Canadian ‘Cowboy’ Tops At $21; Public Nabs Features’ Favorites; $9 On 1-9 Shot

First and foremost, this harness update blog will address the beginning of the Delaware, Ohio Fair race meet that leads to The Little Brown Jug. Harness racing at the fair features many stakes and a score of overnight events from Sunday, Sept. 19 through Thursday, Sept. 24, when the Great American Pace, the “Jug” is the highlight.

Our betting supplement to the main blog—the Breeders Crown Countdown (BCC), at TwinSpires.com in league with the Hambletonian Society will appear Tuesday evening and feature events on Wednesday, Sept. 23 at the Jug meet, including the Jugette. On our usual blog Wednesday night we will address the Jug and other stakes for Sept. 24, as well as weekend events and the horses-to-watch (H2W) list.

Every week, check the BCC blog to find great wagering opportunities for races with eligible horses as they race their ways to the “Crown” elims and finals. This year the Crown finals take place at Woodbine on Saturday, Oct. 24, with elims the week before.

On Sunday, Sept. 20, we have six suggested contenders for the Jug meet’s opening program. Here is the list. For brief explanations on these horses, click here to go to my Hoof Beats blog titled Vast Performances.

Race 1, Quantum Cashman; Race 3, Forever The Gold; Race 5, Pink Sox; Race 7, Picasso Forever; Race 12, Victorinthevalley; Race15, Cooter Dunn.

Over the past week our top winner came from the H2W list (see Winners column below) as favorites swarmed over the features with few exceptions. One exception, from the BCC blog, was a near miss paying well to place and show. On Sept. 17 in the Nadia Lobell our choice was The Show Returns ($15.80, $6.80), nipped by a 6-1 winner.

On Sept. 17 we managed to inflate the return on a prohibitive winning favorite at Hoosier in an Indiana Sires Stakes (INSS) final when we suggested an exacta with Freaky Feet Pete in a race with only win betting. “Pete” paid $2.10 to win. But the exacta, playing our choice, American Virgin, in the second spot, gave you a return of $9.60 for the effort. In the other INSS that night we were third with Rock The Look ($2.40).

We couldn’t inflate the price with Southwind Frank ($2.20. $2.10, $2.10 ok) at Mohawk on Sept. 19 as Tony Soprano finished fifth in the William Wellwood Final. Nor could we out-trot Mission Brief with Danielle Hall (51-1) who finished fourth—no good for an exacta with the humongous favorite.

Also at Mohawk, Lindys Tru Grit (14-1) did not close when our proposed scenario did not take place in the Maple Leaf Trot. Bee A Magician, who was second for us in last week’s elim, won as the second choice.

Things didn’t go much better at Hoosier on Saturday night in six INSS finals. We captured two seconds, Churita ($2.20, $2.10) and Bluebird Reverend ($4.00, $2.20, exacta $8.20 with the public choice) and a third with Nothing But Nice ($3.00). We failed with Victors Hall (9-1), Hoosier Image (19-1) and I Request (91-1).

Also from the BCC blog, we won with Pinkman ($3.40, $2.50, $2.10) in the Canadian Trotting Derby and we were second in the Peaceful Way with Celebrity Eventsy ($4.20, $3.80, exacta with the favorite winner, $12.80).

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 44 active horses (a 9-percent win hit rate and a 48-percent in-the-money hit rate). One note: the list included three horses at Batavia that at the time we thought would be betting races; they turned out to be non-betting races.

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

JK Cowboy, $21.40, $17.60, $3.60, Charlottestown
African Violet, $5.60, $4.20, $3.00, Northfield
Mad Cow Lisa, $5.60, $4.60, $3.60, Northville
Daylon Miracle, $4.20, $3.00, $2.80, Pocono

Seconds

Gramercy Hanover, $8.00, $3.20, Charlottestown
Power And Purpose, $8.00, $4.60 (*Exacta $20.40, Trifecta $73.00), Northfield
Hagitha, $4.00, $2.40, Miami
Real Mystical, $3.40, $2.60, Freehold
JK Endofanera, $3.00, $2.80, Pocono
DP Angel, $3.00, $2.80, Hoosier
Seboomook Dreamer, $2.60, $2.10, Harrington
Somewhere in LA, $2.40, $2.10, Yonkers

Thirds

Steviescooter, $10.40, Hoosier
Highlands Rockstar, $10.20, Yonkers
Photo Time, $5.20, Hoosier
Wildathebeach, $5.20 (*Trifecta $73.00), Northfield
Joes Fire, $4.30, Saratoga
Blue Arctic, $2.40, Century
Il Sogno Dream, $2.20, Miami
Lizard King, $2.20, Century
Lews Maverick, n/s, Scarborough

News & Notes

It’s time for another test of profit prowess from a driver on a winning streak. On Sept. 18 at Northfield Park, Ronnie Wrenn Jr. was reported as having “a monster night … by posting nine wins on the 15-race program.” Although Wrenn passes the profit test. It is only due to his highest paying winner at $12.00. Wrenn had drives in all of the program’s races, costing a player $30.00 to back him in them all. For such blind loyalty, his winners returned a total of $33.65. Although that is more than a 10-percent profit, it took him winning nine of 15 to make it, due to winning prices as low as $2.60. As well, he lost on low-priced horses also.

Consider Wrenn’s “monster night” when compared to Anthony Napolitano’s five-win evening at Pocono the same night and realize the overuse of the term for Wrenn’s skein. Tony raced 14 times in that program and won five races. It cost a player $28.00 to back Tony, whose winners returned $64.00 and not due to a single winner. Although Tony brought home a horse worth $30.60, he also won with one worth $14.80 and another worth $7.00. That same program, Simon Allard drove in 13 races (a $26.00 investment) and returned $28.20.

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

Ray Cotolo contributed to this blog

For Thom Pye cartoons, informative harness history and more, click here ~