Leading fillies do battle in Alabama
Horseracing Betting Lines
08/18/2010 - Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Devil May Care and Blind Luck top a field of six for Saturday's $500,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga for three- year-old fillies.
The top two fillies are meeting for the first time since last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Blind Luck was third and Devil May Care finished 11th behind champion She Be Wild.
Both fillies are ranked in the NTRA Thoroughbred Poll. Blind Luck is seventh with Devil May Care just below in eighth.
Devil May Care, with jockey John Velazquez, will start from post two and Blind Luck will be ridden by Joel Rosario from the four post.
Devil May Care is coming off a dominating victory in the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. Trained by Todd Pletcher the filly won by four- lengths in the 1 1/8-mile stakes.
"We're looking forward to the matchup," Pletcher said. "It's not a two- horse race, but you are putting the two most accomplished fillies on the racetrack and ultimately that's what everyone wants to see - the two best meeting each other. There's no better barometer than a head-to-head matchup.
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Blind Luck. She's got that extra something special you like to see in a racehorse - that desire to win. She keeps finding a way to get there."
Owned by Glencrest Farm, Devil May Care won the Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park after her 10th place finish in the Kentucky Derby. She began the year with a fifth in the Silverbulletday Stakes, but followed by winning the Bonnie Miss Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
"I do feel she is getting more professional and she's learning to polish her races off a little bit," Pletcher noted. "She's had that tendency to make the lead and wait. That's why you have to be careful in a situation like (the Alabama) where you have a horse like Blind Luck that's relentless and keeps coming. You can't make mistakes; you can't get there and idle and let them catch you by surprise."
Devil May Care has earned $699,000 in eight career starts with five wins.
Blind Luck, trained by co-owner Jerry Hollendorfer, will be making her initial start at historic Saratoga.
With Rosario aboard, Blind Luck posted a nose victory in the Delaware Oaks last month. In June she was second to Switch in the Hollywood Oaks which came after her furious rally to win the Kentucky Oaks.
Blind Luck won the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park in April as the 1-2 favorite. In February the filly won the Las Virgenes at Santa Anita as the 1-5 favorite, but failed at 1-2 to Crisp in the Santa Anita Oaks in March when she finished third.
The three-year-old has won eight of 12 career starts for more than $1.5 million.
Here is the full field for the Alabama in post position order: Acting Happy, Jose Lezcano; Devil May Care, John Velazquez; Tizahit, Edgar Prado; Blind Luck, Joel Rosario; Connie and Michael, Rajiv Maragh and Havre de Grace, Jeremy Rose.
The Alabama has a scheduled post-time of 5:50 p.m. (et).
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What Is the Point Spread?
What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?
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.
How to Read Point Spreads
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:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
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.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?
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.