2010 Racing Hall of Fame class inducted

Horseracing Betting Lines

08/13/2010 - Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Horses of the Year Point Given and Azeri, along with Best Pal and retired jockey Randy Romero, were inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame on Friday.

Also enshrined were 19th century horse Harry Bassett, trainer Michael Ernest 'Buster' Millerick and jockey Don Pierce, who were elected by the Historic Review Committee of the National Museum of Racing.

Point Given was Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Male for 2001. The colt won the San Felipe Stakes and Santa Anita Derby on the trail to the Kentucky Derby, but was fifth as the favorite in that year's Run for the Roses before coming back to win both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Point Given, ridden by Gary Stevens, also won the Haskell and Travers. Trained by Bob Baffert, Point Given retired with nine victories in 13 career starts and earnings of $3,968,500.

In 2002, Azeri won the Breeders' Cup Distaff and was named Horse of the Year and Champion Older Female. She again was voted Champion Older Female in 2003 and 2004. When she retired, she had won 17 of 24 races and was the all-time leader in earnings among females with $4,079,820.

In a seven-year racing career, Best Pal earned $5,668,245 with 18 wins in 47 starts. In 1992 he won the Santa Anita Handicap and the following year took the Hollywood Gold Cup.

Romero won 4,294 races and had earnings of $75,264,198 in a 27-year career. He was the regular rider of two-time champion filly Go for Wand and the undefeated Personal Ensign. Personal Ensign, who died in April, won the 1989 Eclipse Award as Champion Older Female.

"Dreams really do come true," said Romero about his Hall of Fame induction. "I was lucky in that I was able to associate myself around good people and good horses. It is good horses that make good jockeys."

Harry Bassett was a champion at age two in 1870, unbeaten champion at three and a top handicapper at four. He was bred by A.J. Alexander and raised at Woodburn Farm in Kentucky, and was owned and trained by Col. David McDaniel.

As a two-year-old he won the Nursery Stakes at Jerome Park and the Supper Stakes at Pimlico. The following season he captured the Belmont Stakes, Jersey Derby, Travers Stakes and Kenner Stakes.

Harry Bassett also posted victories as a three-year-old in the Champion Stakes and Bowie Stakes. His 14-race win streak was stopped in his four-year-old campaign by Longfellow in the Monmouth Cup. Three days later he defeated Longfellow in the Saratoga Cup

Harry Bassett completed his career with 23 wins in 36 starts and earnings of $55,920.

Millerick was a trainer for almost 50 years, retiring in 1984, and won 1,886 races and trained 54 individual stakes winners. His best horse was probably Native Diver, who entered the Hall of Fame in 1978.

Native Diver won 37 races, including 34 stakes, in 81 starts with over $1 million during seven seasons. He won three straight Hollywood Gold Cups from 1965-1967 and as an eight-year-old captured the Del Mar Handicap and won both the Los Angeles Handicap and San Carlos Handicap.

Pierce rode for 30 years and retired with 3,546 wins, including 351 stakes victories, in 28,740 mounts. He concluded his riding career with purse earnings of $39,018,422.

Pierce won the Santa Anita Handicap four times from 1960 to 1972. From 1969 to 1973 he won each running of the Los Angeles Handicap as well as five runnings of the Santa Anita Oaks. In addition, he won the Del Mar Debutante and Hollywood Oaks four times each and the Del Mar Derby, Del Mar Oaks, Santa Monica Handicap, Santa Ana Handicap and Santa Margarita Handicap three times apiece.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.