What The Hill Sharp Colt Futurity-Elim Score; Fear The Dragon Roars Again; $26 Frosh-Stakes Strike; $51 Cold Daily Double; $27 Indiana Sires Stakes Win

It was the last Grand Circuit week in TwinSpires country, with the classic Kentucky Futurity the program’s climax on Sunday, Oct. 8 at The Red Mile.

A degraded Hurricane Nate sprayed the Kentucky track with moisture on Sunday and the sparkling stakes fields were presented with a surface labeled “sloppy.” Though the condition may have affected a few tenths of a second in speed here and there, the general flow of standardbred traffic remained normal.

Concentrating on the elims for price, we scored big in the second elim heat of the Kentucky Futurity with What The Hill ($14.60, $6.20, $4.40). The price was astounding and unexpected and may go on record as one of the greatest overlays of the season.

The first elim heat went to the favorite and we were off the board, as Long Tom (4-1) broke and finished ninth and Perfect Spirit (6-1) finished sixth, neither qualifying for the final heat.

The final of the colts’ Futurity went to Snowstorm Hanover (5-1), who had finished second in first elim heat. In the final, favorite International Moni (who defeated “Snowstorm” in his elim) galloped off the gate and was eliminated. What The Hill was dull in the second heat and finished off the board.

We all went for Ariana G ($2.10, $2.10, $2.10) ok in the first elim heat of the Filly Futurity, while whatever chance of an upset we gave to Sunshine Delight (45-1) turned out to be moot; she finished fourth. The second elim heat found our contender surprisingly off the favorite; Dream Baby Dream (7-5) just made the favorite, finishing fifth. For the record, though we stayed off of the final “Futurity” heats, Ariana G lost by a head to Ice Attraction (29-1).

The Glen Garnsey filly pace was an upset and our contender was a part of it, as Jaye’s A Lady ($26.40) finished third to 10-1 Idyllic Beach, adding to the $500-plus-trifecta price.

Again, Fear The Dragon made both of our predictions come true in the second division of the Tattersalls Pace. The crowd made “Jug” winner Fillibuster Hanover the 4-5 choice and “Fear” the second choice, clearly an overlay, Fear paid $4.40, $3.60, $2.10. Also once more, Fear had the toughest trip and still won handily.

In the other Tattersalls, we were second with Miso Fast ($5.20, $2.10) who turned out to be the 9-5 favorite (see below for news about Huntsville scratching from this event), beaten by 5-1 Mike’s Z Tam. 

Oct. 5 we handed out four International Stallion Stakes (INTSS) contenders and won with the highest priced of the quartet with Night Rhythm ($26.80, $9.20, $4.40). Other payouts included two thirds—Dawson Springs ($3.40) and Can’t Afford It ($4.40), while Hill Street (5-1) broke and was eliminated.

On Thursday, Oct. 5 and Friday, Oct. 6 we covered Indiana Sires Stakes at Hoosier with productive results from four miles. On Friday we scored a big one with Voom Or Bang ($27.00, $5.20, $3.60) and a moderate in another final with Always Bet De Grey ($5.80, $4.00, $3.20). A favorite beat us in the third Friday final; we were second in that with Custom Cantab ($2.80, $2.10). The exacta paid a mere $4.60 with the huge choice on top.

Friday’s duo of finals found us third in one. Ideal Jesse ($5.00) teamed with the top two public choices for a trifecta worth $115.00. Then we finished sixth in the other final with Rockin N Runnin (6-1).

Saturday, Oct. 7 at The Red Mile we tried to nail prices from two Allerage Stakes but finished third in both to the favorites. Pinkman ($3.60) couldn’t catch Hannelore Hanover, the huge choice that went on to win the second-fastest-winning mile in the sport’s history for a trotter—1:49.2. Then, we lost the pace with Mel Mara ($5.60). Our choice completed the pace’s trifecta along with the first-and-second public choices, paying $109.80).


BREEDERS CROWN COUNTDOWN

On Friday, Oct. 6, six INTSS featured two-year-old filly trotters fighting for form to impress their connections enough to drop them into the box for Breeders Crown elims, part of the heavy traffic at The Red Mile.

