Harness Weekly Update: Winter storm blues for bettors

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. Note—some East Coast tracks went dark due to extreme weather conditions.

Thursday, Jan. 27

This week’s Mohawk Miles contenders lost at long odds. Rhythm Seelster (7-1) and Wanna Rock (43-1) will be horses to watch next time out.

At Freehold a Pick 3 produced only one winner, Fat Boy ($5.60, $3.80, $2.80). In that leg, Bad Day Black Rock ($4.60) was third.

Another leg offered single-race exotic elements with J Danae ($2.80, $2.50) and Three Rocks ($2.40) contributing to a $29.80 trifecta with the favorite winning.

Then Sluggem (20-1) and Risky Buddy (3-1) finished off the board where a 2-1 was the winner.

At Yonkers in our two features, Alexa Skye (9-5) disappointed, finishing fourth and Sweet Sally Sue (76-1) rumbled home seventh.

Friday, Jan. 28

At Hawthorne we finished fifth to the public’s second choice with The Thunder Rolls (12-1). Then, we lost to an 11-1 shot with our 29-1 Rollinwitdaponyzzz, though we were third with Shock Wave ($6.20).

Saturday, Jan. 29

The Meadowlands programs canceled due to weather (see News & Notes below), scratching our three features.

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 30 H2W horses (a 6% win-hit rate and a 43% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Mach Impact, $6.30, $3.30, $2.90, Mohawk
Lifeintheslammer, $2.60, $2.40, $2.20, Meadows

Seconds

Sectionline Twister, $3.80, $2.60, Miami
Shared Interest A, $3.30, $2.80, Yonkers
Pondas Prospect, $3.20, $2.60 (Exacta $23.80), Hawthorne
A Major Omen, $2.80, $2.10 (Exacta $7.80), Cal Expo

Thirds

Beyond Belief, $8.60, Meadows
Sheeza Shark, $5.80, Freehold
Always Glad, $4.40, Cal Expo
Talking Again, $3.80, Northfield
Parkland Terror, $3.20, Monticello
Whata Twist, $2.40, Freehold
Beach Journey, $2.10, Northfield

NEWS & NOTES

Conditions for our H2W list require only two starts per horse but sometimes—lately often—horses have won after losing two races. We recommend followers maintain their own list of horses dropped and check in on them for as long as they feel it is necessary. After all, they may have excuses in their second loss (or both losses) and rebound. Sometimes the rebound pays even better than if they hit the first time.

This past weekend most of North America was in the throes of winter storm Kenan and racing programs were canceled due to its severity. The recent Friday and Saturday programs at the Meadowlands, for instance, were canceled along with others in the Tri-state area. Also, Canada tracks go dark from excessive white layers of winter snow and sometimes the official cancellations are made close to when a program would have begun.

The remodeled $385k California Sire Stakes (CASS) program is in progress at Cal Expo with a pair of $20k events for the four-year-old pacing colts and fillies. Under legislation passed in 2017, CASS events are now open to eligible performers from outside of California. Sires born in the Golden State have progeny racing elsewhere, such as Michigan, Minnesota, Maine, Alberta, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The $20k divisions offer $50k finals set for the week of Apr. 15. The three-year-old CASS events begin on Feb. 18.

Extraordinary Extras

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