up on betting anything with four legs, “Cap” still showed up in the Racing Secretary Office every day and handicapped the entire card. In New Orleans there are no apologies for superstition or voodoo. Fair Grounds’ horse players invented the “Holy Ghost” betting system. The abiding principle behind the “Holy Ghost” betting system is that events happen in sequence of “threes.” For example – if the program #4 horse would win the sixth and seventh races then word of the “Holy Ghost” would flash through the Fair Grounds betting galleys like an electrical current. “Bet the #4 horse,” people would remind each other. “It’s the Holy Ghost.” The old characters have passed away, but thanks to a long list of restaurants, the link between Fair Grounds and New Orleans remains strong. The connection may have started with the Broadway figure “Diamond Jim” Brady, who opened a restaurant on Bourbon Street in 1906. Brady was a horse owner and
a high stakes gambler. Brady had a habit of dropping a small diamond in every hundredth plate of spaghetti and meatballs. His restaurant catered to big money players like “Pittsburgh Phil” and “Bet A Million” Gates that passed through New Orleans every winter. Today, the lineage of race-tracker friendly restaurants continues. A catfish po-boy before the races or dinner and drinks afterwards is standard procedure for many New Orleans racing fans and horsemen. There is no shortage of good restaurants to appease a losing day at the tracks or to celebrate a winning one. When it comes to throwing a party, drinking, gambling or eating out – New Orleans folks know the drill. Mosca’s Located on the West Bank of the Mississippi River, the mysterious Mosca’s is near the top of every horseman’s list of “go to” restaurants. Talk about unpretentious. You pull into a gravel parking lot on the edge of a cypress swamp and
find your reserved table identified with a sheet of yellow legal paper. A latenight hot spot for gamblers and underworld figures back in the day, Mosca’s is now a quietly understated hideaway. “Nothing stays the same,” said owner Johnny Mosca, who used to own and breed thoroughbreds. Family recipes dating back to 1946 are still in vogue at Mosca’s. Don’t go there if you are in a hurry. Every piping hot dish is an old school, classic Italian masterpiece. Take heed. A sizzling pan of Oysters Mosca under cheese and bread crumbs or the homemade Italian sausage can be addictive. Mandina’s Loud, friendly and fun, Mandina’s is the ultimate New Orleans “neighborhood restaurant.” Cherished by droves of regulars (politicians, judges, newspaper journalists and a cadre of race horse trainers), the origins of Mandina’s trace back to the late 1800s, when a Sicilian immigrant named Palermo Mandina
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