Harness Weekly Update: Hambo Elim Strike At $14 Featured

The TwinSpires Harness Blog Weekly Update covers our successes and failures from selected features and the H2W (horses-to-watch list).

Thursday, July 29

We suggested horses for the TwinSpires Hit It & Split It deal at Hoosier. None contributed with a win, most played valuable roles in the Pick 4’s individual legs, and there was no luck for a few.

In leg one, Thunder Country ($3.00, $2.40) was second and Jaxson R Browne (17-1) was fifth as the race favorite won. In leg two, Shady Memories (5-1) finished fourth, losing to a 5-1 shot.

In leg three, we were second with Star Of Oz ($3.60, $2.80). Every Play Counts (6-1) finished fourth, and a 13-1 shot beat Star Of Oz at the wire. Finally, Go With Joe became the favorite and galloped off of the gait to finish eighth to the public’s second choice.

Thursdays through Aug. 5, the early Pick 4 at Hoosier Park is a $2,000 Hit It And Split It exclusive deal. Click for details.

Friday, July 30

The two favorite colt-trotting freshmen won elims for the Peter Haughton final. We finished second to one with Letsdoit S ($4.00, $3.00) for a $10.00 exacta and third with Global Pandemic ($2.80) in the other.

The single James Doherty frosh-filly trot found us fourth with Fast As The Wind (3-1).

Saturday, July 31

At 25-1, Southwind Gendry was disrespected by the Adios betting public but was deeply alive in the Meadows stretch, pacing to finish fourth from last in the field of nine.

At the Meadowlands, The Hambletonian Oaks elims began with a win by a horse we backed many times at two, Lady Chaos at 8-1. We did not use her, however. Our choice, Bettassima (7-1), missed making the final by a nose, finishing sixth.

The second Oaks elim was a fired-up filly field won by a 24-1 shot while our 9-2 Swift Swanda did not make the final.

The odds were right for a bet on Delayed Hanover ($14.80, $6.60, $4.20) as our contenders overlay as we scored in the first Hambletonian elim.

Another Ake Svanstedt colt took the second Hambletonian elim but we did not get our odds on him. We got our price on Venerate, who finished third at $3.40.

H2W LIST RESULTS

The H2W results list across-the-board prices. Exactas listed include a H2W horse finishing second to a race-favorite or if the first two finishers are H2W horses (an asterisk appears when both horses are listed—a cold exacta). The note “OK” determines that prices are correct (even when a show price exceeds a place price or all prices are the same).

Please note that some results reflect horses racing after the blog posts (they appear the following week).

This week, there were 23 active horses (a 13% win hit rate and a 48% ATB [across-the-board] hit). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for late choices.

Winners

Many Moons, $5.40, $2.90, $2.30, Mohawk
Double Account, $3.60, $2.80, $2.10, Meadowlands
Big Oil, $2.80, $2.10, $2.10 OK, Philly

Seconds

Concur, $7.10, $7.00, Monticello
Dream Of Luck, $3.40, $2.60, Pocono
Whichwaytothebeach, $3.00, $2.60, Meadowlands
Im A Chloe, $2.70, $2.10, Vernon

Thirds

RJZ First Lady, $5.60, Scioto
Kyrie Deo, $2.40, Plainridge
Island Beach Boy, $2.10, Mohawk
Boys Turn, $2.10, Vernon
Sabrina Hill, $2.10, Meadows

NEWS & NOTES

TwinSpires is making Thursdays bigger for bettors. On the day the TwinSpires harness blog preview drops and every Thursday through Aug. 5, the early Pick 4 at Hoosier Park is a $2,000 Hit It And Split It exclusive deal. Details are available here.

Pocono Downs overhauled its wagering format, primarily for multi-race bets. Starting Aug. 1, the multi-race betting changes to Daily Doubles on the first and last two races; two Pick 3s; two or three Pick 4s, depending on the number of races; and a Pick 5 (races involved depends on the number of races that day). The last race features a Pentafecta (Hi-5). Pick 3s, 4s, 5s and Pentafectas carry over the entire pool.

On July 29, the Running Aces racing program was canceled “due to poor air quality.” No explanation was included. The racetrack is not geographically challenged in Columbus, Minnesota, so what happened? The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air-quality alert for most of Minnesota, sighting “northerly winds behind a cold front (bringing) smoke from wildfires north of the Canadian border into Minnesota.” An area of heavy smoke extended across north central Minnesota.

The North America Cup for glamour-boy pacers at Mohawk last posted its top 10 contenders (on the left) and our updated top five are listed to the right.

1. American Courage / Lawless Shadow
2. Perfect Sting / Charlie May
3. Bulldog Hanover / Southwind Gendry
4. Southwind Gendry / Perfect Sting
5. Lawless Shadow / American Courage