No sharing expected in Lecomte Stakes

Horseracing Betting Lines

01/19/2012 - New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The annual drive to the Kentucky Derby is well underway and Saturday at Fair Grounds Race Course the Louisiana section of the highway commences with the $175,000 Lecomte Stakes.

The mile and 70 yard event is the first of three stakes in the Big Easy for Kentucky Derby probables. The $300,000 Risen Star Stakes follows on Saturday, February 25 and the $1 million Louisiana Derby concludes this section of the trail on Sunday, April 1.

Leading the 13-horse field is Shared Property, winner of the Arlington- Washington Futurity last September 10 at Arlington Park. The 4-1 favorite will again be ridden by Leandro Goncalves for trainer Tom Amoss from the far outside post.

"He showed me he's the kind of horse who will do whatever you want to (in order to) win and that's the kind of horse you need to win races like this," noted Goncalves after winning the Arlington-Washington Futurity.

Owned by Jerry Namy, Shared Property followed his Arlington Park win with a disappointing sixth-place result in the Breeders' Futurity on October 8 as the 5-2 favorite at Keeneland.

With two wins in three career starts the gelding has banked $71,800.

Co-owner and trainer Al Stall Jr. sends out Seven Lively Sins who has been slotted as the 9-2 second choice. Getting the ride on the colt for the first time is local sensation Rosie Napravnik who guided Pants On Fire to victory in last year's Louisiana Derby. Colt and rider will break from post seven.

With Julien Leparoux in the saddle, Seven Lively Sins was second at Churchill Downs in the Iroquois Stakes on October 30 with a fourth on November 19 in the Delta Jackpot at Delta Downs. The colt has earned $96,697 with all four finishes hitting the board.

Listed as the 5-1 third pick in the Lecomte is Exfactor trained by longtime Midwest conditioner Bernie Flint. Owned by Stoneway Farm, the gray colt will start from post four with Shaun Bridgmohan again in the saddle.

Exfactor is coming off a win in last month's Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds as the 3-2 favorite. Last July the colt captured the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs by nearly three-lengths. He has three wins in four starts for $145,348.

"The man that owns this horse (Jim Stone) has his own farm," Flint said the day after winning the Sugar Bowl. "This colt had showed me some promise since I got him, but he was a little on the small side, so after the Bashford Manor I decided to turn him out for five and a half months and let him grow up and be a horse.

"It used to be, you could give a horse all the time he needed to grow up, but with the money they're giving away these days, with the Breeders' Cup and these other rich races, sometimes owners can't afford to let you do that. Fortunately, Mr. Stone let me take my time with this horse, so hopefully now I have a nice horse for a winter campaign here at Fair Grounds and I've given him the proper time to get him ready for the classic distances that will be coming along later."

Here is the field for the Lecomte from the rail out: Adena's Chance, Marlon St. Julien, 20-1; Ted's Folly, Jose Medina, 10-1; Mr. Bowling, Robby Albarado, 8-1; Exfactor, Shaun Bridgmohan, 5-1; Dan and Sheila, John Velazquez, 6-1; Z Dager, Shane Sellers, 6-1; Seven Lively Sins, Rosie Napravnik, 9-2; Alexander Thegreat, John Jacinto, 30-1; Hammers Terror, James Graham, 6-1; Hero of Order, Iram Diego, 20-1; Chalybeate Springs, Brian Hernandez Jr., 20-1; Capetown Devil, Corey Lanerie, 6-1 and Shared Property, Leandro Goncalves, 4-1.

Adena's Chance and Hero of Order will race as an entry as will Dan and Sheila and Z Dager.

Post-time for the Lecomte is slated for 5:55 p.m. (et).

Wwwlvegas Horseracing Betting News

<< Kaiserslautern acquires Wagner from Bremen
Kaiserslautern, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kaiserslautern signed former Bayern Munich striker Sandro Wagner on loan from Werder Bremen on Thursday, although he will not face his former club Saturday. Wagner, 24, joins on a 1 1/2-year loan,

<< Freiburg adds defender Guede
Freiburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Freiburg signed defender Karim Guede from Slovan Bratislava on Thursday, as the struggling Bundesliga side continued its winter makeover. The German-born Guede was a regular for Slovan from 2010-11, and i

<< Georgia State set for CAA debut in 2012
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Georgia State announced on Thursday a 2012 football schedule highlighted by the Panthers' first season in CAA Football and a non-conference game at the University of Tennessee. When Georgia State kicks off its

<< Blackburn adds Modeste on loan from Bordeaux
Blackburn, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Blackburn signed striker Anthony Modeste on loan from French side Bordeaux on Thursday for the rest of the Premiership season. Modeste, 23, has 13 goals in 52 Ligue 1 appearances for Bordeaux, but has j

<< Dortmund's Gotze to miss Hamburg match
Dortmund, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Borussia Dortmund and Germany midfielder Mario Gotze will miss Sunday's fixture at Hamburg when the Bundesliga returns from its winter break. Gotze, 19, has a groin injury and Dortmund manager Jurgen K

Indians invite Lewis, Accardo to camp >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians signed outfielder Fred Lewis and pitcher Jeremy Accardo to minor league contracts with invitations to the team's spring training camp. Lewis, a second-round draft pick by the San Fran

Griffin, Luck among 65 early-entry draft candidates >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III and runner-up Andrew Luck are among a record 65 players who have been given special eligibility for April's NFL Draft. The old mark of 56 early-entry candidate

Predators claim Yip off waivers >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Nashville Predators claimed forward Brandon Yip off waivers from the Colorado Avalanche and activated forward Jerred Smithson from injured reserve. The 26-year-old Yip has played in just 10 gam

Vikings name Alan Williams defensive coordinator >>
Eden Prairie, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Vikings have hired Alan Williams to be their new defensive coordinator, the team announced Thursday. Williams spent the last 10 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts as a defensive backs coach. Viking

McNeese State CB Jackson, former prep standout, enters draft >>
Lake Charles, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - McNeese State cornerback Janzen Jackson has declared for the 2012 NFL Draft as a junior-eligible prospect. He was one of a record-setting 65 underclassmen who have been ruled eligible for the draft, which

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.