The G Manifesto

The Pamplemousse: Predicting a Kentucky Derby Winner?

Click Here for Surf and Turf: The Race Track
Click Here for The Del Mar Racetrack Part II

“Nobody knows nothing,” is a saying that has been ascribed to everyone from movie executives to economists. It is particularly true of horseplayers trying in the early days of March to divine the winner of the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May.

It is the reason bookmakers in Las Vegas offer future bets at long odds, on any and every 3-year-old to win America’s greatest horse race.

In January, holding tickets at 125-1 on the prospects Shafted and Poltergeist seemed smart. In February, however, after they ran up the track in the Robert B. Lewis and the Southwest Stakes, the colts were off the Derby trail and the tickets were worthless.

Still, horseplayers know better than most that (a) the more you guess, the sooner you’re going to be right; and (b) everyone only remembers your winners. In line with that philosophy, The New York Times offers its first list of Derby contenders.

Later Saturday, in the Sham Stakes at Santa Anita Park, the odds-on favorite, The Pamplemousse, led every step of the way. As impressive as his six-length victory was, The Pamplemousse will receive more attention in the coming weeks for his name and ownership group.

Pamplemousse means grapefruit in French, and the colt is named after Pamplemousse Grille, a high-end restaurant across the street from Del Mar racetrack in California. Jeffrey Strauss, the restaurant’s owner-chef, owns part of the horse with Alex Solis II, whose father rides The Pamplemousse.

“I’ve never ridden anything like him,” said Alex Solis, a highly regarded rider who has never won a Derby but has finished second three times. “He has such a high cruising speed and he’s getting more and more amazing. He has such a good mind and he was real relaxed the whole way.”

Source

Peeled plenty of girls at Pamplemousse.

Great wine list too. Although their food has been slightly up and down over the last few years…thankfully more up than down. It is still my bet for one of the best “after track” spots with some girls you chopped up at The Turf Club.

Either way, Jeffrey Strauss is a class act and always makes time to come by my table in the bar area to say hello, roll out the red carpet for the fly girls I am with and break out some “off Menu” items.

Click Here for Surf and Turf: The Race Track
Click Here for The Del Mar Racetrack Part II

The Rest is Up to You…

Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com

AZ – Show Me What You Got Freestyle