Honors Saturday for Rapid Redux and friends
Horseracing Betting Lines
02/14/2012 - Laurel, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Record holder Rapid Redux and his connections will receive another honor on Saturday at one of their favorite tracks. The Maryland Jockey Club will recognize the gelding as well as his owner Robert Cole along with trainer David Wells and jockey J.D. Acosta at Laurel Park.
Rapid Redux has won 22 straight starts including a perfect 19-for-19 in 2011. The six-year-old won as the 3-10 favorite on December 13 at Laurel Park for his 19th victory of last year, matching the modern mark for a single year held by Citation and early 20th-century horse Roseben. Citation equaled Roseben's record in 1948, the same year he won the Triple Crown.
"We were able to run seven times in Maryland during the streak, including Timonium, and it is good it worked out that way because I am a Maryland guy," Cole said. "When the country was watching as we closed in on the record he was running here. Even though he trains at Penn National I think people think of him as a Maryland horse. David and I feel that way, too."
Rapid Redux received the Special Eclipse Award at last month's ceremony in Beverly Hills. The honor was for extraordinary service, individual achievements in, or contributions to the sport of thoroughbred racing.
"It was fun going to California and talking to all the big stars in racing," "It was a little scary being on the stage. The lights were so bright you couldn't see the crowd but I felt comfortable. I wanted the racing world to know how much I appreciated David's training and how proud I was of the horse.
"He is doing fine on David's farm and we are hoping to extend the streak. If he was a normal horse he would be coming back to race for sure but we don't want to bring him back if he is not the same horse. That is the predicament we have and we don't know where we'll be in May or June when he is ready to go again. We are uncommitted at this time. He has given us everything he's got and you don't want to go to the well one too many times."
The chestnut gelding also was recognized with the 2011 Secretariat 'Vox Populi,' or "Voice of the People," Award. The award is given to a horse "whose popularity and racing excellence best resounded with the American public and gained recognition for thoroughbred racing."
The gelding began the win streak on December 2, 2010 at Penn National. He broke the record for consecutive wins last November at Mountaineer Park with his 20th straight victory.
Rapid Redux has career earnings of $361,609 with 28 wins in 42 starts. Since being claimed by Cole in October, 2010 at Penn National, the gelding has won 23 of 24 races for $266,074.
"I talked to Penny Chenery (Secretariat's owner) on the phone for 10 or 15 minutes," Cole said. "I got to tell her the story of how I won a three-way shake the night I took him. The night before I claimed a horse at Charles Town for $25,000 and he never ended up winning a race. That's how crazy this story is. You spend $25,000 on a horse who can't win then $6,000 the next night on a horse who wins 22 in a row. He certainly had upside when we claimed him because of the conditions he was eligible for and his early speed, which gave him potential to make us money. Wells transferred him into an unforgettable, priceless horse with a spot in history."
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MySportsbook.com Releases World Series Championship Lines
New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox early favorites to win 2008 World Series
The Major League Baseball season starts this weekend and MySportsbook.com, a leading online sportsbook for over 8 years, is the first to offer baseball sports betting lines on who will win the 2007 World Series.
"The World Series is the biggest baseball event in the sports betting world and MySportsbook.com is excited that we are first to market with betting lines on every team," says Tim Dalton, Marketing Director, MySportsbook.com. "We are getting things ready for a great baseball season and our members are looking forward to our Player Payback Bonuses, as well as Dime Lines, all season long."
Going in to this weekend, MySportsbook.com's favorites to win the World Series are the New York Yankees at 7-2 and last year’s winners the Chicago White Sox at 9-2.
"These betting lines are ripe for the picking," Dalton added, "baseball fans know that the season is long and many factors, including players staying healthy, will affect these Future odds as the baseball season progresses. Betting on your favorite team in the beginning of the season could prove quite lucrative. We are seeing examples of this right now in the NCAA College Basketball Tournament with a lucky few that placed pre-season bets on George Mason to win it all. Anything can happen."
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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting
So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.
Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?
If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)
Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).
In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.
Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.
| The Bubble Breakdown | |||
| CONFERENCE | LOCKS | SHOULD BE INS | AT-LARGES TAKEN (assuming no auto bid outlier) |
| ACC Betting Odds | 6 | 0 | 5 |
| Big East Betting Odds | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Big Ten Betting Odds | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Big 12 Betting Odds | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Pac-10 Betting Odds | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| SEC Betting Odds | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| MVC Betting Odds | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MWC Betting Odds | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 28 | 5 | 25 |
As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.
(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)
If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.
Work left to do:
Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.
Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).
Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.
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