Meadowlands Pace Elims On Tap; Go Go Graduates; Frosh-Colt Berths On Line At Yonkers In ‘Sheppard’ Elims

Sophomore colt pacers are in the forefront this coming weekend in eliminations for berths in the unofficial second jewel of the Pace Tri-Crown—The Meadowlands Pace. Two-year-olds are coming out in full force. Aside from main features, like the “Sheppard” elims and final (covered below), many of our exclusively chosen frosh picks are found in the TwinSpires horses-to-watch (H2W) list at the bottom of this preview blog, along with horses that may increase your tickets’ pricers for any type of bet. Do your own handicapping and then consider our H2W selections. TROTTIN’ AT TIOGA New York Sires Stakes (NYSS) opens its bank for frosh-filly state-bred trotters at Tioga on Thursday with three divisions worth $26,000-plus purse monies. In round one, with seven at the gate, we lean toward Tapupu. In only her second trip to the big time, she has cashed a modest check and will present a decent price as she aims to break her maiden. The public will probably go for the “brand-name” trainers here, leaving the promising filly trained by Phil Fluet an achieving mile. Another Seven fill the field in round two, five of which are daughters of Chapter Seven. Leaving with them is our prospect, No Mas Drama. The Muscles Yankee filly from Jennifer Bongiorno should debut impressively as the crowd hammers Julie Miller’s Love A Good Story. Maybe there won’t be fireworks after this final NYSS but the toteboard may shake a little with a win from Evanna. It’s her second try for bettors and with the blood of her productive sire, Conway Hall, assisting, she could sparkle. SONS OF SCIOTO Ohio Sires Stakes’ (OHSS) financial offerings are big for freshman on both gaits and on July 4, Scioto welcomes the green group to take the best of it. We offer suggestions in the colt divisions. OHSS one launches the Independence Day program for bettors and frosh-colt pacers. Sire Charley Barley has a single here with Charlie Bravo. The sire has only had three starters, one of them being “Bravo,” who showed well winning a qualifier. He won’t be bet hard in this group. The second OHSS for colt pacers offers eight at the gate. One I’m Gorgeous colt, Hez So Handsome, will help the sire increase a well-predicted percentage for winners. The third split presents a single product of McArdle, Hot Shot McJeffers, who finished second in his debut and is soft in the Morning Line (ML). Dan Ater’s youngster appears to be the best bred of these eight and could debut with a healthy win. MEADOWLANDS PACE ELIMS Two $50,000 elims will decide the final field for next week’s major event. The first poses the problem of deciding upon the colt that may upset Captain Crunch (CC). Workin Ona Mystery was strangely the favorite over CC in the North America Cup and will get a decent share of support here, But we still see him at a rung or two lower than CC. Reigning Deo is yet to win at three and two others, Mangogh and Mac’s Power, make their soph debut here. U S Captain, has four wins for four starts this season, though Tony Alagna’s colt has made far less than CC has made in that one’s three wins. Alagna’s other colt, Captain Ahab, seems competent with a show in two starts, but is a leap of faith bet that is tough to have faith in against CC. Back to Mangogh. At two, winning over $172 Gs, he was in the money 10 of 15 starts, five of those wins. Trainer Bruce Sanders must have more confidence about Mangogh than just getting into the final. It is safe to assume he may feel Mangogh may be stupendous and will hit the ground pacing, so to speak, two weeks in a row. That is a good scenario for an upset, backed only by Mangogh’s impressive frosh record hitting the board, so we will go with it here because if it comes to fruition, Mangogh will not be the kind of price in the final that he will be here. The second elimination contains eight in a more balanced lineup. For us, this one is a cinch because we are firmly convinced Bettor’s Wish has not found his true stride yet, even after winning four of five. Again, we think the public will lean into Best In Show and De Los Cielos Deo with far more enthusiasm than those two deserve. For us, the next strongest sitting on a big mile is Hurrikane Emperor and it would not surprise us if he found a way to make this event his best yet. GIANT GRADS The $250,000 Graduate Pace Final brings together 10 four-year-old viceroys never easy to measure. As a division on their own (which they are not) it is near impossible to come to decisive evaluations that separate them when racing. Unfortunately, it is opinion that most will use to measure them and that is far from the objectivity needed to be accurate. We will try to beat the lot of them with Backstreet Shadow, who raced well, finishing fourth in last week’s leg, and whose eight spots on