Derby prom

Dana Byerly's "Derby Dating" columns are on hiatus, which is a shame because her approach was a fun way of parsing the contenders. With her blessing, I decided to take a run at the approach by aligning my picks with who I would want to take to prom.

Itsmyluckyday, will you go to Derby Prom with me?

Back in college, I wrote a massive research paper on the songs of Jim Steinman. As part of that research I discovered he was a high school classmate of Tony Kornheiser, who at the time was a Washington Post columnist. As luck would have it, he and "Jimmy" had study hall together senior year, so Tony had lots of perspective.

"Jimmy was the type of guy who knew what it meant to be cool and knew that he wasn't it."

I related to that idea then and still do now, which is why I know Orb and Verrazano aren't the prom dates for me. The popular crowd puts up with me, maybe lets me have a slice of eggplant Parmesan, but it doesn't want me around when they let their guard down to sing karaoke. Orb and Verrazano would be happy to be on my tickets, but they're saving themselves for someone else's top spots.

Itsmyluckyday isn't at the top two's level, but he's still capable of cleaning up real nice and turning some heads. When we step out of the limo no one will be asking who we're wearing but maybe by the end of the night people will start paying attention.

Goldencents is somewhat attractive as a sure thing. You know what you're going to get with him in that I think he's the horse most likely to get his ideal trip. Whether that's good enough remains to be seen, but if he's good enough he'll make it look easier and whomever his date is will have a reason to crow. Your limo could end up in a ditch, though, and you'll be wondering why you let Kevin Krigger drive.

So hopefully things will go with Itsmyluckyday. I don't want to rush anything after Derby. There will definitely be a courtship even if he wins, but I could see tying the knot in time for the Belmont if things go well at Preakness too.

I'll have a playlist for our DJ later.