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03/13/2010 - New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, making her first start in six months, was defeated by Zardana in Saturday's $200,000 New Orleans Ladies at the Fair Grounds.
The 1 1/16-mile race had a field of five older females and was added to the Fair Grounds' stakes schedule earlier this year.
Owned by Jess Jackson and Hal McCormick, Rachel Alexandra broke from post two with Zardana in post three. Rachel was the 1-5 morning-line favorite and Zardana was the 5-1 second pick.
Setting the pace in the New Orleans Ladies was Fighter Wing with Rachel along side. The rest of the field was two or three lengths behind the two leaders.
Ridden by Calvin Borel, Rachel took the lead around the far turn as Zardana and jockey David Flores moved forward on the outside. Zardana and Rachel were together at the top of the stretch and the favorite appeared to have a short lead with a furlong to run.
Zardana took the lead with about 100 yards left, as Borel did not push Rachel to go past. Zardana registered a three-quarters length win over Rachel with Unforgotten finishing third followed by Fighter Wing and Clear Sailing.
The time for the New Orleans Ladies was 1:43.55 on a fast track.
Rachel Alexandra, trained by Steve Asmussen, is scheduled to face Zenyatta next month in the $5 million Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park.
Zardana is trained by John Shirreffs who also trains Zenyatta. Owned by Arnold Zetcher, Zardana has won eight of 19 lifetime starts for $428,421.
She was coming off a fourth-place finish to St Trinians in the Santa Maria Handicap. Zardana concluded 2009 with a win in the Bayakoa Handicap in December at Hollywood Park.
Zardana paid $21.00, $3.20 and $2.60. Rachel Alexandra, who was undefeated in 2009, returned $2.10 and $2.10, and Unforgotten paid $3.20 to show.
<< Quinn exit may be near as Delhomme lands with Browns
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Browns have reportedly signed
quarterback Jake Delhomme, lending credibility to the rumors that Brady Quinn
will soon be dealt.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Saturday that Delhomme si
<< Els and Schwartzel share first at Doral
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ernie Els was joined atop the leaderboard by
fellow South African Charl Schwartzel after Saturday's third round of the WGC-
CA Championship.
Els, the second-round leader, managed a two-under 70 at the TPC
<< Sam Houston State wins Southland, goes to NCAA Tournament
Katy, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gilberto Clavell scored 21 points, grabbed five
rebounds, and dished out four assists, as the top-seeded Sam Houston State
Bearkats punched their ticked to the NCAA Tournament with a 64-48 victory over
Stephen
<< Richmond reaches first A-10 title game since 2002
Atlantic City, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Anderson posted 27 points and six
rebounds as Richmond advanced to the Atlantic 10 final with an 89-85 decision
over 24th-ranked Xavier.
David Gonzalvez added 26 points and five assists for the
Chad Collins leads in Puerto Rico >>
Rio Grande, Puerto Rico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chad Collins found himself alone in
the lead during the suspended second round of the Puerto Rico Open.
Collins is six-under par through 11 holes of his second round and is in first
place at nine-u
Yellow Jackets hold off NC State to make ACC final >>
Greensboro, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Derrick Favors registered 17 points and
eight rebounds, as Georgia Tech overcame sloppy play down the stretch to get
by NC State, 57-54, and advance to the ACC Tournament final.
Gani Lawal posted 12
Zenyatta remains unbeaten with Santa Margarita win >>
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time champion mare Zenyatta made a
successful 2010 debut Saturday in the $250,000 Santa Margarita Invitational
at Santa Anita Park. The six-year-old mare is now perfect in 15 career starts.
Zeny
Lookin At Lucky captures Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn >>
Hot Springs, AR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Champion colt Lookin At Lucky made a
successful debut Saturday as a three-year-old in the $300,000 Rebel Stakes at
Oaklawn Park. The 2009 champion two-year-old was the even-money favorite in
the sev
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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