Rudd to retire at end of season

Autoracing Betting Lines

08/20/2007 - Brooklyn, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While waiting out yesterday's rain, 50-year- old Ricky Rudd announced that he would retire at the end of the 2007 season.

"I've been fortunate that it's something that I've loved to do, had fun doing and made a good living doing it," Rudd said. "To run the schedule week-in and week-out, it's more demanding than it used to be. And it's really become a young guys' sport: a single guy or a guy that's married and no kids, which means guys in their 20s and early 30s, just because there are so many demands on your schedule. I guess I'm not willing to make those sacrifices for that full-time schedule anymore."

Rudd will retire after making 911 career starts, second only to Richard Petty's 1,184. To date, Rudd has recorded 23 wins, 29 poles and 374 top-10s in 897 starts over 32 years.

Rudd made his debut on March 2, 1975 at Rockingham, finishing 11th. He won at least one race for 16 consecutive years between 1983 and 1998. Rudd, who took last season off, will finish out the year in the No.88 Robert Yates Racing Ford.

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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.