the tote in 13 races this season may say more about his virility than most would admit. The four-year-old trotters in the $250,000 Graduate Trot Final take a similar posture, though the top of their bunch is the mare, Atlanta. The gal who beat the boys in last year’s Hambletonian is stronger and faster, racing better than them—a lot better. If there are any threats to her continued dominance, they come from the Svanstedt society. Six Pack and Muscle M Up are teetering on the brink of putting Atlanta in her place. Expect a strong and ornery challenge from the latter, as well as Six Pack’s courageous trip from an outside post that would be a major distraction to most others. Muscle M Up gets our vote. SHEPPARD’S FLOCK On July 6 at Yonkers, the track’s signature two-year-old event for colt pacers shapes up with a trio of $25,000 elimination fields for the Lawrence B. Sheppard Memorial Final (July 13). Six develop the first elimination, two of which are first-time starters and only one, Han Solo, who has broken his maiden. Of the three that have earned some money, Burke’s So So De Vie will be among the top three public choices, if not the first of them. The Ohio-bred Han Solo could get some support but may be over his head to five better bred from the east coast. Burke’s colt is one of three American Ideal’s progeny in this elim. The failure of Captaintreacherous-bred Cherrio Hill to win at first crack should not disqualify him from major contention. In fact, we want to back him due to extremely good reports from Captaintreacherous starters already on the track. He is forgiven concerning that first start and should be a good price, also, leaving from Yonkers’ 6 hole. The middle elim offers another sextet of colts, this group mixed in blood and already sporting experience. The sole winner is Cigars And Port, the So Surreal colt we won with in his first outing. He may not become the favorite, though, even being the sole owner of a win because Save Me A Dance (Heston Blue Chip) has not been off the board in two starts, one a win and the other a second. Successful local-trainer Andrew Harris sends Save Me A Dance, and that could add to public fancy. We will look beyond them to Level Up, an Art Major product, who could be on the bubble for his first win among those with the best blood. The Sheppard nightcap elim presents seven, three which debut and one unbeaten in his first two starts—Hunter Hill. A different sire represents each in this field, one that has been a spectacular New York daddy—Roll With Joe. His colt, Roll With Jr, is our choice to upset the obvious favorite. There should be a good price along with a win, since Hunter Hill may attract a huge share of the win pool. H2W Legend Review our choices and follow the wagering at the prescribed track. These are possible contenders we have judged from reviewing races. The horses’ names are listed beneath the name of the track after the date they will be racing. The race in which they are entered (R and race number) follows. If a + is in front of a horse’s name it means it is appearing on the list for the second (and last) time because it failed to win the first time it appeared. An “ae” signals the horse is entered on the also-eligible list. If a horse is listed twice, refer to the entries on the night of the race since a horse may enter in more than one race. Types of wagering on any of the H2W listed horses are based on your judgment. If you have any questions, email us at TwinSpires. H2W LIST Bangor 7/4/19, Checkisinthemail R5 7/5/19, Northern Ideal R2; A World Apart R6; Dragmetoglory R7 Buffalo 7/6/19, +Littlebitofabrat R2; +Stonebridge Guard R5; Classic American N R8 Charlottetown 7/4/19, Dreamboat Annie R2; Disneyman R5; Buckaroo R7 Hawthorne 7/5/19, Beach Ogre R4; Et Tu Brute R5 Hoosier 7/4/19, Frontier Telaphras R10 7/5/19, +Upfront And Gone R8; Bourbon Chase R12 7/6/19, Glorious Virgin R9; Texican R10 Meadowlands 7/5/19, Sexy Wow R5; Fromthestartagain R10; Satin Dancer R11 Mohawk 7/4/19, +Time Rolls On R10 Monticello 7/5/19, Relentless Dreamer R4; Somesurfsomewhere R5 Northfield 7/5/19, Shot Of Sweet Love R8; Queen Me Again R15; +Alishas Big Star R16 Plainridge 7/5/19, Lexi Tee R1; Noble Yaz R2; Good Heavens R3; Fargo Hanover R4 Pocono 7/8/19, I Have A Dream R3; Worthy Of Honor R4; Spring Roll R12 Running Aces 7/6/19, Better Watch Out R4 Scarborough 7/4/19, Fox Valley Salsa R5 7/6/19, Beach Maverick R5; +Shuttletruth R10 7/7/19, Memorydream R10 Scioto 7/4/19, Harvards Z Tam R13 7/6/19, +Splended Party R5; +Blooming Genius R11 Tioga 7/4/19, Andrea Suzanne R1; Pesto R7; +Money Earned R14 6/7/19, The Spy R3; +Apollo Seelster R7 Vernon 7/5/19, +Winding Hill R8 7/6/19, Blazing Joe R2 Yonkers 7/4/19, +Mrs Darcy R7 7/5/19, +Quite A Sight R10; +Lockton Luck A R12 7/6/19, +Shoreview ae R1; Ideal Jimmy R10; Bounding Dragon R12 7/8/19, +Homecoming King R6