Friday ‘Gold’ With Double Exposure/Haughty’s $92 Exacta; $46 Is Bad Night Mare’s Dream Price

The best results for our weekend contenders were at the start, Friday, Nov. 20, with a pair of features’ exactas and the week’s top-dollar winner from the H2W (horses-to-watch list).

At the Meadowlands for all of the features this past weekend, we nailed the Goldsmith Maid Final with our top two, never thinking our top choice would go off higher than our second. The winner was Double Exposure ($10.40, $4.80, $4.60) and second was Haughty ($10.00, $7.00). The exacta was a double dose of box value at $92.20.

Also that night, the Open Mares Final was a cold pair of contenders, led by Venus Delight ($5.20, $3.20, $2.60) and partnered with Gallie Bythe Beach ($3.60, $2.40) for a worthy exacta worth $24.00.

Meanwhile, at Yonkers that night, as you can see in the H2W (horses to watch) list below, we rattled the toteboard with Bad Night Mare, paying $45.60 to win. Peruse the list’s across-the-board and exacta pay offs. As the stakes season ends and 2016 launches, the H2W list will expand along with coverage of winter’s traditional higher-priced events.

Saturday we didn’t strike in the features, even though some hearty prices accompanied the results. In the thin field of the Contenentalvictory, Mission Brief ($2.20, n/p, n/s) won as the top choice over Wild Honey (n/p. n/s) and our possible upset contender, Kelsey’s Keepsake (n/s) was third.

In the Valley Victory, Lagerfield (7-1) was fifth, beaten by a dead-heat finish with our obvious contender, Dog Gone Lucky ($$3.40, $3.20, $2.80). Another obvious suggestion, Resolve ($4.20, $3.20, $2.80) won the FFA Trot while our outside contender, Flanagan Memory ($5.20) was third.

Then, a trio of fourth-place finishers followed, with Ideal Rocky (22-1), Sassa Hanover (5-2) and Jk Endofanera (3-2).

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 43 active horses (a 19-percent win hit rate and a 49-percent in-the-money hit rate).

Please note that some H2W results reflect win, place and/or show results occurring after press time and that it is up to you to follow those horses that have not performed before this weekly review is posted.

Winners

Bad Night Mare, $45.60, $17.20, $6.00, Yonkers
Precise Accusation, $18.00, $7.90, $5.30, Batavia
Detroit Rapper, $13.80, $5.20, $4.80, Meadowlands
Miss Defiance, $8.60, $4.80, $3.60, Meadowlands
Need Help Here, $6.30, $3.00, $2.40, Saratoga
Gray Glory, $6.10, $4.50, $3.80, Fraser
Alberta Sky, $3.70, $3.30, $3.00, Charlottestown
Lucky Nadotremblay, $2.80, $2.60, $2.30, Batavia

Seconds

Miri, $7.20, $4.40 (Exacta $13.40), Cal Expo
Rock Allstar, $6.00, $3.50, Fraser
Real Attitude, $4.00, $2.40, Cal Expo
Most Happy Rider, $3.90, $3.00 (Exacta $11.80), Batavia
Pop A Top Pop, $3.80, $2.40, Plainridge
Mr Rightnow, $3.60, $2.80, Pompano
Extreme Justice, $2.60, $2.10 (Exacta $8.00), Plainridge
Thisgirlcanhunt, $2.40, $2.10, Charlottestown

Thirds

Jeannes Faith, $4.70, Flamboro
Bet Ya, $4.30, Woodbine
Stone Of Magic, $3.80, Northfield
Lyons Johnny, $2.60, Pompano
Hey Carrie Ann, $2.40

News & Notes

Another Pocono Downs harness season has ended. The plentiful 2015 standardbred action resulted in a trainer’s championship for Chris Oakes and another crown for driver George Napolitano, Jr. For TwinSpires harness players, the meet was offered action and scores. The best prices for the features covered at the Pennsylvania oval (there are only a few through the season) handed our blog followers Mcardles Lightning ($14.60, $10,80, $7.00) and Luck Be Withyou ($14.40, $6.00, $3.00). Also, we struck some high place and show picks with The Bank ($13.40, $24.40 ok), Unlce Lasse ($19.40). Our top two winners in the H2W list were Hudsonandbernard, $29.20, and Bestnotlie Hanover, $10.00, and there were other winners below 4-1, including FF Bigshow, $5.80; Daylon Miracle, $4.20; Momas Got A Gun, $4.20; Venus Delight, $4.20; White Mountain Top, $4.20; Rockers Alley, $3.20; Frau Blucher, $3.40 and Radar Contact, $2.40.

New Jersey’s Meadowlands and Freehold have been awarded 200 racing dates between them for 2016. The New Jersey Racing Commission’s Mark Ford, a veteran trainer, attended his first commission meeting as president of the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey, telling the commission that the association was “reluctantly accepting the Meadowlands dates as an experiment for 2016.” Ford said the group is concerned about losing dates in January and February and replacing them with September and October dates. The Meadowlands requested 90 dates, Fridays and Saturdays only (plus Sunday, May 8), from Jan. 2 through Aug. 6 and from Sept. 9 through Dec. 31 (dark Dec. 24). Freehold received 110 dates: Jan.1 through May 21, plus Aug. 26 and 27^th and Sept. 2 through Dec. 10. Racing days will be Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays plus three holiday Mondays – Jan. 18, Feb. 15 and Sept. 5.

In 2016, with Maywood and Balmoral parks closed, harness racing in Illinois will be presented at Hawthorne Racecourse. The first season is scheduled to kick off on Friday, Jan. 8 and will continue through Saturday, Feb. 6. A summer harness meet is scheduled to start on May 6 and run through Sept. 25. Racing will be presented five nights a week, Wednesday through Sunday.

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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