American Lion roars to victory in Illinois Derby

Horseracing Betting Lines

04/03/2010 - Stickney, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Lion, ridden by David Flores, came from California and posted a wire-to-wire victory in Saturday's $500,000 Illinois Derby at Hawthorne Race Course. The three-year-old colt covered the 1 1/8-miles in 1:51.31 on a fast track.

Owned by WinStar Farm, American Lion quickly took the lead in the Kentucky Derby prep. Racing to the outside of the leader in second was 6-5 favorite Yawanna Twist. Boulder Creek was running in third with Turf Melody fourth in the eight-horse field.

American Lion continued to lead around the final turn even as Yawanna Twist and jockey Edgar Prado began to draw closer. Only a head separated the top two runners at the top of the stretch.

Flores was able to find his mount one more gear as Yawanna Twist made a final challenge for the lead. American Lion repelled the challenge and went on to post a 2 3/4-length win over Yawanna Twist.

Finishing third was Backtalk at 7-2 followed by Turf Melody, Dave in Dixie, Boulder Creek, Stephen's Got Hope and Game Ball.

Trained by Eoin Harty, American Lion picked up $291,000 with Saturday's victory, putting the colt in position for the Run for the Roses. The son of Tiznow has won three of six career starts with $413,600.

The Illinois Derby was the colt's first win of 2010. He was third to Caracortado in the Robert B.Lewis Stakes and fourth to Sidney's Candy in the San Felipe Stakes, both at Santa Anita. Sidney's Candy won Saturday's Santa Anita Derby.

In November, American Lion won the Hollywood Prevue at Hollywood Park.

American Lion returned $8.60, $3.80 and $2.80. Yawanna Twist paid $2.80 and $2.20, and Backtalk paid $3.00 to show.

Wwwcbot Horseracing Betting News

<< Royals P Meche heads to DL to start 2010
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City Royals pitcher Gil Meche will begin the 2010 season on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder bursitis. The move is retroactive to March 26, meaning Meche could rejoin the te

<< Chicago earns point at Colorado
Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian McBride converted a penalty kick in the 51st minute, and the Chicago Fire tied the Colorado Rapids 2-2 on Saturday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Omar Cummings and Conor Casey gave Colorado the lea

<< Sidney's Candy wires field to win Santa Anita Derby
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Front running Sidney's Candy took the lead out of the gate and went on to post a commanding win in Saturday's $750,000 Santa Anita Derby. Odds-on 4-5 favorite Lookin At Lucky finished third in the 10 horse f

<< Alford gets extension at New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of New Mexico and Steve Alford agreed to a two-year contract extension through the 2019-20 season, school vice president of athletics Paul Krebs announced on Saturday. The Lobos are

<< Oakland's Crisp heads to DL with broken finger
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Athletics outfielder Coco Crisp will begin the season on the disabled list with a fractured left pinkie. Crisp sustained the injury while sliding into second base in the third inning of Oaklan

Harvick prevails at Nashville >>
Lebanon, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Harvick gambled on tires during a round of late-race pit stops and then held off a challenge from Reed Sorenson in the closing laps to win Saturday's Nashville 300 Nationwide Series race at Nashvil

Consistent Morton would be big Pirates plus >>
PITTSBURGH (AP) -The Pittsburgh Pirates gutted their roster the last two seasons by trading off nearly every accomplished major league player they possessed, and they've yet to show they got much back in the deals.That's one reason why they badly ne

Ankle injury sidelines Nuggets' Andersen >>
DENVER (AP) -Denver forward Chris Andersen missed the Nuggets' game Saturday night against the Los Angeles Clippers because of a sprained left ankle.Andersen twisted his ankle midway through the fourth quarter of a 109-92 win over Portland on Thursd

Butler finds new way to beat Michigan St. 52-50 >>
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -Butler has reached the national title game the same way it got into Saturday's national semifinal - by changing the script.Despite poor shooting, losing two players to injuries and having only two players reach double figures, all

Butler makes MSU mistakes hurt >>
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -There's no nickname for them. The column on stat sheets says ``Points Off Turnovers.'' It doesn't need any more description.Butler took advantage of them and reached the national championship game in its hometown.The Bulldogs turn

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

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.