Triumphs With Takter Trotter And Pacer; Northfield Winners Pay Off Big

The weekend, through Sunday, May 24, produced strong winners for us in our featured events and our horses-to-watch (H2W) list, which presented a 22-percent winner rate and a 52-percent in-the-money rate. From the features, the big Sunday invitational events for older pacers and trotters at Philadelphia, Father Patrick debuted a victor in his four-year-old season.

Father Patrick, Jimmy Takter’s champion trotter, a colt we found and cashed on from his frosh season through his fall from public favorat three and through his Breeders Crown wins, came back, as we forecasted, with a passion, defeating Bee A Magician in the Maxie Lee Invitational as the second choice, paying $4.80, $2.60, $2.10.

In the Jerry Taylor Invitational that afternoon, we nabbed Takter’s other elder, the pacer Great Vintage ($10.60, $8.00, $4.00).  We were fourth in the Betsy Ross with Table Talk (9-1).

Saturday, May 23’s Art Rooney elims at Yonkers gave us a winner with Sonofa Sizzle ($9.90, $5.40, $2.70). Our choice in the second split, Penji Hanover (25-1) and was distanced, while the obvious exacta we mentioned, In The Arsenal to National Seelster ($10.20), came through.

Thursday, May 21, we took the first sires stakes at Philadelphia with filly-pacer Somewhere Sweet ($6.60, $4.20, $3.00) and we had a high show price in round three of that triptych with 28-1 Deli Beach ($10.20), who we mentioned first over the filly we warned you about, the winner, Arts Jem ($19.80, $8.00, $5.40).

On the Hambletonian Trail, May 23, we had the crowd on our side with Stubborn Belle ($2.90, $2.30, $2.10) at Mohawk in one Ontario SBOA split for soph-filly trotters. In another division we also wound up with the favorite, Danielle Hall, who broke badly and recovered only enough to finish sixth.

Colt trotters fought at Vernon Downs on May 23 and our first two choices in one of three sires-stakes events made the exacta, with Concentration ($10.00, $4.60, $3.40) winning over My Lucky Word ($6.70, $4.10) for a $67.00 exacta.

The May 21 sires stakes at Yonkers fell flat for us, with Fashion Creditor (52-1) breaking to finish fifth and Apostles Creed (36-1) getting fourth in the race that saw top-choice Habitat break to finish seventh for his first loss of the early season. The next day at the Meadowlands, Southwind Cartier (110-1) was seventh and El Diablo Br (18-1) broke and was placed ninth while Aldebaren Eagle was third ($2.80).
 
All Hambletonian Trail race stories are archived at the Hambletonian Society website.
 
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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 the 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 60 active horses.

Please note that some H2W results reflect win, place and/or show results occurring after press time and that it is up to you to follow those horses that have not performed before this weekly review is posted.

Winners

Cabaret, $34.20, $11.00, $8.20, Northfield
Rock N Roll Queen, $22.60, $8.80, $9.40 ok, Scioto
DC Uprising, $12.80, $7.20, $4.80, Northfield
Midnight Destroyer, $10.80, $3.80, $3.20, Maywood
Sorrento Hall, $8.20, $3.40, $2.60, Hoosier
It’s A Miracle, $6.70, $4.50, $3.30, Saratoga
Winslow Hustler, $6.40, $3.40, $2.60, Scarborough
Creighton Hanover, $5.00, $2.40, $2.20, Scioto
Emls Grove Inarush, $4.20, $3.00, $2.60, Meadows
Runway Model, $4.10, $2.80, $2.40, Century
Il Sogno Dream, $4.00, $2.20, $2.20, Scioto
Olivia V, $2.60, $2.10, $2.10 ok, Northfield
Ragin Fingers, $2.40, $2.30, $2.30 ok, Century

Seconds

Onemoreglance, $13.80, $8.80, Century
Goldstar Thumper, $7.90, $6.80 (Exacta $47.00), Buffalo
Cam Blazer, $7.40, $4.30, Century
Whirlwind, $6.20, $4.40, Plainridge
Woo Shark, $5.60, $3.20 (Exacta $17.00), Scioto
Sinfully Slick, $4.00, $3.00, Hoosier
Bullville Kyle, $3.10, $2.70, Yonkers
Fox Valley Shannon, $2.80, $2.10 (Exacta $6.40), Scarborough
Mr Tommy Fra, $2.80, $3.60 ok, Bangor
Mercurio N, $2.40, $2.10, Buffalo

Thirds

Sportsonthebeach, $3.80, Century
Perfectly Clear, $3.40, Maywood
Kirty Dream, $3.00, Scioto
Camblazer, $2.80, Century
Republic Of Panama, $2.60, Scarborough
Tricky Artist, $2.40, Rosecroft
El Bloombito, $2.20, Philadelphia
Makena Cat, $2.20, Maywood

News & Notes

A total of 11 qualifying races took place last weekend at Kawartha Downs in preparation for the track’s 2015 racing season. Kawartha’s first 2015 program of pari-mutuel racing will take place on Saturday, May 30 with first-race post time at 7 p.m.

McWicked, who we rejected as the 2015 Soph-colt pacer of the year but took the title, recorded the first charted line of his four-year-old campaign on Thursday, May 21, qualifying at Pocono. The Casie Coleman- trained colt won in 1:52.2 against none of his former soph foes. McWicked has some new owners, a group called the Stable of Horses that God Loves, which has been “gaining consistent traction ever since it was announced in early February,” according to Canadian reports. The members of the Stable That God Loves will contribute 1 percent of their 2015 purse earnings to the Standardbred Racetrack Chaplainry of Canada.

Another notable from Pocono’s May21 qualifying session was the five-year-old trotting mare Frau Blucher, who is closing in on $1 million in earnings. The bay had a neck victory in 1:55.1 for trainer Chris Oakes. Frau Blucher was very successful at three but became one of the fillies of that year’s crop unable to snap the streak of Bee A Magician, who did not lose a race that season and became Horse of the Year.

The Super Hi-5 carryover at Pompano on May 20 took 40 programs to attract a total pool of $1,247,507 for the single race. The contribution to the Pompano handle that night presented a handle of $1,381,817. That was more than any handle in the history 51-year of the track. Sadly, the mandatory pay-off race was a small price because it featured the two co-favorites finishing one-two and two of the three other single digit performers finishing three-four (fifth was 11-1).

Extraordinary Extras

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

Ray Cotolo contributed to this blog

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