A quick review of 2009, so far

Horseracing Betting Lines

09/17/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Now that the summer of 2009 is concluding, I feel a quick look back at the year is in order. What has transpired in the first nine months of 2009 is enough for an entire 12 months of racing.

Three names dominated the year entering autumn. Rachel Alexandra, Mine That Bird and Zenyatta. Rachel Alexandra is the three-year-old filly who dominated her own division, vanquished three-year-old boys and defeated handicap horses in the Woodward Stakes.

Mine That Bird won the Kentucky Derby as a 50-1 longshot after finishing fourth in the ungraded Sunland Derby in New Mexico. He nearly caught Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness Stakes and had his primary jockey, Calvin Borel, not always ride him.

Zenyatta won the 2008 Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic and was named champion older filly and mare. She then took her time starting her 2009 season, letting the three-year-olds unfettered access to the headlines. She hasn't left California this year and isn't expected to.

Zenyatta opened 2009 with wins in the Milady and Vanity Handicaps, then won the Clement L. Hirsch for the second straight year. All of this year's starts have been on synthetic surfaces which is keeping Rachel Alexandra from coming west for the Breeders' Cup.

Jess Jackson, majority owner of the filly, despises the artificial tracks and has strongly expressed his derision. Everybody and his brother is working to get the top two females into the same race.

Mine That Bird, meanwhile, followed his second-place finish in the Preakness with a third to half-brother Summer Bird in the Belmont Stakes. He's the first horse to finish one, two, three in the Triple Crown races since Ferdinand in 1986. The gelding went to Mountaineer Park in West Virginia for the West Virginia Derby and was third to longshot Soul Warrior.

Summer Bird followed his Belmont Stakes win with a second to 'Rachel' in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park and then won the Travers Stakes at Saratoga. Mine That Bird underwent throat surgery in August and was held out of the Travers.

Zenyatta will win her second straight Eclipse Award as champion older female and Rachel Alexandra will be champion three-year-old filly. The late surge by Summer Bird and Mine That Bird's inability to win since the Run for the Roses, has put the three-year-old male crown up for grabs.

Calvin Borel has been reengaged to ride Mine That Bird in the Goodwood Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic, Summer Bird will make his next start in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and Zenyatta is being pointed toward the Ladies Classic again.

Rachel Alexandra may be done for the year, or not, but she is expected to race in 2010 and start in the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs.

Things are beginning to heat up as the thoroughbred racing season enters its final three months. The Breeders' Cup World Championships will once again be staged at Santa Anita Park on Friday, November 6 and Saturday, November 7.

Bettingfootballgamble Horseracing Betting News

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MySportsbook.com Releases World Series Championship Lines

New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox early favorites to win 2008 World Series
The Major League Baseball season starts this weekend and MySportsbook.com, a leading online sportsbook for over 8 years, is the first to offer baseball sports betting lines on who will win the 2007 World Series.

"The World Series is the biggest baseball event in the sports betting world and MySportsbook.com is excited that we are first to market with betting lines on every team," says Tim Dalton, Marketing Director, MySportsbook.com. "We are getting things ready for a great baseball season and our members are looking forward to our Player Payback Bonuses, as well as Dime Lines, all season long."

Going in to this weekend, MySportsbook.com's favorites to win the World Series are the New York Yankees at 7-2 and last year’s winners the Chicago White Sox at 9-2.

"These betting lines are ripe for the picking," Dalton added, "baseball fans know that the season is long and many factors, including players staying healthy, will affect these Future odds as the baseball season progresses. Betting on your favorite team in the beginning of the season could prove quite lucrative. We are seeing examples of this right now in the NCAA College Basketball Tournament with a lucky few that placed pre-season bets on George Mason to win it all. Anything can happen."

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Betting the NFL preseason

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.

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