Kentucky Derby 2014

[carrieguy2]

it's hard to believe that May is here. and the first Saturday in May is the annual Run for the Roses.

#5 California Chrome is the clear favorite. he is coming off a big win in the Santa Anita Derby, easily has the best Beyer figures, and has already won over a million dollars. trainer Art Sherman would be the oldest trainer ever to win the Derby.

two of the possible contender have drawn the two worst post positions. #1 Vicar's in Trouble with Rosie Napravnik winner of the Louisiana Derby on board will have trouble avoiding being squeezed back as the horses leave the starting gate for the straightaway. #20 Wicked Strong winner of the Wood Memorial will have trouble getting in contention from the far outside.

i also like #4 Danza who won the Arkansas Derby is improving and had a big Beyer figure in his last race. he did so well last time and compared to previous races that some will predict him to "bounce," or run badly. also #10 Wildcat Red finished a close second in the Florida Derby (the winner is not running in this race) and has run consistently well. Wildcat Red has good speed and could get an early lead and run wire to wire. under the new qualifying rules that were put in place last year, the usual speed horses who used to run a suicidal pace and would have knocked off Wildcat Red are not in this race which helps his chances. the other apparent contender #11 Hopportunity who finished second in the Santa Anita Derby was scratched.

i am going with an exacta box of 4-5-10. maybe a win bet when i see how the odds are going close to race time.

here are Andy Beyer's picks:
California Chrome may be Kentucky Derby favorite, but Andrew Beyer?s choice is Wicked Strong - The Washington Post

 

[JB172]

As wide open as this race is, there is money to be made on it.

The favorite is likely to go off at around 5 to 1.

 

[Kizmet311]

Obviously, living in KY, nothing beats this time of year. My husband and I went to Keeneland last Friday for Closing Day of their spring meet and I love it every time I am able to get there. I always lose money, but it is so much fun. We took our 20 month old daughter and let her watch the horses in the paddock. She and I also managed to get right up on the rail for one of the races. The starting gate was right next to us so she got a nice up close view from start to finish. She was so cute, cheering and clapping because the kids around her were doing it. I have yet to make it to the Oaks or the Derby, even though Louisville is only an hour away, but they are both on my bucket list.

 

[JB172]

Here are my picks


Wicked Strong
Intense Holiday
California Chrome
Ride on Curlin

 

[carrieguy2]

Obviously, living in KY, nothing beats this time of year. My husband and I went to Keeneland last Friday for Closing Day of their spring meet and I love it every time I am able to get there. I always lose money, but it is so much fun. We took our 20 month old daughter and let her watch the horses in the paddock. She and I also managed to get right up on the rail for one of the races. The starting gate was right next to us so she got a nice up close view from start to finish. She was so cute, cheering and clapping because the kids around her were doing it. I have yet to make it to the Oaks or the Derby, even though Louisville is only an hour away, but they are both on my bucket list.

you are so lucky! i understand Keeneland is a beautiful track. a place to have a fun day. i hope you get to the Oaks and the Derby someday. i sed to enjoy the race track but i have not gone for many years. you have the benefit of beautiful racetracks in Kentucky, but around here places like Pimlico and Laurel and Rosecroft are real dumps. i always enjoyed the handicapping and the challenge of picking winners. to me racing began to deteriorate with the introduction of simulcast racing. it was no longer necessary to attend the track to watch races, and those who did attend often sat in front of TV monitors. so attendance dropped and so did the enjoyment factor. i have been to the local tracks many years ago when there were 25,000 fans there on a Saturday. now 2,000 is a good crowd.

but i have continued to attend the Preakness every year. i saw Secretariat in 1973 and starting in 1977 i have been there every year but one...my wife's cousin's son got married that year and we had to attend the wedding. i will be there again this year d.v. it is always fun to see the Kentucky Derby winner race. of course there is a huge crowd of 125,000 there that day. i figured out a way years ago to drive through Baltimore City and avoid literally all the traffic.

 

[carrieguy2]

California Chrome is currently 5-2. Wicked Strong is picking up momentum at 7-1. Danza is 9-1. the others are all higher. Wildcat Red is 16-1.

i will add a win bet on Danza and Wildcat Red.

 

[carrieguy2]

I don't mean to be negative but Jo Dee Messina just sang the worst rendition oh the National Anthem. She dragged it out so slowly. If she were a race horse she would have finished last.

 

[Audra]

what a great race today! and I picked California Chrome and he indeed won! Congrats to him and all his connections! such a great story he has and he's continuing the dream for his owners.

 

[JB172]

That was awfully impressive.

 

[rainbow1]

I don't mean to be negative but Jo Dee Messina just sang the worst rendition oh the National Anthem. She dragged it out so slowly. If she were a race horse she would have finished last.

Yea, she had a lot of trouble with her hat, her skirt and the wind. I like Jo Dee...but she really did drag it out so long......

 

[carrieguy2]

That was awfully impressive.

yes California Chrome ran a great race. victor Espinoza gave the horse a great ride. Owner and trainer are flying high. Will we see the first Triple Crown winner since 1978?

my horses finished first and third in the exacta. For those who really liked CC a $2 exacta wheel would have cost $36 and paid $340!

definitely looking forward to the Preakness.

