Team Belmont

Horses, bourbon, gambling, preps, black eyes, beer, handicapping and infield tragedies
...all leading up to the Belmont Stakes

ad

The Worst Derby Ever...AGAIN.

Wanna know what the worst Derby ever is? Not just the one you don't win...but the one where you watch the finish and it takes you five minutes to figure out what saddlecloth color that is and who won the race. We don't get great audio in the Derby infield. This usually means you didn't have a touch on the horse. Nothing but the obligitory $2 win ticket you so smartly buy on every horse the Derby when chhasing the first Triple Crown winner in 35 years.
This is the situation Team Belmont found itself in this year with Animal Kingdom. Not a touch. Thousands of dollars of tickets...and no wise Guy horse anywhere. I for onewas dumb enough to buy into the favorite - and played an 8 with all exacta. I do recoginize deep down that I am chasing my next Barbaro, something I will probably do for the rest of my life...and will fall victim again to the Holy Bull/Florida Derby circuit. But still...not even a saver bet?
Its too bad too because we are being our own during the undercard and some nice tidy profits...most of which got doubled down into the Derby blowout. We'll hopefully have better luck at Preakness.
Otherwise it was a great Derby. We celebrated Derby Steve's 35th year in a row in the Derby infield. He was kind enough to thank his friends and remind us all of the humanizing beauty of Derby weekend. Life happens in 35 years and in bad years Derby Steve always had friends that shoved money in his pockets and made sure he got to Lousiville. This is how you know you live the life of a loved man. And now Derby Steve has the most amazing wife Jules...who can totally handicap excellently and is mad fun and an excellent addition to Derby weekend. He also has two beautiful sons who are learning to handicap and will one day carry on the Derby tradition. Hats off to you Derby Steve and Derby Jules. Y'all are good people.
Onto Preakness and the next 'jewel'inhe triple crown. Waiting for the draw and the rest of the entries...but I feel good about Animal Kingdom and his chances. I loved his Daddy, Leroidesanimeaux. Wouldn't mind one bit if he were the animal that broke the drought.

0 comments:

Post a Comment