Well it’s my favorite time of the year… Tomorrow is Kentucky Derby Day! Horse racing’s best three year olds will compete in the 1¼ Mile classic for the 135^th time. However not all of the best three year olds will be participating in this year’s event. Some of the more celebrated sophomore thoroughbreds are sidelined for various reasons. Horse’s like Big Drama (my choice at the beginning of the year,) Old Fashioned, Giant Oak, The Paplemousse, Square Eddie, Midshipman, the filly Stardom Bound and the horse that would have been one of the top betting favorites Quality Road have been withdrawn, mostly for foot or leg ailments.

There still will be 20 (the maximum number of starters allowed) looking to run their hearts out in order to get their pictures taken wearing the fabled garland of roses in the winner's circle.

Also looking to get their pictures taken are many of the ladies (two legged) in attendance attired in their Derby Day finery including their hats, while paying less attention to the races and more to the people paying attention to them. Along those same lines… after the 2007 Derby I wrote about our friend, acclaimed Boston artist Misha Lenn who was the official artist for the Kentucky Derby that year. Click here to read article.

This year’s winner on the track will emerge from a deep and contentious field that offers only a couple of stand outs. Tomorrow’s post time favorite, whether it be Dunkirk or I Want Revenge, will be an attractive price, perhaps 4 or 5 to 1. Wagering on the Derby is all about value however. Regardless of the favorites’ odds, there generally is big money to be made in the “exotics” i.e. Exactas, Trifectas and Superfectas. So remember in the Derby (this also applies to the Breeders Cup) each year it’s not who you play, but how you “hook-em up.” Spread them around and you may be smiling on your way back to the parking lot tomorrow afternoon.

Here, in my humble opinion are a few to splash around in the aforementioned exotics.

Mr. Hot Stuff 

Hold Me Back

Pioneer Of The Nile

Have fun tomorrow, don’t wager more that you can afford to lose and may the Superfecta god smile on you…..