NEW TONIGHT!  ANGUS Prime Rib!  That's right.  Food and bev manager Manley Chan said he's found a great source for Angus Prime Rib.  "It costs a little more than the best cuts of regular beef but I want to try it."  So where are YOU dining tonight?  Same great price--all you can eat for just $14.95.  This week's add-ons include BBQ pulled pork, meat loaf and chicken pot pie. Full menu. Reserve now at 885-3330 ext. 0

DELTA PICK 'EM CONTEST CONTINUES TONIGHT: $80 at stake!  You know the drill.  Predict the winner of Race 7 at Delta for $20 (because last week's $40 jackpot was won by local horse owner Larry Liebrecht).  But there's $60 awaiting if you also predict the pick-3 in races 7-9 because no one won last week so the pool has been increased by $20!  Send entries to theinsider@ASDowns.com by 8 p.m.  Put your predictions in the subject line. Note:  Only ONE ENTRY PER EMAIL ADDRESS.  Multiple entries will be disqualified.

5-ALIVE CONTEST JACKPOT HITS $450!   Could you use $450 cash?  Just pick three show horses, a place horse and a winner at Sam Houston in races 3 to 7 tomorrow.  Post time: 7 p.m.  Come to the buffet tonight and pick up tomorrow's Sam Houston program while you're here.

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Rock'n gets ready to roll Stellar stakes horse Rock'n USA gets a pep talk from trainer Tanya Lindsay yesterday morning before heading out onto the training track with exercise rider Tony Cizik. The training track opened Monday. Live racing kicks off Mother's Day Sunday, May 9. ___________________________________________________________________________________

 
Well, the gold rush is over (boo hoo hoo) but green is always in season.  So is red and brown, especially brown.  Which are the colours we're all looking for anyway, aren't we?  Unless, of course, you're seeking gold at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.  Which is what I'm toying with.  I'm thinking I could fit in as the third man in the four-man bobsleigh event--push, jump in, duck, hang on. Push, jump-in, duck, hang on. Geez, I'm starting to get the hang of it already.

Yeh, sure.  I think the bobsleigh senses whether you're rippling with muscle or have been retracing your steps too often to the all-you-can-eat buffet.   So I'd be eliminated right off.  But don't let me discourage you.  I promise lots of coverage in The Insider if you make the team. 

Looking every bit the demure filly, Rachel eyes Fair Grounds Saturday, March 13

All right -- moving into new territory -- which happens to be exciting territory, and that's not hype.  March is huge for Derby prep races.  After all, the Kentucky Derby is just eight weeks away.  And next week will see a return of superstar females Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra.  Not together.  That happens on Friday, April 9 in the $5 million Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn.  But both could be racing separately on Saturday, March 13--Rachel at the Fair Grounds and Zenyatta on her favourite Pro-Ride surface at Santa where she won the Breeders' Cup Classic last fall. 

And, oh yah, on the same weekend--Saturday and Sunday--the poker finals for three trips to Las Vegas will be taking place in the Terrace Dining Room.  So, who says there's no life after the Olympics?  Put away that Kleenex box and get a grip.  March is gonna be fun!

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Canada's Olympic medal haul: 14 - 7 - 5.  Closest prediction: 14 - 7 - 6

Contestant's medal prediction misses by one!

How good is this?  Almost unbelievable, I'd say.  Two entrants to the Downs' "predict Canadian medals" contest came a whisker from being bang-on.  Canada scored 14 - 7 - 5 medals--gold, silver and bronze.  One entrant predicted 14 - 7 - 6.   Another predicted 14 - 7 - 8.  There was no provision for consolation prizes for those who came close.  But these entries were soooo close and they showed such huge confidence in Canada's ability to score lots of gold, general manager Sharon Gulyas said they are highly deserving of consolation prizes.  So the closest entrant, Shaylyn Stutzky, will receive a sterling silver Olympic coin, an official Olympic black hoodie, $100 cash and dinner for four at the all-you-can-eat Prime Rib buffet.  The runner-up (only three bronze medals shy of the actual number), Tim Baylis, will receive dinner for two, $50 and Olympic keepsake red mittens.  Congratulations to both of you for having so much faith in Canada!  And thanks to all of you who joined in the fun and entered! See all entrants' predictions here.
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DO YOU LIKE TO WAGER ON FAVOURITES?

