West Coast Derby Blogs

So it is now Derby morning and I’m going to do this blog thing one more time.

I’ll go down on record with a Derby pick – actually picks – so anyone who wants to tell me “I told you so” or “Oy! What a dummy!” will have a chance to do so.

I’d also like to leave a thought or two behind in the run up to this very entertaining Run for the Roses:

For what it is or isn't worth, here's my Top Ten list of contenders for Kentucky Derby 133, or my guess is as good as yours -

Yup, made it to Derbyland. Been on the run ever since.

Ten days out from Kentucky Derby 133 let's examine pluses and minuses of ten leading contenders, in order of their graded stakes earnings -

STREET SENSE  -  

So I climbed up the mountain and knocked on the Guru’s door.

All right. Need some help here.

It's Tuesday and I still can't figure out the Blue Grass Stakes. Maybe Jill Byrne has the right approach - don't try to overanalyze the result and just go on. But what a strange race it was. I don't think I can recall another prep for the Kentucky Derby that was more mystifying in its outcome.

Jim Murray, the late columnist for the L.A. Times who was as good as it ever got in the sports writing game, was a regular visitor to Del Mar each summer, something we always looked forward to. He loved the horses, loved the people involved, understood the game and would invariably spin a neat tale after a day’s visit. The last column he ever wrote was in August, 1998 on a wonderful horse named Free House winning the Pacific Classic.

Let's start off this blog entry with a prediction: Great Hunter will dust Street

So they ran three big Derby preps Saturday and -- surprise, surprise – a little horse named Tiago popped up and shook ‘em up most of all.