Learning the Hard Way

It's taken days for us to recover from our odd -- though not disastrous -- jaunt to Mountaineer on Saturday. My husband and I thought it was a good idea to prepare for the August 14 West Viriginia Derby by handicapping all 10 races, betting them all, and let the chips fall where they may. Sadly, we have learned:
a - Too much study of the Daily Racing Form can lead to eyestrain
b - We still have a lot to learn.

We knew it would be an interesting night when White Cargo, a 51-1 shot won in the third. We missed any clues that this might happen when we perused our copy of the Form ... and we continued to miss throughout the evening. Sadly, our luck did not turn until late in the night, when we went with King's Thrill in the 9th. Even more unfortunately, though, we've read too many books to be able to bet a horse based solely on a name, so I ignored my frivolous whim to wager on Well Educated, who won the last race of the night at 40-1 odds. Sigh. I wonder if I could modify Murray's Rules to include "Never ignore a horse with a name you like."

We're fairly excited about the WV Derby, a $750,000 Grade III, to be held at Mountaineer on Sunday. Entries will be announced later this week, but no matter which horses run, it will be a change from the usual Mountaineer race. Here's the scuttlebut so far:

• Article about the possible field from Bloodhorse
• News Register article about Derby-hopeful Devilment
• News Register article about Dover Dere

Definitely a change from horses like Penryn's Ghost, who finally won a maiden claiming race in her 21st start!