Cold $63 Exacta, Two For Four With Two Seconds In Miami P4; $49 Saratoga Score Tops Win Prices

This past Wednesday, April 27, we switched our spot plays via Twitter to Hoosier Park’s current evening meeting. We noted only four races and in each of them we were defeated by the public choices, though all of our horses showed some spunk during their performances and at our kind of odds.

We were closest with a show finish from Jailhouse Diva ($3.80). We lost with Leenah Pearl (5-2), fifth; ARG Ten Ten (9-1), seventh-placed-sixth-placed fifth; and we were eighth with Pepstepn Penelope (11-1). Our tweets for TwinSpires Twitter members come 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. Watch for special tweets from raceways on various Wednesdays.

Our wagering weekend, as has been our usual schedule, began on Thursday. The April 28 races went off at Harrah’s Philadelphia. The pair of overnights were won by public choices, neither of which were among our choices. We were third with BWT Taj ($2.20) at 5-1, fifth with Doc’s Tebow (5-1) and sixth with Azucar (10-1).

Friday, April 29 was busy, beginning with the James Hackett Final at Miami. The public choice did not win here but neither did our choice, Clarebear (20-1). She was a clear fifth, only 1 ¾ lengths behind four others. We are keeping an eye on this soph filly, so you are bound to see her name in feature reports for top races in this division.

Miami’s Pick 4 that night went without a winning ticket. Three of four paid $59.95 and we gave you two of those winners along with two seconds.

In leg one we hit the exacta cold with the winner, High Fashion Mel ($8.20, $4.80, $3.40) and the place horse Last Minute Cindy ($7.00, $4.60). That exacta returned $63.40, obviously more than the consolation.

In leg two we were second with Cincinnati Gal ($10.40, $4.60) and eighth with Simmy (10-1). Another second came in leg three with Do U Mind ($2.20, $2.20 ok), along with a fourth by Big Crystal (20-1). This was the race responsible for no one hitting the Pick 4, as it was won by a 24-1 shot.

We won the last leg with our single, OK Hallelujah ($7.40, $5.20, $3.80).

Saturday at Pocono the sophomores, though restricted to Pennsylvania-breds, raced elimination miles for next week’s lucrative finals. There were four filly events and two colt events.

In the first filly elim, we were disappointed in our choice, Candy Corn Hanover (22-1), who, barring any pending information about having a physical issue, raced far below expectations, finishing sixth in a field of six and badly, 19 lengths off the pace. The big choice, unbeaten-at-two Pure Country, lost to a filly we mentioned as a promising champ of the division in the May issue of Hoof Beats—Darlinatthebeach (2-1).

In the second filly episode, we took second to the public choice with I Said Please ($5.80, $3.20) for an exacta worth $22.00.

Leg three also found us second, this time with Save The Treasure ($3.40, $2.60) to complete with a $16.20 exacta with the winning public choice.

The colts’ first of two elims yielded another second and another exacta to a public choice. Our choice, The Catamount Kid ($4.60, $3.20) almost nailed the favorite at the wire but settled for the penultimate exacta spot for a combo paying $16.60. We were fifth with JJ Flynn (6-1) in the second elim, won by the entry, another public entry.

HAMBLETONIAN TRAIL

The first blog dedicated to the sophomore-trotting divisions’ journey to the August classics took on some Hambo-eligibles in Dexter Cup eliminations at Freehold on April 30. We were second and third in the first elim, won by a colt ineligible to the Hambo, who was the public’s second choice. We had Steed ($2.10, $2.10) and Credevie ($4.80). That trifecta paid $50.80 thanks to Credevie.

In elim two, our main choice, Granite State (7-2) broke and was eliminated while charging into the half. Our other choice, race-favorite, won. That was Dominion Beach ($2.40, $2.20, $2.10). Both of our choices are Hambo-eligibles.

No colts aiming at the classic took to the track for elim three. We called this one, however, winning with Dante ($8.00, $3.60, $3.00), while our other choice, Nebraska Jack (21-1) finished fourth.

