1.   Personally, I was excited at the prospect of participating in a real blood-and-guts battle against a prohibitive odds-on favorite.

2.   As was the case five years ago, Michigan comes into this game as the prohibitive favorite.

3.   Because upsets of prohibitive favorites have become commonplace on its grass in recent years, it has been dubbed the Graveyard of Champions.

4.   After all the fund raising and months of polls that showed him as a prohibitive favorite, the McCain win dented the inevitability of a Bush nomination.

5.   Afternoon Deelites was sent off the prohibitive favorite because of a series of races that drew raves from both rival trainers and speed-figure handicappers.

6.   But by all accounts, Kwan is being billed as the prohibitive favorite in this blockbuster Olympic event.

7.   Dole had entered the races in both of the Dakotas as the prohibitive favorite because of strong support among farmers and agricultural interests.

8.   Dole, the former presidential candidate is the prohibitive favorite in the Republican primary for the North Carolina Senate seat being vacated by Jesse Helms.

9.   Duke is a prohibitive favorite.

10.   Edging to the front in the final strides after a stretchlong battle, Aldiza beat the prohibitive favorite by a nose for her first Grade I victory.