Muscle Massive rallies for Hambletonian win

Horseracing Betting Lines

08/07/2010 - East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Muscle Massive, driven by Ron Pierce, rallied down the stretch to capture Saturday's 85th running of the $1.5 million Hambletonian at The Meadowlands. Muscle Massive trotted the mile in 1:51.

The Hambletonian, harness racing's premier event, is the second leg of trotting's Triple Crown for three-year-olds. On The Tab won the first leg, Yonkers Trot, and the final race will be the Kentucky Futurity on October 16 at The Red Mile.

Setting the pace in the 2010 Hambletonian was Cassis, one of the elimination race winners from last week. The other winners were 2009 champion two-year- olds Lucky Chucky and Pilgrims Taj. Lucky Chucky went off as the 3-2 favorite and Cassis was the 5-2 second choice. Pilgrims Taj was the 9-1 at post-time.

Cassis, driven by Tim Tetrick, led the field up the backstretch and into the far turn. Lucky Chucky, with John Campbell driving, made a two-wide move around the turn into second and took the lead entering the stretch.

Lucky Chucky had a clear lead at the top of the stretch when Muscle Massive, who had been racing second, moved to the outside for the final furlong. Pierce got his colt even with Lucky Chucky inside fifty yards and went on to post a half-length victory.

Lucky Chucky was second followed by Wishing Stone and Pilgrims Taj in fourth.

Completing the order of finish was Temple Of Doom, Mystery Photo, Hard Livin, Cassis, On The Tab, Holiday Road

Muscle Massive returned $15.00, $5.80 and $5.00. Lucky Chucky paid $3.40 and $2.80, and Wishing Stone paid $5.80 to show.

Trained by Jimmy Takter, Muscle Massive earned $750,000 with the victory. The colt picked up his sixth career win in 14 starts and has earnings of $995,192.

The colt won the Stanley Dancer Memorial last month at The Meadowlands and was second in the Dickerson Cup.

Takter, who previously won the Hambletonian in 1997 with Malabar Man, also had On The Tab and Hard Livin in the race. Pierce also won the Hambletonian in 1993 with American Winner and 2007 with Donato Hanover.

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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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