Harness Preview: Picks and Horses to Watch May 5-9

Selected features and the never-ending TwinSpires’ horses-to-watch list (H2W) share keys to success in exotics, win, place and show payoffs.

Thursday, May 5

MOHAWK MILES

Each Thursday we highlight some probable long shots from Mohawk Park. If they do not win at first crack we add them to the H2W the following week as bet-backs or in selected features, adding new possibilities to this section.

R3 – First One: Qualifier merely loosened ‘em up for this. Trainer plus.
R7 – Hershey Seelster: Broke in qualifier and still made the time.

Friday, May 6

POWER PLAYS

Yonkers, Races 1, 2

Grand Circuit Reynolds stakes open the program, featuring sophomore-colt ($33k) and filly ($28) pacers. It’s a duo worthy of Daily Double / Parlay actions.

Race 1
Nancy Takter’s Huntsville colt Groovy Man should rule the win pool as an underlay, so we focus on the Huntsville colt we bet last week in the H2W—Letmecallyouback. He was fourth at Pocono at 33-1, trapped inside of dead weight in the $50k event.
Race 2
The soph-fillies offer two to debut at three and four who have already won one. Sake Bomb could make us start watching her sire Betting Line’s three-year-olds closely as contenders. Second behind a sterling Brett Pelling-trained gal at Philly, Sake Bomb went off at 24-1—the co-second choice.

Saturday, May 7

DEXTER CUP

Freehold, Race 8

The race for the Hambletonian begins with The Dexter Cup as eight soph-colt fillies trot the half-mile track at Freehold for $150k. The field is made up of Bar Coins, Brave By Design, Grizzly Bare, Justice, Paymaq, Pour Mea Double, Pretender, and T Rex Blue Chip.

Six of the eight are Hambo-eligible, and one of them interests us most. Lucas Wallin’s Pour Mea Double (Bar Hopping) won a trio of conditioned races at two, twice defeating elders, and was second in a qualifier recently.

Ake Svanstedt’s Justice could be the trainer’s Hambo entry and will race strongly from May 7 on to do so. Never count Ake’s Hambo potentials out.

The other two with August dreams—Pretender and T Rex Blue Chip—should be involved in exotics.

GRADUATE PARLAY PLUS

Meadowlands, Races 7, 8

Two of the Graduate divisions, one for four-year-old trotters ($75k) and another for four-year-old pacers ($50k), make for good spots to play your own win-bet parlay along with any other bets you make in each.

Race 7
The trotters Graduate hosts seven of 10 that debut in ’22. It looks like Sonofamistery may have strengthened his gait after a soph season of too much galloping. He has won two already and with a smooth trot can devour this group.
From sharp wins in Indiana trot stakes, Swingforthefences would surprise many but not us with a big mile.

Race 8
Some familiar names from two seasons, including 2022 Borgata contestants, make up the Graduate pacing division in Race 8. At Yonkers, Chase H Hanover raced well against older horses through some rough trips. Here, “Chase” has much more room, only two turns, to put together a win. A strong win price is guaranteed.

Horses to Watch

H2W Legend

Review our choices and confirm the wagers available at the prescribed track. H2W offers possible contenders researched from reviewing races. Horses’ names are listed beneath the name of the track with the date of their race and the race number (R6) follows. If a + is in front of a horse’s name, it appears on the list for the second time (horses are listed twice only if, at first, they failed to win. An “ae” signals also-eligible. Types of wagers to make are based on your judgment.

H2W LIST

Freehold
5/6/22, English Rose N R6
5/7/22, What Should I Goo R8

Hoosier
5/6/22, +Voracity R1; +Surreal Art R1

Meadowlands
5/6/22, Brazen Brazilian R1; +Primo Vomo R2; Gaelihill R8
5/7/22, South Beach Star R6

Meadows
5/5/22, +Lady Newton R1; +Boogiewoogiebevis R3
5/6/22, So So De Vie R11

Miami
5/5/22, +Howyadoinbub R5; +Wegoforthefront R5

Monticello
5/5/22, +Sporty Redhot R1; +Thunder Some Where R7

Northfield
5/7/22, +Don’t Mach Mia R1; +Fear The Pansy R2

Northville
5/6/22, +Magic Shark R9; +Come On Over R11

Oak Grove
5/8/22, Freak On A Leash R3; Cloudbreak R3; Justanothermiki R7

Philly
5/6/22, Caughtinalandslide R8; Trip Hammer R9; Doctor Bb R11

Plainridge
5/5/22, Muscle Gene R1; Swan Fine Lady R7

Pocono
5/8/22, +Wickedly Innocent R7; +Mushana R11; +Traffic Jam R13

Saratoga
5/7/22, Diamond Cowboy R1; Initial Concept R7; Roll With Dom R9

Vernon
5/6/22, +Bet On Yourself R6; +Valentine Express R8

Yonkers
5/7/22, The Real One R2