07/16/2008 - Del Mar, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Well Armed, third in the Dubai World Cup, heads a field of 10 older thoroughbreds for Saturdays $300,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar. The 1 1/16 mile race gives the winner an automatic pass into the 2008 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile as part of the "Win and You're In" program.
The San Diego also serves as the local prep for the $1 million Pacific Classic on Sunday, August 24. Not entered in the San Diego is 2007 Pacific Classic winner Student Council who is training at Saratoga. The six-year-old, however, is expected to be at Del Mar on August 24.
"Our goal is to win back-to-back runnings of the Pacific Classic," said owner Millennium Farms' Ro Parra. "Tinners Way and Skimming did it, and the way Student Council is training, we plan to give it a try, too. If conditions are right, we may run him first in the Whitney (July 26 at Saratoga), with the end of season goal being the Breeders' Cup Classic at Oak Tree."
Well Armed, trained by Eoin Harty for WinStar Farms, will be making his first start since his third-place result behind Curlin in Dubai. Earlier this year the five-year-old gelding defeated Heatseeker in the San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita and was second in the San Pasqual behind Zappa and ahead of Heatseeker.
Aaron Gryder will again be in the saddle and the pair will start from post six. Well Armed has career earnings of $850,803 with four wins in 16 career starts.
Highly regarded Surf Cat returns to Del Mar after 11 months. Second in the Pat O'Brien Handicap in his lone local start of 2007, Surf Cat is coming off a third-place finish in the Californian behind Heatseeker and Tiago. In April he notched his second straight in Hollywood Parks Mervyn LeRoy Handicap,
The six-year-old is trained by Bruce Headley and will be ridden by David Flores from post two. Surf Cat has won nine of 19 lifetime starts for $955,420.
Two years ago Magnum went off as a solid 9-2 pick in the Pacific Classic before finishing seventh to Lava Man. After missing all of 2007, the seven- year-old has posted three consecutive fourth-place results this year.
Owned by Herrick Racing and trained by Darrell Vienna, Magnum has drawn post four with Martin Pedroza riding.
In 2006 Magnum was second in the Santa Anita and Oaklawn Handicaps and won the Lone Star Park Handicap. He has career earnings of $681,249 with five wins in 23 starts.
Here is the complete field for the 67th edition of the San Diego Handicap: Mostocolli Mort, Tyler Baze; Surf Cat, David Flores; Rebellion, Rafael Bejarano; Magnum, Martin Pedroza; Racketeer, Corey Nakatani; Well Armed, Aaron Gryder; Global Hunter, Mike Smith; Tall Texan, Victor Espinoza; You Got Me Rocking, Joel Rosario and Mr. Napper Tandy, Joe Talamo.
The San Diego will be shown on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. (et).
<< Posey wins Golden Spikes
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida State catcher Buster Posey won the
2008 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award for the nation's premier amateur
baseball player on Wednesday.
The 2008 ACC Player of the Year led the NCAA in ba
<< Starace, Schwank land in Austrian Open QFs
Kitzbuhel, Austria (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fourth-seeded Italian Potito
Starace and fifth-seeded Argentine Eduardo Schwank were a couple of second-
round winners Wednesday at the clay-court Austrian Open.
The 2007 Kitzbuhel runn
<< Hleb completes move to Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Hleb has completed his 'dream move'
to Barcelona after leaving Arsenal in a $23.5 million deal for Spain.
The 27-year-old Belarus international has agreed a four-year contract at the
Camp Nou afte
<< Rangers re-sign F Dawes
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Rangers have agreed to terms
on a contract with restricted free agent forward Nigel Dawes, the
club announced Wednesday.
Dawes, 23, registered 14 goals and 15 assists in 61 game
Canadiens keeping O'Byrne >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens signed
defenseman Ryan O'Byrne to a new three-year contract on Wednesday.
O'Byrne, who will turn 24 on July 19, was drafted with the 79th overall pick
in the 2003 NH
Islanders ink Tambellini, Bergenheim >>
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders signed forwards Jeff
Tambellini and Sean Bergenheim to two-year contracts, the team announced
Wednesday.
Tambellini agreed to a deal worth a total of $1.175 million. The contrac
Verdasco, Moya reach Umag quarters >>
Umag, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spanish stars Fernando Verdasco and Carlos
Moya were among Wednesday's second-round winners at the clay-court Croatia
Open Umag.
The top-seeded Verdasco got past French qualifier Mathieu Montcourt 7-6
Marlins' Mitre shelved for season >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida Marlins pitcher Sergio Mitre
underwent ligament replacement "Tommy John" surgery, ending his 2008 season.
The 27-year-old Mitre experienced right forearm tightness in Spring Training
and w
MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined
Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.
"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."
Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)
According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.
As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).
Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.
Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007
New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers
By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.
"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."
While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."
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