Three added to 2010 Hall of Fame class

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06/09/2010 - Saratoga Springs, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Historic Review Committee of the National Museum of Racing has announced that nineteenth century horse Harry Bassett, trainer Michael Ernest 'Buster' Millerick and jockey Don Pierce have been elected to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame.

These three join former Horses of the Year Point Given and Azeri, along with Best Pal and retired jockey Randy Romero in completing the 2010 Hall of Fame class. The induction ceremony is to be held on Friday, August 13.

Harry Bassett was a champion at age two in 1870, unbeaten champion at three and a top handicapper at four. He was bred by A.J. Alexander and raised at Woodburn Farm in Kentucky and was owned and trained by Col. David McDaniel.

As a two-year-old he won the Nursery Stakes at Jerome Park and the Supper Stakes at Pimlico. The following season he captured the Belmont Stakes, Jersey Derby, Travers Stakes and Kenner Stakes.

Harry Bassett also posted victories as a three-year-old in the Champion Stakes and Bowie Stakes. His 14 race win streak was stopped in his four-year-old campaign by Longfellow in the Monmouth Cup. Three days later he defeated Longfellow in the Saratoga Cup

Harry Bassett completed his career with 23 wins in 36 starts and earnings of $55,920.

Michael Ernest 'Buster' Millerick was a trainer for almost 50 years, retiring in 1984, and won 1,886 races and trained 54 individual stakes winners. His best horse was probably Native Diver who entered the Hall of Fame in 1978.

Native Diver won 37 races, including 34 stakes, in 81 starts with over $1 million during seven seasons. He won three straight Hollywood Gold Cups from 1965-1967 and as an eight-year-old captured the Del Mar Handicap and won both the Los Angeles Handicap and San Carlos Handicap.

Don Pierce rode for 30 years and retired with 3,546 wins, 351 stakes victories in 28,740 mounts. He concluded his riding career with purse earnings of $39,018,422.

Pierce won the Santa Anita Handicap four times from 1960 to 1972. From 1969 to 1973 he won each running of the Los Angeles Handicap as well as five runnings of the Santa Anita Oaks. In addition, he won the Del Mar Debutante and Hollywood Oaks four times each and the Del Mar Derby, Del Mar Oaks, Santa Monica Handicap, Santa Ana Handicap and Santa Margarita Handicap three times apiece.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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