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12/05/2011 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Each year the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association re-evaluates all the stakes races in the United States with a minimum purse of $75,000. Stakes can be elevated in status, reduced or remain status quo.
Racetracks take great pride in having their stakes races given a graded status. In particular the tracks not considered major venues for racing.
This year the committee gave special recognition to stakes races conducted at Parx Racing in suburban Philadelphia. The former Philadelphia Park, and before that Keystone Race Track, gained several upgrades to their stakes.
For the first time in track history a Grade I race, the highest level stakes, will be held at Parx Racing. The Cotillion Stakes for three-year-old fillies has gained the coveted position as Grade I.
The last three runnings of the Cotillion have featured the best of each year's sophomore fillies. In 2009 Careless Jewel may have been the second best filly behind Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. Prior to capturing the Cotillion, Careless Jewel won the Delaware Oaks and Alabama.
In 2010 the two best female three-year-olds, Blind Luck and Havre de Grace, hooked up in another edition of their now historic rivalry. Havre de Grace finally got the win over Blind Luck who had defeated the Delaware Park-based filly in the Alabama and Delaware Oaks.
This year's Cotillion showcased two of the top fillies in training. Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty was again facing It's Tricky winner of the Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks. Trained by Bob Baffert, Plum Pretty avenged the American Oaks loss by crushing It's Tricky by more than seven-lengths.
Joining the Cotillion and the Grade II Pennsylvania Derby on the graded stakes roster at Parx Racing are the Smarty Jones, Greenwood Cup and Dr. James Penny Memorial Handicap, all three being elevated to Grade III.
Another track beaming with pride is Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in West Virginia. The track's premier race, the $1,000,000 Charles Town Classic, has been moved up to Grade II after just three editions.
"Every member of our team should be proud that their efforts and hard work are resulting in some historic firsts for our track," said Erich Zimny, Director of Racing Operations. "In 18 of the last 19 months, our average daily handle has grown versus the prior year's number and there are more eyes on racing in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia than there ever have been. We could not have accomplished that - or sustain it - without our event days."
Duke of Mischief won this year Classic followed by Santa Anita Handicap champ Game On Dude and Whitney Handicap winner Tizway. Eventual Pacific Classic winner Acclamation finished last in the 10-horse field.
What do each of these two tracks have in common? Casinos.
<< Bolton to appeal Cahill red card
Bolton, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bolton announced on Monday that the club
will appeal the red card issued to defender Gary Cahill during Wanderers 3-0
defeat to Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Saturday.
Referee Stuart Attwell gave
<< Freeze leaves Arkansas State for Ole Miss
Oxford, MS (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ole Miss has named Hugh Freeze its new head
football coach.
Freeze spent just one season as head coach at Arkansas State and guided the
Red Wolves to a record of 10-2 with a Sun Belt championship and a b
<< Moulson highlights NHL's 'Three Stars'
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Islanders forward Matt Moulson,
Colorado Avalanche center Ryan O'Reilly and Los Angeles Kings goaltender
Jonathan Quick have been named the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending
Decembe
<< Cornell's Mathews, Harvard's Ortiz win Bushnell Cup
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cornell sophomore quarterback Jeff
Mathews and Harvard senior defensive tackle Josue Ortiz were named the
2011 recipients of the Asa S. Bushnell Cup, which honors the Ivy League
football players of year, on Monda
Kentucky still No. 1; Harvard ranked for first time >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kentucky remained the top team in the latest
Associated Press men's college basketball poll, while Harvard is ranked for
the first time and is among the four newcomers this week.
The Wildcats kept the to
Newcastle's Taylor likely out for season >>
Newcastle, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Newcastle has confirmed that defender
Steven Taylor is likely to miss the rest of the season because of an Achilles
injury.
Taylor suffered the injury in Newcastle's 3-0 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday
Big step, but Tiger's not back yet >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The drought lasted 749 days, 107 weeks and
27 starts.
Tiger Woods is finally a golfing champion once again. His win Sunday at the
Chevron World Challenge was his first since the infamous car crash that
de
Stanford's Luck captures Unitas Award >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stanford's Andrew Luck has been named the
recipient of the 2011 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award as the nation's top
quarterback.
Luck threw for 3,170 yards and 35 touchdowns for a 167.5 passer r
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).
Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.
A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.
"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.
De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.
The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.
The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.
De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.
Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.
But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.
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