.
FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Softball Cards take on St. John this weekend


-BIG EAST Track and Field Championships


-Churchill Thursday


-OAKS picks


Louisville softball closes out the BIG EAST regular season with three games on the road against St. John's beginning Saturday. The Cards have a chance to win the BIG EAST regular season title if they can win in Queens. 


The Top 4 in the BIG EAST:


1) Louisville          17-2
2) South Florida    16-3
3) Notre Dame      13-3
4) Syracuse          15-4

Obviously, if the Cards can get the broom out on the Red Storm and sweep the series, they are the BIG EAST regular season champs. If they lose, their chances of taking the title will be determined by how the three below them do. South Florida is at Syracuse for three games this weekend. Notre Dame travels to Pitt for their final three games of the regular season. 


The South Florida vs. Syracuse games are ones to keep an eye on. Syracuse could actually move to second in the conference if they can win two of the three against the Bulls and Notre Dame falls in one of their games against the Panthers. 

The scheduling of BIG EAST games is a bit of a mystery. Louisville did not play either Syracuse or Notre Dame during the regular season. They did defeat South Florida twice in a double-header April 18th. at Ulmer Stadium


For the Cards...as Oakland Raiders guru Al Davis used to say:


"Just win, baby." 


Game times are noon and 2 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. 


*******************************************

Louisville Track and Field begins competition in the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships today. The three-day events are being held at the USF Track and Field Stadium on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa. 


The Cardinal women are looking for their fifth-straight BIG EAST Outdoor title. No one has matched this streak in the history of BIG EAST track. 


Cardinals we expect to do well:


-- Michelle Theophille in the high jump and Charachesicia Lockhart in the long jump and triple jump.


-- Chinwe Okoro, Khadija Abdullah and Amashi Kendall in the shot put and discus. 


-- Jenna Wargo in the javelin. 


-- Holly Knight in the 5000m and 10000m distance events. 


-- Ahlivia Spencer in the 800m.


-- Margret Harris in the 100m.


You can follow the action up-to-the-minute from the team's Twitter account at:


Louisville Track and Field twitter

www.twitter.com/louisvilletrack


*******************************************

Brother Ron, Norma and Susan Stidham

Thursday was Turf Club Day for your intrepid CARDINAL COUPLE co-owner Paul at Churchill. Yeah, it's a dress-up kind of day and I sit at Bread Boy's table up there and watch the movers and shakers, titans of industry and posers hob-knob. The best part of the day, besides watching Bread Boy work the crowd like a politician on the campaign trail is seeing the St. Louis boys Alan and Vince. 


So, armed with Friday's racing form (yeah, I bought the wrong day's form Thursday morning) I stopped by to pick up Tommy Boy and we hit the track. Before taking the magical elevator to the third floor, we stopped in Champions to see a few people and get a Irish coffee. 


I was pleasantly surprised to run into my pal Christy in there. She's probably the closest thing I have to a sister in this world and she was working there yesterday as a mutual clerk. We caught up on things and then it was up to the third floor. 

St. Louis Vince and Tommy Boy

The boys from St. Louis were in rare form and were still chuckling about last year's meeting and the legendary time they had with Tommy Boy and I. We had a little racing luck...hitting the first Pick Three of the day and the second Pick 4. I also caught a sleeper at 8-1 when Brian Hernandez, Jr. took the field by surprise and won the 5th. race on Canook. I really liked his chances and sunk a fairly sizable wager on him to win, place and show. $18.60 was the win payout and Canook paid $29.80 on a $2 across the board venture. 

Bruce and Tommy Boy have decided they don't
need the tops of their heads anymore...(or I took the
picture wrong) Whatever. 

I also got downstairs to see my buddies Norma, her brother Ron and Susan Stidham. 


A great day at the track with good friends and another afternoon where I left with my pockets full of cash. 


The evening ended up with the boys at Mulligan's having a celebration toast and pizza. Then, home to Sonja and a recap of the day's events before happily nodding off to sleep before the 11:00 news. 


Good times.


*******************************************

OK...you've waited patiently for them and now will be rewarded. Here are Sonja and Paul's picks for the Kentucky Oaks today. We've also listed a few horses that we think will do well in other races on the Friday card. Selections listed here are for entertainment purposes only and we remind you wager responsibly.


Paul


I mentioned earlier in the week that I thought this was a two-horse race and I'm still going with that statement. ON FIRE BABY and GRACE HALL will finish first and second. Their also coming out of the #1 and #2 post positions and Churchill has really been favoring horses on the rail this week. Especially in the stretch. I honestly can't choose between the two, so I'm just going to do an exacta box with them. 
Third place? That's a toughie...but I'll suggest either Summer Applause or Broadway's Alibi. Good luck


Sonja


I'm going to steer clear of Paulie "Captain Obvious" theory and try to get a price in the Oaks. Put me down for Believe You Can and Eden's Moon. I'll defer and use On Fire Baby and Grace Hall in any exotics I attempt -- but I'm going across the board on my first two picks and hope I get paid for the risk. Have a great Oaks Day, readers! Time to go to the track! 


You might also keep an eye on:


Race 3 -- Ice Cream Silence and Young and Lovely.


Race 6 -- Plum Pretty (best pick of the day)


Race 7 -- Good Deed


Race 8 -- Stephanie's Kitten and More than Love


Race 10 -- Gung Ho and Silver Max


Finally, this classic column (courtesy of Eric Crawford - Courier Journal) from the late, great Mike Barry. 


LINK:
So you want to read the Racing form?


(We'll have Derby picks tomorrow)
.
..
...