The Breeders’ Cup Classic which is powered by Dodge has increased its purse to $5 million that means $1 million more than last year. The horse race will take place on November 4th, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.

Breeders’ Cup races have doubled their purses since its beginning in 1984, when they started with a $10 million purse. Last time purses increased was before the 2003 Breeders’ Cup when the Breeders’ Cup Mile and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile were increased to 1.5 million dollars.

This situation is turning the Breeders’ Cup into the richest race of all, giving its property even more value than ever. It is formed by eight races: the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, the TVG Breeders’ Cup Sprint, the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Mile, the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the John Deere Breeders’ Cup and the Turf Breeders’ Cup Classic – Powered by Dodge.

This race is a determining factor in Horse of the Year honors. The Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships is a series of thoroughbred horse races sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. It is a one-day event that takes place every year at a different location. It has always taken place in the United States; the one year that was in another country was in 1996, when the races were at the Woodbine Racetrack in Canada.

The horse racing event was created as a championship for North American thoroughbred racing, but it also attracts top horses from other parts of the world, especially Europe and during recent years, the Middle East.

About the Author:
Julie Smith is one of the most recognized copy writers on Sports Betting and currently writes for Instant Action Sports. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.

Instead of posting up Wallace the Pistons consistently went to Tayshun Prince, a good but young player that should never get more touches than Wallace. They also choose to have Wallace shooting three pointers the whole series.

Another mistake the Pistons made that cost them the series was not posting up Billups more. Billups spent sometime in the post, and when he did he was very effective, getting Jason Williams in foul trouble in almost every game. This makes me wonder about Flip Saunders coaching ability. It is good to have a game plan but sometimes you have to know when it is not working and do something different. The Pistons decision to stick with their game plan sent them home a bit too early.

As many of you has heard that walking and other outdoor activities bring benefit to your health, but many of us neglect the need for high quality walking shoes and apparel. Surely, don’t think that when you participate in a low impact sport you don’t need right shoes. Whether you work out three times a week at a gym, or you spend every evening taking a nightly stroll, you need to protect your feet if you want to keep working out. Get the right shoes for your own good.

Although you can wear any kind of shoes, but you have to remember that not all shoes is good for you. Your foot and your walking styles are different. No one has the same way. That’s why you have to find your own walking shoes. Check it out how!

These tips will help you selecting the right shoes for you:

- Choose for a low, supportive heel that rounds or bevels in.

- Find a flexible sole and more bend in the toe, so you will able to twist and bend the toe area.

- Look for a shoe that is light weight and breathable

- Make sure the shoes fit properly. There should be a thumbnails width or about a half inch between your toes and the end of the shoe.

- Shop for shoes after walking or at the end of the day, when your feet may be slightly swollen.

- Wear the same socks you will be wearing during your walks while fitting the shoes.

- Try to walk around while fitting. If possible a few minutes on hard surface.

- Wear your shoes in the house for a few days to try them out. Don’t go outside until you are sure the shoes are going to work for you

Do those tips help? An investment in a good pair of walking shoes is an investment that will last for a long time to come. There are a great deal of delicate bones in your feet that need protection and support. The last thing you want to do when you make the decision to start working out, or to increase your daily workout, is fail to protect your feet. I can’t tell you how many times I have jumped into a new routine only to injure myself because I didn’t have the proper gear.

Depending on your age and your overall physical state, it’s important to check with your doctor to make sure that you’re not overdoing it. It’s also a good idea to get a feel for the type of shoes that best fit your foot. Nothing is worse than wearing a tight fitting pair of shoes that leave your feet aching for hours afterwards. When you give your feet room to breathe and arch support, you can improve your performance, and overall physical fitness level.

Okay, there you go! Find the correct shoes, and start to exercise without worrying you might get hurt. Good luck!

About the author: Diana Claire lifelong for footwear led her became footwear reviewer. Visit http://www.walking-shoes.info and http://www.my-running-shoes.info for more information.

Because it would be pretty much impossible to fit every doll ever made into one book or even a series of books, each book tends to concentrate on a particular decade, or manufacturer, or even one doll (Barbie, for example).

Doll guides can be quite hard to find in shops (unless you live near a specialist doll shop), but they’re easy to find on the web, particularly on Amazon.com and eBay. If you get one used, it might not even be all that expensive, although you should expect to have to pay a lot for postage. Make sure you read reviews of any given book before you buy it, because they vary hugely in quality, and not all of them do what they say on the cover very well at all.

