Wrestling with the bottle

This is my third year to go head-to-head with the bottle at Breeders’ Cup. The first year I won. The second year the bottle did.

The challenge: I handicap the races and predict the winners of the 13 year-end championship races. Then, I create a pie chart with fourteen slices and numbered them 1 to 14. Next, I spin the bottle on top of the pie chart. The magic bottle selects the program number of a horse its top is pointing to when it stops spinning. Finally, I place a mythical (or actual?) show bet on my selections and the Magic Bottle’s selections.

Full disclosure: I dialed it in this year and didn’t use a bottle. I used a random number generator on my phone.

I know some of this is chalky, but it is the result of my own honest work, handicapping for hours.

So many of these races were agonizingly difficult to call because the fields are so crazy stacked. This is going to be a memorable Breeders’ Cup. I can’t wait. We’ll be playing the Saturday races in the Jockey Club at Oaklawn Park.