Japan catches Dominguez' fancy

Horseracing Betting Lines

12/09/2011 - Ozone Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It wasn't his first time in the Land of the Rising Sun and it probably won't be the last time jockey Ramon Dominguez makes the trek across the Pacific. Dominguez and fellow rider John Velazquez are both back in America after participating in the World Super Jockeys Series last Saturday and Sunday at Hanshin Racecourse in Japan.

"I had a great time. Unfortunately, my horses didn't perform that well, but I'm always impressed with the way races are run (in Japan)," said Dominguez. "Everything is very meticulously done. I'm impressed with the whole culture. It's very clean on the streets. It's different in so many ways. You leave very impressed with how everything is so well laid out."

Dominguez, whose mounts in the World Super Jockeys Series races finished ninth, seventh, ninth, and fourth, ended in eighth-place in the 15 jockey competition. Velazquez finished fourth behind winning rider John Murtagh.

"For me, it was a totally different experience," noted Dominguez. "For one thing, they run (clockwise at Hanshin Racecourse). The horses don't have ponies or anybody to handle them in the starting gate. It's a very long post parade. You go through a gazebo or a type of run-in shed. You walk for a good five minutes or more before you go in the starting gate. (Velazquez) was very pleased, too. He liked it. It wasn't his first trip either, but it just was a very good experience."

Dominguez, last year's Eclipse Award winning jockey, had previously ridden Better Talk Now to a 12th-place finish in the Japan Cup. He apparently acquired a taste for Japanese food during that first trip.

"(The Japan Racing Association) had a big spread for us a couple of nights before the races," said Dominguez. "You can try something authentic that (natives) love, but it may not be appealing to you. It's just a different taste, but I'm always game to try different things. I really liked that. They had a ceviche-type dish. It's usually from Peru, but they had their own version and it was very, very good."

This year the veteran reinsman has won 327 times in 1,348 mounts for a leading $19,443,008. He rode Hansen to victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last month and is the regular jockey for leading female Havre de Grace.

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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.