OT - Happy Kentucky Derby day!
Most of you may not care at all or might even think it's a dumb thing to be excited about. But to me and a few others on here, today is one of (if not) the greatest days of the year: The Kentucky Derby (aka the most exciting 2 minutes in all of sports)! I will not be there in person (I've only had the honor once a couple years back), but today will be filled with much hat wearing, food eating, bourbon drinking and coverage watching in my comfy A2 home.
Coverage on NBC Sports starts at Noon, then switches over to NBC at 4pm with the actual race set for 6:24ish. It looks like it's going to be a nice, clear 70 degree day in Louisville, so no need to pick your horse based on one who's "mother was a mudda." As of right now, the runaway odds on favorite is California Chrome at 2 -1, with Wicked Strong far behind him at 7-1 and Danza at 10-1. This is a bettors' field if there ever was one. Depending on what happens with the odds during the day, if California Chrome doesn't meet expectations, there's going to be some big payouts for a few folks. Live odds can be found here.
My wife and I made a bunch of bets already (on twinspires.com for anyone still looking for a legit online betting site), but my main ones were on Wildcat Red and Intense Holiday (WPS for both and a box exacta). My wife has a different strategy and bet on Tapiture and Danza because she essentialy thinks they are the prettiest horses in the field. So, what events do you all have today ans which horse(s) are you betting on (or just rooting for)?
It's raining and I'm cold.
I will still never forgive NBC for cutting out playoff overtime Red Wing for the Derby. This thing is evil in my eyes.
That said, I have zero interest in horseracing, but I'd like to go down and party for it one year. I've heard the tailgating is an absolute shitshow.
The Infield of Churchill Downs is absolute chaos at the Derby (in a good way). You can go and have a full day of fun without even knowing horse racing is even going on. Downside is that there are 140k + people there and entry into the infield is not very organized. It takes hours to get in through the gates and hours to get out. After the race ended the year my wife and I went, it took 2.5 hours (literally) to get out and walk less than a mile away to Papa Johns stadium where our driver was waiting to take us back to the hotel. It was a shit ton of fun nonetheless.
The lines aren't too bad if you dedicate the entire day/evening to the Derby. Gates open at 8am. Get there early and race to the best spot along the fence. Don't leave after the Derby race (used to be the 8th race out of 11, not sure anymore), stay until after the final race. The crowd will have all but left and the exit is fine. Besides, if you like betting, bet all the races and cash in after the last race, the bet window lines are much shorter then.
This is the biggest, longest party you'll attend. It is also a blast.
Derby hint: A Mint Julep sounds like a nice refreshing fruity drink to cool you off on a hot day.
Um, no. It's pretty much a glass of straight Burbon with a mint leaf floating on top. As long as you go into it with the right frame of mind, you'll be fine.
One year I really got into the Crown Royal and Mint Juleps. I missed half of the races, but I had several souvenir glasses!
And all vodka stands and many beer stands ran out before the actual derby,
It was a shit show, but we still had fun and the women were incredible. If I wasn't a married father of 2 in his late 30's there could have been some major opportunities with the ladies. Not bragging, just trying to give some of our younger readers the lay of the land.
If anyone has any particular questions, just post them as a reply to this post and I will let you know what we saw.
Tailgating? For a race that doesn't even last five minutes?
There are actually 13 races (with the Derby being the 11th one) and you "tailgate" inside the racetrack while the others go on. Over 140,000 every year seem to think its worthy of a tailgate. Believe me, it is an incredible time.
That I'm usually angry/ depressed at after 3 hours.
the existence of that state.
6 hours of horse coverage. Have fun, and I do like the race. I just watch the replay.
To be fair they cover all the races of the day. Not just six hours of analysis of the derby race
Bets I just put Down. : $8 to win on general A Rod, $8 to win on Chitu, $8 to win on Danza, and $6 to win on Commanding Curve Last year I did a bunch of exactas with Orb and whiffed so taking a break from that this year
I also put down some small bets $5 bets on Chitu and Commanding Curve. I normally only do exotics in races with smaller fields, but after one of my friends hit the exacta in the derby last year, I feel obligated to try to one up him this time around.
Edit - Well, shame on us for only putting down win bets on Commanding Curve. His place and show payouts were pretty decent. A $5 WPS bet on him would have gotten me pretty much all the money I bet back. Shit on goddamn stick.
He would always watch the horses before the race and bet on which ever one he saw poop. He figured they were lighter and would run faster.
Never said it was a good secret, just his secret.
