I’m not an avid fan of horseracing. In fact, the first (and only) time I went to the Santa Anita track the population consisted almost entirely of old men with beer guts sitting amidst the litter of discarded betting sheets. Also, Berlin was playing in the infield to approximately 50 people and it was so depressing I almost didn’t eat my $5 hot dog. Luckily, a swill of $7 Budweiser saved the moment.

But this past weekend was the Breeder’s Cup Classic, known for being the largest prize purse in the sports world ($5 million distributed for roughly 2 minutes of racing). I happened to catch it on ESPN and if you didn’t, you need to watch because it’s a really good race. Spoiler alert! Watch the race now because results will be revealed in the full article.

So Zenyatta becomes the first female horse (mares, as they’re called in the biz) to win the Breeder’s Cup Classic. She’s also undefeated, which is kind of awesome. I also think there’s lots of LSAT lessons to be learned from the race. The first is that her jockey, Mike Smith, knew how she runs best. He kept Zenyatta in the back of the pack until the final turn and had faith in his plan even though it seemed during the race that he was sure to lose. The lesson: make a game plan for test day and don’t deviate. This might entail skipping the most difficult game or abandoning logical reasoning questions that take you longer than 3 minutes. You should formulate your plan in the two weeks leading up to the test when you have learned all the methodology for tackling questions and have a good idea of what you need to do to get the score you want on the test.

The second lesson is not to be afraid if you’re behind in your studying. You can still make up ground in the three weeks before the LSAT if you dedicate a lot of time to it now. The third lesson is that you can be 4 feet tall, wear hot pink and turquoise, and still be an athlete. Like I said, lots of life lessons.

To finish today’s post, I’ve made a practice LSAT game (with Riley’s help) out of the Breeder’s Cup. This isn’t a game from LSAC but it follows the type of game you’re likely to see on your own LSAT. So enjoy.

Seven horses—Awesome Gem, Colonel John, Einstein, Gio Ponti, Mine that Bird, Regal Ransom, and Zenyatta—must load into seven starting gates numbered 1 through 7 from left to right. Exactly one horse must be housed in each gate according to the following restrictions:
Colonel John is in a lower-numbered gate than Mine that Bird.
Regal Ransom and Zenyatta are placed in adjacent gates.
Awesome Gem is in gate 5.
Gio Ponti must be in gate 2 or gate 6.

1. Which one of the following is an acceptable gate assignment of horses, on order from gate 1 to gate 7?
(A) Colonel John, Mine that Bird, Einstein, Zenyatta, Awesome Gem, Gio Ponti Regal Ransom
(B) Einstein, Colonel John, Regal Ransom, Zenyatta, Awesome Gem, Mine that Bird, Gio Ponti
(C) Einstein, Gio Ponti, Colonel John, Awesome Gem, Zenyatta, Regal Ransom, Mine that Bird
(D) Einstein, Zenyatta, Regal Ransom, Colonel John, Awesome Gem, Gio Ponti, Mine that Bird
(E) Mine that Bird, Gio Ponti, Einstein, Colonel John, Awesome Gem, Zenyatta, Regal Ransom

2. If Colonel John is in a higher-numbered gate than Awesome Gem, then which one of the following must be true?
(A) Colonel John is in gate 7.
(B) Einstein is in gate 1.
(C) Gio Ponti is in gate 6.
(D) Regal Ransom is in gate 3.
(E) Zenyatta is in gate 1.

3. Which one of the following is a complete and accurate list of the gates any one of which could be the cage in which Mine that Bird is housed?
(A) 2, 3, 6
(B) 2, 3, 7
(C) 2, 5, 6, 7
(D) 1, 2, 3, 6, 7
(E) 2, 3, 4, 6 , 7

4. Which one of the following is a complete and accurate list of horses any one of which could be the horse that is in gate 3?
(A) Mine that Bird, Regal Ransom, Zenyatta
(B) Awesome Gem, Colonel John, Einstein, Mine that Bird
(C) Awesome Gem, Einstein, Mine that Bird, Zenyatta
(D) Colonel John, Einstein, Mine that Bird, Regal Ransom, Zenyatta
(E) Einstein, Gio Ponti, Mine that Bird, Regal Ransom, Zenyatta

5. If Colonel John is in gate 4, then there are exactly how many acceptable orders any one of which could be the order in which the 7 horses are in the gates?
(A) one
(B) two
(C) three
(D) four
(E) five

Click here for the answers.

Article by Jodi Triplett of Blueprint LSAT Preparation.