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Las Vegas - A little hoop update on the Nuggets/Timberwolves series. These Northwest Division rivals met four times during the regular season, with Denver winning twice and Minnesota winning twice. Want to shed some light on the last meeting in the Mile High City where the Nuggets won 116-107. Denver had all its weapons firing. Nikola Jokic had 41 points, Jamal Murray had 27 and Michael Porter Jr. had 18. One of the reasons the T'wolves came up short was NO Karl-Anthony Towns. The Wolves lost by nine. KAT averaged 21 points per game during the regular season, so you can get out your calculator and do the math. Towns played ALL five games against Phoenix and should be ready to give Minny a bunch of solid minutes. That being said, the Nuggs are a MONSTER at 5,280 feet, winning 12 of the last 14 straight up while covering eight times. So, that gets me a little nervous which is why we'll throw down a sweet little two team 6-point teaser. Grab the T'wolves and bump 'em up from +4.5 to +10.5, then look to the Monday game, and take the Pacers from +6.5 to +12.5 points against the Knicks.

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Horse Racing...

Here we go. The best three year old colts running for the Roses! It’s time for the mile and a quarter Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. I have to admit leading up to the race reminds me of last weeks NFL draft. With weeks of anticipation and speculation on who the Chicago Bears would draft, it was the consensus pick QB Caleb Williams. That’s how I see this Kentucky Derby. When I made the pick on this platform for the Florida Derby, I stated if Fierceness wins he would likely be the Kentucky Derby favorite. Not only did he win, he crushed the field and earned the highest Beyer speed rating (110) of any three year old in this field. Only Mystik Dan is close with a 101 Beyer rating in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn. So #17 Fierceness is the 5/2 morning line favorite. His two Beyer speed figures of 110 and 105 and his thorograph numbers of negative 3 and 1 in those races are by far superior to any horse in this field. He is the fastest horse in the race and if we get anywhere near the 5/2 morning line it will be a gift. His loses in both the Champagne and Holy Bull can be excused. He lunged at the start on a sloppy one turn mile at Aqueduct last year and in this years Holy Bull was pinballed at the start and raced 3-4 wide and still finished a decent third his first race off a long layoff. His last two works of a five furlong bullet at Palm Beach and four furlongs at Churchill show he is fit and ready to go. The owner trainer combination of Todd Pletcher and Mike Repole had last year's favorite scratched on Derby day. And they have Hall of Famer Johnny V. in the irons going for his fourth Kentucky Derby win. All systems are on go and it’s his race to lose. No messing around here as we are betting #17 Fierceness $100 to win and a $20 exacta wheel 17 with all. In trifectas and superfectas it’s #17 over the 2,3,4,14,18.
Good luck!!!

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