Feature Winner Pays $22; Three In Miami Valley Pick-4 Includes $15 Score; Big Place, Show Payoffs

The top-winning price of the weekend came from one of our features and our Pick-4 selections listed three of four winners.

The feature winner came at Charlottetown on Jan. 9 as Bold Arrow ($22.70, $3.70, $2.10) conquered the public choices.

In Saturday night, Jan. 9’s Pick 4 on the opening night of Miami Valley’s harness meet, we listed three of four winners. It began with ER Rudy ($8.40, $2.60, $2.10) winning leg one. Then the most expensive of the trio, Talk Strategy ($15, $5.40, $3.80) took control in leg two. After Flying Rocket scratched in leg three, we were third with 42-1 Dixieland Band ($8.80). This is where a 5-2 winner spoiled us. The sequence ended with the winning favorite Western Empress ($3.20, $2.40, $2.80 ok), who topped our two selections. The Pick 4 paid $120 for 50 cents.

Our other features’ score was on Jan. 8 when we won at the Meadowlands with Northern Grace ($5.40, $3.60, $2.80). We expected a larger price on this one but bettors agreed wholeheartedly with our analysis from Thursday’s blog.

Our losing choices in features included two fourths at Freehold on Jan. 7—Sweet Miss Cantab (8-1), The Life Boat (3-1); Big Bang Hanover (66-1), finishing sixth at the Meadowlands on Jan. 8. All losing horses from features appear the following week in the horses-to-watch (H2W) list.

A few tracks had various difficulties that forced cancellation over the weekend and affected the H2W. On Jan. 8, Fraser Downs cancelled from weather conditions and on Jan. 9 Pompano Park’s lighting system faltered on Jan. 9 and the program had to be cancelled.

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 33 active horses (a 9-percent win hit rate and a 45-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

Big Magick, $11.20, $5.80, $4.60, Fraser
Bunkhouse Brawl, $5.20, $3.20, $2.40, Meadows
Mister Hat, $4.90, $3.10, $2.40, Fraser

Seconds

Play Guitar, $20.80, $7.60, Miami
Rocky Road, $11.80, $4.50 (Exacta $44.60, Yonkers
Hubby Number One, $9.20, $8.40 (Exacta $32.60), Woodbine
Place On The Beach, $9.20, $5.00 (Exacta $14.40), Cal Expo
Tower Of Power, $5.80, $4.10 (Exacta $26.90), Woodbine
Major Dancer, $5.40, $4.10, Yonkers
Steal The Diamonds, $3.40, $2.90, Fraser
Yankee Flyer, $2.20, $2.10, Cal Expo

Thirds

Mullet Blue Chip, $18.40, Meadowlands
Civic Duty, $6.20, Freehold
Lancaster Park, $5.00, Woodbine
Rlii Sons, $2.80, Dover

News & Notes

Buffalo Raceway has new post times for the 90-day meet which begins on Jan. 13 at 5 p.m. (Eastern). Wednesday night posts will remain at 5 p.m. but Friday evening cards will begin at 5 p.m. The action on Saturdays starts to 6 p.m. and when Sunday afternoon racing commences on June 19, the races go off at 12:30 p.m. The season ends on July 24. The track continues to be upgraded. Another 2,000 tons of material was added to the 6,000 tons put down last season. A new feature added to the racing menu is the Buffalo Raceway Claiming Championships, which will be contested throughout the meet. The first half will run from opening night until Kentucky Derby Day on May 7 and the second half goes from Derby Day until July 23. Also new is a Pick-5 wager which will replace the Pick-4. Starting in the fifth race each evening, you can wager on the Pick-5 and if no one hits it, the pool will roll over to the next card.

After nearly 10 years sans harness racing, Hawthorne launched a standardbred meet on Jan. 8. With racing returning to the Illinois venue, horsemen see increased purses and a five-day-a-week schedule that will run through Saturday, Feb. 6. Live racing is every Wednesday through Sunday evening with a 7:20 p.m. post. For bettors everywhere, Chicago’s in-town track offers lowered betting minimums and reduced takeout rates. Stall applications for nearly 1,000 horses were sent in for the meet. Those from Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and New York will join horsemen from Illinois through the entire meet, including Ron Burke and Rene Allard, the one-two trainers nationally in 2015 with winning horses.

Hoosier Park’s 23rd season of harness racing kicks off on April 1. Racing at Hoosier follows a Friday, Saturday schedule the opening week, a Thursday, Friday, Saturday schedule the second week and then a Tuesday through Saturday schedule throughout the remainder of the meet. With a new post time of 5:45 p.m., the season runs through Nov. 12. Once again, Hoosier hosts an action-packed stakes season. Hoosier’s signature event, the $300,000 Dan Patch Stakes, is slated for Friday, Aug. 12.

Extraordinary Extras

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 ~