Reelin’ On The Bluegrass At The Red Mile; Freshmen Are Feisty; Northlands Launches Top Pacing Features

Autumn’s promise always delivers. There’s the crisp and colorful leaves flying through the air and the pounding of hooves on the dirt in Kentucky as The Red Mile hosts the Grand Circuit. Loaded with talent from all divisions, this is the overture for the season’s championships, the Breeders Crown, this year at Hoosier Park.

We will be covering The Red Mile’s plethora of paces and trots for the two weeks and big stakes weekends into October here and in our Breeders Crown Countdown blog. Check both of these for hot contenders that can play important roles in all of your wagers, just like with our regular feature—the H2W (the horses-to-watch) list, located in its usual spot at the bottom of this blog. Boost the payoffs betting in any pari-mutuel pool. Do your own handicapping and then consider our H2W selections when playing your bets. Of course, remember to be fully armed with a plentiful TwinSpires betting account.

BLUEGRASS BOYS

Five Bluegrass Stakes for frosh-colt trotters start the big Grand Circuit weeks at The Red Mile, Sept. 28. Let’s look at these $73,000 miles and find some hopefuls that may pay well.

In the first division, Jimmy Takter’s You Know You Do will be greedy in the win pool but he is no lock. Tony Alagra’s Dawson Springs is a Cantab Hall colt that deserves attention because he will be in the mix and can take the favorite on the big clay mile. 

Next, there’s a chance at getting a juicy price on a Takter trotter with the 8 horse, Hill Street. This Muscle Hill guy is two for four in the win column and on the two turns can make a huge impression moving on in the late season.

Third Bluegrass on the bill is outside-heavy with probable choices but for Fourth Dimension in post 3. The crowd may overlook Fashionwoodchopper in post 8 but the Jim Campbell colt is raring to go, regardless of leaving with seven to his left.

The fourth stakes also lures bargain hunters to the outside post, as Cant Afford It (Cantab Hall) gets a good shot at a good price for Julie Miller. All the win money will go to the inside-post colts, especially those by Muscle Hill.

The nightcap is best approached by the greenest of the lot, Night Rhythm. He’s a Muscle Hill that is improving and gets a shot against a few in the division that have been struggling after as many as nine starts.

SLEW OF SIMPSONS

Philadelphia lays out seven divisions of Grand Circuit Simpson Stakes, this group on the Sept. 29 program, sending frosh-trotters and pacers to the turns at $30,000 a clip. In the interest of time and attention spans, here are our suggested contenders for each.

Division 1, filly trot: Mighty Macko
Division 2; filly pace: Shes In For Life
Division 3: filly trot: Fish Is Fish
Division 4: filly pace: Better Than Happy
Division 5: filly trot: Alter Gal
Division 6: filly pace: Rob Them Blind
Division 7: filly trot: Donttellvoula

BLUEGRASS BABIES

More Grand Circuit action during the traditional Red Mile meet goes on Friday, Sept 29, with five frosh-filly trots, each worth $66,000. You go, girls.

Six in the first division could present a price with Megadolce, a Cantab Hall gal from the hot Norman group.
Six more battle in division two and our choice is Dashanay, a Manofmanymissions femme that may be up to showing her true speed here.
The next division leads us to a Kadabra filly living up to her sire’s penchant for producing champion fillies. This one, Apprentice M, could be on the road to real money making stakes performances.
Then comes a shot at a good Takter-trained youngster with Swing It Cathy. She should love this two-turn mile.
The hottest gal around is Takter’s Manchego, looking for her ninth-straight win. If you care to take a shot to beat her, the price pal would be Ciao Dolce, Per Henriksen’s yet-to-be-proven unworthy.

SOPH-FILLY KEYSTONERS

The Meadows offers $34,350 for a Keystone Classic adventure with glamour-girl filly pacers on Sept. 30. The seemingly bottomless barn of Burke’s sends a trio into this eight-horse field. The Dave Palone-driven member of that trio is Beach Club (he is listed on three horses but most likely goes with this one). She is the penultimate earner in the group but may be bet too much for our risk. We like Freakonomics from the Ross Croghan outfit. It is totally possible that she will not be the favorite over any Palone-driven horse, with money also bound to back Perplexed, Norman’s entry.

NORTH WESTERN DERBY FINALS

Northlands Park presents its $138,430 Western Pacing Derby for soph-colt pacers and its signature Northlands Filly Pace for soph fillies on Sept. 30. Strong favorites address the 2017 editions. In the colts’ mile, Da Magician and Mateo were the elim choices that won easily and even though they drew the two outside posts, expect heavy action on them.

Watch out, however, for Senga Nitro, who comes out of the 3 hole and was second to Da Magician last week due to pulling midway and battling “Da” while covering more ground. He should benefit from the top two dueling for the front by getting a good spot to come out and charge after sucking along. The big closer is Three More Smiles, getting second to Mateo after giving him almost 18 lengths at the start.

The $132,390 filly pace final had one surprise in its elims, 10-1 Last Time To Play. But making the final is the beaten favorite in that contest, Outlaw Fireball. This gal had a treacherous trip and was all out to be third after the shuffling that blocked her best moves.


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

Batavia
9/30/17, Maradona R4; Chickenwithabanjo R7

Dayton
9/29/17, +Big Brad R4

Hoosier
9/30/17, +Pacific Image R7

Mohawk
9/30/17, +Color Envy R3; Anikadabra R9

Monticello
9/28/17,  TKRs Metro Specs R6; Rosie Rozzo R9; Shes Even Hotter R7

Northfield
9/30/17, +Got It Good R10

Northlands
9/30/17, Emmas Big Girl R5; +Southwind Jaden R6

Northville
9/29/17, April Moonlight R1
9/30/17, +Tuition Money R6; Keystone Rocco R8; White Shark R8; +El Puncho R10

Philadelphia
10/1/17, Mississippi Storm R7

Plainridge
9/29/17, Camco Titan R2

Pompano
9/30/17, Donblevmejuswatch R6; Gold Dust Darling R7; Kingwiththeaxe R8

Red Mile
9/29/17, Roc Royal R5
9/30/17, +Pinkman R3; +Letsallrock R9

Yonkers
9/28/17,  +Screaming Conway R4
9/30/17, Alta Jerome N R9