Kentucky Derby

[tallahassee blues fan]

The singlemost important sporting event in my sport's year. Your memories, thoughts, expectations of the event?

[MsFunkay]

like i said earlier today, i think its creepy its sponsered by yum

[Bleacher Creature]

1971. A field horse named Canonero II (the second) pulls off what was considered to be the biggest upset in Derby History. Then he wins the Preakness. He finished fourth at Belmont.

[tallahassee blues fan]

Mine is of Sham, the horse that finished second to Secretariat. But for Big Red, Sham might be considered the greatest race horse ever. He ran the second fastest Derby time (in a race in which Secretariat raced every quarter mile of the race faster than the previous), and the second fastest Preakness time ever, and only lost because he faced the fastest race horse of all time. He was run into the ground by Secretariat in the Belmont because Secretariat ran the definitive race of all time that day. Yet, Sham is known by no one. Somebody please do a movie about him.

[Baner]

Lets just say I might be AWOL so I can watch it! I can't wait, this is the greatest sporting event.. to me its not even that it's a holiday that trails only one length behind Christmas. It's a day that the national public celebrates in my passion an I can't wait.

TBF knows this and my favorite Derby was in 04 in which Smarty Jones won, a horse that I had liked since his win in the Southwest and I nailed the trifecta of Smarty, Lion Heart and Imperialism. To be honest though Smarty was a disappointment to see. He was very small and very immature for a horse, even a stallion. Best Stallions I ever met was my own baby Cryptoclearnce and Holy Bull, and Holy Bull is all muscle.

[tallahassee blues fan]

Baner, I give you all the credit in the world. You nailed that trifecta cold and that's hard to predict.

Crypto, I've gotta have a pace to run down Clearance? I loved Holy Bull, but one of the greatest bets I ever made was tossing him against Cigar at GP. He warmed up horribly, and was as washed out as a horse can be at the beginning of the race. I raced to the window and boxed Cigar with the rest of the field and tossed HB. Large, large payoff.

[triggercut1]

Holy Bull was a holy freak.

It must've been 1998 or so, our Derby group made the Derby Week Wednesday pilgrimage to the horse farm (Three Chimneys?) where The Bull had just been retired to stud. We wanted to see him, of course, but the main attraction was a docile, sweet-tempered sway-backed old knocker--yep, Affirmed. I still have a picture of me running my hand through his mane. At any rate, don't let any uneducated misinformed eedjit ever tell you that horses don't care who wins races. They're pack animals, and being King of the Pack means everything. So. We're there, and they don't even try to bring Holy Bull out of his stall: "He'll take someone's hand off" says one of the trainers. When they brought out Affirmed though, it was about 12 feet away from The Bull's stall, and we all made a fuss over The Ol' Champ, Holy Bull went nuts in his stall, braying and kicking and stomping as if to say "Leave that old broken down horse alone...I'M KING OF THIS BARN!"

Anyway, preliminary thoughts: Big Brown is going to be tough to beat, and I'm not sure you'll get a price to make him worth the wager. Looking at Pyro's races this winter, the name "Vicar" keeps coming to mind, and the bags of cash I threw away on that overmatched nag.

[tallahassee blues fan]

My inside info says that Pyro's a sore horse right now, and Big Brown has some serious hoof questions.

[Jack Sparrow]

Anyone attending this gig?

How about someone post some pics of it. I've always wanted to go.

Special points to those that capture "hot" pics in the infield.

[Jeffro]

I have to say that I didn't really understand why people were so into horse racing until last summer when I started going to the track more often. It's just an all-around great time and one of the most exciting things in the world to watch.

[kennyboyerfan]

The singlemost important sporting event in my sport's year. Your memories, thoughts, expectations of the event?

I have spent way, way too much time at horse tracks in my life. I have read everything Andrew Beyer has written, and every other handicapping book. I once hit a Pick Six that paid a boatload of money. In other words, I think I know a little bit about racin'.

And I've never ever won a Kentucky Derby bet. Never even come close.

I love it, but hate it, if that makes any sense.

[triggercut1]

I won at my second-ever Derby. Go For Gin romped in the slop in '94, and I won with a $40 win ticket on him.

I was all over Silver Charm, too. Seriously, if you bet the Derby on the year Silver Charm ran and you didn't cash, give up the sport; it isn't for you. Huge payoff.

I nailed the exacta (which wasn't hard, really, but paid out something like $24.00) with a $20 part-wheel with Fusaichi Pegasus over two other horses. That was fun, and also sort of felt like it was too easy.

[Jack Sparrow]

As this nears, you guys will have to give tips on what you epect outcomes to be.

[kennyboyerfan]

I won at my second-ever Derby. Go For Gin romped in the slop in '94, and I won with a $40 win ticket on him.

I was all over Silver Charm, too. Seriously, if you bet the Derby on the year Silver Charm ran and you didn't cash, give up the sport; it isn't for you. .

Yeah, that was the conclusion I reached. But I was living in Maryland then and fell in love with Captain Bodgit. Came close, but you know what they say about coming close....

[tallahassee blues fan]

Wow, kbf, I didn't know your love the game existed. You have the same two passions I do - Marisa and horses.

This year is probably one where a legitimate case could be made for every horse in the race.