Rachel Alexandra working toward next start

Horseracing Betting Lines

05/24/2010 - Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra put in a solid workout Monday morning at Churchill Downs. The four-year-old filly had Shaun Bridgmohan in the saddle for the five-furlong training session.

Trained by Steve Asmussen, Rachel went the five-furlongs in 1:00 2/5 on a fast track. She galloped out six-furlongs in 1:12 4/5 and seven-furlongs in 1:26.

"She looked great and galloped out super," Asmussen said. "She's doing well. It was just very nice. It was nice and smooth, covered ground well and was out very strong."

Owned by Stonestreet Stables and Harold McCormick, the champion racehorse is still seeking her first win of the year. She suffered her first loss of 2010, after going undefeated in eight starts last year, at the Fair Grounds on March 13 to Zardana by three-quarters of a length in the New Orleans Ladies Classic. Rachel was again second in the La Troienne at Churchill Downs on April 30 to Unrivaled Belle.

A possible start for Rachel could be the $600,000 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs on Saturday, June 12. She would be facing male thoroughbreds in the 1 1/8-mile race, including Woodford Reserve Turf Classic winner General Quarters.

In 2009 the filly defeated three-year-old colts in the Preakness and Haskell Invitational, and older males in the Woodward.

Rachel Alexandra has career earnings of just over $3 million with 11 wins in 16 lifetime races.

Sportautochance Horseracing Betting News

<< Renteria earns first MLS Player of the Week award
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Columbus Crew forward Emilio Renteria was voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 9 of the 2010 MLS season on Monday. Renteria supplied two goals for the Crew in as many games this wee

<< Mauer leads AL All-Star balloting
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer is the top vote-getter after the first set of American League All-Star balloting results. The reigning American League Most Valuable Player has drawn

<< How important is No. 1?
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Mickelson has another chance to become the No. 1 player in the world. He had a below-average Players Championship, where he could've supplanted Tiger Woods. Now, Mickelson can once again lay claim to

<< Nash has broken nose, says he will be fine
PHOENIX (AP) -Steve Nash has a broken nose but says he doesn't expect it to be a problem for him in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.The Phoenix playmaker sustained the slight fracture in a fourth-quarter collision with Derek Fisher in the Su

<< Texans WR Johnson hires agent
HOUSTON (AP) -Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson is no longer relying solely on his uncle for contract advice.Johnson said Monday he has hired Kennard McGuire as his agent, but his uncle Andre Melton will remain a trusted adviser.Johnson say

Reds put Bailey on DL >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds have placed pitcher Homer Bailey on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. Bailey left his start Sunday after 2 1/3 innings with shoulder tightness, charged

Towson going prime time >>
Towson, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The three biggest crowds in Johnny Unitas Stadium history occurred at night, and Towson hopes to build momentum this season by playing three night home games for the first time since 2005. Towson's night home ga

Morrison wins U.S. Open qualifier at Walton Heath >>
Surrey, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - James Morrison won a sectional U.S. Open qualifier at Walton Heath on Monday, earning his first trip to a major championship. Morrison finished at 11-under par, won the qualifier by two shots

MRI shows inflammation, no structural damage for Cards' Lohse >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - An MRI scan on the right forearm of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Kyle Lohse showed no evidence of structural damage, but did reveal post-exercise inflammation. Lohse was rocked in his last start, as he gav

Fujita wins Asian U.S. Open qualifier >>
Saitama, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hiroyuki Fujita of Japan won the U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Japan on Monday at Musashi Country Club. Fujita finished two rounds at 15-under 129 and earned a spot in the field June 17, 2010 at Pebble

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com