Harness Weekly Update: Prices good across the board

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. 23

Thursday’s Mohawk Miles contenders included Race 8’s third-finishing L Dees Patrick ($4.00), who lost to an 8-1 shot. The second contender, Race 5’s Woodmere Rio (7-1), finished ninth behind a 3-1 winner.

At Philly in the afternoon we were two for three in the Pick 3, beaten by a 9-2 shot in leg one with Redwhite N Goo ($2.40, $2.10) second and Shadrock Hanover ($2.20) third, while Vinny De Vie (17-1) finished seventh.

We won leg two with Patriarch Hanover ($4.60, $4.00, $2.40); Nextroundsonme scratched. And we won leg 3 with Hat Trick Marteau ($12.60, $4.80, $3.40) while even-money favorite Kenogami Coco finished sixth.

Pompano’s three features were all won by public choices. In those selected races we were fourth with Major Holligan (8-1) and Carbon Cider (9-2) and seventh with Trents A Lock (11-1).

Sunday, Dec. 26

Two Northfield features were in play. We finished third with HP Xanadu ($2.60), losing to a 4-1 shot, and the favorite beat us in the other, where Diva Dali (39-1) 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 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 24 active horses (a 13% win hit rate and a 50% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Odds On Algorithm, $11.60, $5.00, $3.40, Dayton
Bring The Thunder, $9.20, $4.20, $2.80, Meadows
Changing Colors, $4.20, $2.20, $2.10, Cal Expo

Seconds

Magics Wizard, $16.10, $9.50, Mohawk
Santa Monica, $11.40, $7.30, Charlottetown
ER Nelson, $4.80, $3.00 (Exacta $28.60), Dayton
Last Gunfighter, $4.00, $2.40 (Exacta $23.20), Philly
Dream Chasin, $2.80, $2.80 OK, Cal Expo

Thirds

Rock The Baby, $8.60, Charlottetown
Validus Deo, $7.20, Meadows
Evening Maelstrom, $3.90, Charlottetown
Captainfabulous, $3.80, Meadows

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.

Dayton Raceway finishes the current meet this week. The Dec. 23 program produced an all-sources handle of $850,522, the highest figure in the history of the Ohio oval. The all-time handle record is in jeopardy as we go to post. Tyler Smith, Chris Page, and Tony Hall will likely finish as top drivers in that order. The top four drivers have all earned over $1 million in purses. On the training side, Ron Burke should capture his second training crown over Jason Brewer and Virgil Morgan.

Harrah's Philly will bring the curtain down on its 2021 stand on New Year's Eve with a twilight card beginning at 2:30 p.m. (ET). The Dec. 24 program was the fourth over $1-million handle this season, and it also gave the track its highest single-season handle figure. A total of $1,194,167 was wagered. It looks like Burke and Yannick Gingras repeat as top trainer and driver.

Extraordinary Extras

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