from the St. Louis Blues for forwards Ville Nieminen and Jay Barriball and a 2007 first-round pick that they received from New Jersey.

That deal came just two days after acquiring veteran defenseman Craig Rivet from Montreal for defenseman Josh Gorges and the Sharks' first-round pick in the 2007 Draft.

"I'm thrilled, I am really excited about it," Guerin said about the trade. "This is one of those teams that was on my radar. I am very happy to be going there."

Guerin had 28 goals and 19 assists for 47 points in 61 games with the Blues this season. It was his first season in St. Louis as the former first-round pick has also skated with New Jersey, Edmonton, Boson and Dallas.

In 1,010 career games, Guerin has 356 goals and 354 assists for 710 points.

The addition of Guerin now gives the Sharks a potentially powerful line combination of Guerin, Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo. That would also allow San Jose to drop promising rookie Ryane Clowe onto a line with leading scorer Patrick Marleau should it choose to do so.

San Jose did trade away a pair of first-round picks to pull off the two deals, but with young talents like Clowe, forward Joe Pavelski and defenseman Matt Carle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic already cracking the roster, the Sharks were able to mortgage a little bit of the future.

The Sharks also moved a pair of players before the deadline, sending goaltender Nolan Schaefer to Pittsburgh for a seventh-round pick in the 2007 draft and forward Scott Parker to Colorado for a sixth-round selection in 2008.

Both players were easily expendable. Schaefer is 27 and is stuck behind Evgeni Nabokov and Vesa Toskala on the depth chart while Parker, who was originally selected by the Avs in the first round of the 1998 draft, played in just 11 games this season. Parker has been on injured reserve three times this season because of ankle problems.

Hopefully, Guerin and Rivet will provide a spark to a Shark club that has lost five of its last seven games. That recent losing stretch has dropped San Jose two points behind second-place Dallas and seven points behind Anaheim for the lead in the Pacific Division.

The Sharks will get a chance to make up ground on their own terms however. The club hosts Nashville on Wednesday and then faces consecutive road games against the Ducks and Stars.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

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.