Kentucky derby

DonDiego almost never bets the favorite.

The odds on Exaggerator have come down today, from 8-to-1 to 6-to-1; maybe somebody with money knows something. Besides he's a dappled grey horse.

DonDiego would never bet against a horse named Creator; why tempt fate? Apparently non-believers have allowed the odds to rise today from 10-to-1 to 16-to-1.

Nobody seems to be paying attention to Gun Runner at 10-to-1; he still has a speed rating at 100.

So, . . . poor old DonDiego likes
# 11 Exaggerator
# 3 Creator
# 5 Gun Runner

One should feel free to box them as one wishes.


As poor old DonDiego types, a sudden burst of rain has hit Louisville Downs. If the weather slows the track, . . . one might consider adding Outwork into the mix, although the odds have gone up from 15-to-1 all the way to 26-to-1.

His father was a mudder.

Mohaymen: 4-5 favorite over Nyquist in the Florida Derby, bad run on a sloppy track.

Mor Spirit: Connections;good showings around 2 turns. Bad post.

Suddenbreakingnews: Inside post, strong stretch runner.

Hoping for rain, mud and Danzing Candy. He's a mudder.

And the winner is...Nyquist!!!!!!!

Don Diego's call was close (if you had not picked #3 creator and picked #13 Nyquist to win followed by #11 and #5) , this was the $1 trifecta results, 13/11/5, $87.60. BTW my pick was 13/3/5.

You are right. Most of my racing bets were $2, 3 or 4 number quinella boxes, or $1, 3 or 4 number trifecta boxes...sometimes a $5 across on one number.

Today wasn't a good day for a large number exacta box bet. The $2 exacta paid $30.60. A friend bet the 11 horse at $25 across ($75 total bet) as his only derby bet. It paid $120 for a $45 win. Not bad for a sweat bet.

I had no problem placing my bets today but apparently others may have had a problem.

Poor old DonDiego had the pleasure of visiting Ireland for a fortnight nearly 2 decades ago. And, not entirely by chance, his visit coincided with a race day at The Curragh Racecourse.

In addition to the normal automated totalizer betting, as found at American racetracks, there was a paved area around the circumference of which independent bookies set up shop and offered to take bets. Each "shop" essentially comprised the owner/operator who took one's bet and handed the punter a ticket on which he scribbled the race and horse and his helper who manned the chalkboard on which the odds were posted and through a pair of binoculars scanned all the other bookies chalkboards to check their odds.

Anyway, to get to the point, these bookies offered a special bet called "Without", in which they ignored the favorite altogether. One couldn't bet the favorite; adjusted odds were posted for all the horses except the favorite. And after the race was run, the favorite was ignored. So, any horse which finished after the favorite was moved up a spot.
e.g. If the favorite won, the 2nd place horse was considered the win, the 3rd place horse the place, etc. And if the favorite finished 2nd, the 1st horse still won, but the 3rd place horse was given second, etc., etc., etc.

Anyway, given DonDiego's propensity to not bet the favorite, if'n yesterday's Kentucky Derby had been run at The Curragh DonDiego would've cleaned up.