Anybody's choice in 142nd Belmont Stakes

Horseracing Betting Lines

06/03/2010 - Elmont, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pick the horses out of a hat for Saturday's running of the $1 million Belmont Stakes. Any of the 12 horses has a good chance of winning the third jewel of racing's Triple Crown.

The two second-place horses from the first two legs of the series are the lukewarm favorites with the Dwyer Stakes winner the third choice. Ice Box is 3-1 in the program, First Dude is 7-2 and Fly Down is 9-2. None of the other nine entrants are less than 10-1 in the morning-line.

Ice Box and Fly Down are trained by two-time Belmont winner Nick Zito. Uptowncharlybrown, 10-1, is trained by Kiaran McLaughlin who had Jazil win the 2006 Belmont. Bob Baffert, who sends out Game On Dude, won the 2001 Belmont with favorite Point Given and Todd Pletcher, who trains Interactif, won the 2007 running with the filly Rags to Riches.

"Obviously (with favorites), there's more pressure, anxiety, on the other hand, if they run well, you have to be content," said Zito. "I always like to steal Billy Turner's line, 'It's pressure when you don't have Seattle Slew."

Post position should have no bearing on the outcome of the race. Belmont Park is the largest track in the country and all the jockeys are veteran riders. Alan Garcia, a young up and coming reinsman, won the race two years ago aboard Da' Tara.

Garcia and John Velazquez are the only two riders in the race to have won the Test of Champions. Velazquez won aboard Rags to Riches.

Ice Box won the Florida Derby, went off at better than 11-1 in the Run for the Roses and finished a fast closing second to Super Saver. His stablemate Fly Down was ninth in the Louisiana Derby and had a five week break before winning the Dwyer.

First Dude likes to be near the lead. He was fifth in the Florida Derby, third in the Blue Grass Stakes to Stately Victor and got second in the Preakness after being on the lead.

"He's a big, strong, long-striding colt, and this track should suit him," said trainer Dale Romans about First Dude.

Along with Uptowncharlybrown the other 10-1 horses in the race are Make Music for Me and Game On Dude. Uptowncharlybrown raced at Tampa Bay Downs this winter where he won the Pasco Stakes, was third in the Sam F. Davis and fifth in the Tampa Bay Derby. he was third in the Lexington behind recent winner Exhi.

"He's been doing great since we got him, and I am excited about our chances," said McLaughlin who succeeds the late Alan Seewald as Uptowncharlybrown's trainer. "I'm looking forward to running him."

Make Music for Me is trained by Alexis Barba, who can become the first female trainer to win the Belmont. The colt was fourth in the Kentucky Derby after being sixth in the Blue Grass.

Game On Dude is coming off a win in the Lone Star Derby in Texas. Earlier he was seventh in the Florida Derby and fifth in the Derby Trial.

"I am looking forward to seeing what he will do going a distance of ground," said Baffert. "That's the key to the Belmont -- having a horse who can go that far."

None of the horses in the race may ever run 1 1/2-miles again.

Veteran trainer Bill Mott is going after his first Belmont Stakes victory. He trains Drosselmeyer for WinStar Farm, the owner of Kentucky Derby champ Super Saver. Drosselmeyer was fourth in the Risen Star Stakes as the 2-1 favorite, came back to be third in the Louisiana Derby and was second in the Dwyer as the 7-10 favorite.

"I think he's in there with a chance," said Mott about his horse who is 12-1.

Also at 12-1 in the program is Interactif. As a two-year-old he did very well on the turf, winning two stakes and finishing third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. Earlier this year he was second in the San Felipe Stakes and fourth in the Blue Grass.

Blue Grass Stakes winner Stately Victor is 15-1 in the morning-line. Trained by Mike Maker, the chestnut colt was eighth in the Run for the Roses.

Dave in Dixie and Stay Put are both 20-1 in the program and Spangles Star brings up the rear at 30-1.

Close your eyes and pick a winner. I like Make Music for Me to be part of the exacta. Throw in any of the other horses and you got yourself a winning ticket.

Nikkansport Horseracing Betting News

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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