Q&A: Kentucky Derby is time for some serious horseplay

4/29/09
kentucky derby
By Max J. Dickstein

Q&A: Kentucky Derby is time for some serious horseplay

Photo credit: Game Face

Kentucky Derby hopeful Atomic Rain and trainer Kelly Breen cool off Wednesday after a morning workout at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. (AP)

By Max J. Dickstein

The first leg of the Triple Crown comes Saturday, when 20 horses kick up 1 1/4 miles of dirt at the Kentucky Derby (6 p.m. on NBC).

Lifelong horseplayer Stanley Bavlish, a handicapper and spokesman for the official betting site of Churchill Downs, TwinSpires.com, talked about his passion on Wednesday with amNewYork.

What makes the Triple Crown so hard to achieve?

It’s very stressful. It’s like an athlete running a marathon every two weeks and trying to run at his best. The horses at this time of year — they’re only 3-year-olds. They normally run every four or five weeks. The previous long they would have run is 1 1/8 mile.

What motivation do the horses have to race?

I kind of think it’s inbred. They’re high-spirited animals. They’re bred for speed, for running. It seems to me like they enjoy the competition. I’ve seen horses on the track that just are strutting their stuff not unlike an athlete.

Is I Want Revenge a clear-cut favorite?

The odds are about right. He certainly is legitimate. I’m not convinced that I’ll be betting him at 3-to-1, because I don’t think ... he’d win out one every four times. There are four or five quality horses that could win.

What’s a common mistake made by novice bettors?

In the Derby it would be that they bet the favorites. They’ll go with the crowd. That’s OK. It’s just that opens opportunities for the better bettors to win more money because they have information that the novice player doesn’t.

Do you note who the jockey is on each horse?

The jockey and the trainer are important, but there’s an old saying in racing that “the jockey has never carried the horse across the finish line.” It’s not a situation where a jockey is going to take a bad horse and make him a winner. The best jockey will make the least amount of mistakes and give the horse the best opportunity to win.
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Q&A: Kentucky Derby is time for some serious horseplay

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