Put A Fork In It: Derby Weekend Nuggets

Tweet Heard one of my favorite sayings this morning on my drive to the office and it made me chuckle: "In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King."

Not sure it has anything to do with what we just experienced, but damn, that's funny. Speaking of funny, one of my annual visits post-Derby is to the Blonde Champagne site where the author posts a rather humorous live blog entry of the day's events, this year's edition is top shelf once again.

Oaks Day is one of the great racing days of the year. I remember experiencing it in 2006 for the first time and was overwhelmed by the experience. The nationally-televised Bravo telecast experienced positive numbers per The Street.com: "Last year, the Kentucky Oaks was broadcast on Bravo for the first time and the telecast saw an increase in the female portion of the viewing audience from 21 percent to 49 percent. This year's telecast featured exclusive, behind-the-scenes racing features, as well as the food, fashion and celebrity experience associated with Kentucky Oaks Day." The broadcast hasn't received the best reviews, but I agree with the R2 Collective perspective that the hardcore racing fan isn't the target audience: "The fly in that ointment is that we are not the market; we are going to watch it on Twinspires, or HRTV. This helps brand to a new audience." I imagine most peeps (horseplayers/fans) like me were at the kitchen table with the Form on our ADW account watching the odds (on the computer) and would watch the Bravo show starting with the post parade, when the fashion/food/celebrity stuff was long over and the racing was ready to roll (on HD!). I asked the Space Gal (cuz she watched and she has a MBA in Marketing) what she thought of the production and her reaction was that the gambling education piece was really "dumbed down." She thought they could have done a better job with projecting the atmosphere of Oaks Day with more random fashion interviews with people attending the event and more random shots of what people were wearing, etc. to capture the enormity and beauty of the event. Of course, she thought the survivor march was the best part of the telecast and what it's all about.

Are we ever going to have a better betting race than Saturday's Derby? It was amazing how close in odds these horses were on the tote board.

Mad props to my boy, Wack who posted the following in my friends and family blog: “With that said, my Derby exacta, will be Ice Box closing from waaay back and Super Saver, who has the pedigree to be close enough to the early lead and still hang at the wire.” I'm happy to report Wack and the Saratoga Resident nailed the tri together for a deuce - nice going!

Following up on my Exacta-ly post last week, tencentcielo chimed in with this yesterday: "The derby exacta name most (except you!) missed: The "Prevent Freezer Burn" exacta: Super Saver/Ice Box :-) " High comedy.

I'm looking forward to drinking one of these in 11 days for the first time...

Love him or hate him, Calvin Borel is now the face of racing. Out of the top 3 questions I received in the office today from the casual racing observer/employee (which is 95% of the office): 1 - How did you do? 2 - How about that Borel? and; 3 - Man, was that track a mess, or what?

The 25 cent Beulah Fortune 6 mandatory payout amounted to $3,750. Remnants from Saturday, Churchill's pick six carryover should exceed (queue Dr. Evil voice) one million dollars on Thursday.

If only Odysseus had made the gate and won the Derby, my one-eyed man Cycloptic reference would've been spot on....