My wife could pick the winning horse by checking out their back sides. She was actually correct more than worng. Too bad that by the time you get to compare horses' rear ends it is too late to get a bet in. I guess it isn't always about the money...
Edit: By "winner" I mean Show, not able to actually pick the winner.
It's our Birthdays today
Secretariat still owns the record time in the Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont.
Man, I feel bad for the horse "Sham". Any other year, and he could have gone down as one of the greatest horses in history. But because of Secretariat's dominance, he's a horse almost nobody has ever heard of.
His second place Derby and Preakness times were better than most winners before or after, and he burnt himself out in the Belmont trying to stay up with Secretariat. He would have run a completely different Belmont race without Secretariat in the field.
At least Alydar is mentioned in the same breath as Affirmed as in "AffirmedandAlydar" because of their great Triple Crown rilvary, even though he did not win any of the races.
I'm not really a racing fan, but watching that Belmont still gives me chills. The most amazing horse race I've ever seen, or will likely see in the future.
I wonder if horses feel frustration... if they do, Sham was one unhappy guy. I hope his stud service in retirement made up for it.
Horses don't feel frustration, but they do feel happy. They love to get beat with a baton to run also. There used to be a talking horse on tv called Mr. Ed.
I doubt that race horses "love" to get beat with a baton any more than college football players love being screamed at by their head coaches.
Per NJ.com (and a few other papers that happened to have decent summaries), here are the odds as of this morning:
1. Vicar's in Trouble (22-1)
2. Harry's Holiday (40-1)
3. Uncle Sigh (28-1)
4. Danza (10-1)
5. California Chrome (2-1)
6. Samraat (14-1)
7. We Miss Artie (22-1)
8. General a Rod (28-1)
9. Vinceremos (54-1)
10. Wildcat Red (16-1)
11. Hoppertunity (scratched)
12. Dance With Fate (14-1)
13. Chitu (26-1)
14. Medal Count (24-1)
15. Tapiture (38-1)
16. Intense Holiday (15-1)
17. Commanding Curve (31-1)
18. Candy Boy (17-1)
19. Ride On Curlin (16-1)
20. Wicked Strong (8-1)
21. Pablo Del Monte (scratched)
wow...
I really want to go to this next year. For those of you who've went, any advice? How hard is it to get tickets/what am I looking at pricewise? If I want to be in the grandstands instead of the infield, is that a much more expensive ticket and is that something one can even reasonably get on the open market? How hard has it been to find hotel rooms in Louisville for the week?
Tickets in the infield are only 40 bucks and since its GA, they is no way you can't get them. Tickets in the Grandstands however are going to start at 300+ at the absolute cheapest and can be damn near impossible to get at times. Next time I go, I'll do the grandstands. The infield is fun, but I'd rather have to ability to walk across to it instead of being confined there. Besides, you pretty much have to watch the races on large monitors when in the infield unless you get a prime spot and never leave it.
Infield is $50. grandstand - if you know someone and get lucky, you can get tix for under $200 a piece.
Yesterday and it was $50 a ticket for GA.
Is TwinSpires legit?
I'm in Iowa and wondering if I'll be bable to place bets. For example I can never do the DraftStreet stuff because of state laws. I've done bets with Bodog before back when that was around so is TwinSpires something similar to that?
It's the official betting site of Churchill Downs (hence why it's called twinspires), so it doesn't get more legit than that for betting sites. I used bodog before that went to shit and have been on twinspires for the past 2 years without a single issue. I don't know what else is out there now, but I definitely recommend it.
Went to the track and put some bets in.
5-8-13 trifecta box
5-15-18 trifecta box
5-8 exacta box
8-13 exacta box
Man I'm torn. Wildcat Red and Intense Holiday have my eye but I'm unusually, really liking the favorite today. I'm pretty sure I'll be placing a few Exactas here in a bit.
I'm going 4-17-5 trifecta.
Thank god I boxed it. Lol.
Oh snap!
Did you really box it or are you really mad right now?!
I boxed it and had some on Commanding Curve. Just waiting on payouts now.
$3500 Payout. Plus some change. Going to be a good night.
Nice! Congrats!
Wow. Not to get too into detail about earnings but they literally just showed the $1700 plus for the dollar-trifecta. Good for you!
Yeah had $2 box. Will be heading back to the track shortly to cash out. I live close to Turfway park in Northern Kentucky
Boxed Trifecta:
5-12-19
1-10-16
Trifecta: 20-4-7
Boxed Exacta: 5-18
Let's go horsies.
I'm thinking the derby can be added to the Masters as a good example of successfully branding something without ruining it.
Fuck Bob Costas.
That was exciting