The Road to Louisville is in NOLA Today Another Day

Our holiday pals, Comet, Huey, and Sid are currently in the Crescent City, and that's a good place to be today if you're dreaming about the Road to the Roses.

The 6th race at the Fair Grounds is a 1 mile allowance affair for 2-year-olds. And there is lots of potential. Indygo Mountain looks to be a very promising horse, winning his maiden by more than 6 lengths,

He sprinted away from his rivals, through the final quarter-mile in 24.64 seconds — something few 2-year-olds could do — on his way to completing the mile in 1:35.54 ... just two ticks slower than the winning time turned in by a good group of older horses in the day’s featured race. [Gary West, Star-Telegram]

Let's put it this way, it was impressive enough that the Professor has already placed Indygo Mountain squarely on his list of Derby prospects. And of course, given the fact that I'm a homer, I love his connections: trained by Bret Calhoun and owned by Clarence Scharbauer,Jr. What could be better for Texas racing than putting a couple of Texans in the Derby Winner's Circle?

Trainer Larry Jones, who in his endeavor to retire from training has assembled a small arsenal of quality 2-year-olds, has two entries in the race: Friesan Fire and Doc's Friend. Not to be left out of the Mardi Gras, Doug O'Neill ships in Escalon, who's been racing over California's synthetic surfaces and just might discover that he likes this stuff called "dirt". And you can never discount Steve Asmussen, who saddles Uno Mas.

So this afternoon's a good time to grab some crawfish and gumbo and dream of roses, f'sure.

UPDATE: Forget the crawfish and gumbo - get a snow shovel! According to a press release, Fair Grounds canceled its Thursday card due to snow, of all things.

Handicapper and blogger on the scene, Jim Mulvihill, explains the reasoning behind the cancellation,

Those of you outside of the south who wonder why a little bit of snow--at most four inches and probably less around the track--would shut down racing need to understand what a rare occurrence this is around here ... Cities down here don't have snow plows. Power is out in some pockets. Major interstates like 310 are closed, as well as several bridges, like the Huey P. Long, which crosses the Mississippi River. [Fair Grounds Blog]

The good news is Bourbon Street is still open for business.