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FAIR GROUNDS NOTEBOOK JANUARY 22, 2010 by Frank Cotolo On Friday, Fair Grounds presented the first of three Friday-night programs, known as the Starlight Racing Series. Despite the wet weather and a local blackout early in the evening, which pushed the first post from 5 to 6 p.m. (CST), a large crowd showed up for the nine races, barbequed oysters and special entertainment. Just like at Churchill Downs last summer, select night-racing programs are proving to be an overwhelming success in the sport. Fair Grounds installed lights in the 1980s and occasionally scheduled opening post times for 3 p.m., with the lights turned on for the latter races. But Friday's card was the first program scheduled to run completely under the lights. The next Friday "Starlight" card is on February 19, and the final one will be held on March 19. The track was wet most of the week, with sloppy (sealed) conditions on Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday. It was upgraded to good in the middle of Sunday's program, and Monday's holiday card was held over a fast track. The betting public was not able to contribute many winning favorites Friday night or Saturday afternoon. The off track produced only two each card. Then, once the track became firmer on Sunday and Monday, the public choices came home first in eight out of 20 races. The win rate for favorites last week was 31 percent. On the surface Unlike the week before, closing was the best way to win for the mixed-weather racing days. For routes and sprints, 41 percent of the winners came from off the pace. But speed still held its own, as front runners scored at a 30 percent clip. While the track was sealed, it seemed that horses could go wire to wire as long as they stayed off the inside part of the oval, which looked a little deep and tiring. Most jockeys caught on right away to the conditions, and the inside played better over Monday's fast track. Trainers Leading trainer Steve Asmussen continued to send out winning stock, though his three victories were matched by Merrill Scherer and Eric Heitzmann last week. Andrew Leggio Jr. sent out the only debut winner and totaled two victories for the week, as did Joseph Broussard, Bret Calhoun and Paul McGee. Steve Margolis had a winner disqualified, placing an asterisk on his sharp winning percentage. Stakes A pair of Grade 3 stakes highlight seven major events on this Saturday's card, and the Lecomte is the main event. It's the time of the year when sophs are being watched closely in all graded events, and Fair Grounds launches its Road to the Derby series with the one-mile Lecomte. The Lecomte could be the defining route for McGee's WORLDLY (A.P. Indy). Listed as a third choice behind CITRUS KID (Lemon Drop Kid) and MAXIMUS RULER (Roman Ruler), Worldly has the confidence of his trainer, who says the colt is "a stakes-caliber horse." The Col. E.R. Bradley H. on turf is the other Grade 3 event on the program. Winners Over the past few weeks at Fair Grounds, this notebook offered a number of horses that returned to win, coming from either this meet or the fall Churchill meet. Our rules of play are simple: give each horse on our list two chances to succeed. The winners, as appearing on the most recent lists, were CASPIAN (Tale of the Cat) at $6.60; JUMPIN FOR JASON (Jump Start) at $7.60; FLASHY WISE CAT (Catastrophe) at $4.20; AVA’[S WILDCAT (Wildcat Shoes) at $3; COLOR COMING IN (Ide) at $4.20; BLAME (Arch) at $10.80; FUTURISTIC (Millennium Wind) at $4.40; AREGULATIONHOTTIE (Officer) at $6.40; EXCURSION (Sunday Break) at $9.80; HONOR IN PEACE (Peace Rules) at $5.60; PICK AND PRAY (Songandaprayer) at $5.60; DRESS IN DUBAI (E Dubai) at $6.40; and ACTIVITY REPORT (Bernstein) at $4.40; and SOMEOTHERTIME (Bernstein) at $4.20. HORSES TO WATCH Friday (1/15) 2ND -- LITTLEBITSUPER (Littlebitlively) got stuck in a hard duel from the quarter to the half, took the lead and paid the price for the work by fading. 7TH -- ABELIA (Southern Image) closed strongly with many splashes on the wet ground, passing foes and easily getting second. 9TH -- PRINCESS'S NEW MAN (High Cascade) showed impressive speed in his first race, going six furlongs, at 14-1. Saturday (1/16) 3RD -- BRAVO WHISKEY (Smart Strike) had no excuse to lose this while looking best on paper, so we have to attribute the failure to the wet track and grant him another chance. 7TH -- BURT'S A STITCH (Jump Start) dueled for the lead at two calls, a surprisingly speedy jaunt for this 14-1 shot. Sunday (1/17) 2ND -- SGT. EMBLETON (Harlan's Holiday) had a splendid debut at 13-1, showing speed and courage at six panels. 10TH -- ELLE RAY DEW (El Corredor) may not need to shorten the journey next time, just get a bigger lead to command the route and run away with it.
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