Harness Weekly Update: 23% winners, $87 exacta

The TwinSpires Harness Blog Weekly Update covers our successes and failures from selected features and the H2W (horses-to-watch list). H2W horses through the following Monday appear in the next Update’s results.

MONDAY$MONEY for Feb. 27

Always check the new Monday$Money feature in our Harness Preview editions. It’s the last day and night of our previewed picks and starts the next week with viable contenders.

Dover Downs

Angelo R3; Swans Cash Prise R7

Saratoga

Fire Flower R4

Yonkers

Priceless Beach R5; Smokin By N T9

Thursday, Feb. 23

This week’s quartet of Mohawk Miles (MM) contenders was reduced to a duo with the scratch of Kaboom NL and the refund for Thelegendcontinues when he broke for the second time in two races. Bella Cavalla went to the post as a favorite but broke and was eliminated. Remaining was Bad Eye Bill ($5.00, $3.70), completing a $27.90 exacta with his place finish.

At Batavia, our suggested Power Plays combo for the first two races resulted as the longshot failure the public predicted. Way To Go Fabeio (38-1) finished sixth to the race favorite in the first leg, and EY Cowboy (4-1) finished eighth to an 11-1 in the second leg.

Saturday, Feb. 25

At Pocono, our featured contender Dillinger ($7.00, $3.80) finished second to a 5-2 shot while another 5-2 shot won.

Later at the Meadowlands, we lost with 3-1 Nylander, finishing eighth and with Incredible Badger (54-1) in seventh. Both races were won by pacers eluding the general betting public.

H2W LIST RESULTS

The H2W results list across-the-board prices. Exactas listed include a H2W horse finishing second to a race-favorite or if the first two finishers are H2W horses (an asterisk appears when both horses are listed—a cold exacta). The note “OK” determines that prices are correct (even when a show price exceeds a place price or all prices are the same).

Please note that some results reflect horses racing after the blog posts (they appear the following week).

This week, there were 47 active H2W horses (a 23% win hit rate and a 40% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Shadow Cat, $17.20, $8.00, $5.00, Meadowlands
Lil Screamer, $11.60, $4.00, $2.60, Cal-Expo
Reign Of Honor, $10.00, $4.70, $2.90, Saratoga
Texas Terror, $8.40, $4.40, $3.00, Meadowlands
Our White Knight, $6.70, $3.30, $3.00, Saratoga
Stellar BB, $4.60, $2.60, $2.10, Pocono
Theresapaceforus, $4.30, $2.40, $2.10, Monticello
Gavinator, $4.00, $2.90, $2.10, Saratoga
Toms Twilight, $3.00, $2.40, $2.40 OK, Rosecroft
Odds On Brexit, $2.90, $2.40, $2.40 OK, Saratoga
Racine Bell, $2.90, $2.20, $2.20, Yonkers

Second

Roundtown Rocker, $12.00, $6.00 (Exacta $87.40), Meadows

Thirds

Bionic, $7.80, Dover
Count Jagging, $4.60, Pocono
Peppermint Mocha, $3.60, Northfield
Whats Up Cupcake, $3.30, Miami
Shipshape, $3.00, Meadows
Fear Abby, $2.60, Meadows
Create Mystique, $2.40, Meadows

NEWS & NOTES

It seems moot to write one more report about a mortal lock, so here is an editorial. Bulldog Hanover won Horse of the Year. “Bulldog” met all of the traditional qualifications. He won some of the fastest miles ever (including the fastest). He joins company historic (since 1947) with horses representing their dominance in their years of racing. For bettors, however, the list is lined with tenuous wagers. Sure, they all won a lot of races and did so quickly. But each received the honor while making their races sideshows to the average bettor. Bulldog was the first unanimous winner of the prize, one given by industry insiders. Such unity is in itself moot in the shadow of pari-mutuel activity.

The 2023 harness racing season at Buffalo Raceway starts Saturday, Mar. 4. Racing in March consists of Wednesday and Saturday night cards commencing at 6 p.m. (ET). When the calendar flips to April, action is held on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays beginning at 2:30 p.m. Each live program during the 57-day meet offers purses that average $100,000.

After winning 17 races in a row from July 2022 to Feb. 2023, Divine Art’s skein ended. The game Alberta-bred mare lost to Give Me This Dance in the $20k California Sire S. opening leg on Feb. 19 at Cal-Expo. Trainer-driver Gerry Longo settled in third with Divine Art while Jose Castillo trainees Park With Me Nancy and Give Me This Dance raced one-two to a :27.4 first quarter. Give Me This Dance circled to the lead before a :58.1 half while Divine Art waited to make a futile move to continue the streak.

Extraordinary Extras

Indulge in our new monthly column, Among Ourselves, at Harness Racing Update.