Chance of winning: Lone Star 42%, ASD 39%, W0 30%

If you bet favourites, the best tracks to play are Lone Star, Suffolk Downs, Canterbury and Portland (where favourites win about 42 per cent of the time)  and among the worst to play are Woodbine, Del Mar, Oaklawn and Keeneland (where favourites win about 30 per cent of the time).   At Assiniboia Downs you'll win 39 per cent of the time you bet on favourites.

Lone Star Park: Where favourites win like crazy

Those stats come from a study by the Daily Racing Form which examined winning favourites at the 56,000 races run in North America last year.  The North American average is 36.66 per cent winning favourites.  Note this figure is 10 per cent higher than the 33 per cent which, for years, has been thought to be the average number of winning favourites at race tracks.

Field size is at least a partial explanation for the variance in winning favourites. Woodbine has large fields so it can logically be expected that fewer favourites will win, whereas Portland has short fields and, thusly, more winning favourites.  But this isn't always the case as Lone Star generally has larger fields, too, and yet has more winning favourites than every track except for Suffolk.  The inconsistency of the Polytrack surface is another explanation:  Woodbine, Del Mar and Keeneland--which are clustered near the bottom of a list of 71 tracks--all have Polytrack surfaces. New York's two major tracks, Belmont and Aqueduct, racing on dirt, have 38 per cent winning favourites.  Hollywood, with Cushion track, and Santa Anita, with the Pro-Ride surface, have about 35 per cent winning favourites.   See the ranking of all tracks here.

QUICK BITS:  No surface change at Santa . . . yet

SANTA OWNER WANTS LESS GOVERNMENT CONTROL:  Although he personally prefers a dirt surface to Santa's current synthetic stuff, the owner of Santa Anita, Frank

Santa Anita owner Frank Stronach Won't change track until government gets out of his hair

Stronach, said he's going to leave the current unsatisfactory synthetic surface in place until the race track can free itself from so much government control.  "I don't like (synthetic surfaces), I never liked it but I got legislated to put it in," he said recently.  In fact, he won't even race his own horses over it.  But he doesn't want to change anything until the track can operate in a free enterprise way, he said. Looks to me that this is a pressure tactic designed to wake up the state government and earn the support of horsemen who are fed up with the cancellations and other problems associated with synthetics.  Interesting.

IT NEVER RAINS IN CALIFORNIA?  Yah, sure.  The song sure didn't get it right.  Santa Anita cancelled races last Saturday again because the Pro-Ride synthetic surface didn't drain rain water.  So the Score-a-Grand contest was based on two tracks instead of three and the hour-long seminar to select a pick-6 at Santa went for nought.  And the Magna pick-5 bet wasn't available again. This is getting tiresome. You can check Santa's track at www.santaanita.com and click Audio/Video in the bar at the top.

PSYCHIC AGAIN:  You may recall my mentioning I foresaw Barbaro's breakdown before the Preakness three years ago.  It happened again with the U.S./Canada medal game. I foresaw the exact 3-2 finish so couldn't get excited about the game.  It felt like watching a movie in which I knew the ending.  (I told a few people before the game including tourney winner Roger Jones.) I know.  It's very weird. Problem was, I didn't really enjoy the game until overtime--when I wanted to see who would score Canada's winning goal and how it would be scored. 

ANOTHER "PAINT" STABLED AT DOWNS:  Trainer Emile Corbel said there'll be another beautifully coloured "paint" horse in residence at the Downs this season--a 2-year-old owned by the same person who had the popular black and white spotted  3-year-old, Ellusive Spell, at the track last year.

Rob's your point man Who are the prime contenders to win the Kentucky Derby? Consider horse trainer Rob Atras your point man. After all, he predicted Derby prospects so well in previous years that he won Road to the Derby contests two years in a row!  Find out what he thinks here.

WINNERS' CORNER

Your last chance to earn poker points before finals