Monmouth Park welcomes Horse of the Year

Horseracing Betting Lines

07/20/2010 - Oceanport, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra has safely arrived at Monmouth Park in preparation of her start in Saturday's 1 1/8-mile Lady's Secret Stakes. The four-year-old champion filly was taken from her summer residence at Saratoga Race Course and got to Monmouth Park about 9 a.m. (et) Tuesday morning.

"She shipped just fine, everything's great," said trainer Steve Asmussen's chief assistant Scott Blasi, who arrived with Rachel. "She'll gallop up to the race and school in the paddock on Friday afternoon."

In order to lure the filly to Monmouth for the Lady's Secret the track increased the purse from $150,000 to $400,000. This will be the filly's second race at the New Jersey shore track.

Last year Rachel, co-owned by Jess Jackson and Hal McCormick, won the $1 million Haskell Invitational versus three-year-old males.

Entries for the Lady's Secret Stakes will be drawn on Wednesday. Racing secretary Mike Dempsey expects four or five other females to take on the reigning Horse of the Year.

"It looks like she'll be facing four or five rivals," said Dempsey. "The race will be drawn on Wednesday when we'll obviously know for sure, but right now my best estimate is a field of five, perhaps six."

Rachel, who has Calvin Borel as her jockey, has won 12 of 17 career starts for $3,216,730. This year she has won one of three races for $258,376.

In her last start this year she won the Fleur de Lis by 10 1/2-lengths on June 12. She came up short in her initial two starts of 2010. She was second to Zardana at the Fair Grounds in the New Orleans Ladies Classic and runner-up to Unrivaled Belle at Churchill Downs in the La Troienne.

Borel will also ride in the Haskell Invitational for the second straight year. The veteran jockey, who was aboard Rachel in last year's victory, will guide Kentucky Derby champ Super Saver in the 1 1/8-mile race on Sunday, August 1.

"From what I hear, Super Saver is doing very well," Borel commented. "He put on a little weight which is good to hear because he really had to run hard in the Derby. He's not a big horse at all, and I think the Derby and Preakness took a little out of him.

"I spoke with Elliott Walden (Director of Racing for WinStar Farms) the other day and he told me that Super Saver looks great and is really training well. He's had a bit of a break since the Preakness, and it looks like a pretty tough field, but he should be ultra-tough in there."

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Super Saver was eighth in the Preakness Stakes behind 2009 champion two-year-old colt Lookin At Lucky. Lookin At Lucky, trained by Bob Baffert, is expected to ship in from California for the Haskell.

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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.

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.