Happy 4th Anniversary, Insider!

Yes, today's column begins The Insider's fourth year--what is known as the "fruit and flowers" anniversary. So, to join in the celebration, all you need to do is munch on a banana, apple or orange or maybe swipe your finger through a jar of marmalade as you read today's column.

ALERT! Predict a winner right now: The first to predict the winner of Race 6 tonight at Delta Downs wins $20 in wagering vouchers--and $20 if you predict the triactor. Email your answer(s) to theinsider@assiniboiadowns.com by 8 p.m. (Type your answers in the subject line.) Be sure to include your full name and address. See last week's winners below.

ALERT! Deadline looms: You have until Saturday at 2 p.m. to register for Santa Anita's free "showvivor" contest that could win you $5,000, just as math prof Jim Roberts won at Hollywood. Go to www.santaanita.com.

What will $8 get you? Admission to a movie. Or how about $9,500--which was the amount pocketed by one shrewd local player for picking the pick-6 at Santa Anita last Saturday. And what will $12 get you? Admission to a movie AND a tub of popcorn. Or how about $10,300--the amount shared by two local players last Saturday, including Stretch of Bettor's Blog fame, who won the entire pick-4 pool at Hawthorne. Let's hear it for these players who showed that horseplaying smarts are more important than the size of your bankroll. Here are their winning tickets.

This ticket paid $9,519

This ticket paid $10,342

Pick-6 ticket (left): The pick-6 winner, a federal civil servant who owns part of a local race horse, said he discovered that his $8 ticket--purchased earlier in the day Saturday at the Downs--was a $9,500 winner when he interrupted a movie he had gone to see to go to the washroom to call up the results on his cell phone. "I felt like screaming 'Yes Man,'" he recalled, which was the name of the movie he had been watching at the time. He said he had keyed two tricky horses on his ticket because of past experiences with those horses. Cowboy Cal, #4 in the fifth leg, "owed me from last year" because he had picked the horse to perform better on the road to the Triple Crown.. And another horse he had been following, #11 in the fourth leg, Mark S the Cooler, was making a drop from stakes company. "When I buy an $8 or $16 ticket on the pick-6 I don't expect to win," he said, "but it at least gives me a chance." And that's all he needed.

Pick-4 ticket (right): Stretch said he nailed the $10,300 pick-4 pool at Hawthorne for only $12 by watching a race replay on his computer. That gave him a solid play in the second leg. And the workouts on the horse in the last leg, despite the fact the horse was a 9-1 longshot, convinced him that was the winner--and the horse did win fairly easily. So that's what it takes. As I've said ad nauseum: ya does the work, ya gets the prize.

Which leads me to introduce a new element in today's column below called Races to Save and Savour to help you nab of these biggies yourself. Warm up your printer to download Exhibit "A"!

Also, as promised in the last Insider, the exciting countdown to the Kentucky Derby begins today, featuring guest contributor Everett Shade, a former clocker at the Downs who loves young horses and has a knack for spotting emerging great horses from their workout patterns. He's pictured below with a backdrop of the famous twin spires of Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday of May.

And, in keeping with the historic nature of the upcoming week when Barack Obama will be sworn in as U.S. president, I thought it only fitting to note that even horselovers joined together as a group in the U.S. to throw their support behind him. One of their posters accompanies this text. All right. Let's go .....

YOU GUYS ARE GOOD!

Here are the winners of last week's "pick 'em" contest

Way to go to those who entered my "pick 'em" contest last week! Seven of you (just under 25 per cent of entrants) correctly identified a just-claimed horse (#3) with a 5-1 morning line to win that night's seventh race at Delta Downs. Rob Dubois was first, so he gets the $20 in betting vouchers, which he can pick up from the VLT lounge cashier the next time he's at the track. (Present I.D.) He and the other winners will also have a keepsake 50th anniversary pin waiting for them there. The other winners are: Greg Earl, Larry Liebrecht, Jeff Sargent, Brad, Bonnie Brennan and Ron Palka. Congrats, all! I hope you played the horse at the windows or in your account!

Nobody predicted the triactor (3-10-4) but two came very close with 3-10-2. But, as you noticed at the top of this column, we're doing it again tonight--the sixth race at Delta which goes to post at 8:19 p.m. It's another 5f sprint race like last week. Remember how last week's race went? The just-claimed horse won. And the horse with the most early speed (#10, the horse with the highest pace number) finished second. Let's see what happens tonight.

