Betting Picks

Have you started planning your wagers for the 2019 U.S. Open, to be held at Pebble Beach Golf Links in California? You probably haven't. And that's okay! The tournament is still months away. But it's always better to get your bets in sooner rather than later. The odds on futures are never more tantalizing than when they're being delivered well in advance. Let's see if we can spot the best market opportunities.

The Australian Open will be here sooner than you think. Ahead of the January tournament — the first Grand Slam event of 2019 — we look at the betting futures field for both the men's and women's competition! Here are the players most likely to cash in a futures wager for you in a few short weeks in Melbourne!

Only one American in the last 20 years has won the Miss Universe pageant, which means the entertainment odds are stacked against Sarah Rose Summers in this year's event. Olivia Culpo from Cranston, Rhode Island was the last winner from the U.S. in 2012. Miss Universe 2018 will be held on Sunday, Dec. 16 in Bangkok, Thailand. Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa will crown her successor at the end of the competition.

Here's a little-known hockey fact - Seattle, awarded an NHL franchise for the first time ever on Tuesday, owns a rich hockey heritage. Pro hockey in Seattle goes back to 1915. The Seattle Metropolitans joined the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, a major pro league that competed with the NHL and its forerunner, the National Hockey Association for the Stanley Cup, in 1915-16. The Metropolitans competed in the PCHA through the 1923-34 season. 

A field of six two-year-old colts meet at Los Alamitos Race Course in California on Saturday for the running of the $300,000 (G1) Los Alamitos Futurity. They'll be racing 1 1/16 miles on the dirt, chasing the purse money and points to qualify for the 2019 Kentucky Derby. Trainer Bob Baffert has won the race the past four years and holds a strong hand with two top entries.

And then there were two. Following the final leg of the MLS playoffs, only two teams remain in pursuit of Philip F. Anschutz Trophy: The Portland Timbers and Atlanta United. They will square off in the MLS Cup Final, with Atlanta playing host in its Mercedes Benz Stadium. Oddsmakers have already made their decision about which team will win. Should you follow their lead, or is this year's MLS Final primed for an upset?

As evidence of its iconic stature in US horse racing, when Hollywood Park closed in 2014, the Hollywood Derby was not allowed to die but was moved to Del Mar Race Track. The 2018 version of the Hollywood Derby goes this Saturday, and has drawn 14 entries for betting in Bovada's racebook. They'll be racing 1 1/8 miles on the Del Mar Turf for a purse of $300,000.

The race to qualify for the 2019 Kentucky Derby picks up steam again this weekend with the running of the $250,000 (G2) Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, which will award Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers in a 10-4-2-1 scale. In an interesting handicapping angle, several of the colts in the field will be making a switch from turf-to-dirt racing surface.