Laissez les bons temps rouler

[FrankD.]

If Magicnight used this phrase on one of his trips to Longchamp, he would get some funny looks for sure. As Carnival winds down to Mardi Gras anyone at the Fairgrounds today would know he has a hot pick 5 play!!!


The Mineshaft:
It\'s tempting to hit the ALL button here on a saver play but we have whittled the play down to using 5 of the 8 on all tickets. Eagle, Mo Tom, Dalmore, Dazzling Gem & International Star.

The Rachel:
I can\'t get past Shane as ROW selection. A 1W, !W trip with a very favorable pace scenario lets her run a 5 and still take this heat.I\'m singling Mario Gutierrez
and will blame alcohol should this one go down.

The F.G. Handicap:
Granny and Oscar will get the A ticket and Fairmount talked me into Western Reserve as a saver.

The Risen Star:
Tony Dutrow is being questioned a lot for his choice of races? This one has been working nothing short of sensational at Payson. The FOY looks to be coming up pretty tough next week and the Gotham has El Areeb with an awful pretty looking sheet. Mo gets the major play here and I have no allusions of a massive pick 5 payout either today.

Of the 5 coming out of the Lecomte Guest Suite & Untrapped have a right to move forward and a projected fast pace in the heat bodes well. Local Hero seems to be the wise guy horse and will take a ton of money:) he also will feel a lot of front end pressure from Cool Arrow and Girvin having to break and get off the notorious FG if not dead rail it seems to get awfully crowded down there in that long stretch?

I\'ll save with Guest Suite & Untrapped and play exacta\'s back and forth with Mo pressing Mo on top as well.

Race 12:
We will I\'ve or die with 4 shots here as its not a ticket I want to spread out on too deep. Control Tower, Ft Davis, Sly Tom & Call Me West pressing Control Tower & Sly Tom.

I\'ll protect the ticket a bit with a solid Pick 3 play in races 9,10,11 pressing our key players.

Good luck,

Frank D.

[Fairmount1]

Welcome back aboard FrankD!

Your approach to life is so Cavalier that you never know where you are, even in the dead of winter!  I\'ve noticed your handicapping is starting to get serious with the recent posts.  I was worried you had turned to Northfield Trotters or even worse pulled a Lenny as richiebee is apt to quip.  After inquiring to richiebee very recently, he assured me was it more likely you are in New Orleans whooping it up with the locals, smashing the Hurricanes and Hand Grenades on Bourbon St.  I guess I should find it no surprise you are swinging at the FG card today.

Your selections are solid.  I\'ll emphasize Dazzling Gem and Eagle a bit more in leg 1 but use your others also.  DG ran 2nd against the runner up to GR on Monday and avoided GR for this spot.  No disagreements otherwise until the Risen Star.  My love affair with Mo Town is well documented on the board.  I\'ll use him along with Girvin in at least equal amounts and possibly stronger to Girvin.  If you are curious about the turf race for Girvin as opposed to the Lecomte, have no worries as he couldn\'t make it to FG for the Lecomte due to the quanantine issues at the time.

In an effort to avoid diluting the value of your p5 play, I\'ll stick with the p4.  Best of luck to you!

[Silver Charm]

No so sure I\'m as sold on the Rachel Section as Single. I know \"getting the bounce out\" is typical TGAB angle (and yes he did the Anaylsis) but that is a MAJOR X. Not getting back to that # today and if she only gets half way there then that puts the Casse filly right there. Solid form. Poised for a forward move and you seem to know what your getting g here..Good Luck

[magicnight]

Hey, Frank! I can get funny looks wherever I go, but, yeah. If Brits and Yanks are \"separated by a common language\", the French/Cajun thing must be that difference amped up on frog juice.

Big Easy and FG one of those big gaps in my traveling/racing CV (w/ Oaklawn & Keeneland). I\'ve heard our host tell of the bon temps that await the lucky pilgrim. Someday soon, I hope. Great to hear from you and GL today!

Would also add that Governor Andy is apparently thinking big re the downstate tracks. A hockey arena at Belmont was floated today. WTF? Gotta believe some big decisions will be made this summer as part of reprivatizing NYRA.

[Wrongly]

Frank

Down with Opp!  T.

[SoCalMan2]

THis pick 5 was one of those ones where you need to be a unique ticket to take down the whole pool. Am curious how to know whether or not a bet like that is worth playing...the payout was $1582 for 50 cents (parlay would have paid about $2700) and there is a unique ticket carryover

[FrankD.]

SoCal,

On top of that the pick 5 pool was ONLY 75K on a big race day, the all stake pick 4 pool was 287K, 9th-12th pick 4 with 3 stakes was 187K and the 2nd-5th pick 4 pool with the non take down in the 3rd was 66K. Extremely disappointing numbers, FG total handle is not even listed on DRF charts.

 I only dip my toe in at FG, Tampa and Oaklawn a handful of TC prep days over the winter looking for some casual volume handle. Then again the way I handicapped yesterday it did\'t make much difference!!!

Good luck,

Frank D.

[TreadHead]

To me, that info is nothing but good news.  To have the pk5 be a \"jackpot\" wager where 30% of the pool is set aside for a single winner makes that probably the worst value for your wagering dollar of anything at the track, including 30% Parx tri takeouts.

Those pool sizes mean that the pubic understands what an incredibly dumb wager that pk5 with a jackpot is and are pumping their money into the more \"normal\" pk4 wager.  (Color me shocked that the wagering public is smart enough to figure that out).

Perhaps the stark difference in pool size will be enough to get management attention as to how terrible that wager is, but given most other factors in racetrack management (including the steward decision on R3 yesterday), I would not hold my breath.