Drosselmeyer storms back to win Belmont Stakes

Horseracing Betting Lines

06/05/2010 - Elmont, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Longshot Drosselmeyer, ridden by Mike Smith, drove down the middle the track to win Saturday's 142nd running of the $1 million Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park. The victory is the first in the race for both the jockey and trainer Bill Mott.

Drosselmeyer is owned by WinStar Farm which also owns Kentucky Derby champ Super Saver. Neither Super Saver nor Preakness champ Lookin At Lucky ran in the race, the first time since 2006 that the Belmont was without both winners of the first two legs of the Triple Crown.

Drosselmeyer and Smith were never far off the pace that was set by Preakness runner-up First Dude and Interactif. Racing right behind the top two were Uptowncharlybrown and Game On Dude. Running in the back of the 12 horse field was Kentucky Derby runner-up and 9-5 Belmont favorite Ice Box.

The top five runners, with Drosselmeyer fifth, entered the far turn in the 1 1/2-mile race with no change in positions. Jockey Jose Lezcano got Ice Box to begin moving toward the leaders with about three-furlongs to run.

At the top of the stretch three horses, First Dude, Game On Dude and Drosselmeyer, had moved as one to the front. Drosselmeyer was on the outside with First Dude inside of him and Game On Dude beginning to tire. Fly Down passed Game On Dude and got to within a length of the first two horses.

With less than a 100 yards to go Drosselmeyer took the lead and was able to hold off Fly Down by three-quarters of a length. Finishing third was First Dude with Game On Dude holding on to fourth.

Completing the order of finish was Uptowncharlybrown, Stay Put, Interactif, Stately Victor, Ice Box, Make Music for Me, Dave in Dixie and Spangled Star.

The time for the Test of Champions was 2:31.57 on a fast track.

"Great training and a great ride," said Doug Cauthen of WinStar Farm. "Mike put a great ride on him. He gave him a beautiful, clear ride."

Drosselmeyer was ridden for the first by Smith after having Kent Desormeaux in the saddle for seven of the first eight starts. Smith has now won all three Triple Crown events. He won the 2005 Kentucky Derby on Giacomo and the 1993 Preakness aboard Prairie Bayou.

The chestnut colt comes away with $600,000 for the victory, just his third in nine career starts. His lifetime earnings now stand at $801,170.

Earlier this year 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. Fly Down won the Dwyer by six-lengths.

Drosselmeyer, sent off at 13-1, returned $28.00, $11.60 and $7.70. Fly Down paid $6.80 and $5.10, and First Dude paid $4.90 to show.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

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