Muscle Hill equals record with Hambletonian win
Horseracing Betting Lines
08/08/2009 - East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Leading three-year-old trotter Muscle Hill, sent off as the 3-10 favorite, easily defeated nine rivals Saturday to win harness racing's marquee event, the $1.52 million Hambletonian at The Meadowlands. Driven by Brian Sears, the colt equaled the world for the mile at 1:50 1/5.
Muscle Hill, trained by Greg Peck, took the lead at start from the inside post in the ten horse field. Sears never allowed any of the other trotters to seriously challenge his mount.
Racing in second for the mile was Explosive Matter with Symphonic Hanover in third and Triumphant Caviar racing in fourth. Muscle Hill opened up down the stretch from Explosive Matter.
The odds-on favorite posted a six-length victory over Explosive Matter and driver Ron Pierce. Finishing third was Calchips Brute with The Chancellor getting up for fourth.
Rounding out the order of finish for the 84th Hambletonian was Symphonic Hanover, Reinsman Hanover, Judge Joe, Triumphant Caviar, Federal Flex and Hot Shot Blue Chip.
Muscle Hill returned $2.60, $2.10 and $2.10. Explosive Matter paid $3.20 and $2.40, and Calchips Brute paid $6.60 to show.
"Midway around the last turn, I could see Ronny (Pierce) tapping Explosive Matter and I knew what that meant," Peck said. "I know what Muscle Hill is like and when Brian steps on the gas he's like a sports car that just goes into overdrive and does it easily. Before we went on air on NBC, I said I thought he'd go in 1:50 today."
The Hambletonian win gave Sears a sweep of the two major stakes of the day. In the companion $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks for three-year-old filly trotters, Broadway Schooner posted a nose victory over Raising Rachel. Driven by Sears, Broadway Schooner trotted the mile in 1:54.
Sears and trainer Greg Peck also captured the $523,600 Peter Haughton Memorial with Holiday Road earlier in the afternoon. Broadway Schooner is trained by Jim Campbell.
"It's very humbling to win such prestigious races on a day like today," said Sears. "I knew I had the horse this year to get it done and I never had any doubts. This horse has just been waiting for me to call on him. I knew he's been sitting on a big one and he didn't let me down."
Muscle Hill has now won 13 straight starts after losing his career debut. The Hambletonian win was worth $750,000 to brings his career earnings to better than $1.8 million.
Owned by Jerry Silva, TLP Stable, Southwind Farm and Muscle Hill Racing, Muscle Hill was coming off a victory in one of three Hambletonian elimination heats last Saturday. Also winning elimination heats last week were Symphonic Hanover and Explosive Matter.
Muscle Hill is the third consecutive two-year-old champion trotter to capture the sport's most prestigious race. Donato Hanover won in 2007 and Deweycheatumnhowe finished first last year. Those two colts also lost their first career start.
The Hambletonian is the first leg of trotting's Triple Crown, which also includes the Yonkers Trot and Kentucky Futurity. There have been nine Triple Crown winning trotters, the last being Glidemaster in 2006.
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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.
Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.
Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.
Memphis vs. Ohio State
Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.
UCLA vs. Kansas
In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.
With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action. Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”. By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.
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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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