POINTERS: To pick up program-reading pointers, watch this video. To bet this race from home, open an account at your nearest OTB location. Same prizes as last week including a lovely 50th anniversary souvenir pin for everyone who is correct! Deadline for entries is 8 p.m. You can watch the race on Shaw 87 or MTS 179-180. (One entry per email address, one entry per family, please.)

WEEKEND CONTEST WINNERS

Johnny the Greek wins at poker, loses father

Bittersweet weekend: John Ganas won big at poker; father
Jim (inset) passes.

One-eyed jack/king gets
the cash Friday
It was a bittersweet week for restauranteur Johnny "the Greek" Ganas. On Friday, he not only won the poker game, collecting $100 in wagering vouchers, but he pocketed $150 cash, too, for winning a hand starting with 10-Jack suited, which was the poker prop that hadn't been won for two weeks. But Saturday his luck turned: He would easily have won $9,000 in Santa Anita's pick-6 but eliminated the easy #13 horse in the last leg because he had liked #13 in another leg and thought two #13's couldn't possibly win. "I know it was crazy," he said. But then his father, Jim of Nick's Inn in Headingley--longtime racegoer and fascinating storyteller--died after a lengthy struggle with cancer at age 63. Johnny still came to the track as a distraction from his grief, giving Race Book players an opportunity to extend their condolences. (Read obituary here.) Tomorrow's $50 poker prop: Win a hand with hole cards consisting of a one-eyed king and one-eyed jack.

Lightning Round Friday night: Real estate appraiser Bob Dunn called out $108 in $2 wagers in one-minute, which netted him $159 in winnings. Candy maker Hector Allard saw his $82 in wagers go the wrong way.

Head to Head Saturday afternoon: None of the three contestants drawn to play the game predicted the winner at Fair Grounds so the carryover pool this Saturday is $150. Put your non-winning tickets into a drum to get into the game!

The Road to the Triple Crown begins! Horsemen must nominate their 3-year-old horses for the Kentucky Derby by Saturday, Jan. 24. And you'll get your first opportunity to future-wager the Derby (and the Kentucky Oaks for female horses) Feb. 12-15. The initial "buzz horse" of the new year is Notonthesamepage. He showed astounding improvement in his first test as a 3-year-old, without blinkers, by romping to an eight-length victory in the 6f Spectacular Bid Stakes at Gulfstream two Saturdays ago. The winning time of 1:08.48 stamps him as an early pace factor in the Fountain of Youth at a mile in his next start. Distance limitations remain the prime question for this Wesley Ward speedball.

NEW! SAVE AND SAVOUR THIS RACE

Exhibit "A": Dominant pace-setter, best closer.

Do yourself a big favour. Download and print this race. Here's why: This race demonstrates a pattern that could reward you with BIG BUCKS when you spot a similar pattern in a future race. More exhibits will follow. Save them in a folder or binder. Here's what to observe in Exhibit "A:" The winner was #2, the horse with a pace number far above the rest (86). Think about that. The second-place horse was #10, the horse with the biggest speed number of all the horses (75)--which means he has the best closing ability. Then the next horses were: #1, #4 and #12. Note these horses are in the selections at the bottom of the race page. So, when you see a similar pattern in upcoming races, you now know how to play the race. The prices: Golden Gate, fifth race last Sunday: #2 paid $32.50, 2-10 exactor paid $228, the Super High Five (2-10-1-4-12) paid $3,566 for $1. Note: Give me your feedback. When you nail a future race that unfolds exactly like the pattern in this one, please email me so I can pass along your success.

UPCOMING EVENTS: Sunshine Millions is a must

Bring $40 to Sunshine Millions Day, Saturday, Jan. 24 in the Clubhouse to get into the Show Me the Sun horseplaying game in which you can make $500 or more by outlasting and/or outplaying others by picking show horses. The neat thing is, you'll be using $20 of your entry to play the show horses with REAL MONEY and you get to keep whatever money you make. The contest will be based on races from Gulfstream and Santa Anita.

GREAT 3-YEAR-OLD RACING SAT & SUN: Catch impressive stakes action this Saturday and Sunday from Santa Anita, Golden Gate and Gulfstream: the $150,000 San Rafael (1-mile) and $150,000 San Ynez (7f) at Santa Saturday, the $100,000 California Derby (1 1/16-mile) from Golden Gate Saturday and two $100,000 turf routes at Gulfstream (the Dania Beach Saturday and the Sweetest Chant Sunday) .

Don't forget to sign up for "Showvivor" at Santa!