Rachel Alexandra garners Lady's Secret victory

Horseracing Betting Lines

07/24/2010 - Oceanport, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rachel Alexandra, 2009 Horse of the Year, used a stalking ride Saturday to win the $400,000 Lady's Secret Stakes at Monmouth Park. The champion filly won the 1 1/8-mile race by three-lengths over Queen Martha.

Owned by Stonestreet Stable and Hal McCormick, Rachel tracked Queen Martha for most of the race under extremely hot conditions. The post-time temperature at Monmouth Park was 95 degrees.

Ridden by her regular jockey, Calvin Borel, the four-year-old filly drew even with the pacesetter on the turn for home and then quickly went past the rival.

Rachel, making her second career start at the Jersey shore track, took command at the head of the stretch and easily notched her second victory of the year. Queen Martha was second followed by Ask the Moon, Stage Trick, Hark, Yes She's a Lady and Fabulous Babe.

The champion stopped the timer at 1:49.78 on a fast track.

Rachel, trained by Steve Asmussen, has won 13 of 18 career starts for $3,446,730. This year she has won two of four races for $498,376.

"She's bigger than she was last year," said assistant trainer Scott Blasi. "She's put on weight. Last year, if you looked at her neck, it was narrow. Now it's filled out. She's just doing great."

Last year in Monmouth's Haskell Invitational, the filly defeated three-year- old males by six-lengths. She was perfect in eight starts in 2009.

In her most recent start this year she won the Fleur de Lis by 10 1/2-lengths on June 12. She came up short in her initial two starts of 2010. She was second to Zardana at the Fair Grounds in the New Orleans Ladies Classic and runner-up to Unrivaled Belle at Churchill Downs in the La Troienne.

Sent off as the 1-10 favorite, Rachel Alexandra returned $2.20, $2.10 and $2.10. Queen Martha paid $2.80 and $2.40, and Ask The Moon paid $3.80 to show.

At Saratoga Race Course, odds-on favorite Devil May Care came from just off the pace to capture the $250,000 Coaching Club American Oaks for three-year- old fillies. Ridden by John Velazquez, the 7-10 favorite covered the 1 1/8- miles in 1:49.42 on a fast surface.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Devil May Care used an outside move around the final turn to take the lead at the top of the stretch and go on to win her second straight race by four-lengths. Biofuel was second followed by Acting Happy, Bahama Bound, Seeking the Title and Absinthe Minded.

Connie and Michael and Lisa's Booby Trap were both scratched from the Oaks.

Devil May Care, owned by Glencrest Farm, added $150,000 to her bankroll which now stands at $699,000. The filly was coming off a win in the Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park four weeks ago. She has won five of her eight career starts. She has a chance to sweep the Triple Tiara series by winning the Alabama Stakes in August.

Devil May Care paid $3.40, $2.40 and $2.10. Biofuel returned $4.00 and $2.60, and Acting Happy paid $2.50 to show.

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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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