Harness Weekly Update: $31 winner completes $317 Pick 3

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.

Thursday, Jan. 26

This week’s quartet of Mohawk Miles (MM) contenders produced two winners, Day At The Gym ($3.20, $2.50, $2.70 OK) followed by Cutting Class ($10.60, $5.00, $3.20). Chedda Chedda ($5.50, $3.90) completed a $13.80 exacta with the race favorite, and Kaboom NL (4-1) broke and finished seventh.

The Rosecroft feature aimed at a longshot, but the longshot winner was not one of our duo of contenders. The 15-1 upset victor defeated our choices, La Savane (40-1) and Seize Control (25-1), who finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Friday, Jan. 27

Our afternoon feature at Freehold was a bankroll-blaster featuring both of our contenders. We won with Salvadors Sun ($28.60, $8.60, $5.00) along with the favorite, Candell ($3.20, $2.60), producing an $81.40 exacta.

Saturday, Jan. 28

At the Meadowlands, we offered Power Play contenders. The winner was Southwind Sandor ($31.00, $13.00, $6.00). Also making a trifecta position was Water Sports Teen ($3.60) in third. A Rocknroll Star (5-1) finished fourth, and Chaser Hanover (12-1) finished sixth.

Southwind Sandor completed a $1.00 Pick 3, including one favorite and one co-second choice, that paid $317.20.

Reminder - MONDAY$MONEY for Jan. 30

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
Thatswhatisaid R1; +Sharky Bear R5; JBN R8; Backstreet Player R10; +Bionic R11

Yonkers
Division Bell R6 (AE)

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 33 active H2W horses (a 15% win hit rate and a 39% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

CR Dudley, $38.00, $7.60, $6.00, Monticello
Pine Master, $17.20, $9.20, $6.20, Miami
Acton Hanover, $7.40, $4.60, $4.00, Meadowlands
Banderas Hanover, $5.20, $3.70, $2.80, Monticello
Ayr Pioneer GB, $2.50, $2.10, $2.10, Monticello

Seconds

Woodmere Jazz, $5.20, $3.00 (Exacta $24.00), Freehold
Ocean Ridge N, $3.60, $2.40, Dover
Tony Too Tall, $2.80, $2.60, Dover
Promise For Life, $2.50, $2.90 OK (Exacta $14.20), Yonkers
Fromashestoashes, $2.20, $2.10, Cal-Expo

Thirds

Gray Zee, $2.60, Cal-Expo
Transparency, $2.60, Rosecroft
Always B Laughin, $2.20, Miami

NEWS & NOTES

From Feb. 3 on at the Meadowlands, racing will be conducted every Friday and Saturday through Hambletonian Day, Saturday, Aug. 5. The first race gets underway at 6:20 p.m. (ET) for every program except for Aug. 1, when post time is noon.

Buffalo Raceway’s harness season starts on Saturday, Mar. 4, with a 6 p.m. (ET) post time. Buffalo will have a Wednesday, Saturday schedule during the first month. The track adds Friday racing to the calendar in April with post times reverting to 2:30 p.m. until the end of the season on Saturday, July 22.

Champion racehorse and Hall of Fame sire Cantab Hall was humanely euthanized, due to arthritic disabilities, on Jan. 23 at the age of 22, Hanover Shoe Farms reports. Cantab Hall’s lifetime progeny earnings total $116,926,333 to date. The prolific trotting sire was responsible for 11 millionaires including Father Patrick, Explosive Matter, Mets Hall, Uncle Peter, and Lifetime Pursuit.

Super performer and productive sire Presidential Ball died last week at the age of 33. Presidential Ball won 26 of 38 races and earned more than $3 million from two racing seasons—1992 and 1993. The son of Cam Fella retired as the third richest pacer of all time. As a stallion, he sired champions in both hemispheres, led by millionaires Cathedra Dot Com, Bigtime Ball, and Allamerican Native ($1,499,977). In the Southern Hemisphere he became the leading two-year-old sire in Australia from his debut crop. Presidential Ball is buried at Alabar Farms in Australia.

Extraordinary Extras

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