POOL 1 (CD): Kentucky Derby Future Wager

[Calzone Lord]

It's a morning-line on a pari-mutual bet - not book odds.

I suppose I can understand pool #1 being limited to 23 betting options with a field so someone can load up on the field early if they want ... but to make this wager more attractive the betting options should be at least 98 different horses with the 'field' being the 99.

The process of handicapping which 98 horses to use as individual betting interests shouldn't be that hard.

[Calzone Lord]

Even though Secret Circle ran faster than older male Graded Stakes horses (albeit bad ones) he's excluded from this list after missing Haskin's top 50.

Seeing stuff like this makes me miss those fantasy contests TVG did that would start around this time each year.

The maiden Battle Hardened wins a weak race with an 81 Beyer -- Mr. Bowling wins a brutal race with a 79 Beyer on a day when a MSW race dominated by longshots goes in almost identical pace and final time.

Hundreds and hundreds of people try and load up their stables with horses like Mr. Bowling and Battle Hardened and almost no one wants to touch a horse like Secret Circle with a ten foot pole.

Just ignore the race in May, go region by region taking the best horse, and take the best ones left after that while mapping out an open slot or two for your rotation. By the time the race in May comes, you've already lapped about a thousand people.

[Indian Charlie]

Yeah, well, very few people used strategy in that contest. Which is why you and I would take 7 of the top 10 spots.