Harness Weekly Update: $37 top winner

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

Thursday, July 21

This week’s Mohawk Miles selections did not hit the board. Our first, Horn Player (3-2), broke badly at the start and was placed eighth by stewards. The second, Stakeholder (7-2), finished fourth to the public choice.

Sires stakes in Indiana at Hoosier brought home the winner Adamsville Road ($12.00, $4.60, $3.20) in the first split. Next, Panda Adventure ($2.60, $2.10, $2.10) beat our other contender, Scorecard Dan (22-1), which finished fourth.

Friday, July 22

The Hawthorne stakes duo came close only with Fox Valley Ozzy ($3.00, $2.10), second to the other 7-5 shot. Earlier, Romantic Warrior (19-1) completed a superfecta with a fourth to the public’s second choice.

Saturday, July 23

At Saratoga our choice in the feature event, Leonidas A (13-1), had an overland trip that ruined his late chances on the half-mile track. Our second contender, Linedrive Hanover ($2.60), finished third.

Grand Circuit Tompkins-Geers Stakes at The Meadowlands produced a winner, Mon Cheval ($4.80, $2.80, $2.20), a second, Dreamonhigh ($8.60, $5.20) and a third, Letsdoit S ($2.20). The other contender, El Toro Loco (14-1), finished fifth.

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 form a cold exotic combo; most base prices are $2). 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 34 H2W horses (12% win-hit rate and a 32% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

HS Winchester, $37.00, $10.00, $3.00, Meadows
So Delightful, $6.80, $3.60, $2.40, Meadowlands
Payara, $5.60, $3.20, $2.60, Northfield
Nuttinbutthebest, $4.20, $3.00, $2.20, Pocono

Seconds

Lindy The Brave, $10.20, $5.00 (Exacta $28.60), Oak Grove
Carracci Hanover, $4.40, n/s, Yonkers
Special Tyler, $2.60, $2.40, Vernon

Thirds

The Moonshadow N, $7.40, Pocono
Fox Valley Auburn, $5.40, Hawthorne
Sudden Change N, $3.40, Scioto
Hall Of Duty, $3.30, Vernon

NEWS & NOTES

Next week the Hambletonian elims go at The Meadowlands, and we all expect this year’s fabulous glamour-girl trotter, Joviality S, will take on the boys again instead of going in the “Oaks.” She was an easy winner in the colt division’s Yonkers Trot and untouchable against her division since.

The 2022 harness season began at Batavia, on a track that has been completely re-graded and resurfaced. The meet highlights are the Aug. 26 New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) and the Robert Kane Pace. Racing is on Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday through August with a special card on Aug. 26 for NYSS. In September, races are on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Post for the Sundays is 1:15 p.m. (ET), and at 6 p.m. on all Wednesdays, Saturdays, and the Fridays. There’s a matinee on Sept. 5; no racing on Sept. 9. The meet ends Dec. 17.

Extraordinary Extras

Indulge in our column Alternative Actions at Harness Racing Update.