Interactif added to Belmont Stakes

Horseracing Betting Lines

05/31/2010 - Elmont, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trainer Todd Pletcher announced Monday that Interactif will start in this year's 142nd edition of the $1 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday. The three-year-old is owned by brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer.

"We decided to call an audible and send him to the Belmont," said Pletcher. "Two works ago, we had it in our minds, and after surveying the field we decided to go.

"His second to Sidney's Candy in the San Felipe was very good, although we were a little disappointed with his performance in the Blue Grass. We had the Derby in mind after [the Blue Grass], but thought the three weeks might be a little fast back."

The colt was fourth in the Blue Grass Stakes to Stately Victor who will also start in the Belmont. In the San Felipe Stakes Interactif was second to eventual Santa Anita Derby champ Sidney's Candy.

Interactif will be ridden by Javier Castellano and puts the field for this year's Belmont at a dozen.

The field for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont will also include Dwyer Stakes runner-up Drosselmeyer, Preakness runner-up First Dude, Dwyer Stakes winner Fly Down, Lone Star Derby champ Game On Dude, Kentucky Derby runner-up Ice Box, Make Music for Me, Spangled Star, Blue Grass Stakes winner Stately Victor, Stay Put, Dave in Dixie and Uptowncharlybrown.

Cbssportslinr Horseracing Betting News

<< Ladd will sit again for Game 2
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Blackhawks forward Andrew Ladd will not suit up for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals with an upper-body injury. Ladd had missed the Blackhawks' 6-5 victory in Game 1 on Saturday with the ailment

<< Angels beat Royals to open road trip
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ervin Santana pitched a solid seven innings while Mike Napoli and Howie Kendrick drove in two runs each, as the Angels opened up a season-long 14-game road trip with a 7-1 win over Kansas City.

<< Pirates continue to handle Cubs
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Crosby knocked in the go-ahead run with a single in the eighth inning, as the Pittsburgh Pirates edged the Chicago Cubs, 2-1, in the opener of a three-game series at PNC Park. Garrett Jones

<< Kwak to miss World Cup for South Korea
Innsbruck, Austria (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South Korea defender Kwak Tae-Hwi has been ruled out of the World Cup after suffering a knee injury in his team's 1-0 defeat to Belarus on Sunday. Kwak had only returned to the team in November a

<< Braves down Phils to take over first place in NL East
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chipper Jones hit a two-run homer and Troy Glaus added a late three-run shot, backing a solid start from Tommy Hanson and helping the Braves to their sixth consecutive win, a 9-3 decision over the Phillie

A-Rod hits grand slam as Yankees overpower Indians >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rodriguez hit a grand slam to highlight a six-run seventh inning and ended with six RBI, as the Yankees closed out a four-game series against the Indians with a 11-2 victory. Andy Pettitte (7-1) rol

Giants put IF Rohlinger on DL >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants on Monday placed infielder Ryan Rohlinger on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring. Rohlinger was batting .214 with one RBI in 10 games for the G

Nationals use nine-run seventh to rout Astros >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Maldonado and Ryan Zimmerman each hit a three-run homer to highlight a nine-run seventh inning, as the Washington Nationals demolished the Houston Astros, 14-4, in the opener of a four-game set at

Quality Road captures Met Mile >>
Elmont, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Odds-on favorite Quality Road held off a late running Musket Man down the stretch to win Monday's $500,000 Metropolitan Handicap (Met Mile) at Belmont Park. The victory is the third of the year for the fou

Jimemez outduels Lincecum to earn 10th win, Rockies down Giants >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ubaldo Jimenez showed why he is the best pitcher in the majors, fanning nine batters on his way to his second complete- game shutout of the season, as the Colorado Rockies handled the San Francisco Giants,

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.