Weekly Q&A with Doc's Sports Expert Handicapper Raphael Esparza 11/1/2016

by Doc's Sports - 11/1/2016

This weekend's Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita Park offers two days of the best graded stakes horse racing of the season capped off by Saturday's $6 million Classic. Doc's Sports expert sports handicapper Raphael Esparza also happens to be a top handicapper for the ponies, so we will get his take on how to bet this year's main event.

Known as the Vegas Sports Informer during a long and successful career in the gambling capital of the world's sportsbook industry, Raphael worked his way to the prestigious position of Director of the Race and Sports Book for MGM Grand's Aria while establishing himself as one of the top handicappers in the nation.

Esparza retired from the sportsbook industry back in 2013, but he continues to run a very successful and diverse sports investment service from his home base in Las Vegas as well as from the Big Easy in New Orleans. The following is this week's Q&A with one of Doc's most interesting handicappers.

Doc's Sports: New England's 7-1 run both straight up and against the spread through the first half of its regular-season schedule continues to line the betting public's pockets on a weekly basis. With another big win by the Patriots this past Sunday, how did the NFL bettors do overall against the Las Vegas books in Week 8?

RE: This was just the second week this season where the betting public did come out ahead against the Las Vegas books. Both New England and Dallas were big winners for the bettors, with most of the other results cancelling one another out. The overall gain would have been much higher if Minnesota would have covered on Monday night.

Doc's Sports: One of the biggest matchups this week in the NFL pits the 6-2 Denver Broncos on the road against the upstart 6-2 Oakland Raiders in a battle for first place in the AFC West. Most sportsbooks currently have this game listed as a "pick", so are the Raiders ready to take that next step with an outright win against their division rivals?

RE: If the Raiders were playing this game on the road I would definitely bet on them to cover, but they are not the same team when playing in front of the hometown crowd. I thought for sure that Denver would open as a slight road favorite, so I would have to lean towards the added value in the Broncos with the game listed as a "pick".

Doc's Sports : This Tuesday marks the start of the weekly College Football Playoff rankings. While the top four teams on this week's list should be pretty much set with Alabama, Michigan, Clemson and Washington rising to the top, can you give us your top four college football betting teams through the first nine weeks of the season?

RE: I would also go with Alabama as my top betting team given the way the Tide have been beating teams lately. Next on my list would be New Mexico on the total line with seven of its first eight games going "over". Third would be Louisville given its remaining schedule, and my fourth team would be Washington on the total line as well with seven of its first eight games going over.

Doc's Sports : Curse or no curse, we have to put you on the spot with your beloved Chicago Cubs. Can they still pull off back-to-back wins in Cleveland the next two days to win the World Series as heavy underdogs on the current series price odds?

RE: The Cubs are more than capable of winning two in a row at Cleveland if they can start hitting the ball. Their pitching has actually gotten the job done, but you cannot win games if you do not score runs. My gut tells me that Cleveland wraps things in Game 6 with manager Terry Francona pulling out all the stops to avoid a Game 7.

Doc's Sports: California Chrome has been tearing up the track this season with six victories in six events as a five-year-old thoroughbred. It is no surprise that he has been opened as a 1/1 morning line favorite to win this Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic, so can you give us a second choice to use in an exacta play?

RE : It would be hard to imagine California Chrome losing this race considering just how dominant he has been, so I would look to stretch the odds in an exacta bet with a horse like Keen Ice at 20/1 or War Story at 30/1. If for some reason the favorite does not have his best stuff on Saturday, then you might see Frosted at 5/1 or Arrogate at 5/2 claim the top prize in the Classic.

Click here to visit Raphael Esparza's Insider's Page at Doc's Sports for more information on his amazingly-profitable sports handicapping picks. Also, get $60 worth of Esparza's member's picks absolutely free - no obligation, no sales people - you don't even have to enter credit card information. You can use this $60 credit for any sport Esparza handicaps. Click here for $60 worth of free picks from Raphael Esparza .

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