Cashing in on Mine That Bird

My dirty little secret related to this year's Kentucky Derby result is that Mine That Bird could actually help win me a little bit of money.

It'd be a welcome change from Derby day itself when he cost me all my money.

See, a co-worker and I have a team in a Triple Crown Fantasy League that some colleagues from Churchill Downs manage. There are 15 teams and each team has nine three-year-olds and a jockey. Horses nominated to the Triple Crown score points by performing well in prep races; jockeys score points by winning prep races. Fifteen teams means there are 135 horses to go around, so you can imagine some of the talent getting picked in the last round. My team went with a maiden on the turf for our tenth pick.

Our most savvy pick came in the seventh round when we took Canadian champion Mine That Bird immediately after ESPN Racing Analyst had picked Jack Spratt and before Daily Racing Form national handicapper Mike Watchmaker selected Munnings. Incidentally, our first-round pick (second overall) was Pioneerof the Nile.

In addition to earning 100 points for Mine That Bird's Derby win, we also win our entry fee back for having the Derby winner on our team, so there was a sliver of brightside to my bankroll when he came home ahead of Pioneerof the Nile. Their one-two finish put my team comfortably in first with only five weekends of racing in the contest remaining.

I bring this up partially to get in on the bragging of everyone who had the horse as well as to segue into why I didn't like him... AT ALL.

Because he was on my fantasy team, I followed his three-year-old season carefully. He was in my stablemail, and when I got a workout report I looked at who else worked that day and tried to get clues as to his talent. When he ran in the Boarderland and Sunland Derbies I watched and complain about the rides he got. I guess that was the clue all along: the jockey.

My teammate called the rides in both his New Mexico starts, "The worst rides I've ever seen in my entire life." Indeed, they were terrible. Rushing up, engaging the pace, and just wasting energy at every turn. Bring in Borel, and he waits patiently, comes up the rail, and wins by 6 3/4 lengths.

So I was shocked by the Derby result, but not for the stereotypical reason that some camps would have you believe. I wasn't this elitist Turf writer who dismissed Mine That Bird because he had raced in New Mexico or because he had obscure (to the mainstream) connections. I dismissed him because I had watched his races carefully and with excitement and was disappointed by his inability to win both times.

I won't dismiss him again at Preakness, that's for sure, but I have to think he'll again be an underlay.