Bettor's Box

As a gambler, there are things one just does not do. You do not chase the pot attempting to make up for previous losses, you do not plunge on the basis of ‘tips,' no matter how reputable their provenance, and you do not ever, ever gloat. Now, we're all guilty of a little gloating — remember me lording it over my 4-year-old neighbor last year? That was in fun. The maneuvers of this paper, however, are of a different stripe. In praising me and Geoffrey Foster, who edits this page, in our brilliant pick of Street Sense to tower over the field at the Derby, they have surely doomed us. Take what you read here with that caveat — I've cashed my last ticket. When your betting slips flutter to the ground, I beg that you don't fill up my mailbox with complaints, but rather direct your disappointment where it belongs.

Regardless, the show must go on. So, I turn again to our handicapping competition: me versus gravity. For the Derby, I balled up slips of paper with the contenders' names on them and tossed them out of my second story office window in the direction of a Kentucky Derby glass. I have a commemorative Preakness glass in the yard. (They drink a delicious punch called the Black-Eyed Susan down there — the official recipe is two parts bourbon, one part Vodka citrus, three parts sweetand-sour mix, and one part orange juice, garnished with orange and a cherry, and served over ice.) I have the pills. I have my second-story office window.

As it stands, Sir Isaac Newton is at -$30, and my pick of Street Sense puts me $19 ahead.

They're at the windowsill. And they're off!

There was a yardstick finish for second place, but I have to say that Sir Isaac has obviously been reading the Form, or my notes, or has just decided that he no longer wants the long money. He's a chalk-eater, gravity is.

SIR ISAAC'S PICKS:

WIN: Street Sense
PLACE: Curlin
SHOW: King of the Roxy

WATMAN'S PICKS:

WIN: Street Sense
The only thing that beats Street Sense in this race is bad luck. If both Sir Isaac and I think he's the one, clearly it's a lock.

PLACE: Circular Quay
The race sets up for closers, and I like the enthusiasm coming out of the Pletcher Barn for this horse — they hemmed and hawed after the Derby. Obviously, they think he came out of that race well.

SHOW: C P West
I like a horse that tries, and C P West is always improving his position. I don't see him in the front, but I see him mopping up and grabbing a piece of the money by taking advantage of the fast pace that is going to defeat all the other horses I like in this race.