Mr. Bowling returns for Risen Star Stakes

Horseracing Betting Lines

02/19/2012 - New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lecomte Stakes winner Mr. Bowling heads a field of 11 three-year-olds for Saturday's $300,000 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course. The 1 1/6-mile race is a prelude to the $1 million Louisiana Derby on Sunday, April 1.

Mr. Bowling, trained by Larry Jones, will start from post three in the Risen Star with Robby Albarado again in the saddle. Owned by Brereton Jones, Mr. Bowling has earnings of $201,048 with three wins in five career starts.

Z Dager, second in the Lecomte, will break from post four with Shane Sellers riding. Trained by Steve Asmussen for Zayat Stables, Z Dager will go after his second career victory on Saturday.

Shared Property, who was third in the Lecomte, is also entered and will start from post 10 with Leandro Goncalves riding. The gelding is owned by Jerry Namy and trained by Tom Amoss. He won the Arlington-Washington Futurity last year at Arlington Park and was sixth in the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland in October. Shared Property has earnings of $89,300.

Here is the full field in post position order: Afford, Shaun Bridgmohan; Optimizer, Carlos Marquez Jr.; Mr. Bowling, Robby Albarado; Z Dager, Shane Sellers; Ted's Folly, Ramsey Zimmerman; Adena's Chance, Richard Eramia' Hero of Order, James Graham; El Padrino, Javier Castellano; Mark Valeski, Rosie Napravnik, Shared Property, Leandro Goncalves and Tizanexpense, Miguel Mena.

Post-time for the Risen Star Stakes will be 6 p.m. (et).

Wwwemazing Horseracing Betting News

<< Rivers, Curry lead Duke over Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Duke's starting backcourt of Austin Rivers and Seth Curry combined to score 34 points as No. 5 Duke routed Boston College, 75-50. Curry netted 18 while Rivers scored 16 to go with seven rebounds f

<< Raonic defends title in San Jose
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milos Raonic successfully defended his 2011 SAP Open title with a straight-set win over Denis Istomin in Sunday's finale. The third-seeded Canadian fired seven aces and never offered a break oppor

<< Yankees-Pirates finalize Burnett trade
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees have officially traded right-handed pitcher A.J. Burnett to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a pair of minor leaguers -- relief pitcher Diego Moreno and outfielder Exicardo Cayones. The

<< Drill masters San Vicente Stakes
Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drill, ridden by Martin Garcia, held off American Act to win Sunday's $150,000 San Vicente Stakes for three-year-olds at Santa Anita Park. The colt covered the seven-furlongs in 1:21.28 on a fast track.

<< Haas wins thriller at Riviera
Pacific Palisades, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bill Haas holed an unlikely 43-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to defeat Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley and win the Northern Trust Open. After a pair of incredible birdie putts from Mic

Larsson advances in Memphis >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seventh-seeded Swede Johanna Larsson needed two hours, 14 minutes, but she escaped her opening-round match at the $220,000 Memphis International tennis event on Sunday. Larsson outlasted qualifier Irena

Iowa upsets No. 18 Indiana >>
Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Gatens scored a career-high 30 points, including 7-of-10 from long range, as Iowa knocked off No. 18 Indiana 78-66 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday. Melsahn Basabe scored 13 points, pulled down s

Brodeur lifts Devils over Habs >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martin Brodeur made 21 saves as the New Jersey Devils downed the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, on Sunday. Zach Parise, David Clarkson and Matt Taormina each lit the lamp for the Devils, who won their third

Pistons knock off Celtics >>
Auburn Hills, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Greg Monroe led five Pistons in double figures with 17 points to go with 10 rebounds, leading Detroit past the Boston Celtics for the second time in five days, 96-81, at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Irving leads Cavs over Kings >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyrie Irving dropped one foul shot through the basket, then two. Nothing unusual there, except, with four tenths of a second to play, the first tied the game and the second won it. Irving scored 23 po

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.