Cotolo’s Harness Review, News And Notes

Last Friday and Saturday evenings, Nov. 14 and Nov. 15, respectively, presented the elimination races for this year’s Breeders Crown. The Meadowlands offered its first two programs of its Autumn meet for the events and we took them on with our usual disregard for which horses would make the finals for their divisions. After all, eliminations, though existing for the purpose of setting up the fields of the finals, are individual betting affairs, theaters for action in their own rite.

Our biggest blow to the win pools had to wait until Saturday night in the final elim of the weekend. We matched two of the frosh-colt pacers as equals. One, Tomy Terror, went off at 4-1 (finishing fourth), while the other, Traceur Hanover, went off at 22-1. We wrote about “Traceur” with great interest: “Traceur will be dismissed, which is unfair because his recent pair show trouble … Traceur has only posts to blame for poor performance, with a break and an interference episode that may have meant little …”

His post on Saturday was post 1 and he took great advantage of it and the fact that the favorites were dealing with outside posts and would have to work hard, which also predicted. Traceur won ($46.80, $16.60, $7.20). It was the largest win price of the eliminations.

It was also the second $40-plus winner the Nov. 13 blog presented. The night before Traceur, in an overnight conditioner at Hoosier (as seen below in the H2W results), Maddysonofagun won, paying $43.60. Those were the big gifts for the weekend over a gamut of classes.

In the other colt-pace elim for the freshmen, we won with Go Daddy Go ($7.20, $3.20, $2.60). Our conviction that Always B Miki has become the best glamour-boy pacer was worth the win ($3.00, $2.20, $2.10) and the exacta ($7.00) when Jk Endofanera finished second ($2.80, $2.10). Our other conviction, that Hes Watching has not been worth the wagers placed on him from the start of his soph season, including a Meadowlands Pace win that was opportunistic and deceivingly fast, into this affair also proved itself when the colt finished seventh to “Miki” in this elim. That finish, of course, does not allow him to be in the final.

In the other glamour-boy pace, Capital Account did not live up to his expectations but the favorite we wanted second, Limelight Beach (our winning Little Brown Jug colt, if you remember as far back as September—doesn’t it seem like forever?) won at 4-5.

We were second in the single Open Trot elim with Your So Vain ($5.60, $4.60) and our main contender, Master Of Law, was simply awful, unable to compete with the mare Maven, who had just become his stable mate after that one was purchased by new owners for $750,000 and put under the care of Jimmy Takter, and won.

Centurion Atm tanked, finishing seventh, unable to make the frosh-colt trot final next week. It was a poor performance from the winter-book choice to win next year’s Hambletonian, awarded him for his terrific victory in the Peter Haughton Memorial (try now to remember as far back as August). Habitat, our other choice, was a dead-heat third ($2.10). In the other frosh-colt trot, we were second with Muscle Diamond ($3.00, $2.60).

Friday was a dud from a price point of view. We were correct about Mission Brief, the frosh-filly trotter troubled by breaking. We told you if she didn’t break she would win for fun and she stayed on gait and won ($2.60, $2.10, $2.10). Our offering for an upset or an exacta with Mission Brief was Gold Cora, who broke early and was eliminated at 29-1.

We won the other frost-filly trot, as did everyone in site, with Wild Honey ($2.60, $2.10, $2.10) but our suggested exacta partner, Stubborn Belle, finished fourth at 9-1.

Jk’s She’salady ($2.80, $2.10, $2.10 ok) was another mortal lock for everyone in the frosh-filly pace’s first elim. Our other suggested contender, Wicked Little Minx, was seventh at 93-1. In the second. Sports Chic scratched from the second elim and we were left with Divine Caroline ($5.00, $3.60) who finished second.

Color’s A Virgin ($3.80, $2.80, $2.20) was the best in the second soph-filly pacing elim (she was our Jugette winner, remember?) but we looked for a strong exacta if not an upset from Uffizi Hanover and it did not develop as that one finished fourth. We were also dead wrong about Act Now’s performance the week before because in the second soph-filly pacing elim she looked great at three-quarters and tanked, losing more than 19 lengths in the stretch to finish last. One of our Jugette elim winners and a filly we followed to cash in on through mid-season, Gallie Bythe Beach, won at 9-1.
 
My powerhouse partner Ray Cotolo and I will be on site at the Meadowlands for the finals, Nov. 21—22 and we expect to keep on top of the coverage with more “Crown” info via tweets and blogs than any other source on the web. TwinSpires’ harness department, in cooperation with the Hambletonian Society, is closer to the action and all of the insiders when it comes to betting than any other web source.

Our Breeders Crown Countdown blog, located at Blogspot, presents its penultimate content this Thursday, Nov. 20, sharing our analysis of the finals. Our horses-to-watch (H2W) will be included in that blog, also. There is plenty of harness action even though the focus will be on the two nights of Breeders Crown race finals. Don’t miss out on wins, places, shows and exactas all around the sport as well as keeping up with the championship series.

