Century, Northville Winners At $28, $27 Best Of Week; Cold Hoosier $28 Exacta, Matchmaker, ‘Levy’ Favorites Lead Into Finals

The last of the “Levy” and Matchmaker legs at Yonkers were public-betting pleasers, with only one of the five events taken by a second choice, while the strongest supported won.

On Friday, April 14, in the Matchmakers, we were only on the board with a second, Hidden Land ($5.70, n/s). There was no show wagering, so our third, Divas Image (9-1), did not pay. In the other Matchmaker split, our choice Mackenzie A (4-1) broke and was eliminated as the favorite won.

Saturday, April 15, the majority-supported pacers won the trio of Levy splits. We offered the partner of an exacta in split three, with Clear Vision ($6.90, $4.70). That exacta paid $22.20. We lost the initial division with Long Live Rock (28-1), who did not pace a step in the short field, finishing last, and we were fifth with Missile J (2-1) in division two. Missile J could not overcome the 8 hole, even though he has faired well in the series, winning three other legs, and will go into the final with a huge shot to win.

Grand Circuit action continues next week when both the Levy and the Matchmaker finals highlight the April 22 program at the Empire State oval.

We began the weekend as we did last week, with Power Plays at Philly on April 14. We delivered only two that assisted in exotics—the winner, American Rage ($3.20, $2.20, $2.20 ok) and the show horse, Alligator Falls ($5.40). Our other contenders were off the exotics’ grid, with Northern Assassin A (43-1) finishing fifth and Mr Censi (7-2) coming home eighth.

Wednesday, April 12 we made another go with three spot plays at Buffalo, which resulted in one winner, Passion R Virginie ($5.40, $2.50, $2.20). Our other plays, Prada Spur (5-1) and Missevil (27-1) finished fifth and seventh, respectively.

On various Wednesday nights we tweet for TwinSpires Twitter members from @FrankCotolo –retweeted by @twinspires—and the raceway involved. Losers from each week will appear on the next week’s horses-to-watch (H2W) list unless they race before that blog is published, so watch for them returning to the races on days in between blogs. Watch for special tweets from raceways on various Wednesdays.

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 53 active horses (a 21-percent win hit rate and a 43-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 is posted.

Winners

Cajon Jubilee, $28.20, $8.00, $6.00, Northville
Captain Hazardous, $27.70, $8.90, $5.10, Century
Stable Eyes, $9.20, $5.00, $4.60, Hoosier
Flak Jacket, $7.20, $3.40, $3.60 ok, Fraser
Boys Round Here, $5.00, $3.60, $3.00*, Hoosier
Cashendash Hanover, $5.00, $2.60, $2.40, Philadelphia
House Always Wins, $4.30, $2.50, $2.10, Saratoga
Driven, $4.00, $3.20, $3.20 ok, Philadelphia
Funny Three, $4.00, $2.50, $2.20, Flamboro
Moonlight Spin, $2.70, $2.30, $2.10, Saratoga
Southwind Yukon, $2.40, $2.20, $2.10, Meadows
 
Seconds

Moms Crossroads, $17.40, $3.60, Plainridge
In Commando, $11.80, $6.00, Pocono
Barossa Blue Genes, $5.00, $6.30 ok, Century
Vance Bayama, $5.00, 5.80 ok (*Exacta, $28.60), Hoosier
Wacky Rei, $3.60, $2.90 (Exacta $17.20), Buffalo
Regalanthropist, $3.40, $2.60, Pompano
Te Kawau N, $3.40, $2.80 (Exacta $9.00), Dover
Cheryls Surprise, $3.20, $2.40, Cal-Expo
Musician, $3.20, $3.00, Cal-Expo
 
Thirds

Western Dynasty, $4.60, Yonkers
Sadies Art, $3.60, Hoosier
Preparty, $3.40, Pocono

News & Notes

Dragon Again has retired from stud duty. He is a sire of the winners of more than $122 million as the 22-year-old stallion heads for the pasture at Delaware, Ohio’s Sugar Valley Farm. Dragon Again won more than $2.3 million when he raced. In his stallion career Dragon Again sired Foiled Again, the richest standardbred of all time with earnings of more than $7.5 million and counting, since he is still racing. More recently, he was the sire of 2015 North America Cup winner Wakizashi Hanover. He was the sire of the 2016 sales topper at the Ohio Selected Jug Yearling Sale, the colt Allgonowhoa, who sold for $80,000.

Donerail impressed the sport’s history books on the track and as a sire. Recently, in Denmark, Donerail died at 25. Donerail, who was campaigned by Stanley Dancer, raced only as a freshman. At two, in 1994, he won 13 races from 15 starts, including the Peter Haughton Memorial and the Valley Victory. Donerail ended his career at two, earning $703,049. As a stud, Donerail failed to produce a top male trotter. His richest foal was Spellbound Hanover, who earned $962,395. However, as a broodmare sire Donerail is the grandfather of Donato Hanover, Broad Bahn, Royalty For Life and Marion Marauder, all Hambletonian winners. In 2008 Donerail was exported to Finland and in 2016 he moved to Denmark. He died peacefully at a farm in Jutland.

Hannelore Hanover, trained by Ron Burke, made her first appearance of 2017 at a qualifying session April 15 at The Meadowlands. The productive mare trotter defeated Breeders Crown-winner Broadway Donna with a sizzling :26 final quarter, in 1:55.3. At four in 2016, Hannelore Hanover won 17 of 20 races and earned $1.1 million, including the Breeders Crown Mare Trot and the Hambletonian Maturity, where she defeated males. She also beat the boys in the Centaur Trotting Classic and won the Armbro Flight Stakes, , Fresh Yankee, Muscle Hill, and Miami Valley Distaff. Her mile time of 1:51 in winning the Armbro Flight equaled the world record for a four-year-old trotting mare.

In another 2017 debut, Darlinonthebeach and Call Me Queen Be returned to battle one another as they began their four-year-old seasons. Darlinonthebeach cut fractions of :29.1, :58.1 and 1:26.2 with Call Me Queen Be in the pocket. Down the stretch, Darlinonthebeach began to drift and allowed room for Call Me Queen Be to fly up the rail and get a head in front at the wire in 1:53.

Extraordinary Extras

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

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