What’s the fastest way to turn $2.50 into $11.80? Put four bits down for a copy of The New York Sun, see what Max Watman has said, head to the nearest window, and make your wager. Our celebrated man on the rail was able to decipher a list of the 20 fastest 3-year-old thoroughbreds and forecast the winner of the Kentucky Derby. On Friday our sports editor, Geoffrey Foster, put Street Sense on the front page of Arts+ with the words, “Our Pick.”

It’s hard to recall a more dramatic Run for the Roses. Street Sense picked off the field one by one, making a long, sweeping drive to take off on the stretch and hit the wire coasting and alone. Mr. Watman had written: “He’s just a monster. … I think he blows them away.”

To those who snort that Street Sense was the favorite anyhow, we say that at 9–2 odds Street Sense was no sure thing. Remember Bellamy Road two years ago? A popular favorite, he lost handily. Sweetnorthernsaint last May? Also lost. Point Given? Empire Maker? Harlan’s Holiday? Damascus? All were favorites who lost. Short odds don’t make a sure thing.

This is where there enters what is called Watman’s Wisdom. Mr. Watman identified the hype horse (Curlin) as too green, the horse that had too big a layoff (Circular Quay), and the horse that was extremely fast but just might not have enough (Hard Spun) and dismissed them from the top slot with 16 other starters, each of which had earned their way to the Derby in one way or another. Let’s see whom he picks for the Preakness.