2008 Kentucky Derby

It's Derby Week. Looks like a full field of 20 and to me it's a wide open race.

I'm guessing Gayego (three wins and two seconds in five starts) will be the favorite.

Good luck to all.

 

Let me amend that.

Post-time favorite likely to be Big Brown (3-for-3 lifetime by a combined 29 lengths).

 

Awesome! I'll be going to the track early Saturday (Twin Rivers in RI) - make my picks have a nice lunch plus a few adult beverages and then I'll be off to my favorite watering hole where we have a $20 pool and a poker game. I love the Derby.

Any tips on any of the earlier races on the card will be most welcome.

 

I'm going to be in Chicago this weekend. Anyone there know if there are facilities where I can bet the race early, say, Friday night?

 

If you have an account open with Churchill Downs, I think betting opens by phone earlier in the week.

By the way, Derby's a big deal -- I'll admit that. But if you've never been to Oaks or Dawn at the Downs on Thursday morning, GO. By far the best two days at the track.

 

If Big Brown's feet don't falter, he's the best Triple Crown candidate in a loooong time.

 

Cue the Najeh Davenport jokes.

 

Probably going to box a triple w/Big Brown, Colonel John and Tale of Ekati. California horses usually scare me off but Colonel John had a good workout in Lousiville yesterday, which suggests to me that folks were making too much of the fact that he's run almost exclusively on synthetic surfaces

 

Any love for Pyro? Last race a fluke or is he flaming out?

 

Pyro is essentially the horse that I'm betting against because he seems like the biggest obstacle to claiming my triple. He was pretty bad his last time out (Blue Grass) and I'm hoping he stays in that funk on Saturday. Denis of Cork has me a little concerned, though.

 

Sounds like you just need to get your wallet back out, cranny.

 

In the end, I'll end up taking a tip from an old lady with a smoker's cough while I'm on line at OTB.