A few weeks ago our sports editor Mark Mayer came up with what he called a “Golden Prop” – will both the Golden State Warriors win the NBA championship and the Golden Knights take the Stanley Cup; it was a great idea.
Well John Avello, the head man at Wynn Las Vegas, took this prop to another level as he put it up for betting: Will Justify win the 2018 Triple Crown and the Las Vegas Golden Knights win the 2018 Stanley Cup? Here are the prices he posted.
YES opened at +270 and has gone to +250.
NO opened at -330 and has dropped to -300.
Avello also posted odds on the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes slated for Saturday, June 9. Here is his list.
JUSTIFY: opened at 4/5, now 11/10.
HOFBURG: opened at 12/1, now 6/1. Don’t understand that move.
BRAVAZO: opened at 7/1, unchanged.
VINO ROSSO: opened at 11/1, now 10/1.
TENFOLD: opened at 12/1, now 11/1.
BLENDED CITIZEN: opened at 28-1, bet down to 15/1. We can see that after his win in the Peter Pan on this track.
NOBLE INDY: opened at 18/1, still there.
RESTORING HOPE: opened at 22/1, now 20/1
LONE SAILOR: opened at 22/1, now 30/1.
BANDUA: opened at 25/1, now 30/1.
FREE DROP BILLY: opened 40/1, unchanged.
GRONKOWSKI: opened 40/1, still the same.
JUST WHISTLE: opened at 75/1, unchanged.
Note: Some of these odds could change and on future bets like these there are no refunds if your horse gets scratched.
Belmont blasts
• Justify worked in the mud at Churchill Downs and is doing great. If the track is off at Belmont it will be the first time in Triple Crown history all three races were run in the slop. Remember, many firsts have happened this year in sports.
• Justify will have the shortest time between his first start and the Belmont trying to win the Triple Crown. He will have started his career just 3½ months before. Prior to him, the great Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew started his career 8½ months before the Belmont.
• Trainer Todd Pletcher does well in the Belmont for one simple reason – his training program does best when his horses have at least five weeks of rest. We see his runners to be the main danger to Justify.
Next week’s article will have a better look at what horses will be facing Justify.
Since Robert Mann wrote his article about some great past eating spots of old Las Vegas, I have been getting plenty of emails on the subject and also running into some old timers. The few who are left, brought up Robert’s article. What I really get is us old fogies still love to read a paper. Some don’t even own a computer and have no idea what a Twitter account or Google are. My old buds think google is checking out the legs of some good looking girl. Nothing wrong with that, I think.
One old timer was still using a flip phone and not a very good one. What he misses most of old Vegas is no traffic. Most bettors knew each other, maybe not their real name but they knew each other’s nickname. He also liked all the pages that would echo through the casinos. And you would go into a restaurant and run into someone that would pick up your tab.
That reminds me of a spot this pasta eater would go to at least once a week called Anna Bella located on Desert Inn and Pecos. Sometimes our founder Chuck DiRocco would be dining there and would pick up my tab – and this was before I even worked for him. I do think he got even one way or the other.
My friend also told me he doesn’t go to the Strip any longer but when he used to he loved looking for different lines on games. He said the Strip has passed him by. He could park at any casino back in the 80’s, tip the valet guy five bucks and have his car sitting in front waiting for him.
As Scotty Schettler writes: “Times change. Either change with them or get out of the way.” We are just getting out of the way.
Vegas is a place where you can play 24/7 so if you can’t sleep go get some coffee, play a machine or Keno. You could be sleep walking around lucky and not even know it.