Hurley's Cashes Thursday At Saratoga!
R3: Healthy Debate/Essex Ferry WON $8.10 EX $52.00

Splits Out On Opening Night Football
South Carolina (-14) Southern Miss 41-13 WON
(Under 45) lost

IT-S A COLLEGE FOOTBALL OPENING WEEKEND BONANZA - AND WE-VE GOT OUR FIRST SATURDAY SIX-PACK OF THE YEAR PLUS A LOOK BACK AT THURSDAY NITE-S HIGHLIGHTS!

By Jim Hurley:

So, the 2010 College Football Season is here and the Opening-Nite newsmakers included a debut win for USC-s Lane Kiffin, a Heisman Trophy-like start for Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor and just another season-opening win for South Carolina boss-man Steve Spurrier.

Here-s the bullet points:

HANDICAPPING NOTEBOOK

WILDCATS THINK THEY'RE POISED
TO MAKE A RUN AT THE ROSE BOWL

by Mathew Hurley, Managing Editor

On some Fridays this year in the NOTEBOOK, we'll preview a huge early TV game on Saturday. Many Friday night games are kind of ho-hum. We're not going to waste space on a yawner when something like Texas-Oklahoma is set for a morning kickoff. We'll go in depth in our FRIDAY report so you have plenty of time to make a decision.

This week, the early Saturday slate isn't exactly a blockbuster...but a very interesting team is on the field Friday Night. We're going to devote today's efforts to all the talk around the Arizona Wildcats.

If you scan the internet, you'll find more than a few 'darkhorse' themed stories about Arizona 'finally' making it to the Rose Bowl. Everyone else in the league has made it at least once. Next year, Utah and Colorado are scheduled to join the conference...which will at least give the loneliness some company to love for awhile. Maybe Arizona will make that point moot. Could THIS be the year Arizona wins the Pac 10 and plays in Pasadena?

POINTS IN THEIR FAVOR

*Nic Foles is a solid quarterback, and this is a season where 'solid' puts you ahead of the game in the Pac 10. There are new ...

QUALITY ROAD LOOKS TOO GOOD FOR WOODWARD RIVALS

Todd Pletcher says the success or failure of Quality Road in Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodward Stakes won’t impact how he views the sensational summer he has enjoyed at Saratoga. Still, anything less than a victory by Quality Road in the $750,000 Woodward would have to be viewed not only as a tremendous upset but a major disappointment.

Beaten a head by Blame in the Whitney here four weeks ago, Quality Road will be heavily favored to get back to his winning ways in the Woodward when he meets six opponents, none the caliber of Blame, to whom Quality Road was spotting five pounds in the Whitney. Saturday, all horses carry 126 pounds as the Woodward, run at 1 1/8 miles, is a weight-for-age race.

Quality Road, winner of the Donn Handicap and Metropolitan Handicap earlier this year, looks so strong in the Woodward that New York Racing Association linemaker Eric Donovan made him the 1-4 morning-line favorite. Convocation, all out to win a second-level allowance race here on July 31, was installed as the 6-1 second choice.

The rest of the field includes 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, Arcodoro, Indian Dance, Tranquil Manner, and Mythical Power.

“Sometimes the ones you’re supposed to win are the hardest ones to win,” said Pletcher, who entered the final ...