The latter stages of 2011 provided some hope for struggling Atlantic City casinos, but the revenue for the entire year was down 7.4%, to $ 495 million.
After several years of slumping revenuem, casinos around the US began their turnaround in 2011. For the year, gambling was up at casinos throughout the country compared to 2010.
The three favorites were SECRET CIRCLE in the inaugural running of the $ 500,000 BC Juvenile Sprint; ROYAL DELTA in the $ 2 million BC Ladies Classic and REGALLY READY in the $ 1 million BC Turf Sprint.
The parade of longshots was led of course by COURT VISION’s 64-1 win by a nose over 17-1 TURRALURE in the $ 2 million BC Mile, a race in which GOLDIKOVA finished third in her final career race, but probably should have been disqualified for interfering with COURAGEOUS CAT among others in the race.
The Court Vision win indeed was a shocker, especially considering how poorly he had run while finishing out of the money in six straight races since winning the 2010 Woodbine Mile. Even his trainer Dale Romans was surprised. “I thought he might run a lot better than people expected, “ Romans said. “But I really didn’t think he could win.”
Although Marathon winner ALFEET AGAIN’s most recent race was a second placing against allowance horses at Monmouth Park, his 43-1 win in the 1-3/4 mile, $ 500,000 BC race was completely out of synch with his long string of defeats dating back more than 16 months. But a race such as the Marathon, which is run at a distance very few horses in America ever attempt, can all by itself lead to a wacky result.
That said, the lowest paying, but the most significant longshot win of the entire Breeders’ Cup was posted by DROSSELMEYER, who merely won the $ 5 million BC Classic with a rally from back in the pack unlike anything he had ever done before.
Fact is, Drosselmeyer’s best lifetime race going into this BC Classic was his steady going win in the 2010 Belmont Stakes at 1-1/2 miles. In that race, the son of Distorted Humor gradually improved his position from fifth, to fourth, to third on the final turn where he proceeded to outlast rival stretch runners, FLY DOWN and FIRST DUDE.
In one of his six races since that important G-1 victory, Drosselmeyer employed a similar running style to narrowly outlast his stablemate BIRDRUN in an ungraded $ 60,000 stakes at 1-1/4 miles on his favorite track, Belmont Park.
In all his previous and subsequent races, Drosselmeyer seemed at a disadvantage trying to negotiate sharper turns on tracks far less vast than Belmont.
So here he was competing in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on the tight turning one mile track at Churchill Downs. Here he was uncorking a strong rally, passing almost every horse in the 12 horse field, taking the measure of front running GAME ON DUDE with room to spare.
Frankly, that upset performance surprised me more than the ones posted by Court Vision and Afleet Again, even though those two went off at significantly higher odds.
At the bottom line, I thought that Afleet Again’s win in a fluky race deserved to be passed off as a fluke.
Court Vision’s win may have been a shock, but at least he had run strongly in world class company at one mile on the turf in 2010 and 2009. Moreover, he now was being trained by Dale Romans, the fastest rising star among trainers that I have seen since Bob Baffert entered the scene in the early 1990’s.
To refresh your memories, consider how successful Romans has been with so many different types of horses in just the past two seasons. First there was PADDY O’ PRADO, third in the 2010 Kentucky Derby before he went on a stakes winning spree in rich turf events; next came FIRST DUDE, a strong third in the 2010 Preakness.
Beyond the above pair, Romans also developed the multiple stakes winning filly SASSY IMAGE and the prolific 3 year old stakes performer SHACKLEFORD, who not only won the 2011 Preakness, he finished second in the Haskell Invitational, second in the Indiana Derby and second again in the $ 1 million BC Dirt Mile last weekend. While all this was going on Romans also managed to get the 2 year old DULLAHAN to win the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity as a maiden.
Given so much success with five completely different types of horses, the reason Court Vision woke up to smell the roses last Saturday is best explained by Dale Romans’ handiwork. While he has operated below the radar for several years, Romans suddenly has emerged as a long range candidate for the Hall of Fame. Frankly, I am committing myself to wager on virtually every horse he trains through the rest of the year and through at least the 2012 Derby prep race campaign.
As for Drosselmeyer, who suddenly became a full grown adult racehorse with more punch than he had previously demonstrated, his trainer also deserves the most credit for finally getting the most out of an intrinsically laid back horse.
Already in the Hall of Fame, trainer Billy Mott definitely saw minor changes in Drosselmeyer’s demeanor over the summer and expertly guided the colt to a series of improving workouts that culminated with a second place finish to FLAT OUT in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont, Oct. 1.
Of equal import, Mott instantly knew that Drosselmeyer were not through moving forward. So the great horseman put his improving 4 year old through another series of faster, more meaningful training drills that helped turn Drosselmeyer into a horse with more spunk and a stronger late punch than most observers thought he ever would have.
