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02/01/2012 - Ozone Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alpha, winner of the Count Fleet Stakes, heads a field of seven for Saturday's $200,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct. The 1 1/16-mile event is part of the track's stakes series for three-year-olds leading to the $1 million Wood Memorial on April 7.
Sent off as the 4-5 favorite in the Count Fleet, Alpha will start the Withers from the outside post with Ramon Dominguez again riding. The colt is trained by Kiaran McLaughlin for Godolphin Racing.
"It's fantastic this year what they've done with the Count Fleet, Withers, Gotham, and Wood," said McLaughlin's assistant Artie Magnuson. "It's a great program, best in the country, seriously. It's a steady march, great purses, and there's grading in there. It's ideal.
"The thought is (to run in) all of them. We could skip one if we want, but the thought is to just do all four. The Kentucky Derby is very important, but this series is very important. These aren't preps, these are important races, so we're treating them that way. We take the Withers very seriously, and the Gotham. We've won a stake and that's nice, and this is graded, that's important, everything's very important. Alpha needs to show up, needs to run, but we couldn't be happier with him now."
With two wins in four career starts Alpha has $180,000 in his bankroll. Last year he was second to Union Rags in the Champagne and 11th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile won by Hansen with Union Rags second. Bernardini, sire of Alpha, won this race in 2006.
Owner Mike Repole, of Uncle Mo fame, has How Do I Win entered in the Withers. Trained by Todd Pletcher, the gray three-year-old will be ridden by Cornelio Velasquez from post five .
How Do I Win was fourth in the Count Fleet last month at 11-1. Prior to that start he had won two straight after failing in his first three races.
"He's been kind of inconsistent in the afternoons, as you can tell from the past performances, but when he puts everything together I think he'll live up to expectations," said Pletcher, who won the Withers in 2008 with Harlem Rocker. "In his last race, the jockey took too much hold of him, and he's more of a free-running horse."
Here is the full Withers' field from the rail out: Hakama, Julian Pimentel; Speightscity, David Cohen; Swag Daddy, Junior Alvarado; King Kid, Mike Luzzi; How Do I Win, Cornelio Velasquez; Tiger Walk, Horacio Karamanos and Alpha, Ramon Dominguez.
Post-time for the Withers is slated at 4:05 p.m. (et).
<< Martinuccio joins Villarreal on loan
Villarreal, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Villarreal has signed forward Alejandro
Martinuccio on a six-month loan from Brazilian side Fluminense, it was
announced on Wednesday.
The two clubs just beat the transfer deadline to push the
<< Pirates ink veteran hurler Cruz to minor league deal
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday signed
pitcher Juan Cruz to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring
training.
The 33-year-old right-hander went 5-0 with a 3.88 earned run average
<< Newcastle's Cabaye handed three-match ban
Newcastle, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye has
failed in his appeal to the English Football Association over a violent
conduct charge stemming from Saturday's FA Cup loss to Brighton and Hove
Albion,
<< Wilshere suffers another injury setback
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal and England midfielder Jack
Wilshere will spend further time on the sidelines after developing a stress
fracture in his right foot.
The 20-year-old has been out of action since June a
Mariners sign Guillen >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners signed infielder Carlos
Guillen to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training
Wednesday.
The 14-year veteran spent the first six seasons of his career wit
Thibodeau, Brooks named NBA's top coaches for December and January >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls' Tom Thibodeau and the
Oklahoma City Thunder's Scott Brooks have been named the top coaches for
the Eastern and Western Conference, respectively, for December and January.
Thibode
Simon, Gasquet roll in Open Sud openers >>
Montpellier, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French favorites Gilles Simon and
Richard Gasquet were among Wednesday's second-round winners at the Open Sud de
France tennis tournament.
The second-seeded world No. 12 Simon subdued Italian Fla
Irving, Rubio named NBA's top rookies for January >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving and
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio were named the top rookies in the
Eastern and Western Conference, respectively, for games played from the
season'
Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship
(September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
One of the largest sportsbook sites on the Internet, MySportsbook.com currently lists the top two drivers in the point standings as the early favorites to win the Nextel Cup. Entering the Chase for the Cup with a slim five-point lead in the point standings, 2003 NASCAR champ Matt Kenseth has been made a slight favorite to win his second Cup at 7/2 betting odds. 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick has betting odds listed at 5/2 and four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon is listed at 6/1 to capture the Nextel Cup this year.
Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father who won six NASCAR titles, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands at 8/1 to breakthrough with his first Cup victory. Staying with the family theme, MySportsbook.com lists 2005 Rookie of the Year Kyle Busch at 14/1 to succeed big brother Kurt’s 2004 NASCAR title. While Kasey Kahne was the final driver to qualify for the Chase with a third place finish last week, the oddsmakers give him a fighting chance at 10/1 mainly due to several mile-and-a-half tracks remaining on the schedule. Despite going winless on the NASCAR circuit this season, Jeff Burton enters the Chase at 5/1 to capture the Cup title. Meanwhile, rookie Denny Hamlin is 4/1 to win the championship, while veteran driver Mark Martin enters the Chase for the Cup as a 15/1 long shot to win his first NASCAR title in his 24th and final season.
MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts US credit cards needs.
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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