Wrong year for Life At Ten to be so good

Horseracing Betting Lines

07/19/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When the two leading thoroughbreds in training are also the top female racehorses in the country, it becomes difficult for any other filly or mare to get recognized.

This is the situation that confronts five-year-old mare Life At Ten. Almost any other year the Todd Pletcher-trained horse would be mentioned as a serious contender for the Eclipse Award as champion older female and even Horse of the Year.

This year, as most people know, has been graced with the continued racing of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and Breeders' Cup Classic winner Zenyatta. Their respective connections have aided thoroughbred racing by keeping the two ladies in training.

However, the two champion females take away the spotlight from the other top thoroughbreds this year.

Life At Ten, owned by Candy DeBartolo, easily captured this past Saturday's running of the $750,000 Delaware Handicap. As the odds-on favorite, she set a slow pace on Delaware Park's main track in the 1 1/4-mile race and was able to open up down the stretch to defeat her five rivals by three-lengths.

"She was fortunate to get an easy first quarter and half," noted Pletcher, "and she really had a lot left in the stretch. We will probably look at the Personal Ensign (August 29) at Saratoga next and go from there. It is just special to win the Delaware Handicap because it is such an important race for fillies and mares. We have always looked at the Del 'Cap as a great opportunity. It has a great tradition and great purse and we have been fortunate enough to win the race four times."

Life At Ten is undefeated in four starts this year, including wins in the Ogden Phipps and Sixty Sails Handicaps. The five-year-old has had five different jockeys in her last six starts, something neither Rachel nor Zenyatta need to concern themselves about.

The question is whether Life At Ten will face either of the top two females in a race this year. Rachel, who is based at Saratoga, will start in this Saturday's $400,000 Lady's Secret at Monmouth Park at 1 1/8-miles.

The Personal Ensign would have set up perfectly for the defending Horse of the Year. However, majority owner Jess Jackson is an unconventional personality who doesn't follow the 'rule book' when it comes to selecting races for his four- year-old filly.

Zenyatta is most likely to make her next start at Del Mar on August 7 in the $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at 1 1/16-miles, a race she has won the last two years.

Don't expect Zenyatta to venture outside of California until the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs in November.

Life At Ten has started at four different tracks in her last four races, a trend that allows more race fans the opportunity to view this highly talented mare.

Now within $11,000 of becoming a millionaire, Life At Ten is not to be overlooked the remainder of the 2010 racing season. If you get the chance to see her run, don't pass up the opportunity.

Wwraceo Horseracing Betting News

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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.

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