Nice Doubles

- Thanks to the reader who posted the Oaks-Derby will pays here. I just spaced and forgot about that bet. I can't blog and handicap at the same time. I'd love to be sitting with Monba for $281 right now. Nice payoffs all around, and, with the benefit of hindsight of course, Proud Spell was pretty easy. With the benefit of hindsight. Larry Jones was certainly confident, as reported by Jeanine Edwards before the race. Those payoffs give you an idea of the potential rewards tomorrow if you can stand successfully against the two top choices.

If those odds are any indication, and they're often not, Monba could be the price pay; the 15 or 20-1 shot that, to me anyway, has the potential to step up. Eight Belles ($235.60 for the double) is getting bet in the early win wagering; the last I saw she was the 9-1 4th choice. It's still very early as far as those pools go, but maybe I won't turn out to be so wrong after all?

It's supposed to stop raining in Louisville at some point before tomorrow afternoon, and that track can dry out very quickly. Hopefully then, the Derby won't be run on a sloppy track, though the possibility of scattered storms is still in the forecast for the afternoon. I have no idea what the track will be like for the early races, nor the fate of those scheduled for the two stakes scheduled for the grass. You gotta figure those will stay on unless there's another deluge. Great races on the undercard as usual, so let's hope it dries out sooner than later. Here in NY, the track at Belmont was upgraded to good, and it looks like it the rain may be over. So I'm hoping for a fast track there, and I'm also hoping to get out there for at least a few races early on so I can check out those new TV's and stuff.