Cal Expo, Woodbine Winners Tops At $17, $16 With 20-Percent Win Average; Clark Sweeps Alberta Stakes With Choices

We begin with a belated report on the Progress Pace at Dover Downs, which was held a day after our press time last week. On Monday, Nov. 30, as expected, Wiggle It Jiggleit ($2.20, $2.10, n/s) commanded the $300,000 pacing affair and did so with a track record 1:48.2. Driver Montell Teague told reporters “Wiggle” was an exceptional colt, having gone miles of 1:48 from January to November at three. Fifteen of his wins came in less than 1:50. There is little doubt that Wiggle It Jiggleit isn’t the top candidate for Horse of the Year.

The filly Autumn Series finals at Woodbine on Dec. 4 brought us a second in an exacta with the favorite ($24.10) with Pinky Tuscadero ($5.80, $3.60). The trotting fillies were blown away by a 24-1 shot while our contender, Crown Classic (14-1), finished fifth.

Saturday, Dec. 5, the Autumn Series finals for colts were dominated by the favorites. In the trot, our contender Freddie (7-1) finished fifth; in the pace, our contender Jack Reacher (12-1) finished 10^th placed ninth.

Saturday at Northlands Park we attempted to rattle the usual results in the track’s signature stakes for Alberta-bred sophomore pacers but the ever-dominating horseman of the province, Keith Clark, handled both events with majority-backed horses.

In the Northlands Filly Pace, our contender, Take On The Boys (19-1) was well out of it as Clark’s filly took this event for him for the umpteenth time.

In the Western Pacing Derby, which looked far more competitive than the race produced, Clark’s colt won commandingly, while our two possible upset candidates were far from competitive. Johnny Gun (24-2) was sixth and Cool Cowboy (7-1) was fifth.

Our H2W (horses-to-watch) list for the past week, through Saturday, Dec.5, offered the best results across the board and with exotic components.

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 51 active horses (a 20-percent win hit rate and a 39 percent in-the-money 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 is posted.

Winners

Laissez Moi Passer, $17.80, $5.60, $3.40, Cal Expo
Girl Drama, $16.50, $6.50, $3.50, Woodbine
Wynnfrith, $11.40, $4.60, $4.80 ok, Charlottestown
Classic Ambition, $7.20, $3.00, $2.60, Fraser
You Rock My World, $5.00, $3.60, $2.60, Meadowlands
Drawing Dead, $4.70, $2.90, $3.00 ok, Fraser
Jinxys Delight, $4.40, $2.80, $2.60, Pompano
BCs Belle Street, $3.80, $2.20, $2.20, Freehold
Cruisin Northwest, $3.80, $2.40, $2.10, Philadelphia
Thebestofjoel, $3.40, $2.20, $3.40 ok, Pompano

Seconds

Kootenay Mystic, $6.80, $2.50 (Exacta $17.40), Fraser
Lisplaced, $6.80, $4.20, Fraser
Aroma, $5.20, $3.10 (Exacta $16.00), Batavia
Puff Mommy, $3.80, $3.60, Northfield
Breewood Brier, $3.10, $2.10, Saratoga
 
Thirds

Before I Die, $7.10, Batavia
Four Diamonds, $3.90, Fraser
Classic Ambition, $3.10, Fraser
Move It Move It, $3.00, Freehold
Placer, $2.20, Cal Expo

News & Notes

One of the sport’s modern-day champs and stallions, Jennas Beach Boy, is dead. Retired from stud, the 23-year-old three-time Breeders Crown winner was euthanized on Friday, Dec. 4 at Peninsula Farm, according to reports. Jennas Beach Boy was campaigned by Joe Holloway. At two, he finished a great season with fractures in his right hind leg, returned to race big at three and finished with injuries in another leg. A son of the great Beach Towel, he won won 30 of his 42 starts and over $1.9 million. He took his mark of 1:47.3, an all-age world record at the time, in his third Breeders Crown victory at four. I knew and admired his owners, Lee and Linda DeVisser, enthusiastic supporters of the sport and fortunate owners of a few champs. “Jenna” produced 17 crops that earned nearly $72.4 million, including 204 winners of over $100,000. Jennas's last crop will race as two-year-olds next year.

Trainer Jimmy Takter announced that Wild Honey, 2015’s main threat to filly-trotter Mission Brief, has been sold to European interests. She is a multiple stakes-winner and world record-holder. Takter’s wife Christina co-owned the filly with Herb Liverman and Jim and John Fielding, campaigning the daughter of Cantab Hall to 17 wins as a two- and three-year-old. Her 1:55.2 win on Little Brown Jug week in 2014 was a high point in a career so far that included two Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championships, a Matron, the Hambletonian Oaks, a Bluegrass, the Kentucky Filly Futurity and the Breeders Crown for a $1.7-million bankroll. Wild Honey travels to her new home, the barn of Daniel Redén for Sweden's Stall Zet. Those same connections race as Brixton Medical Ab in North America.

Yonkers Raceway’s 2015 season is offering only a few more deates. Racing programs remain for Monday, Dec. 7, Tuesday, Dec. 8 (first post at 1 p.m.), Friday, Dec. 11, Saturday, Dec. 12 (first posts at 7:10 p.m.) and Sunday, Dec. 13 (final program of 2015, first post at 11:15 a.m.). The proposed 2016 season is expected to offer 238-programs to begin Thursday, Jan. 7, pending approval of the New York State Gaming Commission.

Batavia’s season is coming to a close, so horsemen are shifting to Buffalo Raceway for the beginning of 2016. The first night of racing is Wednesday, Jan. 13 with a 5 p.m. post. Track officials said that 1,200 tons of new material was placed on the racetrack, following up on the extensive track work completed in 2014 in the hope that winter will be milder this year, making racing “more palatable for everyone.”

Racing for the last time on the H2W list, Kiwi Pres (144-1) made it into an exotic combo by finishing fourth at the Meadowlands in Race 4 on Dec. 4. Along with a show horse that was 49-1, with the favorite winning and the second choice in the place spot, the Superfecta came back $218.00. H2W horses make many contributions to wagers, so take them all seriously when you put together exotic tickets.

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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