Half Of Miami Valley Pick 4 Produces Two $30 Exactas; 37 Percent Hit The Board

The major accomplishments of the past weekend can be narrowed down to the Miami Valley Pick 4 on Feb. 6. Though we did not hand out the quartet of winners, the first two legs as features on their own—and we always encourage the “Pick” exotic players to take advantage of the pools within the legs of the exotic—presented a pair of winners and their exotic partners.

Leg one was taken by Roll On ($5.40, $3.80, $2.80), our second choice in the race, with our first choice, Schoolkids ($6.00, $5.40) getting the place for an exacta worth $33.20.

Leg two’s victor was our first choice, Singing Saint ($11.60, $4.40, $3.80), followed by the public choice we noted was the man threat, Ally-con ($2.60, $2.20) for an exacta worth $30.00.

In leg three our three choices were off the board—Wilcox (8-1) was fourth; Hot N Shooting (9-1) was seventh; and Bad Bug (9-1) was seventh. The second choice won the race at 2-1.

In leg four, we were third with Desperation ($7.20) and fifth with Hey Dali (2-1). The race was won by a 12-1 shot and the Pick 4 was hit strongly by fans, paying $314.00.

We began our run of features as usual on Thursday and the Feb. 4 pair of Freehold races resulted in a pair of seconds, while neither was captured by a public first choice. Our seconds were That Girl Of Mine ($5.00, $2.60) and Doggone Incredible ($6.40, $3.00). In the first Freehold event, Quiet Cammile scratched.

On Friday, Feb. 5 our attack of the Pick 3 at the Meadowlands brutally collapsed from the star, under stressful circumstances. In the first leg our 8-1 Twin B Elite was unable to overcome the tough 10 post, though he finished on the purse grid, fifth. A 16-1 outsider win launched the exotic and knocked out a number of players.

In leg two our first choice, Bloomfieldcantifly ($9.60) was third, while 7-2 Sharp Edge made a worthless three-wide brush to finish sixth and Feisty Love (120-1) broke at the start from post 10 and was eliminated.

In the ultimate leg, Blue Muse (5-1) was hanged in second for three calls while the favorite and our other choice, Its Payday Friday, jumped badly early and galloped home ninth. Taking advantage of the misfortunes—which included another breaker and a wildly wide trip by the race’s second choice and a lot of inner-fraction traffic—was the second longest shot in the race, winning at 44-1.
Any horses for features that did not win will be listed on our Thursday blog’s H2W.

 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 35 active horses (an 17-percent win hit rate and a 37-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

Ideal Jet, $11.40, $5.20, $4.10, Woodbine
Cheyenne Jeffrey, $8.80, $5.40, $5.00, Yonkers
Magic Shelly, $6.80, $3.60, $3.20, Meadows
Wing Flash, $6.60, $3.00, $3.20 ok, Pompano
Fox Valley Largo, $6.40, $4.20, $3.60, Cal Expo
Hasty Proffitt, $4.30, $2.40, $2.70 ok, Yonkers
 
Seconds

Gibbs, $7.20, $4.80 (Exacta $18.00), Meadows
Boots Place, $5.80, $3.60, Freehold
Barbosa, $3.20, $3.00, Cal Expo
Hellsapoppin, $3.20, $2.20, Flamboro
Tour Guide, $2.80, $2.40 (Exacta $5.90), Cal Expo

Thirds

Scary Good, $6.30, Woodbine
Power Off, $3.40, Buffalo

News & Notes

We will be keeping a closer eye on Western Fair charts for our H2W since track officials made some modifications to the daily wagering menu for the rest of February. Due to a small horse supply, Western Fair will be carding 10-race programs for the balance of the month, which provokes a change in where some key wagers are placed in the program. Beginning Monday, Feb. 8, the Early Pick 4 will start on Race 3, while the early Super Hi-5 will be moved to Race 6. The late Pick 4 will remain on Race 7, while the Late Super Hi-5 will continue to be offered on Race 10. Racing manager Greg Blanchard said the new schedule will provide consistency “until such time as we can move back to our more traditional eleven and twelve-race programs this spring.” Western Fair features live racing every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. and Friday nights at 7:15 p.m. (Eastern).The 10-race feature wagering format schedule is:
Daily Doubles – Races 1 and 9; Pick-3s – Races 1 and 8; Pick-4s – Races 3 and 7; Super Hi-5s – Races 6 and 10.

The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono is getting the stable area ready for horsemen as the gates officially open for the track’s 51st season on Tuesday, March 1 at 8:00 a.m. The Pocono stable area features a training track, tack shop, farriers, two veterinary clinics, laundry facilities and a secure area with a guard on the premises 24 hours a day. The Pocono meet will get underway on Saturday, March 19.

Pompano Park’s Late Closing Pacing Series for mares gets underway on Feb. 13 with a total of 15 nominations for the four-race series. Among the entrants are Velocity Vespa, Just A Bee, Godiva Seelster, Show Runner, Totally Rusty, Sensational Gabby A and Fancy Desire. The series continues on Feb. 20 and Feb. 27—each leg guaranteed with a purse of $12,500—with the March 5 final featuring an estimated purse of $75,000.

Yonkers Raceway will again be the starting point for major feature events this year. Deadlines have come and gone for horses entering the Petticoat (girls) and Sagamore Hill (boys) Pacing Series, each for three- and four-year-olds (non-winners of four races and/or $40,000 through this past Dec. 1. Connections are facing deadlines to compete in the following upcoming events: Yonkers Raceway/SOA of New York Bonus Trotting Series; Blue Chip Matchmaker/George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series; Lawrence B. Sheppard Pace (two-year-old colts/geldings); and the Jackpot Next Door Claiming Series.

The Meadowlands announced a positive test for a horse trained by Robert Bresnahan, Jr. Tag Up And Go, a six-year-old trotter, returned a positive for the performance-enhancing substance, epogen, more commonly known as EPO. The blood samples were taken from two horses at Mr. Bresnahan’s barn at Gaitway Farm on Dec. 8. The samples were sent to and detected by the Hong Kong Racing Laboratory, among the world leaders in research on equine drug testing. Mr. Bresnahan has been placed on the track’s exclusion list and will be unable to participate at the Meadowlands, Tioga, and Vernon. Bresnahan is entitled to ask for a split sample test; however, the Hong Kong Racing Laboratory has not reported any “false positives” in any official samples in its 46-year history.

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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