The Ides of Farch

Tweet We've hit the midpoint of Farch. You know that time between February and March in the Northeast where there is nothing but slush and dirty snow outside. No holidays in sight until the tulips show up...it can get to you if you aren't working 10 -12 hours a day. But I digress and need to keep farching ahead...

I tried my hand in the Equibase Handicapping Tournament this Saturday and had it rolling for a while hitting winners in three of the first four races. Unfortunately I fizzled out in the final four races with two seconds, finishing with $65.60, good for 26th place out of 1,986 entrants. My two big winners were Screenplay ($16.20) and Beckham Bend ($21.20), both of whom I didn't bet a dime on. That's what happens when you're chasing little Space Kids around the house. I was sniffing it with two races to go, I had long shot Little Drama (40-1 at post!) in the Hutcheson who finished a game third and Gourmet Dinner in the FOY who finished second. If I sweep those two....who knows?

I had been in a horrible slump getting beat at the wire it seems every weekend at Gulfstream in Pick 3's and Pick 4's. That finally ended yesterday when Marquet Madness, 8-1 on the morning line, anchored the final leg of a nice P3, to get me off the schneid. He drifted up to 16-1 and won by a nose hair over 2009 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf champ Tapitsfly (who I left off my ticket) avoiding yet another bad beat. I loved his back class winning at Monmouth and couldn't believe when his odds started soaring. The Space Kid got a kick out of the happy dance I did for him after the photo result was announced. Have I mentioned that I love Elvis Trujillo? It was nice to hit one and I'm starting to feel better about my handicapping. My betting just sucks.

Look for Volume III of the Wireplayers.com Derby Dozen, of which I am an honored pollster on Wednesday. I submitted my selections early and they show up at my Post Time blog today in The Buffalo News.

Booked my flight for Preakness weekend today, thank you Southwest for your low internet fares! I will be attending my first Black-eyed Susan Day, after enjoying my inaugural Preakness invasion last spring.

I've not rooted for an NBA team since Dr. J's 76'ers back in the early 80s, after being a Big O/Lew Alcindor fan of the Milwaukee Bucks as a child. Now that Melo is a Knick, I think I'll start following them pretty regularly. I've always wanted to like them, and I was a fan of Earl the Pearl and Clyde when they dueled the Lakers in the early 70s. So call me a bandwagon guy if you like. Go ahead.

Some very good posts by some of my TBA comrades over the weekend. Patrick goes off at the current "leadership" over at the NTRA in the TBA's Bloodhorse Blog Stable and former Buffalonian Scott Jagow puts together a nice piece on how to market our sport in his Horsepuckey blog.

Now farch along...