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03/03/2010 - Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 73rd running of the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap (Big 'Cap) at Santa Anita Park has attracted 13 males and one female. The 14 thoroughbreds will be asked to run 1 1/4-miles Saturday on Santa Anita's synthetic track.
The lone female in the field is Santa Maria Handicap winner St Trinians. The five-year-old mare would become the first female to win the Big 'Cap which was first run in 1935. In 2004, four-year-old filly Island Fashion was second behind Southern Image.
Trained by Mike Mitchell, St Trinians will start from post two with Joel Rosario again riding. The mare is undefeated in four starts since coming to the United States from England.
"It's kind of a plus, I think," Mitchell said about the failure of 41 females in their attempts to win the Big 'Cap. "We know they can do it, and she gets a little better break in the weights than if I ran against Zenyatta a week later. If there is a question, it's if she can go a mile and a quarter, and I think she can, the way she finished winning the Santa Maria."
Owned by Dan Capen and Laura Chavers, St Trinians has won seven of 11 career starts for $268,587. She won the Paseana Handicap in January at Santa Anita, where she is perfect in three tries.
"When she won going 7 -furlongs at Hollywood off a layoff (last December 3)," Mitchell continued, "she was on the lead most of the way, and that kind of surprised me. Nobody really wanted to take the lead, and she was fresh, but now, you can kind of do whatever you want with her, depending on who goes in this race. With a full field, it looks like there's a fair amount of speed."
Turf specialist Loup Breton will attempt a synthetic surface for the first time on Saturday. With jockey Garrett Gomez in the saddle, the six-year-old will break from post six for trainer Julio Canani.
"This horse probably can make the conversion," Gomez said, "because he works well on synthetic all the time, although working on it and running on it are two different things. But his style is good for this distance and he's a really nice horse."
Owned by Guy Wildenstein, Loup Breton has raced exclusively on grass in his 21 lifetime starts and has earnings of $677,614 with five wins. In January he won the San Marcos Handicap at 1 1/4-miles and in December was second to Proudinsky in the San Gabriel Handicap.
"Anabaa is the leading synthetic sire in Europe," Canani said about Loup Breton's sire. "He sired Anabaa's Creation, who was second by a head to Zenyatta in the Clement Hirsch (in August, 2008 at Del Mar), so we're taking a shot."
Here is the full field for the Big 'Cap in post position order: Pick Six, Alex Solis; St Trinians, Joel Rosario; Rendezvous, Joe Talamo; Neko Bay, Mike Smith; Eagle Poise, Tyler Baze; Loup Breton, Garrett Gomez; Mast Track, David Flores; Pool Play, Chantal Sutherland; Marsh Side, Martin Pedroza; Tiger's Rock, David Cohen; Dakota Phone, Victor Espinoza; Delightful Kiss, Juan Leyva; Misremembered, Martin Garcia and Jeranimo, Rafael Bejarano.
Also on the Saturday card is the rescheduled Sham Stakes with 10 three-year- olds entered. The 1 1/8-mile race is a prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 3.
The Santa Anita Handicap has a scheduled post-time of 7:38 p.m. (et) and the Sham is set to go off at 6:07 p.m. (et).
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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 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.
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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