Power Plays And Picks’ Contenders Choose $30, $28 Exactas And Three Of Four In $1,222 Superfecta; $25 Win Tops Prices

Our second full week of selected features included the popular Power Plays and Partners For Picks (PFP) with suggested contenders for any and all exotics. We hope our choices assisted in some fine strikes for harness bettors that resulted in generous returns. Let’s look at what happened chronologically, from Dec. 14 through Dec. 16, then check out our other possibilities from the horses-to-watch list (H2W).

Thursday, Dec. 14 we visited Philly harness with a PFP, shooting at the early Pick 4. We hit with 50-percent of the winners. In the third leg we gave readers The Only One ($6.20, $3.20, $2.40), who was the publics second choice. In leg four we hit with Odysseus ($9.00, $4.00, $2.40). Those winners contributed to a Pick-4 payoff of $237.40, along with the first-and-second legs that went to a pair of favorites. Our losers were Anianne Hanover (18-1), who finished sixth in leg one, and Abbies Celticlass (16-1), finishing fifth in leg two.

Friday, Dec. 15, presented four contenders for three exotics on Dayton’s program. A cold exacta resulted from two of our choices with a winner, Hurricane Hazel ($7.20, $4.40, $3.80) and the place horse, I’ll Have Another ($5.40, $3.80). That exacta paid $30.60. Those two were half of the $65.48 superfecta. Our failures in the quartet included ABC Dynamite (14-1), finishing fifth, and Bookem (10-1), finishing sixth.

One selected feature at the Meadowlands was also a focus on Dec. 15. A 4-1 shot defeated our choice, Roger Mach Em (7-2), who finished sixth.

Saturday afternoon, Dec. 16, we presented a Power Plays (PP) event at the Meadows and contributed greatly to all the exotics. The winner was not one of our outsiders, still, the victory of Silverhill Blaze ($5.60, $3.40, $2.80) was complemented by an exacta partner, Artache Hanover ($5.80, $4.00), for an exacta worth $28.00. We also gave the superfecta’s fourth-place finisher, Nitro Seelster (8-1). That superfecta came back $1,222.60 with a 17-1 shot in third, also producing a $243.00 trifecta with two of our four PP contenders.

All losers in our selected features appear the following week in the H2W list.


H2W LIST RESULTS

The H2W results list across-the-board prices. Also, exactas listed are included when a H2W horse finishes second with a race favorite or the first two finishers making up the exacta are H2W horses (an asterisk appears when both horses were listed to complete a cold exacta). The note “ok” determines that prices published are correct even when a show price exceeds a place price or any or all of the prices are the same. This week, there were 44 active horses (a 11-percent win hit rate and a 41-percent ATB [across-the-board] hit rate).

Please note that some H2W results reflect win, place, show and exotic results occurring by press time but some horses race after the blog is posted (we list them the following week) It is up to you to follow horses that have not performed before this weekly review

Winners

Nips Beach Girl, $25.00, $4.60, $4.30, Rideau-Carleton
Mr Sideburns, $7.60, $3.70, $2.30, Monticello
Western Joe, $7.20, $2.80, $2.60, Meadowlands
Melmerby Beach, $4.60, $2.20, $2.20 ok, Meadowlands
Psychic Blue Chip, $3.00, $2.80, $2.20, Rosecroft
 
Seconds

Donato’s Artist, $11.40, $4.50, Yonkers
Western Olympian, $9.40, $4.40, Northlands
Dream Ball, $4.10, $2.40 (Exacta $6.90), Saratoga
Mission Man, $3.80, $3.00 (Exacta $18.40; *Trifecta $87.00), Meadows
Mystic Flower, $3.80, $2.60 (Exacta $8.60), Northville
Yeswellnomaybe, $3.60, $2.80, Cal-Expo
Lady Shadow, $2.20, $2.10, Yonkers

Thirds

All Out, $4.60, Charlotteville
Tsunami Seelster, $4.00, (*Trifecta $87.00), Meadows
Little Santamonica, $3.00, Northfield
Hootintootinhannah, $2.80, Northville
Miss Irish Rose A, $2.70, Batavia
Gaelic Thunder, n/s, Scarborough


News & Notes

Just after Yonkers Raceway announced Cammie Haughton would serve as the director of racing, Haughton immediately announced upcoming changes that included removing the track’s stretch-drive passing lane. He said he recognized many of the track’s horsemen may oppose the move but would tell them “if they don't like it they can drive somewhere else. He said getting rid of the passing lane was “going back to basics.” Drivers, he said, are going to have to pull their horses the way they used to in the stretch. The change could be in effect as early as January. Yonkers wrapped its 2017 season on Dec. 17^. Yonkers’ 2018 season is scheduled to begin with a matinee on Sunday, Jan. 7.

According to Marv Bachrad at Dover, GeorgeTeague plans to qualify Wiggle It Jiggleit in the soon. Since last Fall, Teague has been carefully bringing back the gelding, a winner of $3,907,557. Wiggler It Jiggleit had been bothered by recurring back troubles but Teague says the pacer has not been bothered readying for a comeback. After missing all his 2017 season, the champion plans to return in a number of qualifying races at Dover or the Meadowlands starting in the next few weeks. 

Credit Winner’s richest son, Devious Man, a major contender on the 2017 Hambletonian Trail, has gone to stud and will stand at Blue Chip Farms in New York. He’s a winner of nearly $1.4 million lifetime as a New York Sire Stakes Champion and five of its legs, along the Empire Breeders Stakes Final and finished second in the Hambletonian. Our Hambletonian Trail blog gave readers Devious Man in the Earl Beale Memorial Final, when he paid his top price, going off at more than 10-1.

The Meadows will offer 195 race programs in 2018, the same amount as 2017, the season once again highlighted by the Adios Pace. The “Race for the Orchids” is scheduled for Saturday, July 28. The Meadows presents racing each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, with first post at 1:05 p.m. The season kicks off on Tuesday, Jan. 2 and will continue throughout the year with brief breaks in April/May, July/August and September. The week of the Adios begins on Saturday, July 21, with eliminations for the feature the and a week of Grand Circuit stakes action plus a variety of special events. The Adios Day card is set for 12:00 p.m.

Extraordinary Extras

Indulge in many standardbred topics at my Hoof Beats blog titled Vast Performances.

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