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07/10/2010 - Inglewood, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Awesome Gem, ridden by David Flores, found room along the rail and was able to hold off defending champ Rail Trip to capture Saturday's $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park.
The seven-year-old chestnut gelding was sent off as the 8-1 fourth choice in the six-horse field. Rail Trip was the 2-5 favorite, and 2009 Pacific Classic winner Richard's Kid was the 4-1 second pick.
Awesome Gem, trained by Craig Dollase, was never far off the pace that was being set by Compari in the 1 1/4-mile race. Rail Trip and jockey Rafael Bejarano found themselves on the outside in fourth as the field went up the backstretch.
Around the final turn, Rail Trip began his rally three wide with Awesome Gem sitting right behind Compari as the field entered the stretch. Rail Trip took the lead at the top of the stretch as Awesome Gem edged past Compari along the inside.
Awesome Gem and Rail Trip battled down the stretch to the finish. Awesome Gem posted a neck victory over the defending champ to record his first victory of the year. Richard's Kid finished third followed by Tres Borrachos, Compari and Cigar Man.
The time for the Gold Cup was 2:03.31 on Hollywood's sythetic track.
Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Awesome Gem went past the $2 million mark in career earnings. The Gold Cup win was worth $300,000 to bring the gelding's lifetime bankroll to $2,274,682. He has won seven of 36 career starts.
Awesome Gem had not won a race before Saturday since last October's Hawthorne Gold Cup at Hawthorne Race Course.
The victory is the third Gold Cup win for Flores. He won the race in 1991 with Marquetry and five years later aboard Siphon.
Awesome Gem returned $18.00, $4.40 and $2.40. Rail Trip paid $2.20 and $2.10, and Richard's Kid paid $2.20 to show.
Earlier in the day on the East Coast, a pair of top thoroughbreds came from off the pace to capture stakes races.
Leading three-year-old filly Blind Luck won a photo finish at Delaware Park to win the $250,000 Delaware Oaks. Ridden by Joel Rosario, Blind Luck covered the 1 1/16-miles in 1:43.34 on a sloppy track.
The winner of this year's Kentucky Oaks came from well off the pace to edge Havre de Grace at the wire. Derwin's Star finished third in the seven horse field followed by No Such Word, Worship the Moon, Calypso Queen and Listen In.
Trained by co-owner Jerry Hollendorfer, Blind Luck notched her eighth career victory in 12 starts. The Oaks win was worth $150,000 to bring her lifetime earnings to $1,538,712.
"She got away a little slow and sometimes she does that," said Hollendorfer. "I honestly was hoping she would have been a little closer. You know the good ones just find a way to get there. I mean she has been beaten before, but she is a very good filly and she just finds a way there. We are very grateful and very thankful. Joel (Rosario) is a very strong rider and he is one of the strongest finishers in the country. We are still looking at the Alabama (at Saratoga on August 21) for her next start."
Blind Luck paid $2.40, $2.20 and $2.10. Havre de Grace returned $3.60 and $2.80, and Derwin's Star paid $4.60 to show.
At Belmont Park, Gio Ponti successfully defended his crown in the $600,000 Man o'War for his first victory of the year. Approaching the furlong pole, Gio Ponti and rider Ramon Dominguez were four-lengths off the lead in the grass race. He came charging down the stretch to catch Mission Approved and win by a neck.
Rounding out the order of finish was 6-1 second choice Expansion followed by Bearpath, Midnite Silver, Interpatation, Grand Couturier and Strike a Deal.
The time for the 1 3/8-miles was 2:16.20 on a firm turf course.
Gio Ponti returned $2.80, $2.30 and $2.10. Mission Approved paid $17.80 and $7.40, and Expansion paid $2.80 to show.
The five-year-old, trained by Clement Christophe, was voted 2009 champion male turf horse as well as champion older thoroughbred male. He began 2010 with a third-place result in the Tampa Bay Stakes. In March he was third in the Dubai World Cup and last month was second in the Manhattan at Belmont Park.
"As a trainer, you get very excited when you train a horse as good as he is and you go into Grade 1 races, because he just trains so well and you know he's so good," said Clement. "So for me, and for my crew at the barn, it's very exciting to run that kind of horse. We are lucky to be involved with that kind of horse."
In his career Gio Ponti has won half of his 20 starts for $4.1 million. His next start will be in defense of his title in the Arlington Million on August 21.
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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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