Okay, regular readers know why I love craps. But the occasional readers and the new subscribers might be wondering, “What makes Craps So Special”?
So, without further ado, here’s the list of the Top Ten Reasons to Play Craps: Read the rest…
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The Belmont Stakes is just hours away, and I’m now watching the under card. So, it’s time to give you my picks for the Belmont… Read the rest…
I will be handicapping the Belmont Stakes in a later post, but I want to let you know who the starters for this important horse race are.
Plus, I just might spill the beans on my early picks for the Belmont too…
First however, here are the entries and their post positions and connections: Read the rest…
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Another one bites the dust!
Today, it was announced that another Belmont Stakes entry was scratched.
This time Read the rest…
Congratulations to the Orlando Magic for winning the Eastern Conference Championship. The final score was 103 - 90 in this 4th win against two for the Cleveland Cavs.
As is my calling… I must make a prediction (or two). Read the rest…
We’re a little more than a week away from the Belmont, and there are still many questions to answer.
Will Rachel Run?
Will Calvin Ride?
Will D Wayne win his fifth? Read the rest…
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Let’s call a spade; “a spade”!
I’ve witnessed poor (criminal) politics, and it makes me sick! What’s even sicker is the fact that people “buy it”. Many people take the media reports as gospel, without questioning. I wish we could all read between the lines.
As you know, I’m outwardly against the “Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act”, and I’m looking forward to the day when this crap is overturned (for all the right reasons you’ve read here before).
So, I’m very much in support of Barney Franks and his tireless efforts to stop it! He has again introduced a bill that would DEFINE online gambling and legalize it. Yay!
Belmont Update…
Horse racing is facing battles from every front. Famed track Churchill Downs canceled yesterday’s card due to “lack of horses”. Lack of Horses? Churchill Downs? How can this be?
It seems that competing tracks can offer horsemen bigger purses because there are slot machines at the tracks. When the slots supplement the purses, it attracts horses. So, the controversy continues… Will Churchill Downs get permission to add slot machines?
Ah, but there is a happy note (?) in the future.
Do you remember when you were a kid and you got to ride the Carousel? You got on a horse and you rode it round and round and round. You rode the same horse each time around!
Well, that’s the way it’s supposed to be in the real world too. That is, if you’re a jockey, you get a mount, and you ride it every time.
Things have gone screwy in this real world today!
I have a favorite play that I use with daily doubles. It exposes which horses in the second half of the DD is getting the heavy betting (by connections?).
I’ll not go into the formula for this, but I will give you my results.
I’m using the will-pays of the Preakness because it’s tied to the results of today’s Black-Eyed Susan.
Here are my findings: Read the rest…
I’ve charted the Preakness, and I know the winner:
Here’s how I see the race unfolding…
When the gates open, the immediate charge will bring four horses to the front, and I see them four-wide:
from the rail outwards: 7, 11, 12, 13
Now, going into the all-important first turn…
Okay… it’s set, and if nothing unforeseen happens, the Preakness Stakes this coming Saturday is ready for your handicapping skills. Today, the post positions were chosen and the odds were announced. Horse races are not an easy thing to conquer, and if you’re like me, you missed the Kentucky Derby by 6 3/4 lengths. I had “Pioneerof The Nile” and he was the clear winner… until the not-so-clear winner trounced him and the rest of the field.
Here are the announced post positions and Odds:
Tomorrow, the post positions will be announced for the 134th running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Track in Maryland. But, I’m going to make my prediction today (but let me alter it if the PP’s stink!)
I consider many factors when I look at a race like this one. Not all factors are created equal. Is the Jockey more or less important than the Trainer? Are either as important as Class? Are they all dwarfed by Speed? Is Pedigree most important? Or can you throw out all of them and just consider Form?
I’ll not expose my hierarchy here, but you’ll be able to reverse engineer my picks and discern my probable order of importance of all the factors.
Let me say before I give you my picks that heart (not head) plays a big role as I get nearer the betting window. Not that I change my mind at the last minute (although that does happen occasionally), but when consciously taking my heart out of the calculations, does it somehow creep in without my knowing it? Absolutely - I’m not a machine! I tell you this because I’m in love with the filly “Rachel Alexandra”. She is a super-filly, a proven winner, an outstanding athlete. So, does that figure into my picks? I can only say - I hope not! I want to be purely mechanical in picking a winner without heart clouding the issue.
So, who’s going to win the Preakness this Saturday? Read the rest…
Hull is out…
Barry Irwin, president of Team Valor Stable, which co-owns Hull with Heiligbrodt Racing Stable and Gary Barber announced Monday that the undefeated “Hull” will pass on the 134th running of the Preakness Stakes this coming Saturday in favor of the Woody Stephens Stakes on Belmont day.
