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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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.