First Post: Saturday, February 18, 2012

2012 Carnival Season in New Orleans is in full swing now, cher. It’s easy to have a soft spot in your heart for that “City That Care Forgot”. The Dukes of Dixieland had a fantastic theme song for the late-lamented (and civil, where cooking and mild-mannered chefs took the spotlight, not manufactured tension and faux celebrities) cooking show titled “Great Chefs of New Orleans”. And what’s carnival without a giant bobbing-head mask and costume?

Free ones: Rundown…

Aqueduct 8, 9, 10
Gulf 3, 6, 9, 10, 11
Santa Anita 3, 6, 8

Pay-side: For your holiday racing week. Today…

Laurel 4, 8, 9
Tampa 4, 7, 8, 11
Fair Grounds 4, 6, 8, 9, 10
Hawthorne 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9
Oaklawn 3, 7, 10
Turfway 4, 10, 11

Stickney-Cicero, Ill., and, fittingly, New Orleans are the places to be now.

WMF Report: All hooves flying at Bell Rd.

Speed
Beulah 6f
Chas. Town 4½f (WMF 685)
Los Alamitos 4½f
Oaklawn 6f
Keystone 6f
Turf Paradise 6f, 6½f, 1m

Rally
Gulf 1 1/16m (T)
Tampa 1 1/16m (T)

Nocturnal Submission: Over at Chas. Town in the third (8:13 p.m. EST / 5:13 p.m. PST) for #8 Yvonne Goolagong, bygone tennis star and current upset candidate; also in the frame is #4 Proprium. …Race 4 at Delta (8:08 / 5:08) has #1 Savage Man ready to brutalize. …

Thank you. Best wishes. Goodbye. So long.