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Racing luck



Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. - W. C. Fields

"Racing luck" said Tyler Gafflione, was on his side in the Preakness. The luck wasn't with his charge War of Will in the Derby.

Gafflione loves his horse, who is truly a trier, as was clear at the Fairgrounds in February, and if you held that idea, found favor with his general Derby run before he nearly clicked heels with Maximum Security, you benefited at the Win window on Preakness day.

The horse ran well, but there was some luck there,  in that the gold rail opened up for him at the head of the stretch, unveiling a path to the Preakness win. He speaks here with TVG reporter Gabby Gaudot on the scene.


"Racing luck" says Bob Baffert, caused favorite Improbable to kick in the gate and follow up with a disinterested and at times stubbornly uncommitted run. Baffert has won more Preaknesses than anyone, an element in this Punter's Preakness selection, so he should know. I'm swearing off 3 year olds - til the Belmont!

Who called this one? Matt Bernier and Mike Watchmaker. The ladder has to have a grin from ear to ear after suffering semi-gladly  Andy Beyer's foolishness ("War of Will will never win.) in a Preakness Thursday webcast.


But I didn't come here to talk about the Preakness. Top of my mind is the undercard stakes dedicated to Chick Lang - a jockey's agent and Pimlico manager from 1960 to 1987. He had a hand in brining up the prestige of the Preakness as the second jewel in American racing's Triple Crown. He came up with the idea to fill up the infield; in 1965, Wikipedia tells us, he brought a school bus full of his daughter’s friends to the infield to watch the races.

I went with Gladiator King in the 6 furlong event - who not surprisingly got involved in a duel on the front-end, and was surprisingly but barely nipped by very-long-shot named Lexingtonian, who completely eluded my analysis, but who got a great trip (see below) thanks to rider Jose Ortiz.

Please don't hate me if I say "Luck is the residue of fill in the blank."


Now let's forget about the "Racing luck" theme and take a different tack. Wharton Moneyball is a podcast that entertainingly dives into sports, sports business and sports analytics. The show usually focuses on the big 3 sports of - baseball, basketball, footbal - and when it steps out of its core areas of interest, it stumbles a bit. As in this episode, where a handicapper pciks Cutting Humor in the Derby.

That passage is a stub, I hope to build on in an upcoming episode. But you can prepare for that unlikely falling the directions below, and listening to a failed Derby prediction. [If you need a refresh on that race, try this link.]



Well, that's it for now. This is Racetrack Caesar Romero hoping a winning percentage of your bets will be winning ones.
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