Meanwhile, TwinSpires and Hoosier continue a three-pronged power-packed program for harness players. Tuesdays, wager all you want and earn 10 TSC Elite Points per dollar bet. Click here for details. Every Thursday night, there is a 20-percent bonus on hitting the Pick 4 starting at Race 3. Click here for details. And the ongoing 10-percent Pick-4 bonus every racing night on Pick-4 hits continues through the meet. Click here for details.

As always, in between published harness blogs, follow @FrankCotolo and @TwinSpires on Twitter.

H2W RESULTS

The H2W results list across-the-board prices. Also, exactas are included when a H2W horse finishing first or second completes the result with a race favorite or another H2W horse listed in the same race (an asterisk appears when both horses were listed to complete the exacta). This week, there were 47 active horses on the H2W list.

Winners

Maddysonofagun, $43.60, $13.20, $12.40, Hoosier
Dinneratartsplace, $10.60, $4.60, $3.60 (*Exacta $20.90), Cal Expo
Don’t Ya Know, $9.80, $4.20, $3.60, Dover
Rolling Thunder, $8.60, $4.00, $2.10, Dayton
Allen The Optomist, $4.00, $2.60, $2.10
Starven Darven, $3.40, $2.40, $2.40 ok, Hoosier
 
Seconds

Rip N Rock, $18.80, $6.60, Dover
Big Sky Angelina, $10.80, $7.80, Freehold
Cinnamon Spider, (11/7) $7.80, $4.20 (Exacta $40.80), Maywood
Mcgreat, $4.40, $3.80, Pompano
Ulysses Blue Chip, $4.40, $3.60 (*Exacta $20.90), Cal Expo
Cinnamon Spider, (11/14), $4.20, $3.80 (Exacta $17.20)
The Pepperoni Kid, $4.20, $3.00, Meadows
Osceda Gold, $3.60, $2.80 (Exacta $34.60), Dover
Hoponit, $2.80, $2.40, Hoosier
Caribbean Shooter, $2.60, $2.20, Hoosier

Thirds

Manchine, $6.20, Scarborough
Major Bucks, $5.80, Dover
Something Blue, $5.80, Dover
Winemen Dine Me, $4.80, Dayton
Doctor RJ, $3.80, Meadows
Medoland Snuffy, $3.20, Scarborough
Indiana Jones T, $3.00, Hoosier
Dew N Doughnuts, $2.40, Meadows
Prairie Jaguar, $2.10, Pompano

News & Notes

Meadowlands qualifiers had some Breeders Crown final expectants gunning. Jimmy Takter’s Father Patrick had Takter driving for the first time all season. The two put in a 1:54 mile though Takter used some encouragement in the stretch to hold off Don Dorado. Vanity Matters went well, leading all the way in 1:57 to hold off Cantabs Fortune. Both fillies look forward to next week’s three-year-old filly Breeders Crown trot final. Commander Crowe took a spin around the big track in anticipation of his third “Crown” appearance. He cut the mile through even numbers ending the 1:54.1 mile while using Lasix for the first time. Creatine, also getting some work in toward next week’s championship, broke before the start but went well once back on gait.

Congratulations to Dave Palone for becoming the driver to win the most races in the history of the sport with 16,754. The personal achievement is outstanding but his backers at the betting windows have rarely seen profits by backing the popular driver, especially at his home track of the Meadows. Palone’s winners paid much more on the national scene but all in all the world’s leading driver in wins has not meant profits for his pari-mutuel followers.

Yonkers’ Sunday matinees are looking to become very popular and TwinSpires is helping the limited program schedule. Cash a winning ticket on any wager on the Sunday morning card at the New York harness track and earn 30X points. The first post is 11 a.m. EST. Details: http://www.twinspires.com/yonkers-sunday-early-bird-earn-30x-points.

Northfield Park announced dates for nine progressive claiming series. Each series starts with a base claiming price of $4,000, $8,000 or $15,000 and progressively increases throughout the series, with no claiming allowed in each final. Each of the three claiming prices will be available for horse and gelding pacers, filly and mare pacers, and for trotters. The earliest series will begin Dec. 4 and will run through Dec. 30.

The rough-and-tumble trotter Wishing Stone has been retired. A winner of over $2.3 million, Wishing Stone will stand stud in Ohio. The son of prolific sire Conway Hall, “Stone” won the Kentucky Futurity and at five went overseas to win the Copenhagen Cup against ornery European veteran trotters. Among his credits, also, are wins in the Maxie Lee Memorial, Cutler Memorial and he was stakes placed in the Hambletonian, Peter Haughton Memorial and the fabulous Elitlopp in Sweden. At two he was the New York Sires Stakes trotting champ.

Of all the great calls we have made about the shape of horses to come, our support for Western Vintage has fallen far short of its expectation. Racing well at two, we thought he would be a strong contender in this year’s glamour-boy pacing crop but he did not live up to the projection. This past week his owners announced that Western Vintage is through racing and will be standing the 2015 breeding season in Ohio. At two, Western Vintage achieved a mark of 1:49.4 in the Bluegrass Stakes at the Red Mile. Western Vintage swept the NJSS and became state champion for two-year-old colt pacers. He won a Metro Pace elim and finished second in the final. Nancy Johansson trained Western Vintage.

Extraordinary Extras

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

Ray Cotolo contributed to this blog

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