The Attack of Dr Phil! And the Derby

I admit it, I admit it....when I was at the gym today I actually watched Dr. Phil. I got sucked in. I don't know how or why. *sob* I need professional help!

On the upside, I got a good workout in and remembered why MY life doesn't suck.

Let's talk Derby. (Don't snore, this is good stuff.) The Derby Draw came up last night and there were a few interesting moves. The most interesting is the fact that the favorite, Brother Derek, drew an outside post - 18 out of 20. (Someone asked me if 20 is a lot of a horses. I said a normal NASCAR field has 43 cars, right? Add another 20 and you get how the Derby is different than your everyday race - or even the Preakness or the Belmont. WAY TOO FRICKIN' CROWDED. They should lower the field to 16 max and keep some of those 50-1 longshots home. That way my boy Afleet Alex could have won the Derby last year and not the oh-so-lucky Giacomo.)

But I digress. Brother Derek can sit off the pace, unlike some of the other horses but and should get a relatively clear trip toward the front, even from far outside. If Sinister Minister doesn't get to the front immediately, HE'S DONE. So be careful betting on him. Watch Lawyer Ron in the first quarter. His jock has to keep tight control on him and keep him close to the pace - if he takes off like he did in the Arkansas Derby, he's toast.

All in all, I think it's going down like this - Sinister Minister, Sharp Humor, and a handful of other front runners will crowd to the front of the pack (there's a LOT of speed in this race), with Lawyer Ron, Bob and John, Barbaro, and Brother Derek not far behind them. After Sinister Minister's last race, the Blue Grass, nobody's going to want him to get too far ahead, so they're going to keep right on his tail (literally). That's going to set up a hot first quarter and possibly second, and most likely tire out the frontrunners by the time they've gone a mile and a quarter.

That's going to set the race up for a come from behind horse like Steppenwolfer, Bluegrass Cat or Point Determined (I LOVED his daddy, Point Given). Then again, I admit bias - I like the charge from the back of the pack for dramatic value. And there's no way to know yet which one of these horses can go 1 1/4 because none of them have done it before. I expect as always traffic to be an issue, but this year speed will be an issue more than usual.

Job hunting tip of the day: When someone tells you this is a full-time job, they are NOT KIDDING. I have been so busy I don't know what I'm doing. (Okay, I'm blogging. Whatever!)