09/12/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The morning-line odds have been released for Saturday's $500,000 Monmouth Stakes at Monmouth Park. Kentucky Derby and Preakness champ Big Brown is the 2-1 favorite in the 11 horse field, a significant difference from the 1-2 the colt was for the Haskell Invitational.
Big Brown will be taking on older thoroughbreds for the first time in the turf race at 1 1/8 miles. If all 11 go, Big Brown will face a wide variety of grass runners with whom he will have to deal.
The 7-2 second choice is Shakis, a two-time winner of the Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga. The eight-year-old is a veteran of 32 races with seven victories for $685,532. Since May of 2007 he has hit the board six times in nine starts. Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Shakis will break from post three, immediately to the inside of Big Brown. Local rider Joe Bravo will add his knowledge of the Monmouth turf course to Shakis' effort.
Lightly raced Proudinsky is the 4-1 third pick in the program. The five-year- old is coming off a sixth-place finish to Shakis as the 5-2 favorite in the Bernard Baruch. Leaving from post six, Ramon Dominguez will have the reins for owner Gary Tanaka and trainer Bobby Frankel. Proudinsky has just 12 career starts with four wins and $557, 807. This year he won the Mervin Muniz Jr. Memorial Handicap at the Fair Grounds, but was 11th in the Manhattan Handicap.
A horse that is cross-entered in the $250,000 PTHA President's Cup at Philly Park is Silver Tree. The eight-year-old is 6-1 for the Monmouth Stakes, but the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the Philly race, which is also 1 1/8 miles on the turf. If Silver Tree remains in the Monmouth, he will be running on familiar ground, having won the Oceanport Stakes at the Jersey Shore track. Trained by Bill Mott for Peter Vegso, Silver Tree has won 14 of 40 career starts with 10 seconds and four times as show. His lifetime earnings of better than $1.7 million is the second highest in the field to Big Brown's $3.3 million,
Several of the 11 entrants will be on or near the lead in the Monmouth Stakes. Possible pace-setters are Proudinsky, Hotstufanthensome, Kiss the Kid, Get Serious and Fagedaboudit Sal.
Big Brown will be using Saturday's race as his final prep before the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on October 25. Trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr., with the ownership group, have decided that a turf race will best prepare the colt for Santa Anita's synthetic main track.
I doubt that Big Brown will go off at 2-1 when the gates open. He will likely be bet down to even-money or less. However, if all 11 start Shakis and Silver Tree will have to be included in the exotics, with Shakis singled for win. .
<< Devils re-sign C Pelley
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils re-signed center Rod
Pelley to a new contract on Friday. Per club policy, terms of the deal were
not disclosed.
Pelley, 24, split the 2007-08 season between the NHL and AHL Devi
<< Schalke visits Dortmund in battle of unbeatens
Dortmund, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Schalke has been impressive through three
weeks in the Bundesliga, but will be without its top two goalies Saturday when
it visits Borussia Dortmund in a battle of unbeatens.
Schalke's top choice, Manue
<< PSV aims to build on positive opener
Eindhoven, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PSV Eindhoven will be expecting to
wrap up three more points on Saturday when the team hosts Sparta after they
opened defense of their league title with a resounding 5-1 win against
Utrecht
<< Cavs ink West to multi-year deal
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Cavaliers announced the signing
of guard Delonte West to a multi-year contract on Friday. Per team policy,
terms of the deal were not disclosed.
West, 25, was acquired by the Cavaliers on
Fowler joins Blackburn on short-term contract >>
Blackburn, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Veteran striker Robbie Fowler has
finally joined Blackburn Rovers on a short-term performance-related contract.
The 33-year-old former England international has been training with the Ewood
Park
Stankovic out several weeks for Inter >>
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Inter Milan midfielder Dejan Stankovic faces
several weeks on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury while playing for
Serbia against France.
The 30-year-old lasted just five minutes of the game in Pari
Numancia has shot at rare double against Real >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Numancia returned to Spain's La Liga with a
1-0 win over Barcelona two weeks ago and the promoted side has an opportunity
to pull of a rare double Sunday against Real Madrid.
Numancia, which won Spain's
Surging 'Quakes face test in Dynamo tilt >>
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Earthquakes started the 2008
Major League Soccer season slow, as most expansion teams do. But after
collecting just three wins in the first 18 league matches to start the season,
the 'Qu
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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Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch
Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.
Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.
"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."
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