Harness Weekly Update: Four winners for the H2W

The TwinSpires Harness Blog Weekly Update covers our successes and failures from selected features and the H2W (horses-to-watch list, now including Hoosier spin-offs).

Thursday, Nov. 11

Thursday’s Mohawk Miles’ contenders were anything but longshots. The sole winner was Cutting Class ($3.00, $2.20, $2.10), while the other result hit the show spot with Justa Bandit ($2.20).

At Dover, the Matrons for sophomores was no place for longshot players. Still, the public’s choices paid all right for the most part. We had three winners of four events.

In the colt trot, we had the $28.60 exacta cold, winning with Swingforthefences ($6.40, $3.60, $2.60) and exacta partner Incommunicado ($5.00, $4.00).

In the colt pace, we won with Charlie May ($4.00, $2.60, $2.60 OK). No trifecta since those two contenders, Rockyroad Hanover (5-2) and Southwind Gendry (5-1), finished fourth and sixth, respectively.

In the filly pace, although we did not get 3-2 odds on our choice, Test Of Faith ($2.60, $2.10, $2.10 OK) was a winner.

In the filly trot, the race favorite beat our two contenders, Iteration ($3.20) and Moni For Lindy (7-1) who finished fifth.

Saturday, Nov. 13

There were four Meadowlands Kindergarten Classic Finals. Here are our results from best to worst:

2yo filly pace – Misswalners Fashion ($5.60, $3.60, $3.00)
2yo colt pace – Early Action ($2.20, $2.10)
2yo filly pace – Don’t Fence Me In (13-1), fourth
2yo colt trot – Coach K Hanover (3-2), 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 are listed—a cold exacta). The note “OK” indicates prices are correct (even when a show price exceeds a place price or all prices are the same).

Please note some results reflect horses racing after the blog posts (they appear the following week).

This week, there were 38 active horses (an 11% win hit rate and a 45% ATB (across-the-board) hit. Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Franschoek, $17.40, $9.20, $4.60, Freehold
Dunbar Hall, $8.40, $4.40, $2.80, Meadowlands
Admiral, $6.90, $2.80, $2.80 OK, Monticello
DGs Elsa, $5.80, $3.40, $3.00, Dayton

Seconds

Pantheon Hanover, $29.80, $10.00 (Exacta $51.90), Yonkers
Tuukka, $8.40, $5.50 (Exacta $11.80), Monticello
Electric Chapel N, $5.30, $2.40 (Exacta $32.50), Batavia
Brandon Hanover, $4.90, $3.10, Yonkers
King Ragnar, $3.40, $2.80, Oak Grove
Greystone Natali, $3.80, $2.50 (Exacta $11.50), Mohawk
Watch Me Now N, $3.40, $3.20 (Exacta $5.00), Meadowlands
American Empress N, $3.00, $3.00 OK, Dayton

Thirds

Hangon Man, $17.60, Northville
Official Kisser, $5.40, Northfield
Hudsonandbernard, $4.20, Meadows
Malloy, $4.20, Meadows
Maydaymaverickhope, $2.40, Freehold

News & notes

If you were in the market to be an owner, or just wanted to buy a yearling and aim it at the huge harness purses, then you were at the Standardbred Horse Sales Company's auction in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania this past week.

The annual event in Pennsylvania’s capital attracted veteran and upstart horseman and owners from both sides of the U.S./Canadian border. Records were set for average ($54,653) and median ($32,000) prices as the yearling sale concluded—after three days of auctioning—with a near-record $42,465,500 in gross sales. (All stats per Ray Cotolo report for Harness Racing Update.)

Watch and Wager is set to kick off its 10th year as operator of Cal Expo harness racing this Friday. The 46-night meeting is conducted on a Friday/Sunday schedule this season with first post at 9:30 p.m. ET on Fridays and 7:50 p.m. ET on Sundays. Overnight purses have been raised an additional 5% to a nightly level of $54,000, a level not reached since 2007.

Tara Hills Stud announced the stud fee has been set for world champion Cattlewash, going to stud in 2022 at age five. Cattlewash’s quickest win was 1:46.4. He earned $1,319,037 and will settle in Canada with a fee of USD$6,000. Cattlewash took his world record three-year-old mark of 1:46.4 in a division of the Bluegrass S. at The Red Mile, making him the co-fastest three-year-old. He shares the record with his game-changing sire Somebeachsomewhere.

Extraordinary extras

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