This is a Dawg pick that will live in infamy. Dunkirk, the next Kentucky Derby winner, according to Lake County”s fearless, famous and fitful pony prognosticator, came up just a teeny bit short on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
Dunkirk, who bears the same name as the Normandy beach where the French were defeated and the British evacuated en masse back to England in late May and early June of 1940, did about as well as our World War II allies some 69 springs later.
“I told you he”d finish 1,” The Dawg woofed from his Dawgdome deluxe single”s pad on Monday. “I just forgot to tell you about the other 1 ? as in 11.”
Yep, The Dawg”s pick for the 2009 Kentucky Derby finished 11th out of 19 horses. And 11th place doesn”t pay too well, certainly not as well as $103.20 for a $2 win ticket, which is what Mine That Bird paid, the highest payoff since 1913. As a 50-1 long-shot in this year”s Derby, Mine That Bird won by 6 ? lengths, the second-largest margin of victory ever behind the eight-length win by Assault in 1946.
“Yeah, that Mine That Bird was on my radar, but 50-1 horses don”t win the Derby ? usually,” The Dawg snorted.
It”s hard to do worse than the French army, but The Dawg did it on Saturday. I mean, the French technically finished third at the Battle of Dunkirk. The Germans won, the British were second (they evacuated most of their troops back to England sans equipment), and the French, well, they do what they always do and just lost again.
Kind of like The Dawg.
“Hey, print boy, you”re about as relevant as the 8-track player with your newspaper,” The Dawg scoffed. “I know you”re going to rip me a new one for picking Dunkirk, but only about five people are going to read this anyway.”
Dunkirk almost finished in the same time zone as Mine That Bird ? almost.
“Basically, what happened, is that Mine That Bird covered the mile and a quarter a lot faster than Dunkirk,” The Dawg yowled while collecting $22.67 from both me and Record-Bee photographer Bob Minenna.
“But it”s not like you”re going home with nothing,” The Dawg said. “You get these really neat tickets with numbers on them.”
Yep, all the wrong ones, too.
While collecting from his Record-Bee minions (aka suckers) on Monday, The Dawg was asked if he could give change for the $25 I handed him. I didn”t have any ones. Neither did The Dawg, who pulled a wad of bills that could have choked that choker Dunkirk.
“Hey, I had other bets going on,” The Dawg chortled with glee. “Unfortunately, you had the loser.”
To be fair to The Dawg, none of his Dawgpound brothers did any better than he did. No one picked Mine That Bird or even mentioned the future gluestick who brought his owner a cool $1,417,200, bringing his career total to nearly the same amount.
“It”s better to be lucky than good,” The Dawg whimpered.
Yeah, tell me about it. I would have settled for either one. Dunkirk was, well, French.
The Dawg is now working up his predictions for the next leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness.
“Hey, I”ve got a good long-shot pick for you,” The Dawg howled with delight.
New coach
Schad Schweitzer, Clear Lake High School alum and an assistant coach for the Cardinals in past seasons, is the school”s new head varsity football coach. He was selected from a group of six candidates to replace Glenn “Milo” Meyer, who stepped down after 12 seasons on the job.
Schweitzer is busy assembling his coaching staff now as the start of spring football is just around the corner.
NCL I races
This is the make-or-break week in the North Central League I North and South baseball and softball races. If the weather cooperates, the league races will do one of two things by Friday night ? clarify themselves or be tied up in knots. Entering the week, both Fort Bragg teams were the frontrunners in the North. In South baseball, Cloverdale brings an undefeated league record to Lakeport today to play the Cardinals, and St. Vincent leads the South softball race. Clear Lake can eliminate the Lady Eagles from the title picture with a victory today.
