Speaking of jockeys, did anybody else think Robbie Albarado put up an especially putrid effort on Silver Strings on Sunday? Or am I just trying to excuse bad handicapping?

I loved Silver Strings in there, and the Hennig horse as well. Praise Jesus I was too hungover to follow through on my intention to get up for the seminar on Sunday, if I heard the TG rep talking up the Hennig horse I may have taken even more of a beating on the race, and the beating (for my world) was pretty severe as it was.

Anyway, there was no speed in there, Albarado's got the rail on a horse who has run decent tactical speed, granted she was op a bit in her last two, but that's why I thought they ditched Jara for a "big time" rider. So they walk out of there in like 49, over a rock-hard turf, no less, and this guy has the horse way back there in seventh. Maybe he wouldn't have won anyway, but give the horse a chance. This guy seems to have signed some sort of non-agression pact with himself, he seems to have all kinds of trouble riding horses with tactical speed on the turf, either not using it, moving too early, whatever.

And, despite knowing this, like an idiot I bet the horse anyway.

To top it off the very next race I screw the pooch by keying the Dutrow horse over and under Santana Springs and the Nafzger piece in exactas, key Dutrow over them in triples, with a win bet on Nafzger, yet, somehow it never occurs to me to box the two of them in the exacta. The teller even tried to help by punching in two less dollars than I wanted on the SS/Nafzger horse over Dutrow, too; it was like the gods of racing were begging me to remember to spend the last four bucks boxing SS and the Nafzger horse. Unfortunately, the signal didn't get through, and I threw the extra four dollars on those two over Dutrow.

One last brief comment before I go crawl back under my rock ..my wife's home in the UK for two weeks, with the kids...she calls Monday morning, waking me out of a hungover sleep, and, after few minutes of pleasant conversation, the inevitable...

"...so, how'd you do at the track this weekend, dear?"...