Power-Plays Profits Include $137 Trifecta; Exacta Explosion With Two $50 Hits At Freehold; $29 Tops Winner Prices

It was a good week all around. Here's what happened in chronological order --
 
Severe Race Coverage For Harness Bettors

Thursday, Feb. 8

Our Partners For Picks (PFP) at Freehold didn’t produce a Pick-4 winning ticket but the first leg offered a high-paying place finisher behind the favorite and the second gave readers a cold exacta with our two choices..

In leg one our sole choice, Dragoninthechips ($11.40, $5.80), finished second behind the crowd’s favorite, resulting in an exacta worth $50.40.

Leg two of the Pick 4 began a Pick-3 stream. We had the winner with Big Boy Floyd ($7.20, $3.20, $2.80) and the place finisher, Donato Stageman ($4.60, $2.80), paying an exacta worth $52.20.

In leg three of the four (two of the three) we had no action at all since our sole choice, Momma’s Artist, scratched.

In the last Pick-4 leg we were third with Midnight Zette ($4.00).

That evening at Flamboro, the crowd made our choice, Tenor Duharas 6-1 but their top beat us and so did four others as we finished fifth.

Friday, Feb. 9

Again, the Yonkers crowd loved our feature’s choice, Oh Jonny B Good N, making him the favorite. This time, though we had the favorite, a 5-1 won the race.

At the Meadowlands we dug in for PFP action with an early Pick 3. One of two contenders we listed in the first leg, Braida Hanover, scratched, while the other, Escape Again (5-2) finished eighth. A 10-1 took the race.

Leg two failed with Wired Hanover (5-1) and in leg three, where we offered two contenders, the first, Mass Psychology (70-1) broke and galloped the mile, while the other, Holyd Bones (5-1), took fifth.

Saturday, Feb. 10

At the Meadowlands our Power Plays exploded with profits. In the chosen feature, we had the winner with Jojo Jove ($11.00, $6.40, $3.60).

Putting the exacta into play, we had the place horse, Workandplayhard ($3.60, $3.00).

Topping off the trifecta was our contender May I Cruise West ($3.40).

Of the four contenders, only Baggage Claim (7-2) didn’t make the board or the exotic grade, finishing sixth.

The trifecta paid $137.20 and the exacta came back $38.00.

At Yonkers we offered two features. In the first, we once again wound up with a favorite, this one was Do Over Hanover, but he broke, finishing sixth-placed-seventh by judges as a few in the field caused infractions. The public’s third choice won.

The second feature found our contender, Toatsmygoats (8-1) in fifth when a 6-1 took the race.

All losers in our selected features appear the following week in the H2W list except any that raced in a feature after already listed on the H2W.


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 39 active horses (a 15-percent win hit rate and a 49-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

Pretty Boy Hill, $29.40, $8.60, $3.60, Dover
Major Trick, $9.00, $3.50, $3.10, Buffalo
Emmas Big Girl, $7.80, $4.50, $4.40, Northlands
Little Quick, $7.80, $3.40, $2.40, Flamboro
Amysterytome, $3.00, $2.50, $2.60 ok, Fraser
Gerardo, $2.80, $2.30, $2.30 ok, Woodbine

Seconds

Semper Fortis, $10.80, $8.80, Fraser
Rush N Supreme, $6.80, $5.00, Pompano
Tito Santannon, $4.60, $4.50 (Exacta $14.30), Fraser
Vanquished, $3.10, $2.40, Yonkers
Bettin Jake, $3.00, $2.50, Woodbine
Hammers Silver, $2.50, $2.50 (Exacta $4.80), Fraser
Mr Sideburns, $2.30, $2.30 (Exacta $4.40), Buffalo

Thirds

Druken Desire A, $5.00, Meadowlands
Credit Risk, $4.20, Woodbine
Jolt Of Whiskey, $3.80, Buffalo
Cartoonist, $2.80, Buffalo
Mad Mad World, $2.30, Monticello
RM Hawk, $2.20, Buffalo


News & Notes

It’s time for another monitoring session for a harness driver’s single-program performance binge. At Dover on Feb. 8, Corey Callahan won five races on the 13-race card. That was five wins for his 11 starts that day. His six losses were a mixture of short-and-long prices but it was one of his five wins that made betting on Corey alone as a handicapping factor on that card a profit. Making Corey a flat-bet profit (FBP) was due to his fifth winner, which paid $32.40. His other winners were $6.20 and below. Investing in Corey would have cost a player $22.00. His winners returned a total of $50.60. Were Corey’s fifth winner paid a price of less than $3.80, a player would have lost money.

The Meadowlands has been a hotbed of Pick-4 activity. Its 50-cent Pick 4, according to track figures, is hugely popular. The Pick-4 pool totals so far this year average $81,799.63 over eight programs. The wager carries a $50,000 guaranteed pool. The Pick-5 pools are also impressive, averaging $72,429 (though attributed to a $250,000 carry-over pool from opening night). Still, the Pick 5, sans carry-over cash, is averaging $50,635, more than double the $25,000 guaranteed money). The track also has a great total handle for three straight Saturday programs—$2.7 million.

One of the sport’s historic horsemen, Howard Beissenger, has died in his 90s. Howard was a trainer-driver in the era when most trainers handled their own horses on track. He won the Hambletonian three times and was known in the global standardbred community, racing in major events held in Russia, Germany, Sweden and more. Howard is best known for his great trotter-stallion Speedy Crown. He raised and raced the historic champion in his home state of Ohio. He also handled trotting-triple-crown;s Lindys Pride among a host of other top-earners. A memorial service in Hamilton, Ohio will be held on March 10.

Hannelore Hanover is Canada’s Horse of the Year. The other O’Brien Awards for the sport’s top performers for 2017 offered obvious choices and a few surprises. Ariana G won for soph-trotting fillies; International Moni won for soph-trotting colts; Sandbetweenurtoes won for older pacing mares. Frosh filly honors went to Percy Bluechip and Kadabra Queen. Frosh colt winners were Stay Hungry and Alarm Detector. Bettors Up won the pacing-filly award, while the colt champ was Classic Pro. Sintra won the older pacing award.


Extraordinary Extras

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