Thoroughbred racing in 2011

Horseracing Betting Lines

12/01/2011 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thoroughbred racing in North America will be remembered as the first year since 2007 that Zenyatta was not a featured horse. The champion mare was retired after her courageous race in the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic, falling just short of catching Blame at the wire.

The void left by Zenyatta was not completely filled by any one horse. In fact, you could say that even all the top horses in 2011 were unable to fill the space left by the great lady.

However, thoroughbred racing did not stop because of the retirement of Zenyatta or any of the other horses sent to the farm. A full year of racing proceeded to take place in 2011 with many horses stepping forward into the spotlight,

As always the first part of the year was focused on Kentucky Derby prospects.

Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Uncle Mo was the consensus favorite for the Run for the Roses. After an undefeated two-year-old season in 2010 the colt, trained by Todd Pletcher, looked impressive in winning the Timely Writer Stakes at Gulfstream Park in March. However, a third-place finish in the Wood Memorial made Uncle Mo look vulnerable.

Meanwhile, Dialed In won the Florida Derby and was the favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Uncle Mo was entered in the race and made the 9-2 second choice, but veterinary tests showed something wrong and he was scratched the day before the Derby.

The 137th running of the Kentucky Derby went to 20-1 longshot Animal Kingdom who won the Vinery Spiral Stakes five weeks before the Derby. Animal Kingdom, trained by Graham Motion for Team Valor, then finished second to Shackleford in the Preakness Stakes, but could do no better than sixth in the Belmont Stakes. Still the Kentucky Derby champ was regarded as the best three-year-old in training.

After the Triple Crown excitement, the older thoroughbreds gained the focus of the racing world. Older male horses needed to establish themselves quickly as some fillies were taking the next step forward as four-year-olds.

Most of the top older male horses were coming off three-year-old seasons that were promising, but with many questions. The only Triple Crown race winner from last year to still be training was Belmont champ Drosselmeyer. Kentucky Derby runner-up Ice Box was back as was Preakness runner-up First Dude. Also back was Santa Anita Derby winner Sidney's Candy and Blue Grass champ Stately Victor.

Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti was easily the best older horse in training and in Europe Goldikova was preparing for another try in the Breeders' Cup Mile.

As the year wore on the horses beat each other up with no older male truly taking control. Tizway won two of four starts and didn't race after winning the Whitney. The speedy Game On Dude won the Santa Anita Handicap and the Goodwood with several solid showings in between and he may have secured a title with a strong showing in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Four-year-old fillies Blind Luck and Havre de Grace resumed their rivalry from last year. Havre de Grace defeated Blind Luck in the Azeri at Oaklawn Park and the former posted a nose victory in the Delaware Handicap, the same result as the 2010 Delaware Oaks.

Havre de Grace took on all challengers during the year and put herself in the Horse of the Year picture with a win over males in the Woodward at Saratoga. Blind Luck was also heading towards a Breeders' Cup showdown with her rival until a last-place finish in the Lady's Secret that eventually led to retirement.

The three-year-old filly group proved to be a deep one. Royal Delta won the Black-Eyed Susan and Alabama Stakes, Plum Pretty took the Kentucky Oaks and Cotillion, It's Tricky captured the Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks and Zazu was the best filly in California with wins in the Hollywood Oaks and Lady's Secret.

Coming in from Europe to race on the turf was Cape Blanco. The four-year-old colt won all three starts in the U.S. defeating Gio Ponti in both the Man o'War and Arlington Million. He also won the Turf Classic at Belmont Park, but an injury prevented him from going in the Breeders' Cup Turf and was retired.

Uncle Mo eventually came back to racing with a second to Caleb's Posse in the King's Bishop and a win in the Kelso. Stay Thirsty won the Jim Dandy and Travers to get involved in the Eclipse talk and Animal Kingdom was injured and sidelined until 2012.

The 2011 Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs was headlined by the Ladies' Classic on the first day and the Classic and Mile on the second day.

Three-year-old fillies dominated in the Ladies' Classic. Plum Pretty set the pace, but gave way to Royal Delta who defeated It's Tricky by 2 1/2-lengths. The win by Royal Delta gave trainer Bill Mott his fourth Ladies' Classic win and a chance to pull off the double with Saturday's Classic.

The second day of the 28th World Championships was going to decide the early favorite for the 2012 Kentucky Derby. Union Rags was the 11-10 favorite in the 13-horse field. However, the two-year-old raced wide most of the race and fell a head short of catching Hansen.

Goldikova was after a fourth straight win in the Mile. The mare's magic ended in a third-place result behind Court Vision. Caleb's Posse won the Dirt Mile and Amazombie captured the Sprint.

It all came down to the $5 million Classic at 1 1/4-miles on dirt at historic Churchill Downs. The filly Havre de Grace was going to try to duplicate Zenyatta's 2009 Classic victory. She was the 4-1 second pick behind 7-2 favorite Flat Out. Uncle Mo, the 5-2 morning-line favorite, went off at 5-1 in the 12-horse field.

Game On Dude set the pace while Havre de Grace was running sixth, Flat Out was in eighth and Uncle Mo pressed the leader after starting from the outside. Game On Dude was a determined pacesetter, nearly pulling off a gate to wire victory.

Drosselmeyer, 2010 Belmont Stakes winner, went off at 14-1 as did Game On Dude. Drosselmeyer was racing in ninth through the early going. The four-year- old was six wide coming into the stretch under jockey Mike Smith, Zenyatta's rider.

Drosselmeyer caught Game On Dude in late stretch and was able to better the pacesetter by 1 1/2-lengths. This year's Belmont Stakes champ Ruler On Ice finished third with Havre de Grace getting fourth just a head before Flat Out. Uncle Mo tired badly to finish 10th.

The big winner was trainer Bill Mott who pulled off the Ladies' Classic- Breeders' Cup Classic double.

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Online Sportsbook Football Betting

LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP

With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone after his all out assault on the record books last season. For those suffering from amnesia or were under a rock last football season, all L.T. did last season was set the NFL record for rushing touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (31) and total points scored (186) to go along with his 1815 rushing yards and 508 receiving yards. At 6-1, Tom Brady is next in line which isn’t surprising considering all of the firepower the Pats added over the off-season. With the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker; it would be quite difficult for Brady’s numbers not to improve from last years 3529 yards and 24 touchdowns. There appears to be some decent value in Drew Bees at 10-1 considering he probably would have won the award last year if it wasn’t for L.T.’s record breaking season.

There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.

Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to check out the complete odds for NFL MVP as well as all of the new football related futures. With the popularity of NFL futures, these betting lines will be sure to change as the money comes in; get the early sports lines now.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

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.

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