Blinkers Off – Saturday
Special Railbird correspondent Blinkers Off checks in from the backstretch. Today at Churchill …
Walk past the throng of hawkers every single step at Churchill Downs and, lo and behold, who do we happen on in the lobby on the Gate 1 entry? John Hennegan waving copies of “The First Saturday In May” like a guy selling programs at Shea Stadium. It made you wonder if Francis Ford Coppola ever stood in a lobby with a clutch of DVDs shouting, “Godfather! Get your Godfather!”
One of the highlights of the week in Louisville was lucking into Manny Ehrlich — “Manny the Magician” — at Ramsi’s Cafe on Bardstown Road late Friday night after the Oaks. Looking like a slimmed-down Colonel Sanders, Ehrlich, 82, came up behind us at the bar, opened his wallet and it burst into flames. At first, he just seemed to be a crackpot in town for the Derby, but if you brought him to your table, he’d perform some super sleight of hand tricks with cards and coins. He kept reminding us he could use a little token of appreciation for “my wife’s operation.” Turns out Manny is from the Bronx and performed as “Manfred the Magician” there in the 1930s.
No other news to report, as Blinkers Off put his blinkers on and slept in Saturday morning, but here are his Derby picks:
$1 exacta box: Cowboy Cal-Gayego-Colonel John-Denis of Cork.
Feel free to send me a token of your appreciation via the Railbird …
