Kentucky Futurity Leads Fall Features; Yonkers’ International Trot Shines; Hoosier, Woodbine Locals Joust

Autumn harness sparkles in Lexington, Kentucky, as the Grand Circuit-Red Mile meet concludes Oct. 10 with the featured Kentucky Futurity and the Filly Futurity. The weekend starts at The Red Mile with International Stallion Stakes (ISS) action for frosh pacers. Saturday is “Futurity” day, which also presents top soph-pacers and older pacers and trotters. Yonkers has $1 million up for the 1 1/4 –miles International Trot on Saturday.

At Hoosier, super Indiana Sires Stakes (INSS) line the Oct. 10 program, including super-colt-pacer Wiggle It Jiggleit and TwinSpires account-holders can play for profit and points. As Woodbine hails its harness meet, the focus is upon Ontario Sires Stakes Gold (ONSS) miles. 

This week, the Breeders Crown Countdown (BCC) blog continued to handicap important races at the exclusive TwinSpires.com blog, in league with the Hambletonian Society covering horses raring to make it into the elims and finals. This week we covered frosh-filly trotter ISS miles at The Red Mile.

the regular stream of wagering possibilities are on line as always in our horses-to-watch list (H2W). Suggested contenders that may not be mentioned in other public-handicapping forums are great for win, place, show and exotic plays. Please consider them when putting together your tickets.

Lexington Stakes Gang

ISS action at The Red Mile on Friday, Oct. 9 brings out the freshman filly-and-colt pacers in seven splits going for $67Gs through $74Gs. First, we take a look at the trio of filly ISS miles, then, a review of the colts.

In the first, super filly Pure Country will soak the win pools, going for eight straight. What bets are left will drizzle into support for Soft Idea, who is six for nine in the win column. Your only chance for an upset chance, should the scenario arise, would be with Upside Surprise. She has raced the least, broken her maiden and may be much better than she appears on paper.

Next, Staffan Lind’s Rock Me Baby may not get as much support as Ron Burke’s duo or Ross Croghan’s Call Me Queen Be, but “Rock” is another in a string of lightly raced fillies that has every reason to improve, especially in this field of green gals. 

The last of the program’s filly ISS events also puts seven on the track. From the outside, Shezarealdeal could be looked over for post, driver and the likes of the two Burke gals on the inside of her. That would be a mistake, we think, especially if she is the third choice or worse.

The first of four ISS colt splits features seven well-bred boys on the pace. It is, however, not difficult to see Sam Mcsmith as the probable wager of value. Tony Alagna’s colt is ready to take on top competition after being first or second in only five starts. The crowd, we hope, strongly backs Ideal Rocky and I’m Some Graduate, leaving “Sam” out of the top-bettors choices. Also, last week’s choice of Beach Ogre was not so bad finishing sixth at 75-1 and could be a factor here, certainly in exotics.

ISS colt-mile two has eight boys a-pacin’. The crowd may go with brands here, using the two Burke entries and drivers but we are going to give Mindtrip one more shot after three seconds, ignoring his maiden status. The price will be right and the chances are far from slim, since he has been hot lately and beaten each time by better than these.

Next, another eight colts look to burn some fractions into a record, topped by Spider Man Hanover, who blazed at the “Jug” meet. American Passport may be the “now” horse but Trond Smedshammer’s Artmagic is getting better and could be ready for an upset mile that gives him a speed badge of his own—and at a good price (the public doesn’t truly trust Tron with a pacer).

Travel Playlist goes for his fifth-straight win in the last colt split but we are going to bet on Talk Show snapping his streak. Always, horses on streaks get over played and when you have a two-year-old bet too heavily you could ignore another youngster on the rise at a much better price. That’s how we look to support Talk Show.

Global Greats

The $1-million International Trot on Oct. 10 at Yonkers (make note that post time is 2 p.m Eastern, putting the feature to go around 3 p.m) is a tough contest, with 10 going 1 ¼ miles and only a few of them truly known to us stateside. Bee A Magician is the morning-line choice among many strong European boys. We also know Creatine and Natural Herbie.

We like the French entry, Timoko, who has won two huge Eurpoean stakes against the best overseas trotters. The French trotters have done well in the history of this event, mostly due to the fact that they are used to racing in large fields at odd distances, an edge that helps them on the New York half-mile, which is actually short of the field sizes horses like Timoko race well against. The odds are unpredictable from our POV, so you judge the value as you see it.

Kentucky Royalty

Harness racing prestige and three-digit purses are on the line with the Kentucky Futurity ($527,000) and the Kentucky Filly Futurity ($262,500), both one-heat affairs this season on Oct. 10. The open event feature only glamour-boy trotters, half of the 10-horse field trained by Jimmy Takter.

