Thurs - FG Late PK4

[Bogey]

Fair Grounds - Late PK 4

Leg 1 - Race 7

#2 Scarlet Butterfly - Has important start over the FG lawn. James Graham 0 fer 46 to start the meet, OUCH.

#5 Specific - Mouton's filly should enjoy the extra real estate.

#7 Pectoralis Major - Live Oak home bred picks up Robby for U.S. return.

Leg 2 - Race 8

#2 Edgerrin - Last two reminds us when he used to be with Indy. Sharp form.

#4 Jimmy's Boy - Speed galore and the drop should help as well.

#5 Desert Sea - Long FG stretch will help him mow them down.

#6 Primal Peak - Werner runner looking to make it 3 in a row.

Leg 3 - Race 9

#3 Zetetic - Looking to regain last year's form. Only 2nd start of the year, but training well for Pierce.

Leg 4 - Race 10

#4 Power Band - Top jock seems fit to hop aboard and expect gelding to be closer to the pace.

#5 Flak's Miracle - Has been very consistent and could break through here.

#7 Northern Identity - Burned money in last two, but the drop makes him a major player.

#11 Dealer's Secret - Takes a huge drop for new connections.

The Play - PK4 - 2 5 7 with 2 4 5 6 with 3 with 4 5 7 11 = $48 for a buck

Good Racing Luck

Good ticket Gus. Will play this one and wish you good luck and play again Sunday.

7) Eternal Sunshine owns the biggest Beyer and it was earned as a 2yo and now she gets a surface and a distance for which she is bred. Also 'Scarlet, Specific and Pectoralis who should try to wire these and with the rail at 20 feet, might!

8) The super floated the track (for some reason) and when that happens speed holds this oval so will single Jimmy's Boy for hot owner/trainer with speed jock on board.

9) Heart of a leader looks bestafter scratching twice at CD in tougher spots but with the rail out also taking Zetetic who is hard to get fit and he certainly neede his Poly prep.

10) Would love to go shopping here but end up two deep with Power Band off the rider upgrade and sightseeing voyage in last and Flaks Miracle who dropped a photo in last to 35-1 shot. BBB

I thought I would offer a summary of yesterdays pick 4 play. Rehashing your bets always improves your capping, and on other sites, it has proven more popular than the pick 4 itself. I will post a 4 once or twice a week on this site and if there is interest, will continue with a rehash.

Race 7) When the turf rail is out "speed is lethal"! Churchill's John Asher told me that many years ago and still, it is a well kept secret. Yesterday the rail was at 20ft and Graham put Scarlet Butterfly on the lead, backed it down, game set match. Robbie seemed to be under orders to track, and his filly has an awful way of going anyway. Eternal Sunshine was a good gamble as any time you get Northern Dance crossed with Majestic Light it is a turf only pedigree. Bet backs...only Eternal and only then with blinkers on.

Race 8) As some of you know I (we) post all my (our) pick 4 bets on a forum somewhere, usually the forum for the track running, if possible. The average bet being about $24 and so far in 2006 we have bagged about twenty of them. The point being there has to be a single somewhere, and yesterday it was here with Jimmy's Boy.

The first six races, all dirt sprints (never use two turn races to evaluate track bias) were the same; well bet, wire to wire, widening winners!! Note the track superintendent floated* the surface, even though there was zero chance of rain! Speed holds very well after and Jimmy was certainly the speed. He broke sharp then was engaged by a hopeless longshot, who then outgamed him down the lane.! On TVG Matt Carrothers, who refuses advice, and loses ninety nine percent of his pick 4's, even with a $48 outlay kept saying that the horse took a double jump in class. Well hello, THERE WAS NO OTHER RACE IN THE CONDITION BOOK FOR THIS HORSE. Although horses can improve radically when claimed this is one case where the horse did not figure. Thank the lord that this seldom occurs. Betbacks depending on class levels.

Race 9) Heart of a Leader is a nice kind of horse earning about ten grand per start and was the most likely winner. The only other possibility was Zetetic and the question was is he fit? On class, Thorograph and even Beyer he seemed lengths the best. Colts and geldings are harder to get fit than fillies and mares and some sire lines are IMPOSSIBLE to get fit off a layoff, and this is one of them. Good single by Bogey who probably went to DRF.com, then workouts, then search. If so, he would have found at least 45 furlongs worked and a polytrack elongated sprint. Easy game! Betbacks the first two finishers if in the right spot.

Race 10) Although I have a fair understanding of Louisiana racing it is embarrassing what I do not know! I can tell you in statebred conditioned claimers you need a good trip and the top four all had that. Power Band being 8-1 was a huge price and he just failed to last. Bobby Belek is a 4yo and he was bumped early but ended up with a perfect trip because of it. He was 4th in his last but that was on the bull ring in Vinton and it was against open horses with the bug on. Bug off, journeyman on, is always a good angle. BBB

Tried to send you a pm but your box is full, so here goes, but first some background.

About 25 years ago I worked at Claiborne farm and my total daily duties were to arrive at 7:00 am sharp, feed my thirteen barren/maiden mares, clean the barn, then wait until 3:30 pm and put the mares back in the barn.

One very cold day after the blacksmith came, the last mare in the field would not move. The blacksmith had cut her too short and her feet were badly bruised. I opened the gate, stood behind her and cracked her with my shank a few times and finally she made it to the barn. From that day on she was always the last mare in the field and I always put her up without a shank! Although not relevant, her name was Smart Angle and she was 2yo champion filly in the late seventies.

One afternoon, a few months later, Smart Angle and a huge mare named Lady Godiva were all that were left to put up, and a soft rain had been falling all day. I decided to put them up together, as I saw an old timer do it a few days earlier. I got Smart Angle by the halter, and was reaching for Lady Godiva, but I hooked the shank clip on the leather of the halter, not the ring itself. When I gave a solid tug to get 'Godiva to move the clip came flying at me, and hit Smart Angle squarely on her rib cage.

You guessed it! Two loose mares. Fortunately, or so I foolishly thought, they were at least trapped in about a half acre compound with the barn in the center. This barn unlike any of the other thirty or so on the 3,000 acre farm, had stalls that opened on the outside, anotherwords all the horses saw the loose two, and did they enjoy the show. Godiva and Smart Angle gallivanted around for some ten minutes or so, until I got some sweet feed and got them put up. Left for the day.

The next morning, upon entering the farm, Gus Koch now the farm manager informed me I would have company; meaning clean up the mares and the area etc. When I got to my barn, I could not believe the carnage. There was mud everywhere! The previously pristine grass was in total tatters. Luckily the company never showed, and, I learned about the turf rail.

Almost all turf courses utilize a moveable turf rail. I play the midwest tracks and will use Churchill for an example. The three settings are; hedge (no rail up) out 15 feet and out 22 feet. Note: The distance of the race does not change, no matter where the rail is. Note: unless there is an asterisk* after the distance, but that is another story.

When on the hedge, more of the race is run on a straight, favoring closers. These heats have a faster pace AND the closers lose less ground. Conversely, when the rail is out, more of the race is run on turns, featuring slower fractions AND the closers losing ground. Most people want some statistics to validate this tenet, but I refuse to take the time even though I have the data. A good guess would be; for 2006 there were 60 two-turn races run off the hedge at Churchill. From memory there were exactly 3 wire to wire winners! With the turf rail out at CD, in 2006, there were about 55 heats and speed won maybe 39 of them!!! Keeping track of the turf rail is a simple way to pick winners and few cappers do, and MANY do not even know about it!!!!! BBB