Harness Weekly Update: Mohawk Miles winners, well-paying place and show bunch

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, June 9

This week’s Mohawk Miles selections won. Our bet-back from last week, Blue Bayou Deo ($4.00, $2.30, $2.10), found favor with the betting majority. The second contender, Unbeatable Kemp ($8.50, $2.70, $2.10), paid a generous amount to win, defeating the race favorite.

Our Running Aces feature proved how difficult it is to beat a locally dominating horse. We attempted to hand out an upset to defy the superiority of the best horse and lost. Beachy Boy Hill (13-1) finished seventh and Headlining (40-1) took sixth.

Friday, June 10

The Goodtimes elims produced next week’s final field. Here, too, we mentioned a strong favorite and lost to him. Our proposed upset trotter, Esplosive (9-1), did not make the final, finishing seventh in the first elim.

In the second elim we made the final, finishing third with World At War Deo ($3.90). The 2-1 favorite won and our other contender, Mercutio (67-1), started and finished the mile in seventh.

Saturday, June 11

At Northfield, the Battle of Lake Erie went to the horse that beat us in the Borgata, Funatthebeach, and he did it again at long odds. We finished ninth with Nicholas Beach (7-2) and fifth with Catch The Fire (15-1).

At Mohawk, we had little luck against the elims’ favorites. In the NA Cup both public choices won while we finished second with Night Hawk ($2.70, $2.10) in the first split and sixth in the second split with Early Action (5-1).

In the Roses Are Red elims we tried to beat huge choice Test Of Faith but lost with Amazing Dream (n/s) third, and then the favorite beat us in the second elim where we finished fifth with Lit De Rose (10-1).

In the Fan Hanover elims we did not try to beat Treacherous Dragon ($3.60, $2.20, $2,10) and in the second episode we were second with Wickedly Innocent ($3.10, $2.70), while Queen Of Success (5-1) came home fourth.

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 46 H2W horses (7% 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

Talking Tom, $4.80, $3.00, $2.90, Saratoga
Worthy Of Honor, $3.00, $2.40, $2.10, Hoosier
Odds On Alpha Male, $2.60, $2.30, $2.40 OK, Hoosier

Seconds

Skyway Brittney, $19.40, $12.00 (Exacta $61.60), Hoosier
Lima Moonshine, $6.60, $3.30 (Exacta $14.00), Buffalo
Nextroundsonme, $4.30, $3.30 (Exacta $19.00), Yonkers
Willtowin Hanover, $2.80, $2.10, Pocono
Golden Kronos, $2.50, $2.40 (Exacta $12.40), Vernon

Thirds

SJs Edith, $6.20, Northville
Dunkin Beach, $5.30, Saratoga
Swan By Land, $4.00, Meadows
Western Rosie, $3.80, Scioto
Simonthediamond, $3.60, Buffalo
Overbearing, $2.80, Monticello
A Kolo Dance, $2.40, Oak Grove
Changing Colors, $2.40, Running Aces
Shining Jewels, $2.40, Meadows
Silver Buckeye, $2.10, Buffalo

NEWS & NOTES

There are horse shortages in the lower overnight category. The latest track being affected is Monticello. Due to a lack of entries, the June 13 program was moved to June 14. A week ago, also in New York, Tioga shuffled its schedule due to the inability to fill a program.

From The Meadowlands, Dave Little reports only six of 24 races last weekend were won by public choices, “a low success rate of 25% at a track where the chalk wins at a 38% clip.” When compared to Yonkers (46%), Philly (47%), Pocono (46%) and Monticello (47%), the best current track to beat favorites is the Meadowlands mile.

Veteran driver/trainer Tim Maier left California (where we first encountered him) for Minnesota and wound up in Ohio. Maier, who was out of action for a while from a racing accident, returned and has been on the brink of his 1,000th training win since. He got the mark in a win at Scioto with Cantfindabettorman, driven by Austin Hanners. Maier began his training career in 1991. His best year to date has been 2010 with 154 wins. At the age of 68, his lifetime earnings are in excess of $4.4 million.

Extraordinary Extras

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