It is ironic that doll guides are easiest to buy on the web, however, because it is also the web that is making them slowly obsolete. Even the best doll guides can’t hope to even touch the sheer diversity of pictures and information that exists on the web in the doll collecting enthusiast community. There are websites out there that are at least as reliable as any of the books, and websites are usually more up-to-date in terms of price guidance.

The web works particularly well if you know which doll you have and just want to know which type it is. Even if you know nothing about the doll, however, and you can’t find it in a database, it’s not hard to find doll collectors’ forums (search for ‘doll forum’). Once you’re on a forum, you can post pictures and other enthusiasts will help you out – someone is bound to know the answer.

John Gibb is the owner of doll guides, For more information on dolls please check out www.doll-guides1k.info

Camping Journals

Take a minute to give some consideration to your most recent camping experience. What sticks out in your mind? Now think about the first time you ever went camping. Undoubtedly, you remember few things about the geography, people you went with, particular camping routes and spectacular views. The experiences you’ve forgotten are lost to time. If you keep a camping journal, this won’t be the case.

There are famous instances of people keeping journals throughout time. Of course, Anne Frank’s Diary is the best example. In her diary, Anne kept a running commentary of the two years her family spent hiding from the Nazis. While your camping experiences better be more lighthearted, keeping a journal will let you remember them as the years pass.

A good camping journal combines a number of characteristics. First, it should be compact so you don’t have to take up unnecessary space for other things. Second, it should have a case to protect it from rain, spills and so on. Third, the journal should contain blank areas to write your notes. Fourth, the journal should contain cue spaces to remind you to keep notes on specific things. Cues should include:

1. Who you went camping with,

2. Where you camped and if you enjoyed it,

3. Who you met and contact information for them,

4. The geographic and weather conditions, and

5. Any unique things that occurred while camping.

At the end of the camping trip, you should be able to get the following from your journal:

1. Contact information for other campers and people you met,

2. Enough detail to provide you or a friend with a guide if you camp in the location a second time.

3. Memories to reflect upon years later, and

4. Something to pass on to your friends, children and grandchildren.

To get the most out of your camping journal, you should write in it during while you’re camping. Every trip is special, even if you just go out for a weekend.

Camping is a great way to commune with nature. Make sure to preserve the experience.

Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com – makers of writing journals for outdoor activities and traveling. Visit http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com to read articles and stories on travel and outdoor activities.

When properly executed, a flat back four will provide excellent
defensive pressure, cover and balance. Young soccer players should be
developed to play at their highest potential level and nearly all higher level
teams play a flat four or three system. Coaching a flat back four defense gives
players a foundation for future success in soccer. Even a team as young as U11
team can successfully play a flat back four zone defense. A team may give up
‘break-away’ goals in the short term, while they learn the system, but in the
long run they will have the ability to confidently step into a modern defensive
system.

A team can successfully play a flat back four after just a few training
sessions and a handful of games. I use the pre-season practices, tournaments
and scrimmages as a time for a team to learn the player roles and team shape
of a flat back four zone defense.

To help players visually understand the team shape of the defense I
call it the ‘Swoosh’ defense. As the back four defenders shift left and right
across the field, the shape of the defense unit looks like the Nike “Swoosh”
logo. If the players drift out of shape I can just say “Swoosh” and immediately
the players know where to position themselves. As the players feel comfortable
with the system they will remind each other to “Swoosh”. Here are four basic
ideas to be aware of when coaching the Swoosh defense.

1. Swoosh Defense

The back four defensive shape will prevent the other team from having
‘break away chances’ by making sure the far-side outside defender and the
far-side central defender shift and cover diagonally behind the pressuring
near-side defenders. It sounds complicated but it’s actually pretty simple. The
defenders shift diagonally to the position of the ball.

With this correct positioning the ‘Swoosh’ defense is denying ball
penetration, the dangerous attacking players are marked and the covering
defenders will ’sweep’ any ball that gets played through. If the ball is switched
to the far side of the field, the defending four players will shift the ‘Swoosh’
accordingly. I have found that young players can easily remember to ‘Swoosh!’
more that ‘Pressure, Cover, Balance’.

It is important for players to remember that the diagonal cover shape
is why the team doesn’t need a sweeper. The most common defensive mistake
is for the team to stand totally ‘flat’. This is especially common at the half-field
line when the team with the ball has been maintaining possession in the
opponent’s half of the field. Which explains why teams that are learning the
Swoosh defense will usually give up their goals from half-field breakaways.

If the defenders stand flat at half field then any ball played behind the
defense will result in a breakaway race without anyone to stop a goal but the
goalkeeper.

2. Marking A Man In Your Zone

In addition to the Swoosh shape, the four defenders need to become
aware of the attacking player in their area of responsibility. Young players
often focus all of their attention on the ball. This bad habit is called ‘ball
watching’. Young players will often ball watch until the ball comes near them
and only then will they try and get it. But getting the ball is only part of the job
of defending. The Swoosh defense requires that players be in a good defensive
position while marking the opponent ‘goal-side and ball-side’.

When defenders ‘ball-watch’, opponents will move into unmarked
positions. The basic rule for defenders is to mark the most dangerous player in
your zone and stay ball-side and goal-side of them.

The break-aways against the Swoosh defense usually happen when a
defender is “caught flat ” and doesn’t react to the open opponent in their zone
until it’s too late. If a defenders waits until after the pass is played forward to
move towards the mark in their zone then there is often a foot race to the goal.
90% of good defense is positioning away from the ball.

(Note: Another reason I use the “Swoosh” term is to because young players will
often stay “flat” if the defense is called a “flat back four”.)

Ball watching
is pretty normal behavior for young soccer players, however, a defender is a
very important position and that player must be alert and mature enough to
not ball watch. Learning to mark correctly is a skill that will come with
commitment to learning.

3. Line Of Restraint And Compactness During Transition

The basic principle of good defending is to create ‘compactness’. I
encourage the defense to create compactness when we transition to offense or
when the opponent passes the ball backwards. We do this because (a)
compacting the space that the other team has to work with creates pressure
and (b) we can catch them off-sides. I do not encourage a sophisticated off-
sides trap below U14, but moving up the field to create compactness will catch
unaware forwards off-sides.

If we are slow in our own transition to offense (for example, after we
just cleared the ball from the defensive third) and our defenders just stay deep
in our own half then we are giving the other team lots of room to move the ball
back towards our goal. The general rule I coach is if the ball goes up the field 5
yards then we move the defense up 5 yards – 20 yards up the field means we
move 20 yards up the field. This is true until we cross half field. At half field,
the back four step a few yards into the opponents half of the field.

If our defense stays back in our own half of the field then there is less
pressure and with less pressure the other team will spend the game in our half.
I believe it is a better idea to try and defend the half line than your goal.

The key to successfully compacting the space is that all of the
defenders must move up together. If just one defender stays back then the
other team will exploit that. The line of defenders moving up the field is called
our ‘Line of Restraint’. Our goal is to have our ‘Line of Restraint’ no more than
35 yards from our forwards until our defenders reach the half line.

Again, a secondary bonus of compacting the space during transition is
that the other team is often off-sides because their forwards are caught
standing around after the ball has been cleared.

4. Off-Sides And Referees

A common concern when playing the Swoosh defense is that referees
can make mistakes with the off0sides call and the other team will have easy
break-aways. As far as the referees missing offsides calls, well, that’s the
nature of the game. The key is to control the controllables. As coaches, we
can’t control the referee’s decisions but we can control the team’s ability to
have good positioning and marking. Furthermore, if a team plays good defense
and scores goals then they will not be in a position that will allow the referee to
determine the outcome of the game.

In summary, if we coach to have defenders compact in transition, get
in our proper ‘Swoosh’ shape, and mark their opponent goal-side and ball-
side, then I am confident that the flat back four zone defense can be successful
even with young teams.

Now that my current U11 team is comfortable with the
Swoosh defense, we have moved onto the role of the attacking outside
defender and their ability to move forward to join the attack.

Coach Hardy Kalisher is a Pro Staff Coach and Director of Operations at the
Boulder County Force Soccer Club in Colorado. His articles appear in the club
newsletter at http://www.bcforce.com

Bone stress fractures are very common sports injuries. Any trauma to bones, such as repeated pounding when your heel strikes the ground during running, or landing on your feet after grabbing a basketball, can cause small cracks on the surface of bones called stress fractures. In healthy athletes, they can take from 3 to 12 weeks to heal, forcing an athlete to lose valuable training time. A study from Tulane University shows that intravenous pamidronate can heal these fractures quickly and keep the playing (Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, March 2005). Bones change constantly. Calcium is carried from bones by cells called osteoclasts and carried into bones by cells called osteoblasts. Bisphosphonates such as pamidronate prevent osteoclasts from carrying calcium from bones. The athletes received five weekly intravenous infusions of pamidronate and were able to continue training, even though they had painful small fractures in bones of their feet and legs.

Will blood pressure drugs interfere with your running program?

The beta blocker drugs used to treat blood pressure and heart problems can markedly impair your ability to exercise, according to a study from Switzerland (European Journal of Applied Physiology, October 2005). How hard you can exercise is limited by the ability of your heart to pump blood from your lungs to your exercising muscles. Beta blockers markedly reduce blood flow and oxygen supply to muscles. Beta blocker brand names include Toprol, Inderal, Blocadron, Coreg, Inopran, Levatol, Pindolol, Sectral, Tenormin, Timolol Trandate, Zebeta and Bisoprol.

Beta blockers are prescribed to treat people who have had heart attacks, heart pain, heart failure, rapid heart beat and atrial fibrillation. However, even though many physicians prescribe beta blockers to treat high blood pressure, there is no data show that they prevent heart attacks in healthy people. If beta blockers interfere with your ability to exercise, ask your doctor if you can take other types of medications such ace inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers or calcium channel blockers..

Read my Good Food Book FREE, with 100 healthful recipes.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

Free weekly newsletter on fitness, health, and nutrition.

The key considerations when looking for a putter are price, quality, type, clubhead, and alignment system. Face insert, loft, and hosel are additional considerations. I’ve talked about these considerations in my golf tips, but here’s some additional information about them.

Price/Quality

Prices for putters range from $30 to $250 or more. Usually, the higher the price, the better the quality. While buying quality is nice, you don’t have to overspend to find the right putter. Consider putters from all price ranges before investing, but look for one that feels right to you and fits your budget. That can take time, but if you look hard enough, you just might find a good but inexpensive putter that will work as well as an expensive one.

Type

Putter types include traditional, belly, and long. Most players use a traditional putter, which allows for the best blend of feel and mechanical precision. Traditional putters demand “quiet” wrists, a big hurdle for some. They also affect golfers with bad backs. Hence, the increased use of the belly and the long putters. Nevertheless, they’re easier to master than the belly or long putters, which is why I cover them in my golf lessons.

The belly putter provides a third point of contact – the abdomen between the putter and the player, the other two being your hands. This putter adds stability and balance to your stroke. The belly putter enables a golfer to control his wrist action and assume a near perfect position for putting, but the club’s longer shaft and generally thicker grip inhibits feel and feed back. Distance control is also a problem.

Long putters provide a stroke with a true pendulum arc, are great for players with bad backs, and completely eliminate wrist action, but they inhibit feel, feed back, and distance control even more than belly putters. Many players consider them the “last refuge” for players with highly active wrists, but you’ll often see them used by pros on the tour who are having trouble with their putting.

Clubhead

Putters come with blade, cavity back, and mallet clubheads. A blade has the clubhead’s weight distributed to the heel or bottom of the putter, leaving a thin top line to view when addressing the ball. It is harder to control than a cavity back or a mallet. A cavity back features a hollow area in the middle of the club- head’s back, creating a larger sweet spot. A mallet is bigger than traditional putter’s clubhead but its shape varies widely. Also check out the face-balanced and the heel-toe-weighted mallets, which promote a straight stroke and minimize mishits.

Alignment System

Aligning the putter to the hole is critical to sinking the putt, as I emphasize in my golf lessons. If the putter isn’t lined up properly, the ball won’t go in regardless of how well it’s hit. Try finding a putter with a visual aid to help you line up the club with the hole, one that you feel comfortable and confident with. There’s no research showing that one alignment system is better than another, so choose one that feels right to you. But make sure you buy a putter that has one.

Additional Considerations

Face inserts are available in a variety of materials including metal, rubber, ceramic, plastic, glass, and wood. They provide more feel and feedback, better define a club’s sweet spot, and increase heel-toe weighting. They are nice but not necessary, which I’ve often mentioned in my golf tips.

Believe it or not, putters come with about 4 degrees of loft, which keeps the ball from bouncing when struck. Most golfers use a putter with standard loft because their hands are vertical to the ball at impact. Loft can be added or taken away depending on where your hands are when you hit the ball.

A putter with an offset shaft or hosel appeals to many recreational golfers. The offset helps them address the ball with their forward eye over the ball and a good line of sight to the hole. More importantly, the offset helps them keep their hands ahead of the ball when putting, increasing accuracy.

Golf instruction aside, a good putter is critical to improving your golf handicap. But choosing a putter is mostly a matter of feel, so look for one that feels comfortable. If you find a putter you think fits your game, try it before purchasing it. Some retailers have small putting greens that allow you to test a putter. Others will let you take the putter home to test. By all means, do so. It’s the only way to really know.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately.

“Are you more interested in adopting more coping strategies to deal with all these performance issues you just told me about OR do you want to create a new approach that reduces the number of times they show up?”

Dead silence. “I thought the whole idea was to learn better coping strategies”. I said.

“Well, that would be the idea most people have but I don’t believe it’s the optimal way to go about things. This is why I’ve asked you the question. So, I’m awaiting your answer”.

Well, if I had a choice I guess I’d like to create something new and reduce the number of times these things happen…if I had a choice”.

“You do have a choice.” David said.

“Can you tell me why you asked that question?”

“Sure. Here’s one of the first insights I’d like you to consider. There is a difference between coping and creating and many people, out of habit or training, think coping is the way to go. When you look at what the word really means you’ll understand why I don’t focus on it. For example, the synonyms for the word “cope” are: “to manage, to get by, to struggle with and muddle through”. Is that what you’re striving for?”

“No, definitely not!”

“Well, that’s what coping is!”

“When you explain it like that it sounds pretty average.”

“Learning to “cope” means you are keeping your chin above water and it reflects the mindset of “just trying to get by”. It’s subtle and I want you to know you are capable of so much more than that.” David said. End of excerpt.

I just received the following email from a client who read my earlier book “Wired To Win” and then took action to make an appointment. The original email is longer than what is presented here and I’ve edited portions for the sake of space. He writes:
Dear David,

“Everybody has hopes that with just one more key, they’ll be playing like pros. On top of that almost nothing in the golf world really works for more than a few days.

I don’t know if you realize this but your material is the only thing that has made a lasting improvement that I can “count” on. More importantly look at the nature of the improvement.
Numerically speaking, this process reduced my scores by about 15% from an average of 81 to an average of 70!!! Years of practicing hitting drives, years of practicing putting, years of measuring how far each swing would throw the ball what particular distance but nothing was there to tie it together until I read your material and spoke with you and most importantly; it sticks, it continues to work and there is simply nothing else in golf to compare it to. So admire their (golfer’s in general) ability to hope because they have no way to understand the good you are out to do them, until they have it in their hands.”

Jim Fenney

This was quite a remarkable and unexpected letter to receive. Will everyone drop 11 strokes? No. We didn’t set out to drop 11 strokes from Jim’s game, it happened as a result of his expanded awareness and application of the principles I write about so often.

I invite you to take a look at your approach to the game of golf or of life. Are you busy “coping” with things like poor focus, lack of confidence, reactions to unfair bounces, stress, pressure and generally performing below your capabilities? Is your automatic approach to find more “coping” skills? Take a look and see if you’re spending time coping or creating something new for yourself.

THANK YOU!
Thanks to the hundreds of folks who requested the free PDF on “7 Keys To Play Your Best Golf”. This free offer will be made for the final time this week. To receive it; please go to: www.theflowzone.net and click on “contact us” and type “free pdf” in the comments section.

Copyright ©2006 All Rights Reserved. David Breslow is a Speaker/Author/Performance Coach who works with Athletes (PGA/LPGA) and businesses to help people perform at the ‘top of their game”. His approach is not “business as usual” and creates faster shifts in how people think, feel and perform every day. David has appeared on The Golf Channel, ESPN radio and has spoken to both large and small corporations across the country. To get more information or reach David call: 847.681.1698 or email: David@theflowzone.net or visit the web: http://www.theflowzone.net
To order, “Wired To Win” click here:
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~9986.aspx OR call toll free: 1.888.280.7715

Golf Dating Tip #1: Don’t lose your temper.

We all know that golf can be an extremely frustrating game at times. Try your best to put that aside and behave. There’s no better way to turn off a potential golfmate than blowing up in a fit of rage when you send your ball for a swim.

Golf Dating Tip #2: Be a gracious loser.

This tip is mainly focused on the single male golfers. These days, the female golfers are out driving and out golfing some of the men and there’s no shame in that. If by chance you find yourself losing and it is bothering you, keep your eye on the prize and maintain your class.

Golf Dating Tip #3: Have Fun!

Even if you know things are not going to work out between you, just enjoy your round of golf. This is one of the major bonuses of trying the golf date in the first place. If you hit it off with your golfmate, all the better. If not, you have a great round of golf awaiting you.

Dating is tough at the best of times. The golf course offers a great place to get to know someone so take advantage of it and enjoy.

Mike Wyman is co-owner of the golf singles site http://www.DateAGolfer.com, the perfect place for golf dating. He also runs http://www.PuttingForPar.com, a site specializing in the sale of personalized golf ball markers.