Grand Circuit Rolls Into Canada; Filly And Mare Trotters Battle For Berths; Frosh-Fillies Chasing Cash; Gimpanzee Returns!

The Grand Circuit goes north, offering elims and stakes on a busy Aug. 24, while Yonkers sets up for next week’s soph classics, the Messenger. Lots of state-bred action starts the week and TwinSpires’ horses-to-watch (H2W) list again offers a cast of candidates for all types wagers. Do your own handicapping and then consider our H2W selections. I N S S GALS Indiana Sires Stakes (INSS) continue for green filly pacers with three $47,000 divisions on Aug. 22. In round one, we see a chance at a good price for Seventimesacharm, a daughter of Always A Virgin, against obvious contenders with better posts. In the second split, Fancy Riggin, a sharp Riggins product, may not get the support she deserves, allowing us to take a shot with a sire gaining popularity. The third INSS offers Riggins’ filly Foxy Rigger, a testament to our claim about her sire, as she has won all four of her races. She is an exotic key, at least, and may offer win value considering her great chances to win. PHILLY FILLIES Two-year-old pacing fillies aim at $91,521 a split in two Pennsylvania Sires Stakes (PASS) miles at Philly on Aug. 22. Eight in the first split pair up well enough to make this a good betting race. Unbeaten JK First Lady will battle for top public ranking with Beyond Ecstasy and Sweet Ace, but Ron Burke’s second entry, Dance Club, likes to be in the top three and is apt to be faster in this than her only winning mile. Price versus chances makes her a tempting bet. PASS two sends a pair that should get the majority share of support—Lyons Sentinel and Rocknificent. Burke’s lesser regarded Sweet Lou product, Primrose, may settle down adding Lasix and surprise them all. N.Y. OAKS DREAMS On Aug. 22 at Yonkers, frosh fillies in their first season of racing aim at $77,000 in two New York Sires Stakes (NYSS) that pave the early steps toward the “Oaks” in The 202 Hambletonian Trail. “It’s never too early to remember a horse,” said anonymous. There is a single Conway Hall product in the seven-filly field of the NYSS pair. She is Sorprese. Descendants of the bloodline are lessening but survivors are still eligible for the status of the sire. Sorprese is a Dan Daley student. Dan does not get many high-powered horses but this one should be in the mix, even against Julie Millers’ unbeaten Love A Good Story. The second NYSS enforces whatever Oaks theory we suggested, as bet-back Hypnotic AM sets sail on the half mile. Though five of the seven involved in this contest are by her sire, Chapter Seven, she has performed best and carries the Marcus Melander flag of conditioning excellence. This race fits an undeniably easy scenario with Hypnotic AM and Seventimesalady creating a small exacta that may be worth the small return. BATAVIA BEAUTIES NYSS offers a single event for soph-filly trotters, worth $118,000 at Batavia on Aug. 23. This group of eight should ring some bells by this time, since the division was intensely covered in the Hambletonian Trail blog from May to August. Atop the obvious contenders sits Quincy Blue Chip, with six wins in 11 starts, a lot of money earned from the program. Sweet Chapter, an “Oaks” alumni, has not been a successful bet-back and Trond Smedshammer’s Winndevie, who was never Oaks-bound but highly competitive among state-breds, are also here. We are behind With Out A Doubt, Erv Miller’s trainee. She gets a good spot on the rail going these four turns and may save the most ground to win while the others strain for position and dominance. That is how she beat better before and can do it again here. CASUAL BREEZES At WoMo on Aug. 23, two $83,000-plus divisions of the Casual Breeze come late in the program. Soph-filly trotters, led by Oaks’ winner Whendovescry in the first split, line up in the Grand Circuit event. Certainly, that first field of nine has the Rene Allard filly to deal with first and foremost. The few from the Oaks in the mix do not appear on paper or mathematically, to be able to challenger her. Special Honor woke up last week to grab a second spot, and Southwind Casha has