Frosh Male Pacers March The Miles In Metro Stakes Eliminations

With the She’s A Great Lady attracting enough competitors to go straight to the final, three Metro eliminations highlight the frosh stakes going on the Grand Circuit-fueled program at Mohawk Racetrack on Saturday, Sept. 16.

Elimination one gathers “Crown” hopefuls Phil The Thrill, Pro Beach, Odds On Lauderdale, St Lads Neptune and Courtly Choice. However, Pedro Hanover, ineligible, will likely take most of the public play following a win in the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes Championship at Pocono Downs.

Of the Crown contenders, Phil The Thrill should provide the best value with an improved draw. Closing to finish fourth against wrapped-up winner Stay Hungry, Phil The Thrill appears to be more competitive at this top level, as made evident by his wide trip in the Champlain Stakes. Likely to be close to the pace as well, he may be able to snag the lead before Pedro Hanover really gets rolling.

Stay Hungry, undefeated in two starts, enters elimination two as the likely favorite, leading Crown contenders Hayden Hanover, Albergo Hanover, Shadow Moon, Lost In Time, This Is The Plan and Summer Travel.

Making the third start of his career, Lost In Time enters this race off a sharp mile in the Kentucky Sires Stakes, going first over to finish second from an outside post. Considering the improvement shown between his first and second starts, he should be approaching this affair in top form

Value in this race could also surface with This Is The Plan if he is dismissed, which is possible if Shadow Moon and Summer Travel take sufficient play, as expected. He narrowly lost to Shadow Moon in the Nassagaweya, and is poised to receive a similar setup.

The third elimination features Crown eligibles Torrin Hanover, Dorsoduro Hanover, Babes Dig Me, Im A Big Deal, Twin B Tuffenuff and Nutcracker Sweet. Favoritism in this division could head a multitude of directions but value should possibly be present with Torrin Hanover, a stalker that has raced surprisingly well against the top level and Babes Dig Me, who demonstrated versatility when racing from off the pace in the Champlain instead of blasting to the lead as he did in the Nassagaweya. Those two will be live moving into this race, and both may prices worth pursuing if ignored.


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Follow major 2017 BC hopefuls on their road to the Breeders Crown at Hoosier Park at the Breeders Crown Countdown blog and the TwinSpires harness blog weekly, with archived reports on the results at the Hambletonian Society web site.