 

[JB172]

yes California Chrome ran a great race. victor Espinoza gave the horse a great ride. Owner and trainer are flying high. Will we see the first Triple Crown winner since 1978?

my horses finished first and third in the exacta. For those who really liked CC a $2 exacta wheel would have cost $38 and paid $340!

definitely looking forward to the Preakness.

Espinoza ran a great race, he put CC where he needed to be and then CC did the rest.

 

[Kizmet311]

you are so lucky! i understand Keeneland is a beautiful track. a place to have a fun day. i hope you get to the Oaks and the Derby someday. i sed to enjoy the race track but i have not gone for many years. you have the benefit of beautiful racetracks in Kentucky, but around here places like Pimlico and Laurel and Rosecroft are real dumps. i always enjoyed the handicapping and the challenge of picking winners. to me racing began to deteriorate with the introduction of simulcast racing. it was no longer necessary to attend the track to watch races, and those who did attend often sat in front of TV monitors. so attendance dropped and so did the enjoyment factor. i have been to the local tracks many years ago when there were 25,000 fans there on a Saturday. now 2,000 is a good crowd.

but i have continued to attend the Preakness every year. i saw Secretariat in 1973 and starting in 1977 i have been there every year but one...my wife's cousin's son got married that year and we had to attend the wedding. i will be there again this year d.v. it is always fun to see the Kentucky Derby winner race. of course there is a huge crowd of 125,000 there that day. i figured out a way years ago to drive through Baltimore City and avoid literally all the traffic.

One of the things that keeps Keeneland in such high demand is that they only race two months out of the year - April & October, Wednesdays through Sundays. So the weather is generally perfect and a lot of people dress like it's the Derby. I think they get crowds of around 40,000 on the weekends, sometimes more on a big race day like the Bluegrass Stakes, which is a Derby qualifying race. It's funny that you mentioned Pimlico being a dump. I don't know if you have ever seen the movie Seabiscuit, but they used Keeneland as a stand in for Pimlico in the movie, because Keeneland is the nicer track and apparently looks more like Pimlico did back then than Pimlico does now. I didn't make it into the movie, but myself and two of my friends went out to be "unpaid" extras for one of the days of taping. It was really cool. The funniest part was how they filmed the grandstand shots. Some of us unpaid extras scattered throughout the grandstands, but they also had blow up dummies, lol. Then they just used the computer generation to fill in the stands.

I have been to Churchill Downs twice, but never for the races. I went once in high school with a summer camp that took us to tour the Derby museum, and then I went to an event that was held on Millionaire's Row outside of racing season. On tv they make Churchill look gorgeous and I'm sure it is inside, but outside it's one big parking lot around the track and you drive through a bad part of town to get to it. Keeneland is by far the more beautiful of the two and it's right off a main road and right next to Calumet Farm, that was one of the most famous thoroughbred farms in Kentucky for a long time. Churchill Downs has night racing and I have always wanted to do that too. Keeneland hosts a lot of events throughout the year to make money and of course, they have the yearling sales that are a big deal.

 

[Kizmet311]

I always like to watch and see which celebrities are at the Derby, although it is hard to see them all because they usually show them as they arrive or throughout the day's coverage. I was checking Twitter last night and I did see that Miranda went to the Derby, along with Dierks Bentley and his wife and Kix Brooks and his wife. She went for the first time I think the year she got married and made a girls' trip out of it. I think she has been every year since. I wish Carrie and Mike would make it there one year or that Carrie would go with Miranda some time. Louisville really isn't that far from Nashville and I know Carrie would totally rock the big hat!

 

[maddkat]

^ for someone who loves animals as much as Carrie I'm not sure horse racing is a sport that would be at the top of her list ,but maybe she does like it anyway it's a media circus.


I live 15 minutes form Churchill Downs and have never been inside for the Derby or Oaks.It's enough of a zoo outside.lol

 

[Kizmet311]

^I thought about that too - I'm not sure how Carrie would feel about horse racing as a sport. I didn't see it, but I know that at least one horse went down during a race on Saturday. It's always hard to watch and it is way too easy for those horses to get a leg injury that results in them having to be put down.

Luckily, I live in Georgetown, so I don't have to deal with the circus that is the Derby and the Derby festival. (smile) I would like to go once just to say I have been. I've only been to Thunder once, but I've never participated in any other Derby festivities. I have gone to Keeneland to watch the Derby before and I love it there, but we usually just have some people over to watch it. My husband always has to have his mint juleps, but I'm not a bourbon drinker so I can't do it.

 

[maddkat]

^ I don't drink but have you ever tried the drink for the Oaks - the Oaks Lily? It's pretty darn good. Maybe you all could switch and have a Oaks party next year and serve it instead of mint juleps, which I have tasted and just no


Oaks Lily
1 oz. Vodka
1 oz. Sweet and Sour Mix
3 oz. Cranberry Juice
Splash of Triple Sec