erupted here and there and the two may assist in decent exotic pays with Whendovescry, but she is the key. In the other “Breeze,” returning after a win last week, The Ice Dutchess looks to swarm the other eight as the favorite. She will have to deal with Evident Beauty, who still enjoys a strong stance in the division. For an upset, there is Bright Eyes M. She is among the top-10 earners in the division and is on home ground in a good spot to turn the tables at a price. BEST OF NASSAGAWEYA A single Nassagaweya Stakes for frosh-colt pacers at WoMo on Aug. 24 is worth $228,100. A field of 11 score for the bulk of the purse. It’s tough to embrace any specific youngster here, especially with four from Captaintreacherous, the season’s prolific sire. There is one good shot that may be overlooked—Team Best. The Bob MacIntosh colt is one of the last products of Captaintreacherous’ sire, Somebeachsomewhere. MAPLE LEAF BRANCHES Two Maple Leaf Trot elims, $40,000 each, decide the field in next week’s final. Six familiar trotting mares are available for your fancy. There is Atlanta, who skipped Hambo day activity to muck up her next race in a tangle of trotters unwilling to stay on gait. Is it a symptom of fatigue? International-star Cruzado Dela Noche has not gotten the trips she needed to shine recently, while Dream Together and Guardian Angel AS has had issues, too. This looks like one of the best spots Marcus Melander’s Cruzado Dela Noche has had in a while. If Atlanta is not all-out on gait or gives in to some speed pressure, “Noche” could deliver and is worth the shot. The second elim prepares for some speedy activity with recently lively Manchego facing Hannelore Hanover and Six Pack. And what about another chance for Marion Marauder to return to form? This one is a mess and may result in a great mile for Emoticon Hanover from the rail. Judge the value of the price, though it should be good. BET-BACK PARADE Saturday, Aug. 24’s Kentucky Sires Stakes (KYSS) at The Red Mile features two divisions of soph-colt fillies and two for the colts. Each $30,000 race contains one of our Hambo-day bet-backs. For brevity’s sake, here is a list of them: KYSS fillies—Asiago, Queen Of Trix KYSS colts—Pilot Discretion, Guaranteed GO GO GIMPANZEE At Batavia on Aug. 24, only one of two NYSS splits for soph-colt trotters draws our attention. The $58,700 division features the bet-back brilliant battler, Gimpanzee. Nothing about the other six entries makes for an argument that Gimpanzee will lose this race. Aside from the obvious reasons of form and class, he towers over any colt in the state and, in our opinion, is the best sophomore in the division. Key him in exotics, pass betting and watch him, bet him as a fan and keep the ticket as a souvenir, do whatever makes you enjoy the presence of this great-and-getting-greater trotter. 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 LIST Batavia 8/23/19, CR Blazin Beauty R2; EV’s Girl R4; Hanna Dreamgirl R8 Hawthorne 8/22/19, +Et Tu Brute R2; +Rollin Coal R11; DJ Lance R12 8/25/19, Skyhigh Ambition R9 Hoosier 8/23/19, +Power Of Tell R9; +Ideal Feeling R10; Itiswhatitis R11; Sawyer’s Desire R12; +Rockin TJ R13 Meadows 8/23/19, He’s Packin R7; Yacht Week R9 Mohawk 8/22/19, Century Grizzly R5; Journalistic R7 Monticello 8/22/19, Can’t Knock Me R7; Twin B Onaroll R9; Thor R12 Northfield 8/23/19, +Lucille Amarone R13 8/24/19, +Stay In Your Place R5 Ocean 8/22/19, BN Hopeful R1; I’m Done Talking R8 Plainridge 8/22/19, Artspell R8; Sew Psyched R8 8/23/19, +Zeynep R4; Sylvia Trench R10 Philly 8/25/19, +Lyons Steel R5 Pocono 8/24/19, +David The Saint R1 8/25/19, +Sebastian U R9 Red Mile 8/22/19, Sea Of Life R4; Ellagator R5 Running Aces 8/24/19, +Picket Hanover R3; Just B Talking R4; +Nurse Nattie R5; Lucky Seven Oflodi R6 Saratoga 8/23/19, Lynn Bin Con Kin R4 Scarborough 8/24/19, Rick’s Sign R5; Camtizzy R10 Scioto 8/22/19, Buckeyeonbroadway R3; +Lyons Snyder R9 8/23/19, +Frontloader R3; Heart Of The Ocean R10 8/24/19, +The Smidge R12 Tioga 8/23/19, Va Va Voom R2; +Post Time Terror R4 Vernon 8/23/19, +Joke’s Jet R7 Yonkers 8/22/19, Dew Can Dew R2; Majorette Angie R4; Checkmate Hill R7