Three added to 2010 Hall of Fame class

Horseracing Betting Lines

06/09/2010 - Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Historic Review Committee of the National Museum of Racing has announced that nineteenth century horse Harry Bassett, trainer Michael Ernest 'Buster' Millerick and jockey Don Pierce have been elected to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame.

These three join former Horses of the Year Point Given and Azeri, along with Best Pal and retired jockey Randy Romero in completing the 2010 Hall of Fame class. The induction ceremony is to be held on Friday, August 13.

Harry Bassett was a champion at age two in 1870, unbeaten champion at three and a top handicapper at four. He was bred by A.J. Alexander and raised at Woodburn Farm in Kentucky and was owned and trained by Col. David McDaniel.

As a two-year-old he won the Nursery Stakes at Jerome Park and the Supper Stakes at Pimlico. The following season he captured the Belmont Stakes, Jersey Derby, Travers Stakes and Kenner Stakes.

Harry Bassett also posted victories as a three-year-old in the Champion Stakes and Bowie Stakes. His 14 race win streak was stopped in his four-year-old campaign by Longfellow in the Monmouth Cup. Three days later he defeated Longfellow in the Saratoga Cup

Harry Bassett completed his career with 23 wins in 36 starts and earnings of $55,920.

Michael Ernest 'Buster' Millerick was a trainer for almost 50 years, retiring in 1984, and won 1,886 races and trained 54 individual stakes winners. His best horse was probably Native Diver who entered the Hall of Fame in 1978.

Native Diver won 37 races, including 34 stakes, in 81 starts with over $1 million during seven seasons. He won three straight Hollywood Gold Cups from 1965-1967 and as an eight-year-old captured the Del Mar Handicap and won both the Los Angeles Handicap and San Carlos Handicap.

Don Pierce rode for 30 years and retired with 3,546 wins, 351 stakes victories in 28,740 mounts. He concluded his riding career with purse earnings of $39,018,422.

Pierce won the Santa Anita Handicap four times from 1960 to 1972. From 1969 to 1973 he won each running of the Los Angeles Handicap as well as five runnings of the Santa Anita Oaks. In addition, he won the Del Mar Debutante and Hollywood Oaks four times each and the Del Mar Derby, Del Mar Oaks, Santa Monica Handicap, Santa Ana Handicap and Santa Margarita Handicap three times apiece.

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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.

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