I attended my first Derby and Oaks races in person this weekend. Awesome event, hope to make it back next year, the Juleps were delicious.

*corrected the spelling error, the flowers were pretty too...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FloydNC,

quote:

Originally posted by FloydNC:
I attended my first Derby and Oaks races in person this weekend. Awesome event, hope to make it back next year, the Julips were delicious.

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to our Bluegrass State, but I'm sure that you meant "Juleps". As I read "Julips" I pictured in my mind Jewish flowers!

quote:

Originally posted by sig239dlehr:

quote:

Originally posted by FloydNC:
I attended my first Derby and Oaks races in person this weekend. Awesome event, hope to make it back next year, the Julips were delicious.

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to our Bluegrass State, but I'm sure that you meant "Juleps". As I read "Julips" I pictured in my mind Jewish flowers!

Have never attended the Derby, but I had the opportunity to spend 4 days in Louisville for a professional society annual meeting. I had a terrific time. The people are warm and welcoming and there’s much to see and do. I toured Churchill Downs, Hillerich and Bradsby, the Frazier Museum...

I’d love to go back for the Derby. Probably before that happens though, a driving trip to Nashville, then to Kentucky to visit a couple of distilleries (hopefully, before Jimmy Russell passes) and horse farms. Maybe even this summer

^^^^
Got to hit up some of the distillerys. Just head down the Blue Grass Highway, you can't miss them

I went on the Makers tour it was awesome. After you get off the highway you drive through a bunch of winding roads for what seems like forever and them bam! You are there. It is beautiful. Kentucky is some beautiful country. Too bad there aren't any oceans nearby. A couple of friends retired out there and they love it.

The Sport of Kings knighted a new millionaire.

A Texas woman won $1.2 million on an $18 'Pick 5' bet that included Kentucky Derby winner, Justify.

The Austin Statesman reported on Sunday that the woman, who was not identified but posed for a picture, will be taking home about the same amount as the owners of the race’s winner. Justify's team reportedly made $1.4 million.

Retama Park Race Track, which is located in Salem [sic], Texas, posted a picture of the winner on its Facebook page. ESPN reported that the woman bet on the Kentucky Derby favorite and some longshots in other races at Churchill Downs, including Funny Duck at 40-1.

Justify's owner talks about his horses before the Kentucky Derby.
A track spokesman told ABC that it is “unheard” of to win $1.2 million on such a small bet.

Justify scored his spot at the gate with his three-length victory over Bolt d'Oro in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 7.

Another record was also broken on Saturday, as the National Weather Service said it was the wettest Derby ever. Prior to the race, the agency tweeted that rainfall totals in Louisville stood at 2.83 inches.

Link

I'm headed out to pick up the fresh mint for my juleps. It looks like the track is drying out- maybe best not to pick a great mudder - but.....

I donknow nuthing 'bout horses - except I like to ride them.

Ladies and Gentlemen place your bets.

quote:

Originally posted by HighZonie:
I'm headed out to pick up the fresh mint for my juleps. It looks like the track is drying out- maybe best not to pick a great mudder - but.....

I donknow nuthing 'bout horses - except I like to ride them.

Ladies and Gentlemen place your bets.

Ooo, look at your post count. Must be some kind of omen for a Derby bet. Can’t quite figure how you turn “2222” into a bet though...

Code of Honor.

“Tacitus”; I was a History major in college, and the Wife likes gray horses.

Would have picked “Omaha Beach” if still in race since it’s 75th Anniversary of Normandy Invasion.

Top Bet - Improbable

Medium Bet - By My Standards

Long Shot Bet - Spinoff

Got fresh mint - check
Got Rye and Bourbon - check
Got maple syrup - check
Got popcorn - check
Got bratwurst, mustard, sauerkraut - check

I think I'm about ready!

Tacitus

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Originally posted by 2BobTanner:
“Tacitus”; I was a History major in college, and the Wife likes gray horses.

Would have picked “Omaha Beach” if still in race since it’s 75th Anniversary of Normandy Invasion.

I’m right there with you with the addition of the fact that I was born in Omaha; sorry the horse was scratched. I like greys too and will decide at jockeys up, or the post parade, between Tacitus and Roadster.

Nicely done by Jennifer Nettles on the National Anthem.

From yesterday's WSJ. I thought this was interesting...

Secretariat’s Kentucky Derby Record Is Safe, Thanks to the Taxman

The 1986 reform act did away with incentives to use breeding as a shelter. Result: slower horses.

By
Allison Schrager

May 3, 2019 5:58 p.m. ET

It’s been 46 years since Secretariat ran the fastest race in the Kentucky Derby’s 144-year history, at 1:59.4 minutes. Since then, only one other horse has completed the course in under two minutes—and he missed Secretariat’s record by more than half a second. Odds are the record will survive this Saturday’s race. Despite better training, technology and breeding for speed, racehorses haven’t gotten faster since 1973.

