REMEMBER PREAKNESS DAY!!! How could I ever forget...my husband and I both handicapped the race and came to the conclusion that Artax could not only be beaten, but actually might run out of the money. We also both loved the Lukas horse (Yes It's True @ 5 to 1) - an even greater rarity...our agreement that is!

He keyed Yes It's True in rolling Pick 3's, and I played the winner on top of Pat Day's horse (who ran second at 10-1) in exacta's and tri's. The bad beat for us was when they declared Artax a non-starter and took him and his money out of the race. The trifecta pool was at $1.2 million before $800,000 was removed for bets associated with Artax. The Pick 3's were just as devastating as the projected payoff of some $200 or $300 fell to only $35 in that race, and suffered accordingly in the following two races.

I used to think that losing the entire tri pool at Calder the day Wiorno was dq'ed from 1st to 3rd in the Rothman's was my worst bad beat experience. However, seeing Artax running 4th and backing up before that crazy man ever set foot on the racetrack made the decision of the Maryland track stewards rise to the top of my "hit" list!

By the way, my husband's worst bad beat in poker was going all in with pocket kings and losing to Alex Solis who caught 3 of a kind on the flop...in a charity tournament won by Alex in the next round!

Delmar Deb