Misremembered wins Big 'Cap and Alphie's Bet takes Sham

Horseracing Betting Lines

03/06/2010 - Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Misremembered, ridden by Martin Garcia, held off Neko Bay down the stretch to win Saturday's 73rd running of the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap (Big 'Cap) at Santa Anita Park.

The four-year-old covered the 1 1/4-miles in 2:00.20.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Misremembered was trying to snap a three-race losing streak, where he was second in each attempt. He was coming off a loss to Jeranimo as the 7-10 favorite in the Strub Stakes at Santa Anita.

The pace in the Big 'Cap was set by Mast Track with jockey David Flores. Misremembered was racing second with Marsh Side third and Jeranimo running fourth in the 14-horse field.

Entering the far turn, Misremembered swung to the outside to take the lead as Dakota Phone made a move to the front. Misremembered had the lead at the top of the stretch as Neko Bay, on the inside, went past Dakota Phone.

Misremembered was able to repel Neko Bay down the stretch and posted a neck victory over the seven-year-old. Dakota Phone finished third, with Jeranimo fourth.

Completing the order of finish was Rendezvous, St Trinians, Marsh Side, Delightful Kiss, Pick Six, Pool Play, Loup Breton, Tiger's Rock, Eagle Poise and Mast Track. St Trinians was the only female in the race.

Misremembered is co-owned by Baffert and Natalie and George Jacobs. The Big 'Cap win was worth $450,000 and was the fifth career victory for the horse in 11 career starts. Misremembered has lifetime earnings of $1,188,589.

Last year he won the Swaps and Indiana Derby and finished 2009 as the runner- up in the Clark Handicap and Malibu Stakes.

Misremembered returned $10.80, $6.00 and $4.40. Neko Bay paid $7.80 and $6.00, and Dakota Phone paid $10.40 to show.

Additionally, in the rescheduled Sham Stakes for three-year-olds, it was Alphie's Bet taking the lead at the top of the stretch on his way to a 2 1/4- length victory. The Sham is a prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 3.

Alphie's Bet, ridden by Alex Solis, captured the $150,000 Sham and put himself on the road to the Kentucky Derby. Sent off at 8-1 in the 10 horse field, Alphie's Bet won the 1 1/8-mile stakes in a time of 1:48.72.

Finishing second was 5-2 favorite Setsuko followed by The Program, Outlaw Man, Boulder Creek, Marcello, Nextdoorneighbor, Kettle River, El Mirage King and Wolf Tail.

Alphie's Bet is trained by Alexis Barba for owners Peter Johnson and Teresa McWilliams. The win was worth $90,000 and is the colt's first stakes victory. In five career starts, Alphie's Bet has two wins and $141,320.

"He was a little bit closer than I thought he'd be," Barba said. "I was pleased to see it, actually. I was pleased to see that he got into the race a little earlier than his last race, in which he was kind of pinched back a little bit. So it was nice to see him closer, instead of that horrifying last place at the quarter pole. I'm not sure what we're going to do with this horse yet (for his next race). We're going to discuss it and then we're going to let you know after we figure it out."

Alphie's Bet paid $19.00, $8.40 and $4.80. Setsuko returned $4.40 and $3.20, and The Program paid $4.00 to show.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.