Fair Grounds fair odds: Single city in Crescent City

The 9-race opening day card on Thursday at Fair Grounds includes a pair of stakes for Louisiana-bred horses.

Our focus is on the second of those stakes, the Joseph R. Peluso Memorial for 2-year-old Louisiana-breds going six furlongs on the main track. As race 6, the stakes is the third leg of the new Crescent City jackpot Pick 6 wager, second leg of the late Pick 5 and first leg of the late Pick 4.

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The new jackpot pick 6 has the same rules as its Kentucky cousin at the Churchill Downs Inc.-owned Churchill and Turfway Park: 15% takeout with 90% of the net pool going to multiple pickers of six and the remaining 10% reserved for a single winner. If no one picks six, then the entire pool carries over.

As for the Peluso, morning-line favorite Dynamite Tonight was dynamite 13 nights ago at Delta Downs, winning a maiden special weight by 8 3/4 lengths. Sire Independence Hall stands for just $7,500 and hits with only 4% of his debut runners, which makes Dynamite Tonight's $127,000 sale price and first-out blitz all the more impressive.

The biggest question is what new jockey Jareth Loveberry will do early. Dynamite Tonight showed speed to be prominent early, but there is plenty of other pace in here as well. Dynamite Tonight raced through the wire on debut while lengthening his advantage, so I'm expecting a stalk-and-pounce trip against this group.

The alternatives to the favorite are obvious in this race, which makes me not want to take them. Of the other short prices on the morning line, I prefer Our Moneyman to either Two Good Old Guys or Mr Mo Money. Our Moneyman has faced open company to date, and picking up Lasix to face this restricted group should help.