Cold $24 Exacta At Yonkers; $83 Triactor, $20 Exacta Partners In Feature At Woodbine; 43 Percent Hit The Board

Our top winners were moderate this week, with many of our suggested contenders getting the favor of the public. Here’s the rundown for the first weekend of February harness racing from the preview blog.

Remember our 2018 slogan:

TwinSpires Harness Blog Offers Severe Race Coverage For Harness Bettors

On Thursday, Feb. 1, we began the weekend features in the afternoon at Freehold, using our Partners For Picks scheme.

It was a puny Pick-4 combo and we started it with a contender winding up the race favorite—Hot Shot Hill ($4.80, $3.00, $2.80). We were only as close as third in the fourth leg with Big Sky Glide ($2.20), beaten by the public’s third choice.

In the third leg our choice turned into the race favorite, too. Just That finished fourth to a 4-1 shot, the highest price of the Pick quartet. The second choice won the second leg and our contender, Big Sky Julieta (21-1) had no chance when she broke at the start, finishing eighth.

That night at Flamboro, we supported the return of Angels Kid (3-1), returning from a feature the week before. Oddly enough, a horse from a cancelled feature at Flamboro, that was posted this week in the horses-to-watch list (H2W)—Waikiki Hanover—beat him. Angels Kid finished fifth.

Woodbine’s winter-series finals were our features on Friday, Feb. 2. The favorite won the Blizzard Final and our two contenders filled in two of the exotics. We were second with Bettin Jake ($3.50, $2.50) and third with Katies Gal ($4.10). The exacta came back paying $20.60 and the triactor delivered $83.60.

The other feature, the Snowshoe Final, saw our contender Gerardo go off the favorite. However, he did no better than fifth, with our other contender, Burnout Hanover (10-1) checking in seventh.

Saturday we landed at Yonkers for the evening with three features where we were financially involved with each result.

Our winner was Rock N Roll Legacy ($9.20, $3.50, $2.90), leading a cold exacta with Bettor Rock On N ($2.40, $2.20). The cold duo paid $24.20.

Next best was a second, All Down The Line ($5.20, $3.40), which paired with the winning favorite for an exacta worth $15.20. The third feature presented the place horse, Blood Brother ($4.80, $2.90), while the other contender, Somewhere Fance (4-1), finished fourth.

All losers in our selected features appear the following week in the H2W list except any that raced in a feature after already listed on the H2W..


H2W LIST RESULTS

The H2W results list across-the-board prices. Also, exactas listed are included when a H2W horse finishes second with a race favorite or the first two finishers making up the exacta are H2W horses (an asterisk appears when both horses were listed to complete a cold exacta). The note “ok” determines that prices published are correct even when a show price exceeds a place price or any or all of the prices are the same. This week, there were 44 active horses (a 16-percent win hit rate and a 43-percent ATB [across-the-board] hit rate).

Please note that some H2W results reflect win, place, show and exotic results occurring by press time but some horses race after the blog is posted (we list them the following week) It is up to you to follow horses that have not performed before this weekly review

Winners

A Fool For Mark, $10.40, $2.80, $2.20, Pompano
Waikiki Hanover, $9.10, $3.70, $2.70, Flamboro
Karefree Kara, $8.80, $3.20, $2.60, Miami
B Well, $7.00, $2.80, $2.60, Pompano
Firstup, $6.00, $3.20, $2.60, Miami
Idontthankyoucan, $3.60, $2.90, $2.80, Monticello
Cousin Mary, $2.70, $2.30, $2.10, Yonkers

Seconds

Premium Stock, $5.80, $4.20, Fraser
Cams Lucky Star, $4.60, $5.00 ok, Miami
Sucrose Hanover, $4.60, $2.60, Pompano
Dontdoubtthelakers, $4.20, $3.40 (Exacta $16.70), Cal-Expo
Whatkindofchance, $3.30, $3.00 (Exacta $13.80), Fraser
Hammers Silver, $3.00, $2.50 (Exacta $7.00), Fraser
Forty Five Red, $2.60, $2.60 ok, Dover
Hetties Commander, $2.60, $2.10 (Exacta $6.40), Flamboro

Thirds

Duke It Up, $10.30, Northlands
Reys NA Rocket, $3.00, Woodbine
Gronk, $2.10, Flamboro


News & Notes

Missing the Meadows from our H2W and features? It’s due to an extension of the suspension of live racing through Friday, Feb. 23, according to Meadows’ GM Allie Evangelista. The track had announced a suspension would last through Feb. 6 when the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture was notified that a horse there showed clinical signs consistent with Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1) and tested positive for it. At that time, two barns were placed under quarantine and all horses were restricted from entering or leaving the track.

After a 25-year run as Western Fair’s signature race, the Molson Pace will have a new name in 2018. It will now be The Camluck Classic, a $150,000 Invitational Pace, featuring older horses in North America. It will make its debut on Saturday, May 26, on  the Ontario half-mile oval. The new name is a tribute to the late world champion pacer who went on to become the most prolific stallion in Canadian harness racing history. Although a champ on the track, it was in the breeding shed where the son of Cam Fella made his biggest impression upon the breed. He raised the bar for the standardbred breeding industry in Canada. Camluck sired close to 2,400 foals with more than 2,000 of those making it to the races. His offspring combined for earnings in excess of $216 million and included 592 winners of $100,000 or more and 21 winners of $1 million or more.

The Meadowlands' 2018 Grand Circuit stakes schedule will be powered by more than $9 million in purses, led by harness racing's most coveted prize, the 93rd edition of the $1-million Hambletonian. The Meadowlands will again play host to two of the sport’s biggest events. The $650,000 Meadowlands Pac, which headlines a card worth an estimated $2.3 million on Saturday, July 14. Just a few weeks later, harness racing’s $3-million Hambletonian day program closes the “Championship Meet” on Saturday, Aug. 4. TwinSpires harness blog hopes to be in the press box again this season, after plenty of action starting in May with its exclusive blog, The Hambletonian Trail, in league with the race’s sponsor, the Hambletonian Society.


Extraordinary Extras

Indulge in many standardbred topics at my Hoof Beats blog titled Vast Performances.