I bought a micro-share (1/1000 of 1% of a 12.5% share) in a race horse two days before the Kentucky Derby. I thought he had a decent chance but I actually liked two other horses in the race better...but I thought it would be cool to say you had a piece of a horse who ran in the Kentucky Derby.

Then he goes out and wins the damn thing!

Just got this in the mail...somehow the track photographer had the technology to put 4000 individual names of the micro-share owners in the Owners line so I have a Kentucky Derby winner's circle photo showing me as an owner. There are some obscenely wealthy folks who have spent $millions$ trying to win the Derby and they don't have one of these.

I've worked in the racing industry for 30+ years but haven't had much work this year due to COVID. This was a bright spot in a 2020 that's been pretty bleak.

That's cool. :)

Cool story...but you're burying the lede (I hate that it's spelled that way). What (if anything) was your haul? Are you going to buy some Mantles, or just a Mario Mendoza or two? :D

If you try to glance up into the trees on the pike, usually west of the Rte 9 exit you will see a few red tail hawks. They are easier to see in the fall and winter after the leaves have fallen. Once you see one they are easier to spot.

Yesterday, October 22, my father and his twin brother turned 88 years old. Neither is in the best of health, but both alive and kicking. I called him the piano man and he got the reference. Beat lung cancer in his 80's.

Happy birthday to your dad and uncle.

I've seen a few hawks along the pike. I used to see deer along the pike between the Rt30 Framingham exit and Rt128 Wellesly exit.

Darren -

The way the micro-share deal is structured, there isn't a financial windfall so it's still Mario Mendozas for me!

It's a complicated deal and to be honest not the smartest investment one would make but it was all laid out in the offer. With a little background in finance I knew exactly what I was getting into. The ownership format is a relatively new thing, and it's a way that a schmoe like me can have a small interest in a really good horse. But in all honesty is really structured to benefit the main owner, Spendthrift Farms (B Wayne Hughes, who founded Public Storage).

Had he run 2nd, we probably would have gotten about $12 each. The return on the (small) investment may come if he is a successful sire at the end of his racing career, but in a best case scenario where he's the hottest sire in the US, I'm looking at maybe $100/year but the reality will likely be much less.

I have to say the thrill of watching him unexpectedly win and getting a winner's circle picture with my name as an owner was well worth the $200 investment, even if I never see a penny of it back.

Not as many deer with all of the development. You can still spot them west of the Sturbridge exit. I can tell you are a local - you used Rte 128 - the 'Roadrunner' road for you Jonathan Richman fans.

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love this sign.....

Michael, I avoid rt128 at all cost and rt93 as much as I can. Rt128 up past Peabody to Gloucester (Glosta as we call it) is a nice ride on weekends.