There is going to be a huge event this Wednesday at the South Point race book. If you are any kind of a sports or race fan, the Point is the place to be.
There will be a $10 horse handicapping contest with the top four finishers getting in the money but the major bonus will be that the first 300 people to enter the contest will receive a signed copy of the Gary Stevens book “The Perfect Ride.”
It will all begin at 11 a.m. in the Grand View Lounge after a meet and greet with Stevens, the Hall of Fame jockey, movie star, announcer, multi-talented big race rider along with the legendary sports announcer Dick “Oh My” Enberg.
All I can say is wow!
Even if you don’t want to get into the contest it would be great to attend the meet and greet. And, have one of those good hot dogs while you are there.
The Bowl games start to hit the fan this week and I will give my opinion on the four Saturday matchups along with my singular NFL selection. I know from my emails many are waiting to see if I can keep my NFL streak going. I will give it a try.
Saturday
NCAA Football
New Mexico Bowl
Colorado St. +4 vs. Washington St. (65): The Cougars played the much tougher schedule but did lose four of the last six. The CSU Rams from Fort Collins got here by winning three of their last four, including a rout of Air Force to close the regular season. Picking a side is tough, but strength of schedule points us to the Pac 12 rep in a high scoring game. WASH ST./OVER.
Las Vegas
USC -6 vs. Fresno St. (62½): The Trojans turned things around, winning five straight games before losing their finale to UCLA, 35-14, as 3½ point chalk. Fresno State had visions of an undefeated season but that went down the drain when losing at San Jose, 62-52, as an 8 point favorite. I just don’t see much defense and the weather will be fine for a wild, high scoring game with the Trojans, who did beat Stanford. USC/OVER.
Famous Idaho Potato
Buffalo -1 vs. San Diego St. 53½: Huge advantage for the Aztecs who know Boise’s blue carpet well as they beat the Broncos there last year. The Bulls travel cross country. A one way call. SAN DIEGO ST.
New Orleans
UL-Lafayette -1 vs. Tulane: The Ragin’ Cajuns did little raging in their last two games, losing at home to Monroe, 31-28, as a 2 TD chalk, and then a complete no show against South Alabama 30-8. The Green Wave, after a great start, lost three of their last four but they did cover the last three. Young Montana (son of Joe) will be fired up for this one. TULANE.
Monday
Beef O’Brady
Ohio U +13½ vs. E. Carolina 62½: The Bobcats from Athens lost three of their last four with their only win coming in their last game against UMass. The Pirates from Greenville, N.C., won five of their last six, losing their last game 59-28 at Marshall. ECU has lost its last four bowl games, which leads us to the big dog. The Bobcats have won their last two bowls and MAC teams have done well bowling of late. OHIO.
Sunday
NFL Football
Broncos -10½ at Texans: Usually I just never lay this price on the road, but Denver has everything going for them. No one will want to bet the Texans who have signed off on this season. We get Denver off a loss and Manning is very mad. The other factor is the Texans have gone 0-7 as dogs of three points or higher before a division game (they play at Tennessee next week). Another one way call. DENVER.
Record
Last Week
1-0
NFL
14-7-1
NCAA
53-28-1
Richard Saber, a former director of race and sports at the famed Stardust book, is GamingToday’s horse racing and sports handicapper. Follow Richard on Twitter @SabesBet. Contact Richard at [email protected].
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