Betting Picks

They say to be the best, you must beat the best, and in the NBA playoffs, two proud past champions are teetering. In the West, the defending champion Golden State Warriors will start postseason play minus injured all-world guard Stephen Curry. In the East, the 2016 NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers haven't looked like themselves all season long. Are we about to see the crowning of new title holders?

The final major prep race for the 2018 Kentucky Derby goes Saturday from Oaklawn Park, with the running of the (G1) $1 million Arkansas Derby. As a Kentucky Derby qualifying race, nine are expected to go to the gate to chase the purse money and 100 qualifying points to the winner. They'll be racing 1 1/8 miles on the Oaklawn dirt track.

As one of the strangest records in all of sports, it has been 135 years since a horse that didn't race as a two year old has won the Kentucky Derby at age three. With his impressive win the (G1) Santa Anita Derby, Justify will be going to Churchill Downs with a solid chance of breaking that streak.

In recent years, the pursuit of the NBA title has proven to be a two-horse race between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. They've met in the last three NBA Finals, with Golden State winning in the odd years (2015, 2017) and Cleveland in the even year (2016). But there's a new stud in the race this year and the Houston Rockets might be the thoroughbred to beat.

While horse owners and racing analysts can devote a lot of attention to pedigree, for the average horse racing handicapper, knowing the dam's complete grandsire line back five generations is probably too much information. At the same time, to handicap the Kentucky Derby, finding horses with the pedigree to more-likely-than-not last the 1 1/4 miles distance needs to be a consideration.

It just wouldn't be the Stanley Cup playoffs without some intriguing storylines to make it more compelling, and this spring is no exception. The Nashville Predators look to win their first Cup, the Pittsburgh Penguins seek their third straight title, and the surprising Vegas Golden Knights look to be the inaugural first-year expansion team to win it all. And what should we make of the perennially-contending Washington Capitals?

In the 2017 Kentucky Derby, UAE Derby winner Thunder Snow came into the race with a fair amount of hype, and then broke from the gate and started to buck, never finishing the race. After several years of producing also-rans for the Derby, the route to Kentucky that goes through Meydan Race Track in Dubai has produced a solid contender for 2018 in Mendelsshon.

The last time the Pittsburgh Penguins came into the playoffs as two-time defending Stanley Cup champions was in the spring of 1993. They did so with an NHL-best 119 points during the regular season, and rode a league-record 17-game winning streak into the postseason. But the Penguins were eliminated in the second round by the New York Islanders. Which only goes to prove that the playoffs are anybody's game.

A small but high-profile field of seven will go to the gate at Santa Anita Park on Saturday for the running of the (G1) Santa Anita Derby. As a qualifying race for the 2018 Kentucky Derby, the field will be led by Bolt d'Oro, who has already clinched a spot in the Derby starting gate and who will be trying to confirm his standing as Derby favorite.