Freshman Eliminations On Target At Woodbine/Mohawk Friday

Welcome to the penultimate 2019 Breeders Crown Countdown (BCC), the exclusive blog that coordinates with our weekly preview harness blog at TwinSpires.com and the Hambletonian Society to find great wagering opportunities for "Crown"-eligible horses and their foes.

The BCC is down to a week as it shares with our Twinspires feature blog, the coverage of elimination races that will define this year’s finals at Woodbine/Mohawk (WoMo) on Oct. 25 and Oct. 26.

The BCC will deal with the 63 two-year-olds entered, which forces seven $25k eliminations in all divisions for Friday, Oct. 18. All frosh finals have a purse of $600,000.

FROSH-FILLY TROT

In the first of two elims for the division, Shishito is our candidate to topple the big gal, Hypnotic AM. The crowd may lean into more recognizable horsemen’s contributions but Hypnotic AM should take the win-pool cake. The price for our upset will be worth the chances involved, especially if this is her lone moment of glory.

In the second elim, Sherry Lyns Lady (SLL) has not let us down recently. Sure, she may be the crowd’s choice among these but the win pool should be spread out, considering this is the tightest of the division’s elim pair, but SLL might still be worth the send-off odds.

FROSH-COLT TROT

We are expecting strong win tabs throughout the series from the Marcus Melander barn. This single elim for the division offers two of his, one especially fascinating—Back Of The Neck.

We have not heard from him (and he is not among the top 50 earners this season) but the son of Ready Cash has great support of Melander or he would not be here. As well, Back Of The Neck must deal with his stable mate Rome Pays Off, who has been seen more in competition. Given only Melander’s trust, we will go with his proven entry, Rome Pays Off for price and purpose.

FROSH-FILLY PACE

Three elims handles this division. The first split could be a romp for Priceless and still be a good price as the crowd may be betting driver Dexter Dunn will make Peaky Sneaky race better.

The middle elim is hard to address beyond Alicorn. His driving success to get to this point has been impressive, though meager in dollars. We would take a flyer on Shouldabeenatd, a Burke product.

Last on the filly-pace agenda comes Lyon’s Sentinel. It’s a pass-or-play situation with little to offer on the win side.

FROSH-COLT PACE

Eight of the 10 in this single elim will advance to the final, as Catch The Fire and Capt Midnight accepted byes.

Tall Dark Stranger will be the race favorite but the now horse is Brett Pelling’s Papi Rob Hanover and he is our horse for now.


Check out the “The Fives,” lists of the top five horses in each BC division as of this date by going to the Hambletonian Society’s web site:

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Follow major 2019 BC hopefuls on their journey to the Breeders Crown at Woodbine/Mohawk at this Breeders Crown Countdown blog and the TwinSpires harness blog weekly, along with further information on the Hambletonian Society web site and @Hambletonian_ and @BreedersCrown .