Three Double-Digit Winners At Hawthorne; Camluck Classic Conquered With Valued Favorite; Choices Strewn Across The Board

Two days of the weekend holiday were jammed with features and horses to watch (H2W) and our contenders were busy finishing in all three payoff spots—four if you count those pesky superfecta finishers. Also, another week of sharp Hambletonian Trail finishes are keeping us in good shape battling over-the-counter public choices. Here is how it worked out:

Saturday, May 26

Two finishes third were the best we could do at Yonkers in the soph-pacing finals. The second choice won the Art Rooney Final while we contributed to the triple with with Babes Dig Me ($7.50). In the Lismore Final we also finished the triple’s winning combination with Believe In Me ($3.30).

Two minor Meadowlands-series finals found one of our choices in dire contention, as Ideal Talker ($3.40, $2.40) was second to the favorite in the Rainbow Blue event, supporting an exacta worth $18.20. Our choice in the Escort Final, Street Boy (26-1), broke and was eliminated, finishing sixth.

We did not think we would pick the Camluck Classic favorite but we did and he won. Rockin Ron ($5.50, $3.50, $2.70) actually paced as if he should have been 1-5, earning a track record at Western Fair.


Sunday, May 27

Philadelphia celebrated the holiday with its trademark stakes for older pacers and trotters and a pair of Pennsylvania Sires Stakes (PASS) for filly pacers. Favorites of the first and second kinds ruled the big events.

The Maxie Lee trot found us third with Crazy Wow ($2.80) behind the top and second choices, with Warrawee Roo (10-1) fourth.

In the Betsy Ross, Pure Country (3-1) was among the top choices but her pace collapsed late and she won to who we mentioned was the public’s obvious first choice, Shartin N ($4.40, 3.40, $2.80).

The Commodore Barry Invitational was also a giveaway, as Filibuster Hanover won as the super choice, while we handed out Heaven Rocks A ($2.80, $2.80 ok) who completed the $16.00 exacta.

In the second PASS we scored with our sole contender Sidewalk Dancer ($6.80, $3.20, $4.00 ok), while we were seventh with race favorite Bye Hanover in the other split.


THE HAMBLETONIAN TRAIL

Our exclusive spin-off blog had a holiday-weekend trotting feast, beginning on May 26 with colts at Pocono. In the first of three splits we won with Evaluate ($9.20, $4.80, $2.40). In the second we were sixth to the favorite with Gemologist (7-2). In the last PASS we were second to the favorite with Hill Street ($4.60, $3.20), completing an exacta worth $16.00.

Monday, May29’s “Trail” results will appear on Twitter #Hambo18 during the program at Tioga and as part of next week’s blog update.



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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 67 active horses (a 18-percent win hit rate and a 39-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

Sheriff Coffey, $30.60, $7.60, $4.40, Hawthorne
Dragon Seelster, $23.60, $5.40, $10.60 ok, Bangor
Twin B TK, $22.80, $9.00, $5.80, Hawthorne
Sir Ziggs Z Tam, $11.40, $4.70, $3.70, Tioga
Quint Largo, $10.40, $4.40, $3.30, Flamboro
Joes Life, $5.60, $2.40, $2.10, Tioga
Agent Q, $4.80, $3.20, $2.40, Philly
Sectionline Emery, $4.60, $3.00, $2.20, Running Aces
Banker Volo, $4.40, $2.60, $2.20, Running Aces
Hurricane Beach, $4.10, $2.80, $2.80, Mohawk
*Scramble Camp, $3.20, $2.40, $2.40, Running Aces
Fox Valley Gemini, $2.20, $2.10, $2.10 ok, Hawthorne

Seconds

Makers Mass, $7.80, $4.60 (Exacta $66.20), Hoosier
Nuclearccino, $6.60, $2.10, Bangor
Urbanite Hanover, $6.40, $4.00 (Exacta $10.40), Freehold
Always Giggling, $4.80, $2.80, Hoosier
Explosive Ridge, $4.20, $2.60 (Exacta $10.20), Philly
Rebel Soul, $3.60, $3.20, Meadows
Master Faster, $3.20, $2.30, Flamboro
*Bringoverthemoney, $2.40, $2.80 (Exacta $7.00), Running Aces
Bringoverthemoney, $2.40, $2.10 (Exacta $11.00), Running Aces
Friskies Angel, $2.20, $2.10, Running Aces

Thirds

Iaquinta, $7.90, Tioga
Internet Hanover, $7.50, Mohawk
Spanish Dream, $3.40, Northfield
Piece Of The Rock, $2.40, Freehold



News & Notes

Fox Valley Gemini, the TwinSpires harness blog’s top sophomore pacer in the Hoof Beats Comprehensive Predictive Rankings poll for 2018, made his soph debut his 10^th-straight win (nine wins in nine starts at two). The Terry Leonard-trained colt then won his second three-year-old race (see H2W above). The son of Yankee Skyscraper is out of a Cole Muffler mare, a blue-blooded Illinois conceived-and-foaled product. He bears the “Fox Valley” title from his breeding line at Walker Standardbreds, which produced one of Illinois’ most famous pacers and stallions, Sportsmaster. It remains to be seen if “Gemini” will get the financial support to supplement to major soph events, since it appears he is good enough to handle the likes of the “major” candidates in the crop. In the poll, Gemini came in 28^th in 58.

Speaking of sophs, The Meadowlands Pace Top-10 list from track handicappers has propelled Dorsoduro Hanover to number one. The Ron-Burke-trained colt recently won two events, defeating the horses that beat top soph-prospects Lost In Time and Stay Hungry (now second and third, respectively, on the list. Filling out the top five are This Is The Plan and Babes Dig Me.

And more about glamour-boy pacers: North America Cup eligible Shnitzledosomethin raced like the 3-5 favorite he was made by the crowd, winning his first race of the season wire-to-wire in 1:51.1. Shnitzledosomethin is trained by Dylan Davis and is a son of Fred And Ginger. At two he bankrolled $355,337, including a second in the $600,000 Breeders Crown final for two-year-old pacing colts.


Extraordinary Extras

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

And check my monthly column, Alternative Actions, at Harness Racing Update