Favorites Feast On Features, Defeating Hot Choices; $9.80 Tweet Win Launches Dover Pick 3

We were very strong on a Dover Pick 3 on Wednesday, Jan. 18. Our Tweet alarm was posted with three horses aimed at hitting the $2.00 ticket cold. It was a good start, as we nailed Marion Mentor ($9.80, $5.00, $4.00) in the first leg.

We had a bad start in the second leg as our choice, Drinksforthehouse (4-1), skipped and lost some early ground. Our spirits were lifted at three-quarters when Drinksforthehouse went three wide, picking up ground against the leader, which was the race favorite. It was a find recovery but Drinksforthehouse ($3.20) finished third.

With the cold Pick-3 ticket out, we went to win in the third leg with our third-leg choice, Stylish Lady (14-1). She made a multi-length brush to the half but was hanged out and faded to seventh. The crowd’s choice won the race and brought back a $90.60 Pick 3, our first-leg winner and the two race favorites.

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.

Our features did not deliver any winners this week and only three hit the board. Thursday, Jan. 19’s Freehold second-place finisher was Fat Boy ($3.80, $3.20). He was second to the public choice for an exacta worth $8.60. In the second Freehold feature, the favorite beat our contender, Brickyard Brewer (7-1), who finished sixth.

Friday, Jan. 20, we were third at Yonkers with Tyra ($4.70), defeated by a 5-1 winner. The heartbreaker, however, was the other feature at Yonkers, where Deuces For Charity (19-1) finished fourth to an 18-winner.

Also on Saturday, at Miami Valley, a favorite won our feature there as Chips (13-1) wandered home sixth.

Saturday, Jan. 21 at the Meadowlands we created two features. In the first we wound up with the crowd’s choice but that did not turn out to be an edge this time around because Jackson Brady ($2.80) finished third to a 6-1 winner. In the final feature of the weekend, Prince Palani (4-1) finished sixth as the public’s second choice won.

We go back to the drawing board after this slow-cashing weekend. There are plenty of horses in the queue for next week’s H2W—which also had a slow week—so we will be scouting for their racing dates as well.

All horses that did not win in our personal features (if not scratched) appear in the following week’s H2W list as second-time (noted: +) entries.
 
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 39 active horses (a 10-percent win hit rate and a 28-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

Lexis Mandy, $6.10, $2.30, $2.10, Charlottetown
Precious, $4.50, $2.90, $2.10, Monticello
Bettors Edge, $4.40, $2.60, $2.20, Meadowlands
HSLB Michelle, $4.40, $2.50, $2.10, Monticello
 
Seconds

Village Jessica, $4.50, $3.10, Yonkers
The Spy, $3.00, $2.80 (Exacta $8.70), Yonkers
 
Thirds

Rocknroll Jewel, $5.80, Miami
Screenplay, $4.00, Pompano
ER Bella, $3.00, Miami
Renegade Bob, $3.00, Dover
Onehotvet, $2.10, Charlottetown

News & Notes

Tara Hills Stud in Canada reports that the prolific pacing stallion Mach Three was euthanized on Jan. 20 in New Zealand, following a paddock accident. Mach Three suffered a broken leg in the incident and had to be put down. The 18-year-old is the sire of super racehorse and stallion Somebeachsomewhere. Mach Three produced 1,297 offspring to date, with total progeny earnings of nearly $103 million (all dollars Canadian). His progeny’s average earnings per starter are $112,034. The stallion, produced 298 horses earning $100,000 or more and 105 earning more than $250,000. He produced 274 pacers that had a 1:53 mark and 30 that had a sub-1:50 mile.

The 2017 Illinois-conceived and foaled stakes schedule has been announced for Hawthorne Race Course’s harness meet. A series of late-closing events have been scheduled for the summer, which begins on Thursday, May 11 and continues through Sunday, Sept. 24. Hawthorne’s standardbred meet is all that is left of Illinois harness racing since the unfortunate closings of Maywood and Balmoral parks. Maywood, a Chicago-area half-mile track, hosted many great horses and races in its long history. Balmoral was a one-mile track featuring the sport’s longest stretch.

Trainer Greg Peck will forever be known as the man who selected, developed and raced the great trotter turned great sire Muscle Hill. The colt is the winner of $3 million and was undefeated as a three-year-old. The Hambletonian champion is now the most dominant sire in the world and by a large margin. His yearling offspring averaged more than $149,000 last fall at the Harrisburg, auction. Peck conditions a team of six horses these days and is entering the breeding business by standing the stallion Merchandiser. It should come as no surprise that Merchandiser is a son of Muscle Hill. Not just that, but Merchandiser is the only progeny of Muscle Hill in Canada. “It's impossible to argue that Muscle Hill is not the premier sire in the breed today,” Peck told Standardbred Canada’s website reporter, “so it makes sense that his sons [could be terrific when they] go to stud as the next generation.”

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 ~