Silver,

You make mention of the fact that a certain race is a pass and you know the reason why. Most races today are not worth betting often due to field size or lack of depth within the field if it is of significant field size.

For different reasons, one race that is not a race I would bet today is the La Brea. Baffert has four entrants. Their record while in Baffert's care is a combined 13-11-2-0 with the 2 losses being to other Baffert fillies. Baffert defenders say he gets the best horses. A glimpse into that idea and it being not quite true is that Hope Road was 3-0-2-0 under John Sadler's care and now she has won 4 races by a combined 16 lengths under Bob's care.

Now, this alone does not make the race not worth betting but for me it is a pass. I'm not interested in trying to figure out which other other Bob or which other other other Chad is going to win on these big days. I made a commitment to avoid super trainer races with multiple horses and I've been sticking to it. These big days are no longer getting my horizontal dollars usually.

At Fair Grounds, Elliot Walden might hold some info that would be helpful. It is a firster filled 2yo event. Race 8 is a MSW $58k event with all 11 horses being treated with Lasix. Will Walden trains the 1 who was bred by WinStar but is owned by Cypress Creek Equine. Asmussen trains the 8, a homebred for Cypress Creek Equine. And Silver's good pal Brad trains the 10, a firster owned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club Inc and Siena Farms. This one has been firing bullets at WinStar and then at Payson. Most recently a work at FG for Brad but was this one with Todd down in Florida? Or someone else who would be at Payson b/c I don't think Brad has a string there? Is the horse here b/c of Lasix? I think this one goes favored despite the ml suggesting otherwise. This race is also a pass for me but I will watch keenly to see how the wagering goes and how the race unfolds. I won't be surprised if and when Silver's "Bugsy" wins this one.

Race 9 at FG is an interesting one and if you want to see how Lasix on or off matters in different ways for different horses, take a look at this field. I will be wagering here. But I'll leave it at that and let you do your own handicapping on an ok race to bet.

The game is very, very different these days and as stated, most races are not worth pushing money into the pools.

Last, on Xmas eve, Tampa handled over $6 million. The prior week their weekdays handled around $3 million. THe brilliant minds of horse racing let the NFL and NBA make all that holiday money. I mean why would they possibly want to have huge handle on days when guys would definitely want to push their money into the pools. Racing keeps failing despite those of us that wish it would thrive.

Tis the Season!