First, I was dead wrong on Always Dreaming and it cost me a $1 tri as I played tickets that included LAL in 2nd spot and BOM in the 3rd spot although the horses I keyed most prominently on top did not show up. I just wanted to own up to this on the board and compliment TAP for a job well done to have his horse ready to win the Derby. Kudos to all that said AD was a solid wager before the race.

A few notes on yesterday's track. I sat on the rail in the first turn nearly all day save the trips for some food, beer, betting, etc. It rained lightly all morning and I sat in it to save the tables our group wanted once the weather improved. The track was sealed during this time and throughout the day. At some point in the afternoon the sun began to emerge and I told my friends it may dry the outter paths first and the inside wouldn't be as prominent as it had been possibly. After a decent amount of time a tractor was brought out and the track was harrowed one tractor path at the rail. During this time that they started to harrow the track (open it up a better term?) it started to pour down rain for a solid 10 to 15 minutes I'm guessing (no races run over the track as they just started to harrow it when it rained). After or during that rain, the track was sealed again and was not harrowed again. Timing is a little fuzzy so I'm not certain how many times they sealed it after that rain. I can confirm they did not harrow it again unless it was after the Derby that I saw.

So the track was mess, a very tricky read once it was sunny and then rained again (from my persective handicapping the dirt races). One of my buddies that isn't quick to yell "bias" said he thought the rail was the place to be all weekend and was saying it early and often on Friday and through Saturday. Not sure any of this helps or matters now but just wanted to be clear on all these things.

Several really good stories from the weekend that I'll save for Travers weekend! I will note that as Asmussen walked by the rail after the Derby (heading back to the barn area) I asked if he was headed to the Belmont with LAL and he smiled and said "Hell yeah!" It will be interesting to see if he runs in the Preakness or not as I saw him already listed as a projected starter. So maybe he runs in Baltimore and Ny.