Cotolo’s Harness Review, News And Notes

Our first week of the stakes’ hiatus season found us with one win from our feature race choices. On Saturday, Dec. 20, we struck at Charlottetown Drivers Park with Jk Hustler in Race 3. In the small field we received good prices for the pacer. Across the board, Jk Hustler paid $8.90, $3.30, $4.60 (ok).

On Friday, Dec 19, in Race 7 at the Meadows, Quantum Glidingby was ignored on the board at 59-1 and finished seventh, while the elements we supported for exotic purposes in the race, Promisemethis (7-1) and Sara The Spy (7-5, the race favorite), finished eighth and fourth, respectively. The race was won by a 17-1 shot, at the least verifying we aimed correctly at an event with a poor favorite.

Also that night, Magic Wheel, in Race 9, was fifth at 14-1.

On Dec. 20 at the Meadowlands, Johnny Z was supported well, going off at 7-2. A 9-2 shot won the race with the second choice finishing second and the crowd choice finishing fourth.

Later that night at Northlands, Hollywood Hotel was ignored as we imagined, going off at 22-1 but finished fifth.

All of our losing feature horses will appear in next week’s H2W list and we will continue to offer five or more selected features each week to keep the action going before and in between various features at various tracks.
 
Through the holiday week, the action ensues and we will be back on Christmas day with extensive coverage of great harness racing from all over North America, continuing to campaign for profits exclusively at TwinSpires. Next week’s news-and-notes review will feature our TwinSpires Harness Players’ Horse of the Year for 2014 and a list of many of all the higher-priced hits we had together through the year.

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 35 active horses. 

Winners

Devil Rei, $30.00, $16.60, $6.20, Sports Creek
Clementine Dream, $18.60, $7.20, $5.20, Meadowlands
Mistery Woman, $4.40, $3.20, $2.60, Meadowlands
Waltzacrossthewire, $4.40, $2.40, $2.10, Cal Expo
SF Donttellonme, $3.60, $3.40, $2.80, Sports Creek
Nottin Too Much, $3.00, $2.60, $2.20, Cal Expo
 
Seconds

Gentle Dragon, $12.00, $6.00 (Exacta $23.00), Cal Expo
Hiho Legacy, $4.00, $2.20 (Exacta $8.60), Cal Expo
Lucky Yim, $3.60, $3.40 (Exacta $15.60), Sports Creek

Thirds

Maurel N Hardy, $6.80, Meadows
Tauranga, $6.40, Dover
Cyclops, $3.80, Dayton
Luke Henry, $3.60, Dayton
Stormy Guest, $3.00, Northfield
Laura Mae, $2.60, Flamboro

News & Notes

Jk She’salady, a freshman filly pacer that won every race of her young career in 2014, was voted Horse of the Year by harness racing’s writers’ association. Trained by Nancy Johansson, daughter of Jimmy Takter, Jk She’salady is the first two-year-old filly pacer in the history of the sport to win the top honor. On this blog for Monday, Dec. 29, we will announce the TwinSpires Players’ Harness Racing Horse of the Year and 2014’s best paying winners that came from these TwinSpires harness blogs.

One of the season’s traditional stakes, The Confederation Cup, returns to Flamboro Downs in 2015 after two-years. The inaugural Confederation Cup was in 1977. It became a top event for glamour-boy pacers. When it returns to Flamboro, it in 2015 it will be raced under a new format. Confederation Cup 37will be for four-year-old pacers and take place on the Victoria Day long weekend of Sunday, May 17. A total of $200,000 in added money will be added to the purse of the final. The change in format gives four-year-old pacers a chance to race against horses in their own division early in the season for a sizable purse. Also changed in the format, the event will no longer be contested in heats. Instead, there will be eliminations a week prior to the final. Eliminations will only be necessary if 11 or more pacers enter. If necessary, the eliminations will be contested on Sunday, May 10 for a purse of $20,000 each.

A harness racing scandal Down Under is bringing the sport back into the headlines. The press is calling it “Sulkygate” and it has to do with trainers using bikes wider than allowed. The weird drama is unfolded in “The New Zealand Herald” which you can read by clicking here.

In America, the 2014 season for the Ron Burke barn made for a major story in “The New York Times” on Dec. 12. Burke’s huge season broke the record of Todd Pletcher, thoroughbreds’ staunch, smile less figure, who held the mark for a horse trainer of any breed since 2007. To read the article on Burke, click here.

Meadowlands-savior Jeff Gural has said that his two New York harness raceways, Vernon Downs and Tioga Downs are in jeopardy. Gural was furious at the New York Gaming Facility Location Board’s recommended sites for new commercial casino licenses in the state. Gural said, “they probably put Vernon Down out of business.” Gural's casino bid for Tioga in the Eastern Southern Tier and Finger Lakes Region was not chosen so Vernon’s business may be in trouble with a casino license being considered about 80 miles away at Lago Resort and Casino. Gural said he didn’t care how Vernon’s demise would affect him because, he said, “I’m wealthy. But it certainly screwed the people who live in the Southern Tier. There are five casinos where Lago is and now there are no casinos in the Southern Tier. …  “I think the Southern Tier just got wiped out economically. Poor people [are not] going to have jobs. Take a ride around the Southern Tier and see what it looks like. It’s about as depressed an area as there is and when you had a chance to help these people, with the fracking and the casino, they give them a doubleheader. It’s just sickening. I feel bad for the people.”

Extraordinary Extras

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

Ray Cotolo contributed to this blog ~ For Thom Pye cartoons, informative harness history and more, click here ~