Rolling through Farch

Tweet You know Farch, the time of year when February and March kinda blend together here on the East Coast. The Space Gal and I. after a few cocktails, thought we could create a new holiday to be celebrated every February 29th honoring Farch. We figured we could throw a bash to benefit some charitable organization. The key word there was "after a few cocktails." We did help organize a party last year, but the organizers freaked out when I had the inset ad put in a local rag, as they thought too many people would show up. She was wrong and the party sucked. Maybe we'll resurrect it in another 3 years. Anyways, I thought I'd share after watching the prep races and the weather drop 30 degrees yesterday after a quick thaw. Happy Farch.

It sure was nice watching the sunshine at Gulfstream and Santa Anita today thinking it sure would be nice being there to enjoy it. I'll bet Quality Road moves up on a few lists this week, even though he's not nominated to the Triple Crown (why wouldn't his connections nominate him.., isn't that puzzling?). He had one lone solitary vote in the Paulick Derby Index through week two, which appears to have been a vote during week one as none of the pollsters listed QR in last week's top ten. Hmm. No sight him of over at the experts at kentuckyderby.com which features four writers. I did note that Beethoven was charging late and will need to watch it again to see if we can make more of this as the race was shortened to a mile...

On the other coast, the chalk was the story as the big grapefruit, The Pamplemousse, romped home over east coast shipper Take the Points, thwarting Garret Gomez from taking his fifth victory of the day. Shouldn't the grapefruit be running in Florida? Anyways, the big question will be whether he can handle the real stuff come Derby Day. He can handle the Pro-Ride without question as he put this field away pretty handily. It appears he and Pioneerof the Nile are not on a collision course as the P will probably point to the SA Derby and PotN is slated to go in the San Felipe (G2) in two weeks. Ah, how the synth plays a factor in reading this Derby puzzle.

Kobe screwed me last night with his beautiful 10-31 shooting performance.....I was sitting with 10 straight wins in ESPN's Streak for the Cash ($1M if you select 27 straight)...my Lakers selection ended my best skein to date. Geoff Ogilvy picked me back up this afternoon with 2 wins....one good thing about this contest is you can pick 4 games/day on the weekends and maybe 3 during the week. It's damn hard though...oh well. That's why they call it gambling.

Bobby Unser gets it..

Tweet "Success is where preparation and opportunity meet."
~ 3 time Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser

It's the first really big weekend of Kentucky Derby preps and it's time to start separating the haves with the have nots.

I've been staying away from the handicapping in the blog (mainly cuz I'm mediocre at best) but I decided to jump back in this weekend with both feet. My horseplaying has been relegated to Sunday afternoon on Aqueduct since tax season started so it's time to start sharpening the pencil again.

The Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream tomorrow is big puzzle. There's all kinds of talent in this one. The race has been shortened this year to a mile, but nonetheless has attracted a number of Derby hopefuls. The four horses I like the best in this one are all stuck in the outer posts, which we all know is the kiss of death at GP, unless you're Big Brown. I'm going to stay away from the favorite in post 12 This One's For Phil, who had the freakish Beyer figure last time out. I like the undefeated Taqarub (can't believe I didn't put this one in my RtR stable) with the Garcia/McLaughlin connection in his first route race. I will be keyboxing him with Break Water Edison, Capt. Candyman Can, and Quality Road in an exacta play. BWE has run against some excellent competition and I'm looking for him to return to the form he showed at the Big A in November. I think Quality Road will stretch out nicely and is first time lasix with Johnny V in the irons. Capt. Candyman Can (5-1) will probably get bet down below his morning line, but should hit the board.

The Sham is being run at Santa Anita and the Big Grapefruit is the 9-5 morning line favorite. I'm taking a stand against The P in this one and going with Pletcher's shipper Take the Points who draws Gomez for the mount for the first time. He passed going on the dirt to run on the synth at SA..i know, i know...stay away, stay far away! But Pletcher knows what he's doing so he must know something about this horse....I'll box a tri also with Mr. Hot Stuff and the first two in case the Big P thwarts my thought process.

Interesting that Dick Powell has jumped on the Dunkirk bandwagon. He knows his stuff so maybe we need to keep a close eye on this one. I'm not there yet, let's see him against some true competition, but as Mr. Unser says...opportunity is also an ingredient for success.

Enjoy the races...and please take a minute and vote on the best handicapping book on the sidebar, it's neck and neck right now...thanks to all who have participated thus far...