Suddenly, Drosselmeyer reached full maturity and was ready for his best lifetime performance when all the chips were on the table,.
As horseplayers, sometimes it is possible to see such things in time to take advantage at the betting windows; sometimes we pay for our failure to see what is happening until the results are declared official. While some might believe that Drosselmeyer was a one shot wonder, a lucky longshot winner who never will again show the kind of power he did in the Classic, I think otherwise. So does Billy Mott. Under Mott’s urging, instead of Win Star Farm sending Drosselmeyer to stud, he is going to race next season.
So do not be surprised if Drosselmeyer shows another level of improvement when Mott unveils him in major route stakes in 2012. WE should all realize vby now, that when a truly great horse trainer finds the hole card of a potentially good horse, watch out. Get all your online horse betting in the Bodog Racebook now!
“I was going to quit poker and go to college!” is what 2011 World Series of Poker* Main Event Champion Pius Heinz declared to reporters late last night after winning a stunning $ 8.72 million prize for defeating Martin Staszko in heads-up play. The 22-year-old German pro had a rough patch in the gap months between July and November, but it looks like he was burning up all of his bad karma early on so he could win with ace high, just nine hands after using the same hand to leap forward against 35-year-old Staszko.
Heinz called an all-in bet from Staszko with an AK. Staszko held a 7T of clubs. The board was 5c2d9sJh and 4d, meaning neither player was helped so an ace-high hand won the day.
Staskzo won $ 5.43 million for second place, a nice consolation prize, but it comes without a bracelet — the prize given to WSOP event winners and deeply coveted by poker players around the world. Staszko started off as a chess whiz, working in an auto paint shop to help make ends meet for a while as he learned his way around poker. Still, he believes his run will help poker get a higher profile in the Czech Republic.
“I’m never happy if I don’t win,” Staszko said. “But it’s not too bad. Second place is OK.”
Staszko was responsible for the elimination of American poker pro Ben Lamb early on Tuesday night after four hands of play. Lamb pushed all-in right off the bat with KJ, hoping to induce Staszko to fold pocket sevens, but Stazsko held his ground and won with a weak pair. This wounded Lamb to the point where an all-in push three hands later earned him nothing but air.
“I got the sense he wasn’t like super strong, but he actually was stronger than I thought he was,” Lamb said of his elimination.
The game was played in front of a crowd of hundreds at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino near the Las Vegas Strip, in the same theater where magicians Penn & Teller regularly perform. Television cameras were also on hand to record every moment of the game, which was broadcast on a 15-minute delay,
“Honestly I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the money,” Heinz told reporters after winning. “Probably my family is going to get a couple gifts.”
Get ready for your own run at the World Series of Poker Main Event when you play online poker at Bodog!
*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Caesars Interactive Entertainment, Inc. or its affiliates (collectively Harrah’s). HIE does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with, Bodog Poker or its products, services, promotions or tournaments. Any promotion or tournament on this site will not guarantee your seat or ability to register for any WSOP event or any WSOP affiliated event which is at the sole discretion of Harrah’s.
It all goes down today, and the three finishers that are going to be sitting down at the 2011 World Series of Poker* final table are going to have an unprecedented amount of information on one another thanks to video coverage of the final table’s play, giving them a chance to review and re-examine not only their opponents’ play, but their own.
“It’s a whole different form of poker. I have a whole team working to get me information and it’s a completely different situation,” Ben Lamb told the Associated Press.
Gambling regulators in Vegas are allowing American cable sports network ESPN to broadcast the action nearly live, with players’ cards shown on a 15-minute delay. Before the changes, players had to wait months to find out what their opponents had, as play shown on TV was significantly truncated to only certain hands.
Thanks to the coverage, several of the nine finalists were seen getting up and talking to poker-playing friends during Sunday’s session, walking over to the rail and getting a gander at their iPads and phones.
With $ 8.72m on the line for the top spot, players are using every advantage they can get in the showdown, and nobody can blame them. 22-year-old chip leader Pius Heinz of Germany, 26-year-old Ben Lamb of Las Vegas and 35-year-old Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic each represent a different style of play and it will be fascinating to see how it all plays out.
We’ll have a rundown on who one what and how tomorrow! In the meantime, of course, you can play online poker at Bodog today!
*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Caesars Interactive Entertainment, Inc. or its affiliates (collectively Harrah’s). HIE does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with, Bodog Poker or its products, services, promotions or tournaments. Any promotion or tournament on this site will not guarantee your seat or ability to register for any WSOP event or any WSOP affiliated event which is at the sole discretion of Harrah’s.