Mid-Week Notes
Interesting little note for horseplayers coming out of Belmont Park. The field was set today for Saturday’s Peter Pan Stakes, a Grade 2 race over 1 1/8 miles that has become a well-used prep race for future Belmont Stakes runners. It’s a pretty solid seven horse field. There’s a horse entered named Scorewithcater, a New Mexico based runner. Normally,he probably wouldn’t get much attention – New Mexico based horses never do. This horse has one interesting distinction, though – he has beaten the Kentucky Derby winner in each of his last two outings. He outdueled Mine That Bird down the stretch in the Borderland Stakes, and then he finished third, one spot ahead of Mine That Bird, in the Sunland Derby. Given the shock that Mine That Bird pulled, Scorewithcater will almost certainly get more attention from bettors than he likely deserves. The puzzle will be to figure out if whatever happened to Mine That Bird between his time in New Mexico and the Derby is contagious, and whether this horse caught it.
Legislation that would legalize online gambling in the U.S. that has long been promised was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Barney Frank and Rep. Peter King today. The bill would allow the Treasury Department to license betting sites and, obviously, to take their piece of the action. Though it’s obviously possible for people to bet online now, the biggest impact of the legislation for bettors would be that it would be much, much easier to fund your account and move money around. You’d also be able to use sites that are recognized and policed by a domestic government instead of some foreign entity. The bill would have a big positive impact on the sports betting business in many regards, and there seems to be a fair bit of optimism that it can become law. Frank is a Democrat and King is a Republican, so it shouldn’t devolve into a partisan battle. I don’t know about you, but I have my fingers crossed.
I have been intrigued to watch the line movement for the two NBA playoff games tonight. In both cases, the action has been very heavy on the favorites, and line movement from the books doesn’t seem to have slowed down bettors’ enthusiasm. It’s not surprising that the public is on the favorites – the Celtics and the Lakers are as public as teams can be. What interests me about both games is that the books, knowing where the action was very likely to be, set the lines low enough to put the action so heavily on one side. I’m not a smart money conspiracy theorist, but these two games catch my attention. The games were more than interesting enough in the first place – both favorites very badly need big wins before they head on the road.
Related posts:
- Post-Preakness Thoughts It’s
- No Rachel – Bird Rematch The Belmon
- It’s Belmont Day!!! This is a
Tags: Barney Frank, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Peter Pan Stakes, Scorewithcater
May 7th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
And lo and behold, the conspiracies came true. That’s because maybe they aren’t conspiracies…maybe it’s the truth?!?