For Sale

- I was at Aqueduct for a brief appearance late Friday afternoon, and there was this guy down on the first floor offering his Pick Six ticket for sale before the ninth and final race. He claimed to have a live ticket to the eight horse, the 9-5 morning line favorite, around 3-1 on the board at the time. He was asking $600, and then the price seemed to go up to $800. It was paying around $3800, and it also had an inherent value, since it was guaranteed to pay off on five of six. To be honest, the guy seemed like a bit of a nut, so whether he was on the up and up I can't say for sure. But I didn't really blame him for looking to sell. The race was an impossible affair; a maiden claimer on the grass, and only a single turf race to be found in the entire past performances. The Kentucky Derby isn't the only race that we need to do a lot of guessing about.

The eight horse, Determined Loyalty, was slammed down to 8-5, just an awful betting move on a Bruce Levine horse who'd been burning money, and whose superior Beyers were meaningless on the grass.

Nobody took him up on his offer. One guy looked like he might be considering it, and he might have been regretting not doing so when Determined Loyalty took command turning for home. He led to the eighth pole, but got passed by 21-1 Battonage, Samyn on the green! The Pick Six went unhit, resulting in a carryover for Saturday, and the conso ticket was worth $388.

I liked Carriage Trail, the 9-1 winner of the G3 Doubledogdare at Keeneland. I really did, but I kinda spaced and lost track of the time, involved in races all over North America as I was. So I was late to the betting machine and actually got shut out. But when 10-1 Say You Will got up for second, I wasn't feeling so bad, as I didn't use him in the second spot on my 50-cent trifecta tickets. So I felt stupid and happy at the same time. Panty Raid was just awful at even money; finished on the turn, she backed up to last. I hope she's OK. They can't use the Polytrack excuse for a filly who won the Spinster on the track last year.

- You may have noticed that Prado won the first three races on Friday, after I wrote that he was three for 39; call me a slump buster. Any other jockeys need a boost?