I hear you. You could have given your play outlined above, and you could have said, "if you're really ambitious and feel like laying in more cash, you can do this..." You generally wouldn't give a five horse box either, but it's the Derby.

You seem to be missing the obvious point. Many times, I (probably all of us) have said we liked something, or even recommended a play, and then we get hit with a sudden inspiration, or the tote swings or there's a late scratch, and we add a horse or take out a horse and win. The last minute throw-in yields a bomb. It's perfectly alright. If I really nail something, I may bray a bit, because I'm essentially weakminded and need some kind of approval. I'm working on it. In different circumstances (maybe like these) I might keep my mouth shut a little, even though, given the nature of the game as described above, they have no real beef (there have been caveats aplenty here). Things happen right up to the bell. Same on Wall St., where I've had a lot more than $1,700 down, so I know what I'm talking about. Most agreements give the guy making the bet some latitude for this kind of thing. You have to! To sum up, I'm not sure you had to post about cashing here, and I'm not sure it was wise. I've been wrong before and it will happen again. Just one lackey's opinion.

In the same way Robes doesn't get the slam dunk with his 'lightly' stuff, you get less than the slam dunk here. There's a big difference between saying A,B and C and having them come in and the circumstances here. I'm sure my opinion matters to you, Moneybags.

Boy am I an asskisser. HP