Today is Mardi Gras. Today at FG the feature is the Mardi Gras, a 7-1/2 furlong
turf dash for 3YOs. 8 3Y0s, including 2 maidens, 2 Illinois breds, and 2 horses
who have just taken turns beating each other on Turfway's rug, will enter FG's
bright yellow starting gate.

One of the Turfway runners, Awesome Hero,is arguably the fastest in the race off
of his TGs. He has been favored in all 3 lifetime starts (all at Turfway), and
has Cozzene as a damsire. Trainer Eric Reed has a good strike rate in many
categories, including overall win, turf, first turf, dirt to turf. Top
apprentice Joe Talamo climbs aboard, but TG shows that Talamo only wins at a 7%
clip on the grass and of course JT does not get his 5 lb discount in this race.

Follow My Moon has beaten Awesome Hero by nearly 2 lengths and has lost to
Awesome Hero by 1/2 length. He has speed and is drawn inside.

Mayor Bozarth is first time Frankel and a 2 time winner over the FG turf. The
"Mayor" intrigues me because his damsire is Olden Times and you see Olden Times
less and less frequently in proximate pedigrees. Olden Times, who raced in the
1960s, at one point held the track record for 7 furlongs at Churchill and held
the course record for whatever distance The San Juan Capistrano at SA is run at;
these records stood at least into the early 1980s. Frankel is batting at 25%
for the meet and could be saddling a slight favorite here.

Tactical Weapon lead for most of the way in his last, only to be nosed by Mayor
Bozarth.

Of the 2 maidens, Royal War Academy is trained by Jamie Sanders, who is 1/55 at
the Fair Grounds and was 9/139 in 2006. Can she win her second stake in 2 days?
The other maiden, Jump'ien, has closed like a wild horse in his 2 FG turf
starts (I saw both of these races), cuts back slightly in distance, and will
get a faster pace to run into.

Can I get 4/1 on Corrupt, the only stakes winner in the field? He won the Grand
Canyon at CD on November 25th (my memory is that the Grand Canyon was a ROTW)and
has worked only lightly since. Arguably second fastest in race off his TGs,
draws the rail and leading rider Albarado. Hoping that his price will be helped
by recent inactivity.

Any thoughts from other Mardi Gras revelers?