There are several reasons: Tracks are sandier to lessen the risk of injury. Hormones were banned in 2008. And then there’s the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

Every tweak to the tax code produces unintended consequences. Before 1986, high earners faced very high marginal income-tax rates. They would seek deductions to lower their tax bills—and investing in horses, which often produce large losses, was a popular tax shelter. The 1986 reform lowered the highest income-tax rates and disallowed the deduction of losses from passive investments. With the tax shelter gone, many investors bailed on the racehorse market.
The breeders who were left standing had to bear more of the risk themselves, but the tax reform had also lowered the returns on their investments. It increased the maximum tax rate on long-term capital gains from 20% to 28% (though the lower rate was restored in 1998). Racehorses also became subject to lower rates of depreciation. The result was that fewer horses were bred. The foal crop peaked in 1986 with 51,296 horses; in 2018, only 19,925 were born.

Tax reform also changed the structure of the market. A breeder can make money two ways. One is by breeding a horse to race. This involves housing and training the animal from birth and then racing it when it is 2 to 4 years old. The payoffs are the race winnings, then breeding fees after the horse retires from racing. Earning back your investment is a long shot; about 70% of horses race, but only 8% run fast enough to earn significant money at the track. And only a fraction of the winners are desirable breeding material.

The other strategy is commercial breeding—producing a horse and selling it when it is a year old for the purpose of racing. This approach produces returns that are both faster and more certain. Commercial breeding started to become popular in the 1960s, but since the 1986 tax reform, most breeders sell some or all of their horses each year, rather than race them themselves. The expected returns from such a long-term investment are too low to justify the considerable risk.

But a yearling’s racing potential is still unknown. The only objective data is its lineage—famous well-bred parents fetch a higher price at auction. A mare typically bares one horse in a year, but a stud can sire many. So naturally, the shift to commercial breeding increased the demand for a small number of top stallions. A top stud may breed with three different mares a day and up to 245 times in a breeding season. Some command stud fees exceeding $250,000, even though paying for an expensive stud does not increase the odds his offspring will earn money from racing. The same traits that make a stud fast don’t always work in their offspring. Secretariat’s 21 pound heart—the average horse heart is 9 pounds—made him quick, but only because the rest of his body worked well with it. A foal with a similar heart but a different body would be akin to a Subaru with a Ferrari engine. For this reason, higher stud fees may even be negatively correlated with their progeny’s race earnings.

The premium on parentage results in a greater number of inbred horses. Take one of the most prolific horses of all time, Northern Dancer, who died in 1990. His breeding career occurred mostly before the change to the tax code, before commercial breeding was the norm. He sired only 36 horses a year at his peak and more than 600 over his lifetime. But he lives on and on—his offspring are so inbred, Northern Dancer appeared in the bloodlines of 96.25% of yearlings sold between 2012 and 2015, often multiple times, according to the work of David Dink, a Kentucky-based writer who has long studied thoroughbred bloodlines. Fifty-nine percent have Northern Dancer in two or three sides of their family; he was in four different bloodlines in 19% of the yearlings.

Most horse inbreeding occurs between third and fourth cousins, and the horses are rebred many times. Inbreeding among cousins once or twice may be harmless or even beneficial, but if you keep inbreeding, negative effects can emerge. Inbred horses are likelier to be barren and to have weaker bones, making them more prone to injury. A lack of genetic diversity could also be why horses aren’t running faster in stakes races. Because they’ve been inbred for speed, thoroughbreds have become increasingly genetically well suited for sprinting, and increasingly ill-suited for stakes races, which are usually longer but bring in the real money.
Slower horses are surely a price worth paying for an efficient tax code. But it’s a reminder that changes in policy inevitably have unpredictable effects.

Ms. Schrager is author of “An Economist Walks Into a Brothel,” from which this article is adapted.

HighZonie resurrected this thread from last year’s Derby. If you look at my OP from last year, you’ll note that I was prompted to post by NBC’s use of Tara Lupinski and Johnny Weir for pretty significant roles in their telecast. To say Weir was flamboyantly gay is an understatement. I am pleased to note the they are nowhere to be found in this year’s race coverage. Perhaps NBC felt a severe enough backlash from Derby fans to rethink their telecast lineup.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
HighZonie resurrected this thread from last year’s Derby. If you look at my OP from last year, you’ll note that I was prompted to post by NBC’s use of Tara Lupinski and Johnny Weir for pretty significant roles in their telecast. To say Weir was flamboyantly gay is an understatement. I am pleased to note the they are nowhere to be found in this year’s race coverage. Perhaps NBC felt a severe enough backlash from Derby fans to rethink their telecast lineup.

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Thanks for clarifying that . . . .

I was watching for Johnny and thought you were on some other channel.

Johnny was just "fabulous darling" at the skating competition. I got a kick out of his hair do's.

We will just have to suffer through without him this time.

OK!

I got my straw fedora on and I'm ready ....

Come on, Improbable !!!!!

I was told by a Kentucky resident today I must leave the State as I didn't know Mays 1st Saturday was Derby day. That is not all I've been out of touch with for nearly 3 years. And bless your heart Jim Allen. Enjoy the race everyone.

Going with Tacitus

You could tell on the backstretch that Maximum Security had it. He was just loping. I told my wife, “He’s got two more gears when he needs ‘em.” I think that’s a pretty respectable time for such track conditions.