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07/14/2010 - Stanton, DE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saturday's $750,000 Delaware Handicap has attracted six of the leading female thoroughbreds in the nation. The winner of the 1 1/4-mile race gains automatic entry into this year's Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic at Churchill Downs.
Leading the field for the 73rd Del 'Cap is Candy DeBartolo's Life At Ten, winner of her last five starts. Trained by Todd Pletcher, the five-year-old mare will be ridden by John Velazquez from post six.
Perfect in three starts this year, Life At Ten is coming off a victory in the Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont Park on June 12. In February she captured the Rare Treat Stakes at Aqueduct and followed with a win of the Sixty Sails at Hawthorne in April.
"This mare never really had the opportunity to run in a Grade I and we just felt like the Phipps was the right spot for her at that time," said Pletcher. "We did strongly consider running in the Obeah as a prep for this race, but the Grade I was just too enticing. We were fortunate enough to win and we were very happy about that. This year, we have had a bit of luck running horses over a track for the first time, and I do not think having a race over the Delaware surface is as important now as it was a few years back."
As a four-year-old Life At Ten closed 2009 with consecutive wins in an allowance race and the Snit Stakes. She has won six of 13 career starts for $459,267.
"A couple of times last year, we ran her a little bit short of her best distances," Pletcher commented. "Once she got into a good steady rhythm and since we have been able to keep her at a nice series of longer races, she has really developed into what we were hoping she could be."
Pletcher has won the Del 'Cap three previous times, Irving's Baby (2001), Fleet Indian (2006) and Unbridled Belle (2007).
"It has always been a very good race for us and we have been forunate enough to have very good luck in the Delaware Handicap," said Pletcher. "We have run nice mares in this race before and we think we are bringing a good one back this time who obviously is in very good form. So we are really looking forward to this race."
Local winner Miss Singhsix comes back to Delaware after last month's win of the Obeah Stakes at the track. The five-year-old mare will start from post two with Jose Valdivia, Jr. again riding.
"The race over the track definitely helps," stated trainer Marty Wolfson," and the mile and a quarter will help her as well. Distance for this mare is really no problem and the further she goes the more effective she will be."
Owned by Team Valor, Miss Singhsix won Delaware Park's $150,000 Obeah Stakes by a neck on June 12. Fleet Indian won both the Obeah and Del 'Cap in 2006.
Miss Singhsix finished third to Life At Ten in the Sixty Sails Handicap after a third in the Rampart Stakes at Gulfstream in March and February's victory at Laurel Park of the Maryland Racing Media Stakes.
She has a career record of five wins in 19 starts with earnings of $317,138.
Here is the complete field for the Del 'Cap in post position order: Funny Moon, Alan Garcia, 7-2; Miss Singhsix, Jose Valdivia, Jr., 5-1; Milwaukee Appeal, Stewart Elliott, 2-1; Million Seller, Jeremy Rose, 15-1; Miss Match, Brian Hernandez, Jr., 12-1 and Life At Ten, John Velazquez, 8-5.
Five of horse racing's finest were honored Wednesday with their induction into the Delaware Park Wall of Fame.
The class of 2010 consists of two-time Del 'Cap winner Obeah, Hall of Fame trainer Frank Whiteley, Jr., Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero, Jr., Bohemia Stable of Mrs. Richard C. DuPont and the late Robert G. Dick of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission.
<< Nets name Billy King general manager
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets have named Billy
King as their next general manager.
King takes the reins from Rod Thorn, who is stepping down as team president
and general manager after 10 years on the job
<< Braves get Gonzalez from Jays in five-player deal
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves acquired shortstop Alex
Gonzalez from the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday in a five-player trade.
The Braves sent shortstop Yunel Escobar and pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes to Toronto and
also acqu
<< Safarova pulls out in Prague
Prague, Czech Republic (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded heavy Czech crowd
favorite Lucie Safarova pulled out of her scheduled second-round match
Wednesday at the $220,000 Prague Open tennis event.
Safarova was slated to meet Swe
<< Suns get Childress from Atlanta
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Suns have acquired guard Josh
Childress from the Atlanta Hawks in a sign-and-trade deal for a future second-
round draft pick.
In addition to the draft pick, Atlanta will get a trade exception to us
Sportswriter headlines Meadowlands Pace >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sportswriter, winner of the North
America Cup, will take on nine rivals in Saturday's $1 million Meadowlands
Pace at The Meadowlands. The field of 10 three-year-old pacers will leave the
startin
Johnson retires as Vandy football coach >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vanderbilt head football coach Bobby
Johnson announced his abrupt retirement Wednesday after eight years guiding
the program.
A press conference was called for Wednesday afternoon at which time
Rockets ready to match Cavs offer sheet to Lowry >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets plan to match the offer
sheet extended Wednesday to restricted free-agent guard Kyle Lowry.
Houston general Manager Daryl Morey said on his Twitter account
Wednesday afte
Melzer into Stuttgart QFs >>
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French Open semifinalist Jurgen Melzer
was a second-round victor Wednesday at the Mercedes Cup tennis event.
The second-seeded Melzer got past Germany's own Mischa Zverev, a wild card
this week, 7-
Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting
So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.
Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?
If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)
Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).
In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.
Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.
| The Bubble Breakdown | |||
| CONFERENCE | LOCKS | SHOULD BE INS | AT-LARGES TAKEN (assuming no auto bid outlier) |
| ACC Betting Odds | 6 | 0 | 5 |
| Big East Betting Odds | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Big Ten Betting Odds | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Big 12 Betting Odds | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Pac-10 Betting Odds | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| SEC Betting Odds | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| MVC Betting Odds | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MWC Betting Odds | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 28 | 5 | 25 |
As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.
(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)
If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.
Work left to do:
Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.
Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).
Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.
For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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