Harness Weekly Update: $21 pick tops host of winners, 50% hit board

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. Note—some East Coast tracks went dark due to extreme weather conditions.

Thursday, Feb. 10

This week’s Mohawk Miles contenders hit the board. Moonlitebeach ($2.70, $2.60) was bet more heavily than we predicted but was beaten by the race favorite. A 3-1 shot defeated our 15-1 Skylar ($5.00) who finished third.

At Yonkers our Pick 3 choices were close in each leg, but the trio of winners were all top crowd favorites. The best we did was with Major Battle ($3.30, $2.90) in leg three. Otherwise, we finished fourth with Anne Bonney (44-1) and eighth with a galloping Malnificent (96-1) in leg two, and in the opener, we finished fifth with Corsini A (17-1).

Friday, Feb. 11

Robertsgladerunner (33-1) never took aim at competing at Hawthorne, as the race favorite won our selected feature wire to wire.

Saturday, Feb. 12

The Meadowlands trio of selected features began with gusto when we won with Pirates Alley $21.60, $5.20, $2.80. The other two races we chose ended sadly. We lost with Montana Chief A (30-1) finishing ninth, followed by No Win No Feed A (13-1) finishing eighth. Both of those races were won by 4-1 shots.

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; most prices are for $2 exactas). 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 42 H2W horses (a 24% win-hit rate and a 50% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Causway, $15.80, $4.10, $2.60, Monticello
Thor, $12.00, $4.30, $2.70, Monticello
Followthewind N, $10.60, $5.00, $2.80, Northfield
Joe Exotic, $8.00, $4.80, $3.50, Yonkers
Kenogami Coco, $7.80, $3.20, $2.10, Pocono
Sectionlinetwister, $7.20, $3.40, $2.60, Miami
Thisishowwedoit, $4.80, $3.80, $2.40, Cal Expo
Champagne On Ice, $4.40, $3.00, $2.30, Yonkers
Some Lucky Magic, $4.20, $2.60, $2.60 OK, Freehold
Shirley Skip Shady, $4.00, $2.80, $2.40, Meadows

Seconds

Dig Danny Dig, $4.60, $2.80 (Exacta $7.80), Meadows
Promising Flight, $4.40, $2.80 (Exacta $15.60), Cal Expo
Part-time Hanover, $3.00, $2.10 (Exacta $6.60), Northfield

Thirds

Itsonlyrocknroll, $4.80, Saratoga
Hard Workin Man, $4.50, Monticello
All About Lynx, $3.20, Miami
Magics Wizard, $3.20, Mohawk
Beyond Belief, $3.00, Meadows
Heavens Superstar, $2.90, Monticello
Shock Wave, $2.40, Hawthorne
Society Jill, $2.40, Meadows

NEWS & NOTES

Andy and Todd McCarthy left the Australasian harness racing circuit for the U.S. circuit one McCarthy at a time. Andy hooked up with sharp trainers with good stock from the start and today closes in on 3,000 wins. Now, bettors are acquainted with his younger brother, Todd, who also abandoned Down Under racing a decade after Andy. If you like to follow drivers, don’t settle on favoring Andy or Todd because there are more McCarthys poised to hit our shores.

Down Under, “Team McCarthy” (TM) is a family business and as of this writing, TM horseman Luke McCarthy is one of the top reinsmen in the country. This month Luke represents TM with one of three TM-stabled pacers in the $500k Hunter Cup. That pacer, Spirit Of St Louis, is trained by another TM member—Belinda McCarthy.

Speaking of Down Under, yearling sales started there (it is summer on that side of the globe) and word has it horsemen and owners are excited about 27 yearlings by Captaintreacherous at the New Zealand National Standardbred Yearling Sales. TwinSpires harness bettors recall our intense coverage of the great pacer and saw us in the winner's circle when the colt won his Breeders Crown Final at Pocono. We’ll keep you posted on how the excitement translates into dollars.

Extraordinary Extras

Indulge in our columns, Alternative Actions and Bettors Banquet, at Harness Racing Update.