Already BetUS online racebook enthusiasts are looking forward to the supposed horse wagering matchup and online betting opportunity between Big Brown and Casino Drive at this years prestigious Belmont Stakes. Big Brown, the winner of both the 2008 Kentucky Derby and the 2008 Preakness Stakes, and arguably one of the best horses to attempt the Triple Crown, if not the best, since Spectacular Bid in 1980, is a verifiable monster.

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Big Brown’s past performances are breathtaking. He broke his maiden going 1 1/16th mile on the Saratoga turf course by 11 ½ lengths. He came off the shelf and won an allowance race by 12 ¾ lengths. He then absolutely dominated his peers in the Florida Derby by 5 ½ lengths. If you are a BetUS online sportsbook horse racing fan and haven’t seen what he did in this year’s Kentucky Derby and this year’s Preakness Stakes, then you’d better find those races on-line. Big Brown was terrific. He dominated from beginning to end and ran by his fellow 3-year olds like they were standing still.

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Why then does any online betting fan believe that Casino Drive has a chance against Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes?

Maybe online wagering fans shouldn’t. The truth about Casino Drive is that the Belmont Stakes, run at 1 ½ miles, will be only the third start of his life. That’s a tall order for any horse. He also will have Yutaka Take on his back. Take, perhaps the greatest Japanese jockey of all time, has never done well stateside. That’s another knock against the son of Mineshaft. Finally, Casino Drive just might not be as good as Big Brown - - no 3-year old in the world may be - - and there is a good chance that no matter what Take does on him, he won’t touch Richard Dutrow’s charge in the Belmont Stakes.

But there are reasons to like Casino Drive as well. In fact there’s a reason to believe that Casino Drive should beat Big Brown. Yes, I just wrote that. Not only should Casino Drive challenge Big Brown, but he should probably beat Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes. Now, I’m not ready to go out on a limb in all of my exotics wagers just yet, but there is a specific piece of information that tells me as an online betting racebook fan that Casino Drive might be in better position to win the Belmont Stakes then Big Brown.

 I’ll get to that in a moment. First, here are some of the other reasons that a lot of punters are all over Casino Drive in the 2008 Belmont Stakes.

Casino Drive is a half brother to Belmont Stakes Winners Jazil and Rags to Riches. The key with this angle is understanding that Jazil and Rags to Riches have the same mother as Casino Drive. A lot of turf breeders believe that a horse’s stamina comes from his or her mother’s side. Speed comes from his or her father’s side. The fact that Casino Drive comes out of Mineshaft (that’s his daddy) and the mare Better Than Honour says that he should have no trouble negotiating the 1 ½ miles distance of the Belmont Stakes if his two lifetime races have given him enough of a bottom.

Casino Drive ran faster in the Peter Pan Stakes then Big Brown did in the Preakness Stakes. It depends on the speed rating that you adhere to, but the ones I use tell me that Casino Drive ran much faster in the Peter Pan Stakes then Big Brown ran in the Preakness Stakes. Granted, Kent Desormeaux was pretty much galloping Big Brown before the horse crossed the finish line first in the Preakness Stakes, but I still believe that Casino Drive was more impressive in his Peter Pan win.

Casino Drive will be a fresher horse in the Belmont Stakes while Big Brown will be tired after having to run in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes in the span of four weeks. This one I will argue until the cows come home. No matter what you think of Big Brown there is no way for a horse not named Secretariat to not be tired after running two races in the span of four weeks then coming back a week later and running 1 ½ miles on the Belmont Park dirt strip. Big Brown is not Secretariat. He may not look tired and he may not act tired, but he’s tired.

Now I want to write about the key reason why I think Casino Drive should probably win the Belmont Stakes. It has to do with pace. While Big Brown’s pace ratings tell me that he is a traditional hang around the pace-setters then run then run them into the ground horse, Casino Drive is different. Big Brown attends to a fast pace, then he gets past the leaders, then he olds off the closers. More often then not Big Brown will run fast early and then slower late. This is the classic way that truly great horses win races. Think about Tiznow in your earlier years as an online racebook fan.

Casino Drive is different. What he did in the Peter Pan was remarkable not because he won by 5 ¾ lengths but because he did by getting faster as the race went on. That’s remarkable considering the fact that Casino Drive didn’t break all that well in the Peter Pan.

By the 1st call Casino Drive was only two lengths behind the front-runners in the Peter Pan. By the 2nd call, Casino Drive was still only 2 lengths behind the frontrunners. By the top of the stretch Casino Drive was a full 2 ½ lengths in front of everybody else. He increased his advantage in the lane.

The key is to understand that Casino Drive ran the last 16th of a mile in the Peter Pan in 12 seconds. That’s what superior turf horses do. He did this while, like Big Brown, attending a very fast pace. The six furlongs in the Peter Pan was run in 1:10 and change. That’s fast sprinter’s speed at Belmont.

When you put it altogether, Casino Drive might be the better horse just based on pace ratings than Big Brown.

That means that Casino Drive might be the horse to beat in the Belmont Stakes and not Big Brown.

Article Courtesy of D.S. Williamson, A Professional Horse Handicappers at Betus Racebook