Weekend Open Thread - Southwest Stakes Edition

A happy President's Day holiday weekend to everyone. I'm not sure how many of you get a three-day weekend, but if you do, I hope you don't spend it shoveling too much snow, as I see the Midwest and the Northeast are continuing to experience the effects of Old Man Winter. Fortunately, Florida, New Orleans and Southern California are available to provide virtual warmth as we watch some of the major racing action across the country this weekend. Unfortunately, the weather has caused cancellations at Aqueduct, Laurel, Turfway, Charles Town, and Penn National. The Fritchie Handicap, scheduled to run at Laurel today, has been rescheduled to Saturday, February 22nd.

I have another piece up over at America's Best Racing, this one dealing with one of the parts of the game I struggled with the most when I was starting out - wager selection and bankroll management. It's amazing how I consistently I would throw good money after bad before recognizing, "hey, maybe I need to actually have some kind of plan around my wagering strategy!" Most of the pieces I'm contributing over to ABR are geared towards the newer or causal fan. Essentially, I'm trying to remember the things that I struggled with the most when I first started playing and the ways I went about developing my game. Of course, this is a game of constant education and experience with continuous opportunities to get better.

Last week we were treated to a very nice performance by Candy Boy in the Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita Park. As usual, our man TFTribe is there to provide the nuts and bolts of Candy Boy's pedigree and his chances moving forward on the path to the Derby.

Turning to this weekend's racing action, below are links to the scratches and changes for Saturday's cards at several of the major tracks, via Equibase:

Aqueduct - CANCELLED
Gulfstream Park - FAST / FIRM
Fair Grounds - FAST / YIELDING
Laurel - CANCELLED
Oaklawn - FAST
Santa Anita - FAST / FIRM

I'm disappointed the Fritchie isn't running today as the more I looked at the form, the more I liked My Wandy's Girl in that race. Hopefully the composition of the field will remain the same for the race next Saturday (assuming Laurel is running next weekend).

This is you weekend open thread. Stay warm. Unless you live in the part of the country that actually feels the warmth of the sun this time of year. If that's the case, enjoy the weekend!