Wednesday, May 08, 2002

603

Kentucky Derby 2002

Going into the day, I was very confident in four horses and considering two other contenders for this year's "Running of the Roses"

My top four were:

1. #3 Perfect Drift

2. #9 Medaglia d'Oro

3. #11 Private Emblem

4. #14 Harlan's Holiday

My next two were:

1. #5 War Emblem

2. #16 Saarland

In the end, #5 War Emblem led wire to wire, the first time since filly Winning Colors accomplished that feat in 1988, paying a cool $43.00 to win.

A horse that seemed to ride the coattails of War Emblem was the second place finisher, #13 Proud Citizen, who was shown on the form as only running over a mile once in 6 starts.

For show, #3 Perfect Drift, who was pretty much my choice all week, paid $6.40. This was my only cashing ticket.

After speaking with several other fairly knowledgable bettors at The Meadows in Moon Twp., PA, there weren't many exacta or trifecta winners. Why? Many bettors just did not even consider Proud Citizen for a ticket, and a very few even had War Emblem, a Bob Baffert trained, Throroughbred Corporation owned long-shot in their exotics.

Next race in the Triple Crown is in two weeks in Baltimore at Pimlico, The Preakness Stakes. My early money is on the strong Beyer rating of Saratoga Blues.

You heard that here first.