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02/15/2012 - Berkeley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - California Derby winner Russian Greek heads a field of 10 three-year-olds for Saturday's $200,000 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields. The 1 1/8-mile El Camino Real is the final local prep leading to the Kentucky Derby.
Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Russian Greek will be ridden by Aaron Gryder from post four. The colt is owned by Olympia Star Inc.
In the Cal Derby Russian Greek trailed the field by more than seven-lengths in the early going before mounting a rally to catch Cahill Chrome just before the wire and post a length victory.
"I think this horse is developing into a pretty nice colt," said Hollendorfer following the Cal Derby. "He had little things that bothered him after his first race so I gave him some time off."
After beginning his career with a win at Santa Rosa last July, Russian Greek finished fifth in the Golden Nugget Stakes at Golden Gate. He won the Gold Rush Stakes with another last to first rally at the Bay Area track. The colt has banked $121,700 with three wins in four career starts.
Hollendorfer also has California Oaks champ Lady of Fifty entered in the El Camino Real. The filly will break from the far outside post with Russell Baze riding.
Lady of Fifty, the lone female entered, is owned by her Hall of Fame trainer and George Todaro. With four wins in five lifetime starts the filly has earned $154,170 with $138,470 won at Golden Gate.
Cal Derby runner-up Cahill Chrome will start from post three and have Juan Hernandez in the saddle. The chestnut gelding is trained by Roger Hansen for owner/breeder Kjell H. Qvale.
Cahill Chrome was 29-1 in the Cal Derby after finishing fifth behind Russian Greek in the Gold Rush Stakes. He has earned $76,182 in 10 career starts with three wins.
Here is the full field for the El Camino Real in post position order: Daddy Nose Best, Julien Leparoux; Senor Rain, Kevin Krigger; Cahill Chrome, Juan Hernandez; Russian Greek, Aaron Gryder; Unveiled Heat, Frank Alvarado; Lucky Chappy, Alan Garcia; Handsome Mike, Corey Nakatani; Rockinarz Recruit, Abel Cedillo; All Squared Away, Kerwin John and Lady of Fifty, Russell Baze.
Previous winners of the race have also captured Triple Crown contests. Tank's Prospect followed victory in the 1985 El Camino Real with a win in the Preakness as did Snow Chief the following year. In 1994 Tabasco Cat took the race before claiming the Preakness and Belmont.
The El Camino Real Derby has a scheduled post-time of 7:15 p.m. (et).
<< Ferrero exits Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero
was sent packing in the opening round Wednesday at the $475,300 Brasil Open.
Argentine Leonardo Mayer toppled the sixth-seeded Ferrero in 7-6 (8-6), 6-2
fashion a
<< Erakovic wins Bogota opener; Dominguez Lino ousted
Bogota, Colombia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Marina Erakovic of New
Zealand was an easy opening-round winner, while reigning champion Lourdes
Dominguez Lino went by way of a second-round upset at the $220,000 Copa BBVA
Colsani
<< Animal Kingdom entered in Saturday allowance
Hallandale Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Champion colt Animal Kingdom will
begin his four-year-old campaign on Saturday at Gulfstream Park. The Team
Valor thoroughbred had been expected to start in a stakes race next week.
Trainer G
<< Line of Scrimmage: Moss far from the big catch of receiver pool
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Leave it to a wide receiver to add a
little spice to what's customarily the blandest period of the NFL year.
With all relatively quiet on the Peyton Manning front for the time being, the
noisiest piece of
Gunners humiliated in Milan >>
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan put Arsenal to the sword in
convincing fashion at the San Siro, cruising to a 4-0 win over the English
side in the first leg of the Champions League knockout round on Wednesday.
The Ital
Calhoun to miss at least three more games >>
Storrs, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - University of Connecticut men's head
basketball coach Jim Calhoun will miss at least three more games as he
receives treatment for spinal stenosis, the school announced Wednesday.
Calhoun was
Sam Houston State to play Baylor, Texas A&M >>
Huntsville, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sam Houston State won't take the easy way as
it tries to return to the FCS national championship game.
The Bearkats, who finished 14-1 as the national runner-up this past season,
will make trips to two in-st
Long-time Astros broadcaster Hamilton to retire after 2012 >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milo Hamilton, who has been the voice of the
Houston Astros since 1985, announced on Wednesday that he intends to retire
following the upcoming season.
Hamilton will close the books on a career which s
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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