Harness Weekly Update: Win-place bonanza with exactas

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.

The update for leg 3 of the Borgata series, at Yonkers is included in the next Preview edition along with our decisions on leg 4.

Thursday, March 31

At Hoosier we took on Power Plays but succeeded only with a winner—Rosas Image ($7.20, $6.00, $3.60). Our prospects for exotic partners, HP Xanadu (9-2) and Eternal Bliss (17-1), finished seventh and eighth, respectively.

Friday, April 1

The third leg of the Matchmaker series at Yonkers was no place for outsiders and yet we managed an exacta and a triple score with a favorite that beat our second- and third-place finishers. When Karma Seelster won the second division, he was followed by our two choices—Blue Ivy ($3.50, $2.30) and Gia Surreal ($2.40), igniting a $14.20 exacta and a $31.00 triple.

In the first leg, the public’s second choice won, and we were buried backing Mystifying (63-1) again and hoping No Win No Feed A (21-1) would improve after a good finish last week as those two finished seventh and fifth, respectively. We did have Miss You N ($2.10, $2.10), the actual favorite. In the last division, we had favorite Racine Bell ($2.50, $2.10, $2.10) but lost exotic cashing when Scarlett Hanover (7-2) finished sixth.

Saturday, April 2

Saratoga’s Daily Double/Parlay exotics plan was smashed at the outset when Diamond Cowboy ($5.20, $3.90) gave way to an 18-1 winner. Then, Furious Beach (44-1) was bad from start to finish, ending eighth as the favorite won.

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; most prices are for $2 exactas). 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 33 H2W horses (a 12% win-hit rate and a 42% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Hail Christian N, $15.40, $6.40, $3.80, Meadowlands
Elegator, $6.20, $4.40, $2.20, Pocono
Kinda Lucky Lindy, $5.40, $2.80, $2.80, Pocono
Bearcreekhoney, $2.60, $23.10, $2.10, Northfield

Seconds

Western Showgirl, $5.80, $4.60, Meadowlands
James Riverside, $5.20, $3.40, Freehold
Mr Dunnigans, $4.00, $2.20 (Exacta $10.20), Saratoga
Vintage Sauvignon, $3.80, $3.60 (Exacta$10.80), Saratoga
Sportsbook Hanover, $3.60, $2.60, Meadows
Ive Got Hootspa, $3.50, $2.90 (Exacta $9.30), Saratoga
Filet Mignon, $3.00, $2.40 (Exacta $8.20), Northfield
Marilyns Jo, $2.20, $2.10, Freehold

Thirds

Dali Special, $4.40, Northville
Shyna Rosa, $4.20, Meadows

NEWS & NOTES

The New Meadowlands is vibrant with new figures. In March, wagering was at a level that increased average betting per race card more than $3 million for the first time in a recent-history March. A total of $24,335,974 was pushed through the windows on eight programs for a nightly average of $3,041,996. The average per race was $234,000. Business was up over 2021 when the numbers were $23,162,002, $2,895,250, and $222,711, respectively.

As Hoosier Park begins its long Indiana meet, we draw your attention to some trainers who did well at Hawthorne’s recently closed meet in Illinois. We are keeping an eye open for shippers from three conditioners fans tend to not recognize: R. Van Hage, J. Filomeno, and J. Pritchard. We will be adding some of their shippers to the H2W list, but that should not stop TwinSpires harness followers from looking on their own in case we miss any.

Some of last season’s sophomore-stakes pacers and trotters are starting their four-year-old seasons and may be overlooked by fans who do not recall these steeds because they were overshadowed by the top tier of champs. Watch for them in 2022 as we will because the change from sophomore to older has produced many Free For All surprises. Watch for some of our comments with selected features where we will be identifying some as well.

Extraordinary Extras

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