(Bank)roll Tide.
Alabama backers were rolling in the dough as the Crimson Tide blew out LSU, 21-0, this past Monday night in the BCS title game in New Orleans.
When the BCS games were officially announced a month ago, LSU opened as a small favorite and was bet as high as -2.5 at some books, but since then most of the money came in on Alabama and it closed as a 2-point favorite after also going as high as -2.5 at some books on game day.
There is an everlasting appeal about the Eclipse Awards process that allows for the relatively unsung to take a well-deserved turn in the spotlight. And in every case, it’s a horse who took them there. On Monday night in Beverly Hills, the tradition will be renewed, when the 41st Eclipse Awards dinner plays back the brightest notes of the 2011 racing season.
By now it has become painfully apparent that the effort to determine which apprentice jockey deserves an Eclipse Award each year might be more trouble than it is worth. First the trouble, then the worth.
Polls closed Wednesday for a second round of voting in the apprentice category for 2011. The first round was declared null and void when it was discovered the electorate was provided inaccurate statistics, kind of like learning after the fact that Newt Gingrich actually has five ex-wives instead of just the two. It might have swayed a few votes.
As this is written by the shores of the Pacific, in a land a dozen times zones to the east, or west – depending on which way you face – the emirate of Dubai is gearing up for a three-month season of Thoroughbred racing that pretty much carves the heart out of the older horse division in the good ol’ U.S. of A.
LAS VEGAS – This season’s Hilton SuperContest was record-setting from beginning to end.
Despite all the uncertainty with the NFL lockout over the summer, the SuperContest attracted a record field of 517 putting up the $1,500 entry fee to make five plays a week against the spread with wins counting for 1 point and pushes worth half a point.
Here’s a peek at the Lazy Guy’s Guide for writing a column – newspaper, blog or beach sand at low tide. All forms of media apply:
Step one: Check date.
Step two: Count backwards 50 years.
Step three: Assemble a list of events on which to hang “Golden Anniversary” attention.
Step four: Write quickly so as not to interrupt monitoring Twitter account.
There are plenty of mainstream headlines made 50 years ago, making 1962 a target rich environment. Right off the top you’ve got:
The worst part of the New York takeout fiasco revealed last week is not the failure of so many agencies to catch an honest mistake, but that a short-term remedy to the situation may pre-empt a more serious and overdue discussion about takeout reduction.
Thirty years ago, in his heyday as exercise rider for the stars of the Ron McAnally stable, Lewis Cenicola could be heard singing, “You are the sunshine of my life . . .” as he made his way to the track, in a voice that tiptoed a dangerous line between Stevie Wonder and Joe Pesci.
“I think that’s when I fell for him,” said Donna Cenicola, then Donna Hudson, working at the time for T.J. Kelly. “Then I heard him singing the same thing to other exercise girls.”
Cenicola smiled.
“I was singing to the horses,” he said.
The Hilton SuperContest is coming down to the wire with two contestants using the aliases of Sans Souci and Pagermager hitting more than 70 percent of their NFL picks against the spread to pull away from the field and seemingly headed for a photo finish for the first-place prize of $310,200.
The other big season-long ATS handicapping contest in Las Vegas – the Cantor 2011 Football Contest – was a relative walkover.
Quick, hide the women and children. Warn the easily startled and keep the impressionable at bay. There has been loosed into the racing world a true force with which to be reckoned.
Jerry Bailey has a vote in the Eclipse Awards.
