Bonus introduced for winning Preakness Stakes

Horseracing Betting Lines

08/28/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's been a few years since there has been a bonus for sweeping the Triple Crown races. During the time that VISA sponsored the bonus, no three-year-old thoroughbred won the three classics, Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

Now, MI Developments Inc. has announced a bonus program involving winning the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course and specified prep races at company owned racetracks. The name of the program is PREAKNESS 5.5. The 5.5 represents the $5.5 million that would be up for grabs by owners and trainers.

The tracks involved are all owned by MID: Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields. The $5.5 million bonus will be shared between the winning owner ($5 million) and trainer ($500,000).

"The purpose of this grand prize is to provide a spectacular event for the fans and to create a potential life changing experience for the stakeholders of the racing industry," stated Frank Stronach, Chairman of MID. "These events represent the greatest hope for the renewal of the thoroughbred racing business in America. Our continued development of MID's recently acquired assets should translate into improved results across MID Racing Properties' asset base."

In order to receive the bonus money horses prepping for the Triple Crown at the designated tracks must win at least two stakes races for three-year-olds.

At Gulfstream Park a horse must win either the Holy Bull Stakes or the Fountain of Youth, and also capture the Florida Derby on Sunday, April 3, 2011. The purse for the Florida and the Santa Anita Derbies have each been raised to $1 million.

At Santa Anita Park, before claiming the Santa Anita Derby a horse must win either the Robert B. Lewis or San Felipe Stakes. A horse can also qualify by winning the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields and then win the Santa Anita Derby.

"Gulfstream and Santa Anita have long and storied traditions of producing the finest three-year-olds in the country," said Gulfstream Park General Manager, Steve Calabro. "I expect this will produce Gulfstream's finest winter racing."

A consolation prize will also be offered sponsored by XpressBet. This will be called XpressBet .55. If the winner of the 2011 Preakness is not eligible for the Preakness $5.5 million bonus, the winning owner would get $500,000 and the winning trainer $50,000. However, the Preakness winning horse must have been a runner in one of the initial qualifying races and finished first, second or third in the Santa Anita or the Florida Derbies.

"I am really excited to support the owners and breeders in the 2011 three- year-old season," said Ron Luniewski, President of XpressBet. "As we move towards the three-year-old season, we will be offering some fun wagers based on the Preakness 5.5 and the XpressBet .55."

Any new idea that can increase interest in thoroughbred racing must be commended. I would like to see more bonus programs created spanning races over an entire year.

A logical one would involve the Haskell Invitational, Travers Stakes and Pennsylvania Derby. All are $1 million stakes for three-year-olds during the summer and early fall.

Usatodau Horseracing Betting News

<< Wozniacki captures third straight Pilot Pen title
New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Caroline Wozniacki won her third consecutive Pilot Pen Tennis title Saturday by pulling out a three-set victory over Nadia Petrova. The world No. 2 Wozniacki took the 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Petrova in a li

<< Leafs sign MacArthur for one year
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Free-agent forward Clarke MacArthur was signed to a one-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but TSN of Canada reported the deal is worth $1.1

<< Chiefs' Sheffield released from hospital
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Cameron Sheffield has been released from the hospital after suffering a neck injury in Friday's preseason game against Philadelphia. Sheffield, who has movement in all hi

<< Wigan shocks Spurs
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hugo Rodallega's goal 10 minutes from time handed Wigan an unlikely 1-0 win over Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Saturday. The result came just a few days after Tottenham sealed a place in the

<< USA routs Croatia in Worlds opener
Istanbul, Turkey (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eric Gordon sank four three-pointers and scored 16 points, as the United States crushed Croatia, 106-78, in its opening contest of the 2010 FIBA World Championship. Kevin Durant added 14 points for the

Blue Jays stave off late rally, nip Tigers >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Morrow had another solid outing, allowing just one run in six innings, and the Toronto Blue Jays held on to beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-4, in the third of four games at Rogers Centre. Morrow

Defending champ ousted at U.S. Amateur >>
University Place, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Byeong-Hun An was ousted from the U.S. Amateur on Saturday, losing on the last hole of his semifinal match. Trying to become the first back-to-back champion since Tiger Woods, An squ

Twins' Hudson leaves game >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson left Saturday's game in the second inning. Hudson suffered an apparent right ankle sprain.

Red Sox activate reliever Hideki Okajima from DL >>
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -The Boston Red Sox have activated reliever Hideki Okajima from the 15-day disabled list and optioned right-hander Michael Bowden to Triple-A Pawtucket.The moves were announced before Boston's game Saturday night at Tampa B

Kirk fires 63 to grab lead in Tennessee >>
Farragut, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Kirk fired a nine-under 63 Saturday to grab a one-stroke lead after 54 holes of the Knoxville Sentinel Open. Kirk completed three rounds at 15-under-par 201. He will go for his second win of the season

Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

RSS Sports Betting Odds Feeds

Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.