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 57 active horses (a 12-percent win hit rate and a 35-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

Pastapalooza, $49.60, $14.80, $19.40 ok, Saratoga
Missus Big, $35.00, $8.90, $3.50, Western Fair
Al Razi N, $13.00, $7.00, $4.20, Yonkers
Lark Seelster, $8.00, $3.20, $4.20 ok, Rosecroft
Dees Rocketman, $6.20, $3.60, $2.60, Pompano
Whos Your Maddy, $4.80, $3.40, $2.80, Miami
Della Bia, $3.60, $2.60, $2.60 ok, Pompano

Seconds

Calipari, $5.30, $2.90, Yonkers
Lyons Jimmydean, $4.40, $4.40 ok, Hoosier
Roll Away Joe, $4.40, $3.40 (Exacta $9.20), Meadowlands
Talk Strategy, $3.60, $2.60, Northfield
Jitterbug Hanover, $2.20, $2.40 ok, Scarborough

Thirds

Artistic Topaz, $5.00, Buffalo
Crocodile Rock, $5.00, Freehold
Maritime Girl, $4.10, Flamboro
Ringo, $3.20, Scarborough
Divulge, $3.00, Northfield
Laurie Lin, $2.60, Harrington
Call Me Bill, $2.10, Vernon
Lets Drink On It, $2.10, Philadelphia

News & Notes

Believe it or not, the winning price of $443.80 on a $2.00 bet is not a record. That is what Our Rail Fantasy (appropriately named for this race, at least) paid on April 27 winning Race 9 at the Meadows. The trotter received a perfect trip behind the public’s co-second choice (the favorite finished fourth and co-second was third). The 220-1 shot got everything his own way and caught the slightly tired Xtatic Hanover (driven by the hometown hero Dave Palone) by a neck. Our Rail Fantasy also paid $194.00 to place and $131.80 to show). Gorgon Waterstone, our harness-journalist friend, was the source that told us a winner in Maine paid over $1,000 to win in the 1980s.

A pair of three-year-olds that are eligible to the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup were victorious in their qualifying miles Friday morning (April 29) at Mohawk Racetrack. The 10-race session also featured the charted return of one of the speediest ‘glamour boys’ from the 2015 season.

Some North America Cup eligibles qualified at Mohawk  on April 29 with impressive miles. The Gregg McNair-trained Magnum J (a  Big Jim gelding) cut the mile wire to wire in :28, :57, 1:25.3). Magnum J closed with a 27-second final quarter, finishing in 1:52.3. He was, at two, the 2015 Battle of Waterloo winner. Another eligible, Arsenic, came from off the pace for a nose victory in 1:55.4 for conditioner Scott McEneny. Arsenic was sixth through the opening quarter (:28) and half-mile call (:58.3). He brushed three-wide at three-quarters (1:28.3), almost 10 lengths off the pace. Arsenic blazed in a :25.1 closing quarter to notch the nose victory in 1:55.4. 

The Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association and Harrah’s Philadelphia announced that this year's $200,000 free-for-all pace on May 29 will be named the Dorothy “Moon” Mullin Pace. Dorothy Mullin is being honored for her longtime service at Liberty Bell Park’s racing commission office. Liberty Bell, in Philadelphia, and Brandywine, in Delaware, ceased harness programs decades ago. Dorothy worked from 1963-1985 as an executive assistant and secretary. Her son is the productive Pennsylvania-based horseman Bill Mullin, who was known as “Moon” (after the popular Moon Mullins comic strip). However, the event will have a new name each year to honor outstanding figures from harness racing in the greater Delaware Valley. Last year’s inaugural edition was named after Jerry Taylor, prominent owner and lawyer. The $200,000 pace joins the $200,000 Maxie Lee Free-For-All Trot and the $200,000 Betsy Ross Free-For-All Mares Pace on the lucrative racing program at Philadelphia.

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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