Heart attack claims life of Bob Holthus

Horseracing Betting Lines

11/22/2011 - Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Veteran trainer Bob Holthus passed away Tuesday morning in Louisville at suffering a heart attack. The 77-year-old Holthus had been suffering from heart disease for several years.

A native of Nebraska, Holthus was a fixture at Oaklawn Park and Churchill Downs after beginning his training career at Columbus Racetrack in Columbus, Nebraska in 1952.

Holthus trained Lawyer Ron and Proper Reality to victories in the 2006 and 1988 Arkansas Derby, respectively. Proper Reality also won the 1989 Met Mile and Iselin Handicap. As a three-year-old Lawyer Ron also won the Southwest and Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

Holthus notched 2,824 wins from nearly 20,000 starts, as well as more than $46 million in earnings.

He is survived by his wife Bonnie, sons David and Paul, and daughter Debbie.

Wwwfllottery Horseracing Betting News

<< Benford, Council top All-OVC
Brentwood, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tennessee Tech senior wide receiver Tim Benford and Tennessee State senior linebacker Rico Council were named the Ohio Valley Conference's offensive and defensive players of the year, respectively, on Tuesday.

<< Tsonga reels in Fish at World Tour Finals
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga straight- setted eighth-seeded Mardy Fish in Group B round-robin action Tuesday at the season-ending $3.5 million ATP World Tour Finals. The French Tsonga (1-1) doused the

<< Nadal will lead Spain in Davis Cup final
Seville, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former world No. 1 Rafael Nadal will lead mighty Spain against visiting Argentina in next week's Davis Cup final. The best-of-five championship round will be staged indoors on red clay at Seville's O

<< Predators try to extend Edmonton's road woes
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While the Oilers continue to sit near the top of the Northwest Division, their recent play on the road has raised some concerns. The Predators have no such worries playing at Bridgestone Arena. Nashville looks t

<< Maple Leafs aim to rebound versus Lightning
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Maple Leafs will try to bounce back tonight after losing the first game of a road trip, as they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning at St. Pete Times Forum. Toronto ended a three-game losing streak with Saturday's im

Boca maintains eight-point lead over Racing >>
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boca Juniors and Racing played to a 0-0 draw on Sunday as the top clubs in Argentina's Apertura, who both remained unbeaten, stayed separated by eight points after 15 matches this season. Although B

Chivas USA acquires Smith from Sporting KC >>
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chivas USA has acquired midfielder Ryan Smith from Sporting Kansas City in exchange for its first and third round picks in the 2012 Major League Soccer Supplemental Draft. Smith, 25, played 32 matches over

Lum, Schaetzke headline Patriot Leage honors >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lehigh senior quarterback Chris Lum and Georgetown senior defensive end Andrew Schaetzke were named the Patriot League offensive and defensive players of the year, respectively, on Tuesday. Georgetown adde

Blues try to stay hot at home against Kings >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There's a major contrast between playing at home and on the road this season for the St. Louis Blues, who have made Scottrade Center a safe haven through the first nine games. The Blues are back in the Gateway City and wi

Boies' strategy? Help Boies >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - On a day where Major League Baseball is set to unveil a new labor deal, one secured with little acrimony, those holding out hope that David Stern and David Boies were going to sit down and hammer

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.