This is more than a defection.
Hull figured prominently in the Preakness because of his front-running style. The subsequent loss of his speed may play well for the front runners and make it difficult for the closers, since it figures to be a slower pace and those horses up front might now be more able to hold on for a win.
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There’s an ugly cloud over the bright skies in Maryland.
Greed and Arrogance as Mark Allen, co-owner of “Mine That Bird” put it today has no place in horse racing. He wasn’t talking about some backroom, underground stealthy figure… he was referring to himself!
He, and two other well-known figures aimed at Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Maryland, had planned to make a move that would have tainted horse racing, perhaps forever. The three of them each, independently of the others, had threatened to enter an additional horse into the race in order to block the entry of “Rachel Alexandra”.
The Preakness has a cap of 14 horses, and the super-filly Rachel Alexandra was only a supplemental entry (paying a fee of $100,000 just to enter the race) because she was not among the hundreds of horses nominated to the Triple Crown. Those hundreds that were nominated when they were only 1 year old have precedence over supplemental entries. So, if the field filled up at 14, she couldn’t race.
… and it’s back to 14 horses…
The cap of 14 starters has been reached again. Today, Trainer William Komlo announced the addition of “Tone It Down” to the Preakness. The horse is owned by his son-in-law Michael Francis and his Daughter Deborah (M and D Stables).
The excitement around this entry is more of a heart thing than a head thing. This is a “local boy” a horse from Maryland, but one that’s not going to get much support outside the home state. Moreover, there will be a “local favorite” and big name aboard; Kent Desormeaux, who has won this second jewel in the Triple Crown twice, including last year aboard “Big Brown”.
I believe it’ll be the longshot in the race because it’s coming off a 3rd-place finish in the Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico last Saturday. His record stands at 2 wins from 6 starts. Komlo said his horse is best when he comes from off the pace, but in the Tesio, he was on the lead. He also said the distance will help because the further Tone It Down has to run, the better he is.
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…and then there were 13!
This morning, “Conservative” became - well - conservative - and elected to pass the Preakness in favor of the Grade 3, $100,000 Hill Prince. That’s a big change from the Grade 1 Preakness. The Hill Prince is a one mile, turf race at Belmont to be run on June 5th.
That’s good, no great news for the filly “Rachel Alexandra” who awaits her destiny - a battle with the boys next Saturday at Pimlico.
The Preakness has a cap of 14 entries, and Rachel Alexandra is only able to get in if there are fewer than 14 Triple Crown Nominated horses running. Since she was not nominated for the TC, she can only run if there’s room for her and she pays a supplemental fee of $100,000.
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Holy Jumpin’ RaceHorse - Handicap Man!!!
There is a revolution brewing…
For the first time in history, a jockey has elected to jump off his Kentucky Derby winning mount to ride a different horse in the Preakness! Unheard of…. Blasphemy!
Seriously, Calvin Borel the jockey who rode a super-human race in the Kentucky Derby last Saturday aboard 50-1 longshot “Mine That Bird”, has elected to instead ride the super-filly “Rachel Alexandra” in the Preakness on May 16th to become the fifth filly to win it, and the first to run in the race in 10 years.
Borel was accredited with the win because he superbly guided his mount through tough traffic from last place, hugging the rail, veering out around one horse, then pulling in again to thread his way between the rail and “Join The Dance” where there seemingly was NO room! His horse then sped past the front runners and won going away by 6 ¾ lengths.
You’ve been wondering where I’ve disappeared to… it takes something as important to me as the Kentucky Derby to bring me back from…
Well, that’s not important; what is important is the Run For The Roses. It’s tomorrow, and usually I’ve posted my pick to win nearly a week before the race. Not this year. This year, there’s no clear winner (like “Big Brown” was last year), and along with the absence of a favorite, comes an absence of interest. This could be the most boring of all Kentucky Derby races, or maybe the lack of a favorite will make for an exciting race full of surprises.
Anyway, I feel it’s my “duty” to share my thoughts on the event tomorrow.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that a Renton, WA lawyer’s campaign to make Washington state safe for Internet poker players lost again on Monday.
“A state appeals court rejected Lee Rousso’s arguments that a 2006 law that forbids Internet gambling in the state violates the clause of the U.S. Constitution that gives the federal government the right to regulate interstate commerce.”
“Last May, a King County Superior Court judge also ruled against Rousso on a day that 70 online poker players rallied outside the courthouse.
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