Horse Handicapping 101:

Tip #1: Go to the $20 minimum so you don't have to wait in the long lines since you will definitely be making $20 worth of bets. Then, once the lady tells you it is a $20 minimum bet for each wager (as in only $20 exacta boxes and not a $4 exacta box totaling $24) pick one of the horses at random that you had planned to use in your exacta and place a $20 straight wager on the horse to win. Therefore, you will still avoid waiting in the long lines at the regular window and its not like you knew what you were doing in the first place. Here is the result:




The horse went off at 4:1 and paid me back $100 :)

Tip #2: After you make all of the bets you are going to make on the derby and the last race of the day ask yourself if you have enough action on the race. The answer will almost always be "No!" so march right back to the window and pick a number of very random horses and put them in some sort of exacta or trifecta box. I went with the additional $1 exacta box with 3 horses totaling $6. Here is the result:


Just like I knew it would happen; the 50:1 longshot, Mine that Bird (edited to the correct name of the horse thanks to "anonymous"), won in convincing fashion despite having speed ratings much lower than the rest of the field. Also, the two other random horses I picked somehow managed to run in 2nd and 4th position giving me the exacta for $1,030!

**Disclaimer: I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to handicapping horses and these tips should not be attempted with real money, unless you are a degenerate like myself and don't mind losing a few hundred dollars about 95% of the time.**

Here is the obligatory picture of me and Jessica in her derby hat complete with transvestite/cross-dressing/shemale in the background!



Here is the view of the derby from our seats as the horses ran by the first time.


Here is our view as the horses are being loaded into the starting gates.


I am still in Indy for now and have Derek's graduation to attend on Saturday, but I am looking forward to getting back home and back on the grind.