Kentucky Derby hopeful Forever Young, a Japanese bay colt, has won all five of his races heading into Saturday.
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LAS VEGAS — Wanna see some animals? Vinny Magliulo was 8 and anxious to escape his Brooklyn home, so he zipped with Uncle Tony that day in 1965. They went to Belmont Park.
“Nothing but horses here,” Vinny said. “I thought we were going to the Bronx Zoo?”
Uncle Tony responded, “It’s a special kind of zoo.”
The sport of kings hooked Magliulo. Last year, the Gaughan Gaming sportsbook director dropped by a table in the South Point ballroom occupied by me and pals, who visit every Kentucky Derby weekend.
Magliulo connected with Sean Worley and concluded that 16-to-1 Mage, with Javier Castellano on top, would be the one to beat, the one to bet.
The revelry from the annual reunion of my San Diego State frat brothers proved distracting, so I missed out on Mage, who won and paid $32.42 for first, $14.58 to place and $9.08 to show.
“I remember him touting Mage, and [bleeping] Mage won,” Worley said. “Greatness!”
This time, Magliulo taps 6-1 shot Sierra Leone, who drew the second post position.
“Smart,” Sean said. “Value.”
Worley, who won seven national crowns as a junior-college soccer coach, is an ace horse handicapper. And this year, the Dallas resident made his maiden trip to Louisville for the Derby.
I tapped him, Magliulo and other experts for this year’s victor.
THE PICKS
For the 150th Kentucky Derby, Vegas has its hot spots.
With every $25 wager, Station Casinos offers a commemorative T-shirt. The South Point is exceptional since its race area is separate from its sportsbook. Plus, a huge upstairs ballroom will be packed.
At its sister book at the Rampart Casino in Summerlin, race and sports manager Duane Colucci, a New York native, takes 3-1 favorite Fierceness.
“Can’t believe I’m going chalk,” Colucci said. “The horse really looks good, and there isn’t much speed in the race.”
Horse Racing Nation editor Ron Flatter believes Fierceness is the best of the 20-horse field, “and the most-likely winner, as long as he gets out of the gate.” He drew the 17th post.
“Whether keying on him or using him defensively, he must be included,” Flatter said. “Just A Touch, an impressive second in the Blue Grass, and Domestic Product, under the radar since winning the Tampa Bay Derby, are the price plays.”
Just A Touch (13-1) fires out of the eighth post, Domestic Product (100-1) No. 15.
GUT CALLS
The Derby is dear to oddsman Rex Beyers, since he grew up across the Ohio River, the Churchill Downs twin spires within view. He has attended regularly since 2004.
Beyers is bullish about friend and trainer Brad Cox’s Catching Freedom and Just A Touch, but he’s concerned about the latter’s stamina over 10 furlongs.
“Catching Freedom has improved his [Andrew] Beyer speed figures by at least five in every start of his career,” Beyers said, “the only horse in this race to do that.”
Under jockey Flavien Prat, 12-1 Catching Freedom starts from the fourth slot.
WagerTalk ’capper Sean Alvarez is going with “his gut” in taking Forever Young, the Japanese bay colt that’s won all five of his races.
“He overcame trouble in his past two starts,” Alvarez said. “He has a professional mindset and can make his own trip, not needing a pace to run into or being on the lead.”
At Turtle Sports in Northern California, proprietor David Fink says the company’s “coveted Lundin Line” top-rates Just A Touch.
“But I am going with Domestic Product,” Fink said. “In the Holy Bull, he outdueled rival Fierceness down the stretch to take second. He should be able to stay just off a fast pace and take the win down the stretch.”
THE WINNER IS . . .
When I met Worley in 1984, he trumpeted John Henry, who then won six of his final seven races.
For his first Derby experience, I sent him a copy of Hunter S. Thompson’s edgy bourbon-laced review of the 1970 race from Scanlan’s Monthly.
“Unlike most of the others in the press box, we didn’t give a hoot in hell what was happening on the track,” Thompson wrote of sketch-artist Ralph Steadman and himself. “We had come there to watch the real beasts perform.”
Referring to the six-figure Churchill crowd. A record 170,513 attended in 2015; 150,000-plus are expected today.
“The weekend,” Thompson wrote, “became a vicious, drunken nightmare.”
The piece launched the fear-and-loathing Thompson, a son of Louisville, but many discount his fact-fiction blurs. Beyers, a Ball State journalism major, never cared for Thompson’s “depravity.”
Worley, like Alvarez, favors Forever Young. I break a tie (with Fierceness) and take Forever Young, too. That’s our victor.
“A proven winner with top Japanese trainer Yoshito Yahagi,” Worley said, “who has won Breeder’s Cup races in the U.S.”
Seven-to-1 Forever Young drew the No. 11 post position, and Worley added, “Good post for him.”
He didn’t know what to expect in today’s mass of humanity inside Churchill Downs, and he joked about the Thompson story.
“Will be there for the Oaks [on Friday] and Derby, sunup to sundown both days,” Worley said. “First time in Kentucky, with 150,000 crazies. Greatness.”