Braggin Rights ... Norm Jones

Some of you teased me pretty good this winter when I let it be known
that I lost $120 in 10 straight races at the Daytona Beach dog track.
I'm here today to tell you my luck changed a little while betting the Kentucky Derby this past "first Saturday in May."

I bet $10 across the board (that's $30 for you non-sinners) on Funny Cide. That was my only bet. The horse went off at 12-1 and won the race.

    That day, at Arlington Trackside I collected $272!!! My lovely wife Pat, whom I saved years ago from a half-way house in Indiana, bet on Peace Rules and she collected $6 making our total return $278. That should pay for one night in a motel in the East somewhere when we go on our trip to
Maine and Canada this summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

    I felt tremendous pressure to make up for the dog track fiasco.
Never been so nervous!!! My hands were shaking when I bought the ticket Friday morning.

    I want to thank Liz and Vic DeFelice from the state of New York since
Funny Cide was the first horse bred in the state of New York to win the Derby. My high school sweetheart, now Sharon Riddle, wanted to take some credit for my win as it was her birthday on the day jockey Jose Santos brought home the first gelding to win the Derby. She asked for a cut so I sent her a knife!!!!

    Thanks goes out to Bob Kittle and Wynston and Trish Lynn along with
Dick and Jan Davis who encouraged me when I lost at the dog track this winter. At a Super Bowl party the next day they said, "Hang in there Norm, things can't get any worse!"

On a comical sidelight of the Derby,
my friend Marc Denny said he bet on the horse Domestic Dispute because he has been in one for 39 years!

    Pat and I hope to bank roll our Derby winnings and pick each of the three triple crown winners this summer. (For hot tips contact Vic DeFelice in New York as his wife, Liz, is on probation and not allowed to participate in gambling activities)

     Love to all of you and good luck at the tracks!!!