Genuine January Jewels

Once again this week we go after the prices, the contenders that confuse the crowds—and we do it with some winter series finals at Woodbine and the Meadowlands and with selected overnight events—our feature races—and our exclusive, popular horses-to-watch list (H2W).

Week in and week out, the H2W offers live horses, many that will escape public support, for your win, place, show and exotic combinations.
 
Follow tweets at @FrankCotolo, @Twinspires and @HarnessRaycer all the time for great late-minute action from harness ovals everywhere.

Blizzard Forecast

Friday, Jan. 23, Woodbine hosts the $40,000 Blizzard Series Final (three-and-four-year-old pacing fillies and mares with conditions). After a few legs of competition, the field has been set at 10, with a focus on two-time leg-winner Artistic Fusion. There have been a few opportunistic winners at long prices but the few sharp gals that have lasted to the final are where most of the win money will go.

Our suggested contender is one of them. Mappos Moenhay was terrific in leg two as the second choice. She survived a tough first quarter dueling with a 20-1 shot that did not make the final. What’s best is she may offer a better price than she has been offering, since Artistic Fusion and Onyourmarknatava are bound to be hammered at the windows.

Snowshoe Trotters

Three-and-four-year-old trotters meet in the $45,000 Snowshoe Series Final, also at Woodbine on Jan. 23. Here we will suggest what was arguably last week’s best performance, Bad Bug. Going off at 14-1, Bad Bug sat third for two calls and was sixth coming into the outside flow, racing 6 lengths off the leader while advancing to fourth. He held tough, gained ground and got second, steering clear of trouble all the way.

Bad Bug won’t get the kind of action going to Ys Lotus or Ramblinggamblinman, which bodes well for us. He leaves in the middle of those two probable crowd pleasers and could strike again with a crafty ride.

Super Bowl Final

In the $50,000 Super Bowl Final, a three-horse entry is bound to eat up a ton of win money, leaving us with seven other betting entities and a tough race to forecast. We would like to get a price on JL Cruze, who has been sharp in the series and yet could be overlooked enough in this for the sakes of the entry and Two Hip Dip. If JL Cruze can monitor his speed behind the barrage of leavers here, he could walk off with the final, as he did in a first-leg division, coming just off of the leaders’ flames and drawing off.

Worldly Beauty Final

The $47,000 Worldly Beauty Final for fillies and mares will find bettors focusing on Donttellruss for the series sweep. She stopped Witch Dali from a sweep with a win last week and has a marked advantage over that one, who is strapped with post 10.

We try to beat them both with Empress Deo. Her win last week was sharp and two back she was the probable favorite’s deepest threat. Look for a decent price on her as the aforementioned pair leave little room for a close top three choices.

Feature Race
Jan. 23, Yonkers
Race 8

With the Ron Burke mare Mandy’s Mattjesty going her second mile here from New Jersey and Pennsylvania last year bound to be the favorite, the femme to her left could steal the show. Our Els Dream N won her last at this level and should try to go wire to wire here like she did then. She was 3-1 and has a 4-1 morning line here, so let the public go with Burke’s mare (who should get extra action with local driving favorite George Brennan up) and we’ll follow our “Dream.”

Feature Race
Jan. 24, Charlottetown
Race 4

Fitelle takes a slight hike in conditions off of a raging win as the public choice. But here he may not be taken as favorably (his morning line is 6-1). However, he has been a serious contender at this level before dropping a notch and is not up against a powerhouse of class in this field.

A good partner for Fitelle should be A Fiesty X Ample, who was fourth for us in a feature race on Jan. 10 and should be in the mix here.

H2W Legend

Review our choices and follow the wagering at the prescribed track. These are possible contenders we have judged from reviewing races. The horses’ names are listed beneath the name of the track after the date they will be racing. The race in which they are entered (R and race number) follows. If a + is in front of a horse’s name it means it is appearing on the list for the second (and last time) because it failed to win the first time it appeared. An “ae” signals the horse is entered on the also-eligible list. If a horse is listed twice, refer to the entries on the night of the race since a horse may enter in more than one race. Types of wagering on any of the H2W listed horses are based on your judgment. If you have any questions, email us at TwinSpires.

H2W

Buffalo
1/23/15, +SBM Innocentoutlaw R1; +Raschabec R7

Cal Expo
1/23/15, Jailor R4; Empty Gesture R10
1/24/15, Arizona Captor R2
1/25/15, Clara Bea R1; Rare Beauty R2; +Mousseline Hanover R10

Charlottetown
1/24/15, Jamantha R7; +Wealth Of Nations R8; +Tyron My Gigalo R10

Dover
1/22/15, Dreamfair Epic R3; +Bossa Nova Baby R7; +Elite Awards R9
 
Flamboro
1/24/15, No Worry R6
1/25/15, +Beach Hero R1 

Freehold
1/23/15, Artizian Hanover R9 
1/24/15, +Catalyst R3

Meadowlands
1/24/15, +Kings Barns R4

Meadows
1/23/15, +Pathian R1; Jolt Of Jo R5; +Shucked R5; +Magic Wheel R8
 
Miami
1/22/15, +All Marks Go R2
1/24/15, Woo Shark ae R4; Jack Attack Brown R8

Northfield
1/22/15, +Star Studded Gun R3; The Street Dion R7; Ali Rush R11; Terror In Motion R15

Western Fair
1/23/15, +Dontcallmebaby R4

Woodbine
1/24/15, +Monte Cristo R2; +Order By Commander R3; Incognito R8

Yonkers
1/23/15, +American Flight R5; Mississippi Hippy R12
1/24/15, +Brookstone R2; +Uf Rockin Dragon R3; +Casimir Jitterbug R7

Ray Cotolo contributes to each edition.