Each of the splits was $57,000-plus; we covered five of them and we had a shot at three since two of our contenders broke (Defiantsmowfashion [51-1]and Wish I Was There [41-1]).

We were third with only one of the remaining INTSS, if you don’t count the 10^th-straight win by Manchego ($2.10, $2.10, $2.10 ok). Swing It Cathy ($4.40) was the other.

Failing without missteps was Dashamay (27-1), Ciao Dolce (9-1) and Consuela Fashion (58-1). The public’s first or second choices won four of six.


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 42 active horses (a 33-percent win hit rate and a 55-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

Bootswiththefur, $35.20, $8.60, $6.20, Freehold
Fox Valley Iliad, $16.80, $8.20, $5.10, Batavia
Speed Lane, $14.40, $7.00, $3.80, Dayton
Orange Biji, $12.60, $3.60, $2.80, Freehold
*Carlos Superstar, $10.60, $3.00, $2.60 (Daily Double $51.60), Red Mile
High Finance, $10.40, $3.00, $2.60, Northville
Brown Dirt Cowboy, $6.90, $4.00, $2.80, Rideau-Carleton
*Mean Lean, $6.80, $3.00, $2.40, 60 (Daily Double $51.60), Red Mile
Gray Zee, $5.00, $3.60, $3.20, Northlands
Skyway Priss, $4.50, $3.10, $2.50, Batavia
Little Macabee, $4.30, $3.30, $2.60, Rideau-Carleton
Cape Marj, $4.00, $3.80, $2.10, Rosecroft
Dontforgetmaster, $2.80, $2.80, $2.20 ok, Dayton
Forbetter Or Worse, $2.60, $2.10, $2.10, Freehold
 
Seconds

Rocking River, $6.60, $4.20 (Exacta $27.80), Harrington
Real Passing Lady, $5.00, $2.20, Rosecroft
Hard To Rock This, $3.20, $2.80, Northville
Mach It A Par, $2.80, $2.40, Yonkers

Thirds

Broadway Lady, $4.20, Rosecroft
Hot Roddy, $3.40, Plainridge
Lisburn, $3.00, Charlottetown
Mississippi Storm, n/s, Philadelphia
Venier Hanover, n/s, Meadows
 

News & Notes

Yonkers Raceway and the New York Racing Association are cooperating for bettors with their updated New York, New York Double’ program. Saturday, Oct. 14, with Yonkers hosting the million-dollar Yonkers International Trot, the wagering menu includes a two-breed Pick 4. The races involved are—Race 8 from Yonkers (Invitational Trot), Race 9 from Yonkers ($1 million Yonkers International Trot), Race TBA from Belmont ($150,000 Futurity), and race TBA from Belmont ($300,000 Pebbles). The wager is hosted by NYRA and has a 50-cent minimum with a 24 percent takeout.

Trainer Ray Schnittker told harnessracing.com that his soph-pacing colt Huntsville scratched from the Tattersalls Pace at The Red Mile because the colt has been injured. Schnittker told Gordon Waterstone that the extent of the injury would not be known until early this week. “I had to scratch [Huntsville] on Sunday,” said Schnittker, “and we'll know more [about the colt’s condition] next week.” Huntsville went past the $1-million earnings mark finishing second last week at The Red Mile in a Bluegrass division. He is, of course, the colt experts predicted would dominate his division—only one expert disagreed, TwinSpires’ harness editor Frank Cotolo, who chose Fear The Dragon to dominate the division, which he has done.

Monitoring drivers’ streaks sends us to Batavia on Oct. 4 when Larry Stalbaum won eight of 10 drives. Larry topped his winning prices with a $19.00 winner and totaled his winning prices at $56.80. His lowest priced winner was $2.50 but other than that he scored with reasonable single-digit prices, not all favorites. The flat-bet profit plays (equal bets on each of Larry’s 10 drives that day, the driver being the sole handicapping factor) cost the bettor $20.00 for a return of $56.80. It’s a better return than most drivers on a skein return, though it was mostly due to the top-paying winner.


Extraordinary Extras


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