Harness Weekly Update: $55 winner tops highlights

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, Dec. 16

Thursday’s Mohawk Miles contenders included Race 4’s huge place finish that followed the race favorite home to produce a $42.80 exacta. Twin B Beachdreams ($12.90, $6.30) paid off smartly across the board. Our other contender, Magic Wizard (13-1), finished fifth to the public’s second choice.

At Philly, our Pick 3 ticket produced two of three winners, so the single-race exotics paid for the ticket with the trio. Topping the three was Hes Rockin Ralphie ($21.60, $7.40, $6.00) in leg three. Also in that race (leg three) we had the place finisher McNeil Z Tam ($3.20, $3.80); those two in an exacta paid $68.20. No triple, though, because Brigadoon (15-1) finished eighth.

We got leg one with the favorite, Searching For You ($3.40, $2.80, $2.10), though we cautioned about the low price. Our higher-odds contender, MB Matters (31-1) broke and was eliminated, so we’ll never know what he could have done.

Leg two was won by the race favorite, but we took second with Create ($5.80, $2.40) for an exacta worth $12.80. Our other decision backing Protostar (13-1) failed as he finished fourth.

Friday, Dec. 17

A Power Play at the Meadowlands in a Pick 3 delivered two of three winners with single-race profits. The big hit was in leg three with the winner, Streak The Law ($24.00, $10.60, $5.20), along with his $33.80 exacta partner Juxta Cowboy ($2.80, $2.10), while Watch My Luck (4-1) finished in a dead-heat for fourth.

Leg two was our “lock,” Alexa Skye ($3.00, $2.20, $2.10), while Beyond Words N scratched. Good single, eh? The Pick 3 began poorly, though, when Alkippe ($5.20, $3.80) finished second to the 3-1 winner and In The Night quit badly on the lead in the stretch to finish 10th.

Saturday, Dec. 18

It was an afternoon attack at the Super Hi-5 pot and the other single-race exotics in the race at Charlottetown. Here are the specs for our five choices in the order of their finishing spots:

Tell Me Why ($12.10, $5.10, $2.50)
Ill Tell Me Ma ($5.20, $2.30) $2 Exacta, $24.90
Rock My Baby (7-1), fifth
Fluentocity (8-1), fourth
You Aint Dolly (9-1), 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 34 active horses (a 12% win hit rate and a 41% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Circle Of Life AS, $55.50, $11.80, $11.00, Yonkers
Alan, $23.60, $8.00, $4.20, Northfield
Libbys Idea, $6.20, $3.60, $3.60, Northville
Gypsy Leather, $3.60, $2.40, $3.60, Freehold

Seconds

Grand Master, $3.60, $3.10, Monticello
Prologue, $3.00, $3.00, Northfield
Casino Bags Anso, $2.60, $2.40, Meadowlands
Tempus Seelster, $2.50, $2.10, Yonkers
Santa Monica, $2.10, $2.10, Charlottetown

Thirds

The Funk, $6.00, Meadows
HP Xanadu, $5.00, Northfield
Diva Dali, $3.60, Northfield
Run Oneover N, $3.20, Dayton
Cool Blues Man, $2.40, Meadowlands

NEWS & NOTES

Again – Aside from Dec. 30’s Preview blog, we will additionally post our 2021 review, featuring our 2021 TwinSpires Harness Players’ Horse of the Year (the horse with the highest win price) along with a list of our winners from features and the horses-to-watch list (H2W) that returned 4-1 or up.

The 2021 meet at Yonkers Raceway concluded on Dec. 17. Jordan Stratton was crowned leading driver at the track for the first time, while Jennifer Bongiorno accomplished the first-place feat on the training side. Stratton finished with 346 victories. Bongiorno sent out 133 winners, with Scott Di Domenico second, Ron Burke third, Nick Devita fourth, and Gil Garcia-Herrera fifth.

Australian harness racing had the first Inter Grand Final of the $500k TAB Inter Dominion Championship won by DQ. The event placed trainer Jason Grimson and driver Josh Gallagher into the spotlight. Six-year-old pacer Boncel Benjamin failed by a head to overhaul Expensive Ego in the stretch but was awarded the win after Stewards DQ’d Expensive Ego, deciding he “appeared to run up the track in the stretch,” interfering with Boncel Benjamin who had to change course.

Extraordinary Extras

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