USDA deck of cards becomes a stable of 52 horses. The horses are shuffled by a spectator and the deck is placed down. The performer then writes down the name of one of the horses on a pad and places it sight unseen in view on the table. This is a prediction of a horse that he believes will win an imaginary race in a few moments time.
Spreading the deck, a spectator is invited to touch one at a time completely at random seven horses. These are removed and held in a pile. He then selects any number from one to seven. Using the chosen number, horses are eliminated in the pile one by one until there is just one left. Despite the random nature of all that has gone before, the horse is the one named on the magician's prediction.
This uses a regular deck, and in fact, it can be borrowed if you wish. The spectator shuffles the cards before the start, and then freely selects any seven cards. He can then nominate any number from one to seven and that is the one that is used to eliminate cards. Yet the prediction is always 100% correct.
This routine requires only a little bit of sleight-of-hand which is combined with a lesser-known math principle.
video 11:01
