Harness Weekly Update: $90 winner leads hit parade

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, May 18

Our Mohawk Miles trio included only one contender hitting the board. Deadly Delight ($11.80) finished third. My One Percent (5-1) finished fifth-placed-fourth, and Moonlit Affair (12-1) finished fifth.

At Hoosier, another attempt at the TwinSpires-bonus play for the Late Pick 4 was futile. The only winner was the single Ponda Executive ($3.20, $2.80, $2.40). Otherwise, Momentstruth ($9.60) finished third; Bettor Lady (8-5) fourth; Juxta Cowgirl (3-2) fifth; Morning Sunrise (9-5) fifth; Alwaysanun (20-1) sixth; and Little Jolena (14-1) ninth.

Friday, May 19

The Hoosier Power Plays Parlay races were among those canceled on the program due to a track-lighting failure.

Saturday, May 20

At the Meadowlands, we backed one of the best overlays of the season so far and one you may not get again this season with Venerate ($9.60, $4.80, $3.40). In his first start of the season, he won the Arthur Cutler Memorial.

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 47 active H2W horses (a 9% win hit rate and a 49% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Caviart Cale, $90.50, $22.20, $10.40, Saratoga
Live And Let Di, $11.20, $3.60, $2.10, Northfield
Betternotmachme, $2.20, $2.10, $2.10 OK, Charlottetown
TK Dragonfly, $2.20, $2.10, $2.10 OK, Northfield

Seconds

Hard Workin Man, $6.70, $3.30 (Exacta $13.80), Monticello
Midnight Zen, $5.20, $2.80, Running Aces
Everyone’s Talkin, $4.20, $2.30 (Exacta $18.20), Tioga
Fantastic Voyage, $4.20, $3.00, Rosecroft
Mull Of Kintyre, $3.80, $3.20, Hoosier
Shades Of Bay, $2.90, $2.40, Monticello
Mr Perfect N, $2.80, $2.50 (Exacta $8.30), Saratoga
Jumping The Line, $2.60, Scioto
Swinging Senorita, $2.60, $2.10 Scioto
Express Man, $2.40, $2.10, Meadows
Ignatius A, $2.40, $2.10, Yonkers

Thirds

Saddle Up N Cruise, $6.40, Northville
Ginger Tree Will, $6.00, Plainridge
Buzz, $4.60, Tioga
Muskingum, $3.70, Buffalo
Top Recruit, $3.20, Hoosier
Boiler Maker, $2.80, Meadowlands
Sporty Redhot, $2.60, Monticello
Do It Like Bobbi, $2.20, Scioto

NEWS & NOTES

Please make note. Our coverage increases with the latest openings of harness tracks. Though we do our best to cover Grand Circuit features, we pass on some. This is either a case where the fields have not drawn to make our posting deadline or when we feel a specific stakes does not measure up to our betting standards. We measure the value of all races with bettors in mind, and though opinions vary on any types of races, we come to conclusions best for bettors.

With the Grand Circuit season in play, some recognizable star pacers are qualifying for action. At Philly, Bret Pelling-trained celebrity Allywag Hanover, now six, settled the mile to win in 1:50.1. Last year’s Hambletonian-champ-trainer Jim Campbell had five-year-old Take All Comers raising eyebrows with a 1:54 win. We’re keeping our eyes open for improving two- and three-year olds that could surprise bettors, as we have done year after year with success.

Qualifying at the Meadowlands was JiggyJog S, now four. He won in 1:52.4 for trainer Ake Svanstedt. Meadowlands Pace prospect Confederate was impressive winning in 1:52.3. Soph-trotter Bond, another Ake student, won in 1:54.

Extraordinary extras

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