Harness Weekly Update: Cold $171 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.

Selections for Monday, April 17

Borgata Pacing Series - Yonkers, Leg 5; $50k

Race 3
Six ponder the four turns in the last leg of the series. Last week Dean B Hanover was aggressive enough to give him a shot here where he could get a perfect trip behind the probable favorite—and give him a late surprise, winning if even by a whisker.

Race 6
A tough group of seven from previous divisions gives us an opportunity for a longshot—Splash Brother. What’s with trainer Ray Schnittker? He feels after two dynamic wins this beast has a shot with the big boys. Still, the crowd may find Ray’s confidence bloated and let this speedball son of So Surreal go off with high odds promised. We’ll take it. Go Ray.

Race 8
Again, looking around the obvious, we could get a terrific price on Leonidas A, and this time he may zoom to the top and fly away, fooling few bettors. The stalwart pacer is versatile; he can cut all the fractions and/or weave a victory late through an opening of his choice.

Review of last week's action

Monday, April 10

The Borgata series leg resulted in one winner from three divisions. Covered Bridge ($7.50, $3.70, $2.20) led our cold $28.00 exacta with Leonidas A ($4.70, $2.50) second.

In another division, None Bettor A ($3.30) finished third to the race favorite, and in the third split Priceless Beach (15-1) followed five others to finish sixth to the second favorite.

Thursday, April 13

Our Mohawk Miles (MM) trio turned into a duo with the scratch of Write The Rules. Otherwise, Alcina (5-1) finished fifth and Landing Pad (94-1) paced as well as those odds, finishing eighth.

At Hoosier our parlay tanked with the scratch of Bettors Ville. We took the second half win with Goldies Rockin ($4.60, $2.80, $2.40).

Friday, April 14

The Matchmaker Series divisions at Yonkers delivered Racine Bell ($5.80, $3.30, $2.20) as race-favorite Drama Act disappointed, finishing fourth. Otherwise, Incaseyoudidntknow ($2.80) was third to the public choice. Wahs Fire Bug N (17-1) lost to the favorite without a fight, finishing sixth.

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 57 active H2W horses (a 21% win hit rate and a 47% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Sandradimples, $58.20, $15.20, $4.20, Philly
Holdonwe’rerolling, $26.20, $13.20, $7.00, Cal-Expo
Calm As Can Bee, $15.60, $4.80, $3.20, Northville
Gypsy Leather, $9.70, $3.90, $2.90, Monticello
*Sombodyitreasure, $8.20, $5.40, $2.60, Pocono
Southside Kid, $7.40, $3.20, $2.40, Hoosier
Lady Newton, $7.20, $3.40, $2.40, Meadows
Semi Tough, $5.50, $3.00, $2.10, Yonkers
Down It, $5.20, $2.80, $2.10, Cal-Expo
Peggy J, $3.00, $2.40, $2.10, Vernon
I Was Tricked, $2.40, $2.10, $2,10, Pocono
Jimmy Connor B, $2.40, $2.10, $2.20 OK, Plainridge

Seconds

*Puzzling, $23.80, $7.60 (Exacta $171.20), Pocono
Airy Shadow, $6.80, $9.10 OK (Exacta $43.00), Saratoga
Daylon Phantom, $6.60, $3.60, Buffalo
CR Dudley, $5.40, $5.30 (Exacta $24.00), Monticello
Hurrikanekingcarlo, $4.70, $4.00, Western Fair
Filled Donut, $3.20, $2.40 (Exacta $29.40), Philly
Got The Mojo, $2.60, $2.40, Harrington
IM Chiara, $2.40, $2.10, Meadows

Thirds

Ranaldi, $8.80, Plainridge
Rockin Deo, $4.00, Northville
Lupa, $3.20, Hoosier
Sudden Change, $2.50, Buffalo
Custards Dungeon, $2.30, Flamboro
War Daddy, $2.10, Cumberland

NEWS & NOTES

Dave Little reports that the “Meadowlands has the lowest percentage of winning favorites of any track currently racing in North America,” regardless of breed. He said the current percentage of winning favorites at Aqueduct, Gulfstream, and Oaklawn is 35%, with Santa Anita at 37% and Keeneland at 38%. The Meadowlands' 34% crushes the harness racing rate, which is 44%.

The Borgata Pacing Series at Yonkers completes series’ legs April 17. The $200,000-added final is estimated to boost the purse to $500,000 races on Monday, April 24. That card will also include the mares’ Matchmaker Series Final and consolation events for both races. The Borgata Pacing Series champ is offered a spot in the $200,000 Battle of Lake Erie at Northfield on June 10 and the $200,000 Aria Pace at Yonkers on Sept. 23.

The 2023 Running Aces harness racing season gets underway May 14 and offers action every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday night throughout the summer. First race post time is 7 p.m. Central (8 p.m. ET). Purses exceed $6.6 million, which includes overnight races, late closing events, Minnesota-sired races, and Minnesota-sired bonus incentives. Overall, total purses increase around 8% over 2022 by a cumulative daily average of $120,000 per race night.

Extraordinary Extras

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