Eagle Poise captures Valedictory Stakes

Horseracing Betting Lines

12/04/2011 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eagle Poise, ridden by Patrick Husbands, edged past Harrods Creek right before the wire to win Sunday's $150,000 Valedictory Stakes on closing day at Woodbine Race Course. The five-year-old gelding covered the 1 3/4-miles in 2:57.62 on the synthetic surface.

Breeders' Cup Marathon winner Afleet Again and last year's Valedictory runner- up Eye of the Leopard went off as the 2-1 co-favorites in the six-horse field. Eagle Poise, second in the 2009 Valedictory, was 3-1 and Bill Mott's Harrods Creek was 7-2.

Longshot Getta Rhythm set the pace followed by Harrods Creek, Eye of the Leopard, Alpha Bettor, Eagle Poise and Afleet Again. With a mile to run Getta Rhythm, 36-1 on the board, still had the lead with Harrods Creek running second followed by Eye of the Leopard, Eagle Poise, 11-1 longshot Alpha Bettor and Afleet Again. The BC Marathon champ, ridden by Cornelio Velasquez, began to get going with six-furlongs to go.

Midway up the backstretch the top two runners had separated themselves from the rest of the field as Afleet Again continued to advance. On the final turn Harrods Creek, with Chantal Sutherland riding, moved to the lead with Eagle Poise going past Eye of the Leopard into second and Afleet Again moving into fourth.

Down the stretch Eagle Poise and Harrods Creek hooked up for the drive. The two battled through the stretch until Eagle Poise was able get his head on the wire ahead of Harrods Creek.

Eye of the Leopard, 2009 Queen's Plate winner, finished third followed by Afleet Again, Alpha Bettor and Getta Rhythm

Owned by Riverdee Stable, Eagle Poise is trained by Graham Motion conditioner of this year's Kentucky Derby champ Animal Kingdom. Eagle Poise notched his sixth victory, worth $90,000, in 20 career starts for total earnings of $423,604.

The gelding was coming off a win over Eye of the Leopard at Woodbine on November 11 in an allowance race.

"I was very happy with the effort and the result," said Motion about the neck win three weeks ago. "I was impressed. Patrick (jockey Husbands) showed great confidence in the way he rode him. He probably knows him a little better than I do."

Motion, based at Fair Hill, MD, assumed the training of Eagle Poise over the summer.

Eagle Poise returned $8.80, $4.80 and $3.20. Harrods Creek paid $4.70 and $3.30, and Eye Of The Leopard paid $2.50 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.