Breeders Crown Freshman-Elimination Divisions Deep With Talent

At Woodbine this week, our “Countdown” covers the two-year-old eliminations for Breeders Crown finals. There are 60 freshman pacers and trotters of both sexes, allowing for $20,000 eliminations in all divisions on Friday, Oct. 16. Some frosh-mores [sic] have chosen to take byes (skipping the elims and going straight to finals).

The Breeders Crown Countdown blog and the TwinSpires harness blog weekly have followed the important and wager-worthy races that have led to the cast of characters in the elims and finals of the championship series, along with archived reports on the results at the Hambletonian Society web site. There will be one more Countdown blog in league with the weekly TwinSpires harness blog to cover next week’s finals.

Below, division by division (check your program for race order), are the two-year-old “Crown” elims. Our choices are suggested contenders, many of which we feel offer the best value in odds verses their chances to win, according to our evaluation.

Two-year-old filly pace ($25,972) Elim 1

Skinny Dipper could be the surprise against some popular frosh fillies, even if she gets home first via a good trip using others to cover for her. With only one win in seven races and some gait issues, she should be quite the price.

Two-year-old filly pace ($25,972) Elim 2

We nabbed Tipton Teeez at 16-1 in the Bluegrass coming off of a win (a big mistake by the public) and we have to go with her again even with Pure Country going for nine straight to get into the final. “Teeez” has won four straight and goes for five, sitting in a spot that could give her a ground-saving trip as others test “Country.” Don’t let her times fool you; for a good price on a sharp filly, take her.

Two-year-old colt trot ($25,972—Top eight finishers go to the final)

Another dominating the division all season, Southwind Frank will go for his 10^th-straight victory in this sole elim for the green-boy trotters. There are 10 in this single-heat elim and still, “Frank” appears to tower. However, there is a good case to get on the Marion Marauder cause. With threatening style, the son of Muscle Hill is peaking at a great time and should be odds on to get into the final. As an outside contender he could be closer to Frank than the bettors think and this is the event worth betting to stop Frank’s streak, even if he will loom too dangerous to bet against in the final. 

Two-year-old filly trot ($25,972) Elim 1

Here we go again, this division with Broadway Donna, undefeated in her class and bound to be the prohibitive choice in the division’s first of two elims. Of course, another undefeated gal, Haughty, is on her inside, which we hope would prompt a duel allowing a late charge, especially with Celebrity Eventsy’s speed revving up in the first half. All in all, there is too much speed in this race not to feel outside contender Emoticon Hanover has a whale of a shot. In last week’s Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final, she was all out from far behind, using her strong stride to finish second. It’s as if that was a prep for getting home first here against the best based on the best burning out. As well, she is the best of two fillies by Kadabra, a sire with a productive legacy in the female trotting category.

Two-year-old filly trot ($25,972) Elim 2

Just how good is Black Broadway? For one, she is not a proven loser, having cracked through her maiden to go easily in her next race and win, leaving her late-season appearances as a freshman questionable on the positive side. The well-bred filly by Broadway Hall will be worth the investment because if she is on an upswing and surging in improvement, she could win this, make it into the final and offer a lot less to win than she will here.

Two-year-old colt pace ($25,972) Elim 1

Talk Show makes some swift brushes to get into the mix against tough foes like these. Moves like those may be the key to winning this, since one huge surge at the right time may make the difference in this, another speed-packed field.

Two-year-old colt pace ($25,972) Elim 2

This field, unlike a few others on the evening, needs a strong front pacesetter. It appears that colt is Travel Playlist. The New York-bred is five for six and may still go under the radar as bettors look toward the brand-name trainers’ entries, even though there is no dominant colt among the group.