JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

Yesterday was the first Derby I haven’t been to in several years. And while I really wanted to be there, as the day went on and the rain continued to fall in Louisville, I felt a lot better about being here in Kansas City on a picture-perfect, early-May day.

In case you haven’t heard, three inches of rain fell in Louisville yesterday, making it the rainiest day in Derby history, according to some reports.

I’ve been to the Derby when it rained — including last year, when there were three rounds of rain — and it’s not very fun. With 150,000 people on hand, the premises — most notably the restrooms — get really grungy, and a nice, crisp outfit can easily turn limp and soggy.

In more than 35 years of following the Derby, I have picked very few winners; I could probably count them on one hand. The last winner I had was Big Brown in 2008.

But even if your horse doesn’t win, the Derby is a lot of fun as long as your horse is in the hunt, as long as you can spot him (or her occasionally) and feel like your horse has a chance at some point midway through the race or later.

And yesterday, thrillingly, my horse was in contention for almost the entire one and a quarter miles.

Our son Charlie lives in Las Vegas, where he’s working toward a master’s degree at UNLV, and Patty and I had him place bets for us at one of the many casinos that have “sports books,” which take wagers on all manner of sporting events.

We had a mini-Derby party at our house, with Patty’s sister Vicky and Vicky’s daughter Laura, joining me, Patty and our daughter Brooks, who did not bet.

The field consisted of 20 horses. I had Charlie bet $100 to win and $100 to place on Good Magic, which came out of the No. 6 gate. Patty bet $2 to win, place and show on the No. 9 horse, Hofburg, and $5 to win on Vino Rosso (she lives her wine), which came out of the No. 18 post position.

The favorite was the No. 7 horse, Justify, which went off at odds of 5-2 — meaning if you bet $2 to win, you’d get back about $7, including the $2 you bet.

Good Magic went off at odds of 9-1, which I thought was a bit high, considering he had been the 2-year-old champion (the Derby is for 3-year-olds) and had won his last prep race, the Blue Grass Stakes, run April 7 in nearby Lexington, KY.

Justify broke out second, trailing a horse named Promises Fulfilled, and Good Magic was close up. After the horses hit the 3/4-mile marker, Justify took the lead, and Good Magic moved into second place, running outside Justify.

At the head of the stretch, as they rounded the home turn, it looked like Good Magic might be ready to uncork a challenge to Justify. At that point, I jumped up out of my chair and yelled, “Take him!”

But Justify, which had run all three of his prep races in California, responded to the challenge and started pulling away.

At that point, I needed Good Magic to hold on for second in order to win the “place” money. He just barely did, holding off a fast-closing horse named Audible by a head. Several yards after the finish line, Audible put a head in front of Good Magic, but it was too late.

Patty’s horses, Hofburg and Vino Rosso, finished seventh and ninth respectively, but neither had been a factor in the race.

When the prices were posted, I was surprised to see Good Magic paid $9.20 to place on a $2 bet. That meant the return on my $100 place bet was $460 (50 times $9.20). Subtracting my initial layout of $200, my profit was $260.

Charlie sent me a text saying, “Congrats!” I sent him one back, telling him to keep $25 for himself as a tip. After all, if you’re lucky enough to be able to place a bet when you’re 500 miles away from the track, you need to reward the courier.

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I’ve always loved reading the Derby “chart,” which is the official description of how each horse fared in the course of the race.

Charts are prepared for every North American race by an organization called Equibase, which is considered “a statistical bible” of horse-race data.

At their best, Equibase’s race charts are written in colorful, descriptive language. Here is how the writer described the fortunes of the top three horses in yesterday’s Derby.

“JUSTIFY came away in good order, shadowed PROMISES FULFILLED under rating three deep, moved alongside with five furlongs (five-eighths of a mile) remaining, spurted clear leaving the three-furlong marker, rebuffed the bid of GOOD MAGIC approaching the stretch, dug in when put to a stern left-handed drive leaving the three-sixteenths and was unwavering to the wire.

“GOOD MAGIC was in hand between rivals in good position, shifted out and made his run at JUSTIFY nearing the quarter pole, continued a valiant chase to deep stretch, flattened slightly late and just held the place.

“AUDIBLE, between foes early, gathered momentum leaving the three-eighths pole while removed from the inside, altered toward the rail midway through the second turn, steadied soon after in traffic, continued toward the rail and found room entering the lane, finished up nicely and just missed nailing GOOD MAGIC for the runner-up spot.

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At the other end of the action, a horse named Mendelssohn finished 20th and last. Here’s how Equibase described his experience.

“MENDELSSOHN was bumped and forced in at the start, was banged around in traffic, moved up under a hard ride into the first turn, steadied but was pushed along to remain in contact past the five-eighths to the second turn and stopped, was eased to the wire but walked off.”

Ouch. Brutal trip.

Mendelssohn, which had gone off as the fourth favorite in the race, finished more than 50 lengths behind Justify.