Cotolo’s Harness Review, News And Notes

The two six-digit events at Dover on Dec. 7 were great and awful. We hit one (obviously the great one).

The Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund’s $100,000 final for frosh-colt pacers was delicious addressed by our Thursday blog and we took it down with Sonofa Sizzle ($11.40). There was no place and show wagering in either of the program’s features.

The Progress Pace lacked challenge and should ever remain the most boring of all the glamour-boy affairs of the year. McWicked came in first and Jk Endofanera came in second, kicking up enough chalk dust to make anyone look elsewhere for an exciting harness-race bet.

Our disappointment in Ron Burke’s All Bets Off, the only true choice to stop McWicked from a non-impressive trio of races beginning with the Breeders Crown Final for the division, is deep, since on paper and as one of Burke’s other successful second-tier pacers of the season “Bets” should have at least shown a little spunk. At 8-1, Bets walked around the Delaware oval sixth (last) and never got involved. To lose is one thing but to be dead on his hoofs is embarrassing.

As always, in between published harness blogs, follow @FrankCotolo and @TwinSpires on Twitter.

There are still a few weeks left to the season but it is getting close to the end of the year, when we will list our Players’ Horse of the Year and other best paying winners that came from these TwinSpires harness blogs. So don’t miss an episode as our extensive coverage of all harness racing—not just high-profile stakes—continues to produce profits and great pay offs exclusively at TwinSpires.

H2W RESULTS

The H2W results list across-the-board prices. Also, exactas are included when a H2W horse finishing first or second completes the result with a race favorite or another H2W horse listed in the same race (an asterisk appears when both horses were listed to complete the exacta). If listed horses were active after press time, the date they won, placed or showed appears in parenthesis. This week, there were 32 active horses on the H2W list, not including those on the list for Dec. 7 and Dec. 9 (which will appear in the next results list if they are involved in tote prices).

Winners

Fly’n With Royalty, $14.60, $6.40, $4.40, Pompano
Afaceinthecrowd, $7.00. $3.20, $2.10, Cal Expo
Paxxie, $6.40, $2.10, n/s, Pompano
Fancy Pants Gram, $4.80, $3.00, $2.60, Maywood
Campanile, $3.80, $2.60, $2.10, Yonkers

Seconds

Last Chance Harvey, $6.20, $5.60 (Exacta $30.80), Meadows
Thetoadandme, $4.40, $3.20, Cal Expo 
 
Thirds

MG Home Run, $11.80, Pompano
TT Tucker, $5.40, Meadows
Classic Rock Nroll, $5.00, Meadows
Goiod Day Mate, $3.90, Yonkers
Money To Burn, $3.60, Sports Creek
Cambassador, $3.00, Pompano
Fox Valley Salso, $2.20, Cal Expo
Oh Gee Ding Ding, n/s, Scarborough


News & Notes

Following up on drivers’ streaks, Jason Bartlett made some money at Yonkers on Dec. 4, winning eight races. The total to bet on Jason in those races was an investment of $24, which would have made the bettor $13.30. All of Jason’s winners were one of the top three favorites, with a low price of $2.80 and a high price of $6.80. Three of the four horses Jason drove that lost races were 25-1, 22-1 and 42-1, all of which would have individually yielded a higher profit than the actual run of success. Jason also lost on a 2-1 shot. Again, we emphasize that you do not weigh the element of driver heavily when you handicap.

Canadian tracks are applying for their 2015 race dates. Here is a list of their requests: Clinton Raceway--15 days; Flamboro Downs--134 days; Georgian Downs--40 days; Grand River Raceway--48 days; Hanover Raceway--16 days; Rideau Carleton--90 days; Western Fair--25 days. Woodbine Entertainment Group has applied for amendment to the pre-approved 2015 race date calendars at Woodbine and Mohawk racetracks.

Sweet Lou arrived at Diamond Creek Farm in Pennsylvania last week to settle in as a stallion. His final race, a stakes win at the Meadowlands, capped a career that earned his connections $3.4 million. Sweet Lou was a member of the productive Ron Burke stable, which has had the greatest season that any stable in the world. Spread across four different locations, 325 horses are represented by Burke. They are situated at New Winter Miles Training Center in Florida, The Meadows Racetrack, Burke’s training center in Pennsylvania and Gaitway Farms in New Jersey. The Burke stable won $27.88 million according to Standardbred Canada figures for 2014 to date.

Maven, the five-year-old mare now handled by Jimmy Takter, is heading overseas for the second time this year. She will be racing against top trotters in France. Takter has mapped out a four-race program for the mare in France that will begin Dec. 28 and may include the Prix d’Amerique on Jan. 25. She will race at different distances and with different types of starts and a driver still to be identified. Takter trained the great mare Moni Maker, who won the Prix d’Amerique in 1999. Maven was purchased at auction last month for $750,000 and given to the Takter team. She won her first outing for the new connections and was a tough second to Commander Crowe in the Breeders Crown Open Trot.

Check out some great photos from Ray Cotolo at the Meadowlands on Breeders Cup finals night by clicking here.

Extraordinary Extras

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

Ray Cotolo contributed to this blog

For informative harness history and more, click here ~