Richard Migliore announces retirement

Horseracing Betting Lines

06/02/2010 - Elmont, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Veteran jockey Richard Migliore announced his retirement from racing Wednesday morning. The 46-year-old was forced to retire due to continued physical problems.

"It's no big surprise why we're here," Migliore said at Belmont Park, "my career as a jockey is over. It's not by choice: I was in the doctor's office on Wednesday of last week and he assured me that I would never ride another thoroughbred again. He works on many NFL players and said if you have a level two fusion, you have to retire. I have a level four fusion."

Migliore suffered severe injuries when he was thrown during a race at Aqueduct this year on January 24. That was the latest of many injuries he suffered in a 30 year career.

The Brooklyn-native won 4,450 races in 30,102 mounts and accumulated more than $160 million in earnings. He won the 1981 Eclipse Award as champion apprentice jockey and won the 2008 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint aboard Desert Code.

"Horses have given me everything in life, everything good in my life stems from horses," Migliore said. "The emotion that I feel now is just knowing I won't get to do it now, and that makes me sad. But I'm also understanding of the fact that my situation is a lot better than a lot of other guys, and I'm sure many people would trade places with me having to make this announcement. The biggest thing I feel is gratitude that I got to live my dream."

Among the many horses Migliore rode during his career were Funny Cide, Artie Schiller, Fourstardave, Albert the Great, Kip Deville, Wando and Student Council.

He was presented with the Eddie Arcaro Award as Outstanding Jockey in 1981 and 1985 by the New York Turf Writers Association. He received the 2003 Mike Venezia Memorial Award from the New York Racing Association for extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship as well as the 2008 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.

Sprtsline Horseracing Betting News

<< Braves complete sweep of punchless Phillies
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Omar Infante drove in the game-winning run in the eighth as the Atlanta Braves completed a three-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 2-1 win at Turner Field. Infante, who replaced Chippe

<< U.S. will travel to Belgium for 2011 Fed Cup opener
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States will travel to Belgium to play its 2011 Fed Cup opener, while the reigning champion Italians will head to Australia. The best-of-five ties will be played from February 5-6. The other

<< Nadal reaches semis; Djokovic falls in French quarters
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Four-time champion Rafael Nadal was tested in his quarterfinal victory, while third-seeded Serbian star Novak Djokovic was stunned by Austrian Jurgen Melzer at the French Open on Wednesday. The second-

<< Biggest World Cup omissions
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Serving as manager of a national team is a pretty thankless job, especially if you are leading one of the premier soccer powers in the world. Every single game is scrutinized relentlessly, every decis

<< Serena and Venus reach French Open doubles final
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The mighty Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, will play in Friday's women's doubles final at the French Open. Seeking their first title here in 11 years, the top-seeded sisters came from behind to

Ducks sign Brookbank to extension >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks signed defenseman Sheldon Brookbank to a two-year contract extension on Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not released. The 29-year-old appeared in 66 games last season for A

Mine That Bird puts in work for Lukas >>
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas had 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird workout Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs. The four-year-old gelding worked a half-mile in 48 seconds with his regular

Altintop extends Bayern deal >>
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich midfielder Hamit Altintop signed a one-year extension to his contract on Wednesday that will keep him with the Champions League finalists until 2011. Altintop made 15 appearances in le

Carlesimo joins Raptors staff >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors added former NBA and college head coach P.J. Carlesimo as an assistant on Wednesday. Carlesimo was last seen on NBA sidelines for the Seattle/Oklahoma City franchise before be

Bynum's knee refills with fluid after procedure >>
LOS ANGELES (AP) -Four years into his NBA career, Andrew Bynum is still trying to make it through his first full postseason.The oft-injured Los Angeles Lakers center went through a limited practice Wednesday for the first time since having his balky

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.