11/30/2008 - East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top two contenders for Harness Horse of the Year, Somebeachsomewhere and Deweycheatumnhowe, had completely opposite results in Saturday's Breeders Crown races at The Meadowlands. Somebeachsomewhere captured the $500,000 three-year-old colt pace while Deweycheatumnhowe failed down the stretch in the $500,000 three-year-old colt trot.
Somebeachsomewhere, sent off the as 1-5 favorite in the 10 horse field, posted a two-length victory over 4-1 second choice Shadow Play with Blueridge Western finishing third. Driven by Paul MacDonnell, the favorite covered the mile in 1:48 3/5 and passed Gallo Blue Chip's $2.4 million, set in 2000, for the richest season for a pacer in history. Somebeachsomewhere won 14 of 15 starts this year for $2.45 million.
"He trained super," trainer Brent MacGrath said. "We're looking forward to his new career, too. I think he will be a tremendous sire. I think he'll be as strong in the breeding shed as he was on the racetrack."
Somebeachsomewhere closes his record setting career with earnings of more than $3.2 million while winning all but one of his 21 lifetime starts.
Somebeachsomewhere returned $2.40, $2.10 and $2.10. Shadow Play, winner of the Little Brown Jug, paid $2.80 and $2.20, and Blueridge Western paid $5.00 to show.
Earlier, leading trotter Deweycheatumnhowe suffered just his third career defeat in the Breeders Crown event. In Focus, driven by Dave Palone, passed the 4-5 favorite down the stretch and went on to win by 4 1/4 lengths.
Trained by Jimmy Takter, In Focus was joined by stablemate Holiday Credit in relegating Deweycheatumnhowe to third in the 11 horse field. In Focus trotted the mile in 1:53 4/5.
In Focus posted his 14th win in 25 lifetime starts and has earnings of better than $660,000.
"He's a little funny about his head and stuff but when Ray was on the front end going pretty stiff fractions, I was pretty happy," said Palone, who picked up his first Crown win. "When Ray spoke to Dewey in the final turn, I could tell he wasn't really himself tonight, which worked out great for us."
Driven by trainer and co-owner Ray Schnittker, Deweycheatumnhowe had health problems that nearly kept him out of the Breeders Crown.
"We originally thought it was something like an abscessed tooth," said Schnittker, "but it wasn't an abscess or anything normal. It turned out to be something really strange. Of course it couldn't be something that vets see a lot of. At Cornell they said they saw one like his maybe once every two or three years, and the vet at The Meadowlands said he had never seen anything like it."
"Dewey" closes out his career with 23 wins in 25 starts and earnings of $3,155,178.
In Focus paid $33.00, $14.40 and $5.40. Holiday Credit returned $10.40 and $5.20, Deweycheatumnhowe paid $2.10 to show.
The other winners Saturday in the Breeders Crown races were Honorable Miss in the $700,000 two-year-old filly trot, Fox Valley Topaz in the two-year-old filly pace, Kadealia in the $500,000 three-year-old filly trot, Muscle Hill in the $700,000 two-year-old colt trot, Well Said in the $700,000 two-year-old colt pace and A And G'sconfusion in the $610,000 three-year-old filly pace.
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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 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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