Running Aces’ Amazing $54 Winner; Century Score At $34; Fear The Dragon Vs. Huntsville Next Week

Check out the horses-to-watch list for our headline winners at Running Aces and Century Downs.

Next week’s Adios Pace at the Meadowswill match the glamour-boy-pacing division’s two top colts, Fear The Dragon and Huntsville. Both won their Adios elims on July 22. We warned they could each make wagering the races moot by putting in big miles and we were correct, though we only tried to beat Huntsville with Miso Fast (n/s) who finished third. If you thought 1-5 was worth it you probably went along with us in the other elim with Fear The Dragon ($2.40, $2.10, n/s).

On the Meadows program that same afternoon, there were three Pennsylvania Sires Stakes (PASS) miles for freshman-colt pacers. We had two thirds with the unfortunate no-show pool condition due to very heavy favorites in small fields. Our thirds were Lucky Leonard and Better Watchout. We were sixth with Whatstroublnurocky (45-1).

Saturday night also presented the Joe Gerrity, Jr. Memorial at Saratoga, where we were correct about an upset but did not get the desired result. Our choice, All Bets Off (9-1) was stuffed on the inside and in fiery fractions the outside closed late and the race was won by a 15-1 shot.

Friday afternoon at Philly, four freshman-colt trotting PASS miles brought out the youngsters. We nabbed two winners: Met’s Hall ($7.40, $2.80, $2.40) and Final Dream ($6.00, $2.60, $2.10). We were second with Storming Mist ($8.20, $7.60) and sixth with American Steele (39-1), beaten by the public choice.

FRESHMAN FROLIC

Ten two-year-olds were the focus of this section from July 20—July 22. We cannot claim any winners but our horses were competitive, contributing to the exotics at a few different raceways.

At Hawthorne we were second with Don’t Forget ($4.00, $3.00) for an exacta with the public choice that paid $20.60, and third with Among The Elite ($2.60).

At Northfield we were second with Rockathon ($3.20, $2.60) and third with Rock On Creek ($3.80).

At Philly we were third with Naturalle Muscle ($5.00).

Off the board were Skyway Royalty (2-1) at Hoosier; Sheila’s Share (32-1) at Bangor; and Sweet On You (119), Odds On Cheddar (55-1) and Royal Tension (103-1) at the Meadowlands.
 
All freshman losing in their first mentions in the Frolic section appear one more time in an upcoming H2W list.

HAMBLETONIAN TRAIL

This week’s Hambletonian Trail featured Meadowlands’ Grand Circuit action with the Art Tompkins Memorials for colts and fillies and two Open events for Hambo-eligible colts and fillies.

The first “Tompkins” filly trot offered a meager return all around but we nailed it with the winner, Feed Your Head ($4.80, $2.20, $2.10), the exacta partner Overdraft Volo ($2.20, $2.10) and the triple element Leet Hanover ($2.40). The easy exacta paid $7.20 and the simple triple paid $17.80.

The second Tompkins division found our choice, Southwind Cobra (6-1) finishing fourth.

The Opens resulted in two fourths for us with the colt Sir John (8-1) and the filly Cool Cates (24-1).


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 33 active horses (a 15-percent win hit rate and a 42-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 is posted.

Winners

CW Raisinette, $54.00, $31.20, $6.60, Running Aces
Outlawtriggerhappy, $37.90, $17.60, $10.40, Century
Jasmine K, $3.40, $2.20, $2.40 ok, Ocean
Mugshot Man, $3.20, $2.60, $2.40, Scioto
Oh To Be Me, $2.20, $2.10, $2.10, Charlottetown

Seconds

Respectable Dream, $7.40, $4.80 (Exacta $28.60), Saratoga
Day Longcard, $5.20, $3.20 (Exacta $19.80), Century
Brooklyn Band, $4.90, $3.70, Tioga
The Wayfaring Man, $3.20, $2.20, Pocono
Artmagic, $2.30, $2.10, Yonkers

Thirds

Rock The Baby, $4.80, Hoosier
Sassy Massy, $4.50, Yonkers
Gold Star Bugsy, $3.60, Running Aces
Jeb, $3.60, Charlottetown


News & Notes

You have to look deeply into the annals of racetrack closings to find a time when a tornado was a reason. So perhaps the incident in Hamburg, New York last week can be documented as the first time Mother Nature used a tornado to shut down the works. Buffalo Raceway suffered significant damage created by a tornado that hit the upstate New York area on July 20. No one was injured but the tornado caused too much damage to be able to complete the current meet. Racing was been canceled for the remainder of the 2017 season. Racing had been scheduled for the weekend of July 21, which was the closing weekend for the season.

Our exclusive Hambletonian top-10 for the main event can be viewed by clicking here. Live and on-site coverage exclusively for TwinSpires harness fans and bettors takes place again this season, Aug. 5, from the press box at the Meadowlands.

Gerald Longo, our long-time horseman friend (from the long-lost days of Western Harness Racing at Hollywood Park) is no stranger to this blog. We have touted his driving and training talents at Cal-Expo, the ill-fated Colonial Downs and these days at Running Aces through lean years of harness. On Tuesday, July 18, in the Mares Open Handicap Pace at Running Aces, Gerald assisted in a record performance with a win by Magnifique. Gerald, who trains, drives and owns the mare, took her to a head victory and a win-mutuel record payoff of $232.20 for a $2.00 bet.

Extraordinary Extras

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

For Thom Pye cartoons, informative harness history and more, click here ~