Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
06/05/2010 - Elmont, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Longshot Drosselmeyer, ridden by Mike Smith, drove down the middle the track to win Saturday's 142nd running of the $1 million Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park. The victory is the first in the race for both the jockey and trainer Bill Mott.
Drosselmeyer is owned by WinStar Farm which also owns Kentucky Derby champ Super Saver. Neither Super Saver nor Preakness champ Lookin At Lucky ran in the race, the first time since 2006 that the Belmont was without both winners of the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
Drosselmeyer and Smith were never far off the pace that was set by Preakness runner-up First Dude and Interactif. Racing right behind the top two were Uptowncharlybrown and Game On Dude. Running in the back of the 12 horse field was Kentucky Derby runner-up and 9-5 Belmont favorite Ice Box.
The top five runners, with Drosselmeyer fifth, entered the far turn in the 1 1/2-mile race with no change in positions. Jockey Jose Lezcano got Ice Box to begin moving toward the leaders with about three-furlongs to run.
At the top of the stretch three horses, First Dude, Game On Dude and Drosselmeyer, had moved as one to the front. Drosselmeyer was on the outside with First Dude inside of him and Game On Dude beginning to tire. Fly Down passed Game On Dude and got to within a length of the first two horses.
With less than a 100 yards to go Drosselmeyer took the lead and was able to hold off Fly Down by three-quarters of a length. Finishing third was First Dude with Game On Dude holding on to fourth.
Completing the order of finish was Uptowncharlybrown, Stay Put, Interactif, Stately Victor, Ice Box, Make Music for Me, Dave in Dixie and Spangled Star.
The time for the Test of Champions was 2:31.57 on a fast track.
"Great training and a great ride," said Doug Cauthen of WinStar Farm. "Mike put a great ride on him. He gave him a beautiful, clear ride."
Drosselmeyer was ridden for the first by Smith after having Kent Desormeaux in the saddle for seven of the first eight starts. Smith has now won all three Triple Crown events. He won the 2005 Kentucky Derby on Giacomo and the 1993 Preakness aboard Prairie Bayou.
The chestnut colt comes away with $600,000 for the victory, just his third in nine career starts. His lifetime earnings now stand at $801,170.
Earlier this year Drosselmeyer was fourth in the Risen Star Stakes as the 2-1 favorite, came back to be third in the Louisiana Derby and was second in the Dwyer as the 7-10 favorite. Fly Down won the Dwyer by six-lengths.
Drosselmeyer, sent off at 13-1, returned $28.00, $11.60 and $7.70. Fly Down paid $6.80 and $5.10, and First Dude paid $4.90 to show.
<< Bills sign LB Torbor
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Bills signed free agent linebacker
Reggie Torbor to an undisclosed contract on Saturday.
Torbor, 29, appeared in all 16 games for the Dolphins last season -- his
second with the club --
<< Niese returns and pitches Mets over Marlins
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Niese returned from the disabled list to
toss seven strong innings while Ike Davis went 4-for-4 with an RBI and three
runs scored as the New York Mets downed the Florida Marlins, 6-1, in the
second
<< Drosselmeyer storms back to capture Belmont Stakes
Elmont, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drosselmeyer passed several horses down the
stretch to win the 142nd running of the Belmont Stakes in a close finish.
Ridden by Mike Smith, who was replacing last year's Belmont-winning jockey
Kent Desormeaux, D
<< Struggling Kansas City earns draw at Toronto FC
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jimmy Nielsen made three saves for his fourth
shutout of the year and the Kansas City Wizards earned their first road result
of the season with a 0-0 draw Saturday at BMO Field against Toronto FC.
Kansas City
Angels roll on with rout of Mariners >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ervin Santana allowed one run in six solid
innings and Torii Hunter continued his torrid stretch with three hits and
three RBI, as the Angels remained hot with an 11-2 rout of the Seattle
Mariner
Rasmus leads Cardinals to win in extras >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colby Rasmus drove in the game-winning run in
the 11th inning, giving St. Louis a 5-4 victory over the Brewers in the middle
test of a three-game series between the National League Central foes.
A pair of e
Wittels' hit streak at 56, but FIU ousted from tourney >>
Coral Gables, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida International shortstop Garrett
Wittels extended his hitting streak to 56 games on Saturday, but his chance at
history will have to wait until the 2011 season.
Wittels hit an RBI double in th
Mackenzie stays ahead in Victoria >>
Victoria, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Brock Mackenzie managed an even-par
70 on Saturday, but remained atop the leaderboard after the third round of the
Times Colonist Open.
Mackenzie finished 54 holes at 10-under 200 and is one stroke
Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).
The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting