Derby Day
Today is Derby day and the field looks wide open.
The unbeaten colt, Big Brown, is the morning line favorite, but people have their doubts since the last time a horse with so little experience won the Derby, Grover Cleveland (or somebody like that) was in the White House.
Me, being the father of a 10 year-old, can’t possibly bring myself to put money on an animal named Big Brown, so I’m looking elsewhere.
A child of Western Pennyslvania, I was drawn to Cool Coal Man, but his last time out, he finished 9th, and I’m skeptical he’ll do well in such a large field and at this distance.
You’ve got to like the filly, Eight Belles, unbeaten in four starts this year, but I wonder if she’s outclassed in this field; I put five bucks on her to win, anyway.
My pick is Smooth Air; granted he’s not bred for this distance, but no other horse in the race with this much experience is so accustomed to finishing in the money. At 20-1 as of this writing, I’m taking him across the board for 5 bucks. Even if he just shows, I may break even.
As for exotics, I’ve boxed a 2 dollar exacta with Smooth Air, Big Brown, and Pyro and another one with Pyro, Eight Belles, and Colonel John. If either of those hits, I think I’ll be buying dinner for the family.
So far this season, I haven’t had much luck at the online track, but for me, the horse racing season never really starts until after my annual Father’s Day bike ride out to Emerald Downs. This first Saturday in May thing is just for fun; pari-mutual betting in earnest doesn’t really take hold until those long days of summer when I’m out of school and in front of the computer with way too much time on my hands and way too many virtual tracks to make just one little bet at.
The unbeaten colt, Big Brown, is the morning line favorite, but people have their doubts since the last time a horse with so little experience won the Derby, Grover Cleveland (or somebody like that) was in the White House.
Me, being the father of a 10 year-old, can’t possibly bring myself to put money on an animal named Big Brown, so I’m looking elsewhere.
A child of Western Pennyslvania, I was drawn to Cool Coal Man, but his last time out, he finished 9th, and I’m skeptical he’ll do well in such a large field and at this distance.
You’ve got to like the filly, Eight Belles, unbeaten in four starts this year, but I wonder if she’s outclassed in this field; I put five bucks on her to win, anyway.
My pick is Smooth Air; granted he’s not bred for this distance, but no other horse in the race with this much experience is so accustomed to finishing in the money. At 20-1 as of this writing, I’m taking him across the board for 5 bucks. Even if he just shows, I may break even.
As for exotics, I’ve boxed a 2 dollar exacta with Smooth Air, Big Brown, and Pyro and another one with Pyro, Eight Belles, and Colonel John. If either of those hits, I think I’ll be buying dinner for the family.
So far this season, I haven’t had much luck at the online track, but for me, the horse racing season never really starts until after my annual Father’s Day bike ride out to Emerald Downs. This first Saturday in May thing is just for fun; pari-mutual betting in earnest doesn’t really take hold until those long days of summer when I’m out of school and in front of the computer with way too much time on my hands and way too many virtual tracks to make just one little bet at.
posted by Professor Dave at 1:04 PM
2 Comments:
Did you buy dinner? Now that all is revealed in hindsight, what strikes me the most is that on Friday, I heard a soundbite of Hillary, asking us to "put a little money on the filly for me "; as things turned out, what an absolutely awful analogy for the Clinton campaign.
horse racing. yuck.
riding bikes to horse racing, drinking all day, riding back. yum.
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