No way in hell. . . . . .

[scratch1]

Okay, so, I went to my 19th outta the last 20 Derbys on Saturday.
I've been to 5 outta the 6 top-attendance Derbys ever.
There ain't no way n hell there were 157,000 people out there Saturday.
Unless they shoe-horned an extra 30,000 people into the infield, which
I couldn't see, or everybody just came out to watch and not to bet,
that might have been the smallest Derby crowd I've ever been in.

The reason I know--those were the shortest betting lines EVER--and I
mean shorter by at least half--and by half I mean by the smallest Oaks
day lines I've ever seen. I guess CD needed a feel-good story after the
debacle that was ADW and Eight Belles.

For the record, we had a friggin' blast. Me and the wife once again paid
the $40 general admission and snuck into the grandstand after the 4th race.
We sat with a group from Honeywell--two British couples and a couple from
L.A. We swapped a few lies, compared stores of Keeneland vs Ascot, and
generally got rip-roaring drunk. I did okay on Oaks day and lost it all Derby
day. The only race I hit was a $50 win bet on Einstein. My 'capping wasn't
bad--just kept running 1st-3rd all day.

In general, fun was had by all. Just not 157K all.

[JimmyQ]

Originally Posted by scratch1

Okay, so, I went to my 19th outta the last 20 Derbys on Saturday.
I've been to 5 outta the 6 top-attendance Derbys ever.
There ain't no way n hell there were 157,000 people out there Saturday.
Unless they shoe-horned an extra 30,000 people into the infield, which
I couldn't see, or everybody just came out to watch and not to bet,
that might have been the smallest Derby crowd I've ever been in.

The reason I know--those were the shortest betting lines EVER--and I
mean shorter by at least half--and by half I mean by the smallest Oaks
day lines I've ever seen. I guess CD needed a feel-good story after the
debacle that was ADW and Eight Belles.

For the record, we had a friggin' blast. Me and the wife once again paid
the $40 general admission and snuck into the grandstand after the 4th race.
We sat with a group from Honeywell--two British couples and a couple from
L.A. We swapped a few lies, compared stores of Keeneland vs Ascot, and
generally got rip-roaring drunk. I did okay on Oaks day and lost it all Derby
day. The only race I hit was a $50 win bet on Einstein. My 'capping wasn't
bad--just kept running 1st-3rd all day.

In general, fun was had by all. Just not 157K all.

Sounds like fun man.....I may be joining you next year to sneak me in I've only seen one derby inside the grandstands..and it was a memorable one...Barbaro's triumph!! I remember yelling and screaming for Lawyer Ron, but he never showed up and then the mysterious bone chip appeared after the race-ugh....couldn't they find that **** before hand? There was a reason he ran so bad throughout the race...why does it take a poor performance to have a horse checked out?

JimmyQ

[Glenwood Lane United]

That was my first Derby, and I was stunned by how easy it was to park, how little traffic there was, and how short, for the most part, the betting lines were.

Races 7-10 had pretty long betting lines, but it being my first Derby, I couldn't really compare it to prior years.

[jwkniska]

Originally Posted by scratch1

I did okay on Oaks day and lost it all Derby
day. The only race I hit was a $50 win bet on Einstein. My 'capping wasn't
bad--just kept running 1st-3rd all day.

We must have had the exact same horses all day Sat(1-3rd or 2-3rd).... I was on fire Oaks day (5 of the first 6 exactas), but couldn't hit crap but Einstein on Sat.

[scratch1]

Originally Posted by JimmyQ

Sounds like fun man.....I may be joining you next year to sneak me in I've only seen one derby inside the grandstands..and it was a memorable one...Barbaro's triumph!! I remember yelling and screaming for Lawyer Ron, but he never showed up and then the mysterious bone chip appeared after the race-ugh....couldn't they find that **** before hand? There was a reason he ran so bad throughout the race...why does it take a poor performance to have a horse checked out?

JimmyQ

Funny--Lawyer Ron was my horse that year too. Ran 19th, didn't he?

I wasn't even close this year. Colonel John was my key and he spun his wheels.
I threw Big Brown and Eight Belles out from the start. LOL!!!!!!!!!!