Who was it that said contest bad beats are worse than betting bad beats? If he wasn't saying it before, OPM should be saying it now. It will be interesting to read his take on things, but after everything that happened the last 3 days, to come up a neck short because of a unlucky trip in a turf race, then lose by a nose to a 70-1 shot, in back to back races no less, was an awfully tough way for things to end. Still, to finish ninth out of 800 in a 1st appearance isn't too shabby, to put it mildly.

In the picnic scene, Fast Eddie Felson, holding up his recently broken thumbs, tries to explain to his girlfriend what it's like when he's playing pool at the top of his game, comparing it to a perfectly timed & executed race ride. His point is that it doesn't matter what you're doing, if you know that you're doing it the way it is supposed to be done. I don't know if OPM & the rest of the "crew",as you put it, had that feeling the last 3 days. They should.