Breeders Crown Elimination-mania At Woodbine Best For Bets

The sport’s gathering of its top divisions begins this weekend, Oct. 16 and Oct. 17, with eliminations for the Breeders Crown, this year at Woodbine Racetrack in Canada. The $5.8 million Breeders Crown finals will be contested on Saturday, Oct. 24.

This week we will split our analysis of the plentiful features by covering the two-year-old eliminations in our Breeders Crown Countdown (BCC) blog where we have been covering the races that contributed to delivering the frosh fields to the series at the exclusive TwinSpires.com blog, exclusively in league with the Hambletonian Society.

This blog will cover the elimination events other than the soph-colt trot, soph-filly trot, Mare Pace, Mare Trot and the Crown Trot, which are single-heat finals, sans elims. The Crown Trot features one supplement, Creatine.

As we have proposed through years of our successful Breeders Crown coverage, the Crown eliminations offer great wagering opportunities and should not be overlooked due to the final fields. The elims are exclusive standardbred races and although they construct the fields of the finals, they are fantastic wagering events on their own.

Here is our analysis of the eliminations—other than the freshman events (see the BCC blog)—set for action at Woodbine on Saturday, Oct. 17. Please check your programs for race order.

Three-year-old colt pace ($32,465) Elim 1

With the absence of Wiggle It Jiggleit, the colt that beat him last week at Hoosier, is here at great expense to his connections. Freaky Feet Pete has is versatile in Indiana. How he acclimates to shipping and to Woodbine is the mystery. He should make the final but which of the rest could take this, a weak group of glamour-boy pacers? There is bound to be local support for Casie Coleman’s Reverend Hanover, a strong Grand Circuit player, and it remains to be seen if the public has soured on Dudes The Man, who never truly lived up to the bets made on him. If we ignore the “Jug” final, we can make a good case for Yankee Bounty in this field, even if “Pete” isn’t affected by travel. Yankee Bounty may be a tick or two better than these, having fought with tougher company more often and based on what we mentioned about the three other contenders, we could get a good price for a Ron Burke contender.

Three-year-old colt pace ($32,465) Elim 2

A quartet of the top-tier glamour-boy pacers leave from posts 2 through 5. Hot in the public eye again is Artspeak and off of his recent Red Mile race he should be the public choice. However, In the Arsenal and Lost For Words won’t be ignored and neither will Wakizashi Hanover. Again, if you toss out the Jug, Artspeak is far and beyond the best here and may once again offer odds as good as last week, when we called him and were rewarded with a price of 3-1. Best take him now at odds he won’t display in the final, especially if he wins here, which seems the case. 

Three-year-old filly pace ($32,465) Elim 1

This is a tough division which has been good for bettors all season. Nine go in this mile and there is no scenario that couldn’t manifest on the wide Woodbine track. However, the one to focus upon is the one where speed battles futilely as the stone-cold closer (and not from far out, either) Wicked Little Minx, mows down tired ones around the second turn. We don’t know how to excuse the speedy gals that gave in during the Glen Garnseys last week. As well, non-stakes material from post 1, Frost Damage Blues, looks to keep his winning streak alive on tough territory and due to his style may give “Minx” the first half she needs to soar home. We also like Invest In Art, who was our choice last week but got a bad start, something she rarely overcomes. 

Three-year-old filly pace ($32,465) Elim 2

Among the top choices here are Divine Caroline, Band Of Angels and Bedroomconfessions. As with the first elim for this division, the competition is tight. Sitting in third to start, Ideal Nuggets will be ready to return to top form at the right time. Her Glen Garnsey finish was short due to working too hard leaving from post 8. She also struggled with two moves going in two duels in the Valley Forge at the end of August and this could be her October surprise at a price far better than her chances, getting her a shot at the final (at much lower odds, for sure). Take her here.

Open Pace ($45,451) Elim 1

Shambala and JK Endofanera may be the combo here, though the latter could get more action than last week, when we nabbed him at 3-1 at The Red Mile when he should have been even money, at least. If McWicked picks up local-hero win-pool money, Shambala and “JK” may produce a decent exacta. All of the others need opportunities unseen at this inspection.

Open Pace ($45,451) Elim 2

State Treasurer will be bet to the hilt and not worth the backing in this second elim but all eyes should be upon Always B Miki. From post 1 the Indiana champ is now handled by Jimmy Takter and has been quiet most of his four-year-old season. A scenario that burns “Miki” and “State” out of it could be the best target, leaving Mach It So to once again turn the tables. We had him in the “Quillen” and he certainly can do a late-stretch dance if Miki and State duel. 

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

Bangor
10/16/15, Sign Of Thunder R2

Batavia
10/16/15, +Ideal Wedding R9
10/17/15, Bad Fox R3; Bags Of Money R3; Ona Dream R4

Charlottetown
10/15/15, Briannas Angel R1
10/17/15, Bettin Jenny R9

Dayton
10/16/15, New Zion R9; Ivory Collection R12

Fraser
10/15/15, +Kootenay Mystic R3; +Grand Coolie R10; Spearmint Rhino R12

Freehold
10/17/15, +Twincreeks Jack R10

Hoosier
10/15/15, Moon In My Shine R1; Certainly R7; Fly Away Bumblebee R10
10/16/15, Marquesas R8
10/17/15, Newtown Choclatier R3

Northfield
10/15/15, +Viva Venturi R12
10/16/15, +MA Duty R4; +Shell Bell R6
10/19/15, +Quantum Cashman R7

Northville
10/16/15, +Victorious Valle ae R4; Strawberrys On Top R9

Philadelphia
10/15/15, +DWs NY Yank R9
10/16/15, +Floodgait R3
10/18/15, +Jump Jive And Jam R4

Plainridge
10/15/15, Allamerican Extra R3; Waldy Jimmy R3; +Pan Guard R5; Dontmeswiththebest R5; Pembroke Delux R6

Rosecroft
10/17/15, +Southern Lady R9

Saratoga
10/16/15, +Molon Lave R5; +Henni R12
10/17/15, +Jack Attack R9

Scarborough
10/16/15, +Fox Valley Shannon R3; Cruzin Maverick R5; Whata Winner R7

Vernon
10/16/15, Century Chancellor R1; Radiant Beam R2; Hardnottolikeme R6; Wine Snob R11
10/17/15, +Wild Shot Hanover R4

Yonkers
10/16/15, Skates N Plates R2; Be Pacific R9
 

Ray Cotolo contributes to each edition