Big Feature Wins At $21, $17 Highlight Multi-Track Hits
Here is our Update, a report on our hits and misses from the past week of harness racing across North America..
Thursday, June 18
Our Woodbine/Mohawk (WoMo) Power Plays (PP) did not contribute much to the exotics available in the Pick 3 or the single-race options. A favorite, a 7-2 and a 5-1 completed the Pick 3.
Our first two suggested contenders flirted well with the top prizes. Cool Rock ($2.60) was the third element to the $103.60 trifecta and the fourth to the $311.95 superfecta. In leg two, Sonadora Deo (4-1), was the fourth number in the $399.10 superfecta.
In the third leg we were well off the board with Going Fast (30-1), finishing 10th.
A typical situation in the Hoosier PP stream of races left our chances for major cashing impossible, as two public favorites and a 5-1 produced shorter returns.
Demi Ivy (16-1) was sixth and Analyze (4-1) finished eighth in leg one. Queens N Tens (11-1) checked in eighth and Rock Flush (7-1) was ninth in leg two. In the final leg, MJs Riggins Rebel (6-1) was fifth and Baby Lets Roll (16-1) was sixth).
Our sole feature at WoMo was a dead-on winner with Ongoing Royalty ($21.70, $10.30, $6.00). The other contender, Field Gunner (1-2), finished fourth.
Friday, June 19
Two of our top soph-colt trotters raced at The Meadowlands, one of them leaving us stunned and the other out-performing his way into second.
Beyond Kronos (5-2) hardly raced at all, watching the field from behind and finishing dead last. Whatever is wrong with him remains to be seen, though we are not giving up on him. Our second choice finished second to the favorite. Moon Bridge ($11.00, $8.40) caused a $53.60 exacta. Stay tuned as the glamour-boy trotters sprint to August.
Saturday, June 20
The PP situation on Pocono’s opening day was a celebration of chalk. We were all in on the first winner, JK Will Power ($4.80, $2.40, $2.20), though our PP partner, Si Semalu (62-1) finished fifth.
The second and third legs of the Pick 3 were won by public choices. We did not contribute to any PP exotics with Take It Back Terry (5-1) or Instructor (42-1), finishing sixth and ninth respectively. The third-leg superfecta included one of our contenders, Dynamic Edge (25-1), that one carrying the fourth-finishing number. Crazycat (13-1), however, came in sixth.
H2W LIST RESULTS
The H2W results list across-the-board prices. Exactas listed include a H2W horse finishing second to a race-favorite or if the first two finishers are H2W horses (an asterisk appears when both horses are listed—a cold exacta). The note “ok” determines that prices are correct (even when a show price exceeds a place price or all prices are the same).
Please note that some results reflect horses racing after the blog posts (they appear the following week).
This week, there were 50 active horses (a 16-percent win hit rate and a 38-percent ATB [across-the-board] hit rate).
Winners
Spoiler Alert, $20.40, $15.80, $6.70, Vernon
Redblack Blaze A, $17.80, $3.40, $2.40, Pocono
Miss U Big Mike, $7.10, $4.10, $2.60, Tioga
That’s Incredible, $4.80, $4.10, $2.10, Saratoga
Rock Lights, $4.40, $2.80, $2.20, Pocono
World On Edge, $3.40, $3.20, $3.20 ok, Hoosier
Timeless Virgin, $3.20, $2.20, $2.10, Northfield
Chasin Dreams, $2.40, $2.20, $2.10, Scioto
Seconds
Ugly Stik, $12.00, $5.80, Scarborough
Red Roll, $8.60, $5.20 (Exacta $40.60), Buffalo
A Bettors Risk, $5.80, $4.00 (Exacta $18.60), Hoosier
Buen Camino, $4.20, $3.40 (Exacta $17.80), Meadowlands
Lets Roll, $2.60, $2.10, Meadowlands
Manceiver, $2.50, $2.10, Buffalo
Thirds
Stolen Car, $5.40, Pocono
Dragonfly, $4.00, Scioto
Hobgoblin, $3.80, Scioto
Barley, $2.60, Meadowlands
Sooo Handsome, $2.40, Hoosier
NEWS & NOTES
No matter how smartly you handicap and bet, there are always elements of harness racing that entertain you. I have always been incited by the names of standardbreds. As an industry journalist, I knew Bob Marks, handicapper/bettor/bloodstock manager. Bob also cleverly named yearlings going to auction. I enjoyed giving him my ideas of great names and had my favorites. My theory was that colts should have action names, machismo names, like Nihilator. I also enjoyed funny names, like Goggles Paisano, which perhaps is the funniest. Recently, I discovered another favorite, a combination of masculine and comedic—Joe Rockhead. I may have to use it in some of my fiction.
Captain Crunch is about to share his bloodline in Australasia. The marvelous Captaintreacherous (Somebeachsomewhere) will be bred in New Zealand and Australia from a farm in Canterbury. The winner of over $1.7 million was the fastest son of Captaintreacherous and won some of the same stakes as his sire. Australia hosts a near majority of pacers bred by USA sires.
When Hoosier Park opened, an anxious-to-wager public displayed absolutely no knowledge of what would happen to the dozen trotters going in the first race of the delayed season. The winner was Phabaj at 70-1. The JD Finn trotter paid $142.00, $63.40, $17.80). Phabaj was followed by a 15-1 to place and a 10-1 to show. The race’s three favorites finished fifth, sixth and ninth.
This being the first year in many not to be traveling the Hambletonian Trail, the 2020 stakes races for the soph-colt and -filly trotters leading to the August classic have been deeply skewed. The Hambletonian Society is making “an attempt to close some of the gaps on the calendar” by sponsoring $25,000 overnight events at the Meadowlands for the divisions with Hambletonian-eligible trotters preferred. The races are slated for June 27 and July 4 at the Meadowlands.
Extraordinary Extras
Indulge in our columns, Alternative Actions and Bettors Banquet at Harness Racing Update
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