The top Takter colt, Pinkman, comes from post 9 and has beaten all of these one time or another. There is no reason to think he will lose this if he keeps his usual killer-gait going. As a key, the best way to make any exotic money is to use non-Takterian [sic] entries with him. Muscle Diamond, off a win here, is sharp and being in the 10 hole for this may raise his price. Crescent Fashion could get a decent ground-saving trip to be an exotic element and that will also assist in a good-paying partnership with Pinkman.

The filly version has a Takter quartet among nine but the emphasis is on Mission Brief from Burke’s barn. She waltzed last week and takes on the usual band of babes for the big dance. What can you do but key her in exotics and find two upset possibilities for exotics? That means taking strictly outsiders to partner the tickets or pass. Classical Annie and Bright Baby Blues are the only two outside of the Takter-Burke influence and the only candidates for bumping up a price with Mission Brief.

The glamour-boy pacers line up for the $450,000 Tattersalls Pace and all but “Wiggle” are raring to score big. Artspeak, who may go off with a decent price on his head, considering the popularity of some to his right, will lead a dozen of the best boys. The public continues to honor Dudes The Man by betting on him too much; Lost For Words and In The Arsenal offer early foot and perhaps a strong early duel from outside posts; Rock N Roll World, Split The House and Paparazzi Hanover (the latter a great exacta second) will present challenges in the second tier and most of them will get action that allows Artspeak—arguably the best of them all—to fly, we expect, late, with a lot left to score and go into the Crown elims with confidence.  

Two Glen Garnsey Memorial splits for soph-filly pacers present the best of that division. The first, worth $114.750, could be a replica of last week’s Bluegrass, where we had Wicked Little Minx over huge choice Bettor Be Steppin. “Minx” should once again be overlooked and maybe more than last week’s 9-2.

In the second split, worth $117,250, Divine Caroline and Band Of Angels struggle for top choice status but we will go for an upset here with Invest In Art. In tight, she’s poised for a second-or third-over trip to win and pay brightly.

Two Allerage Opens are also on the bill. The $134,000 trot is a tightly bunched group of male trotters that let Il Sogno Dream get away from them last week. Not here, though, will they be able to catch Wind Of The North. The price is negotiable; there’s no way at press time to tell his true value. But it may be worth your support.

The Open Pace, worth $148,000, has 10 on the gait. Also eligible is Always B Miki, who, if he got in, would be a fine wager against these. However, there is no way to tell that at press time so we look to beat the obvious choice, State Treasurer, as we did a few back with Doo Wop Hanover, who is here out for blood again. But we feel this will be a good price to collect on JK Endofanera, a definite contender. So watch for “Miki” getting into the race and take it from there.

Super Gold

There’s $250,000 up for each of the Ontario Sires Stakes Super Gold Finals fields at Woodbine on Oct. 10. For the sake of space and brevity, we list our top contenders in the order of the races on the program.
Two-year-old filly pace—Thatsoveryverynice; LA Delight
Two-year-old filly trot—Devils Advocate; High Heels
Two-year-old colt pace—Voracity; Betting Line
Two-year-old colt trot—Tony Soprano; Pukka
Three-year-old colt pace—Robert Hill; Sportsmanship
Three-year-old filly trot—Muscle Baby Doll; All That Sparkles
Three-year-old colt trot—Rubber Duck; Covert Operative
Three-year-old filly pace—Delightful Hill; Capela

Indiana Shakes With ‘Wiggle’

”Jug”-winner and monster colt pacing Wiggle It Jiggleit skipped the sophomore feature at Lexington to be the star of his division’s Indiana Sires Stakes Super Finals (INSS) at Hoosier this Oct. 10. The two- and three-year-old events are worth $200,000 each. As we did above with the ONSS above, we list our top contenders for the INSS in the order of the races on the program.
Two-year-old filly trot— Nothing But Nice; Miss Tootsie Hall
Two-year-old filly pace—Seventimesavirgin; Can’t Touch This
Two-year-old colt trot—Victors Hall; Bridge To Jesses
Three-year-old filly trot—Churita; Hannelore Hanover
Three-year-old colt trot—Bluebird Reverend; Homicide Hunter
Three-year-old filly pace—White Metro; Nora Rockwell
Two-year-old colt pace—Granite; Matrix Of Luck
Two-year-old colt pace—Wiggle It Jiggleit; Vague Traces

H2W Legend

Review our choices and follow the wagering at the prescribed track. These are possible contenders we have judged from reviewing races. The horses’ names are listed beneath the name of the track after the date they will be racing. The race in which they are entered (R and race number) follows. If a + is in front of a horse’s name it means it is appearing on the list for the second (and last) time because it failed to win the first time it appeared. An “ae” signals the horse is entered on the also-eligible list. If a horse is listed twice, refer to the entries on the night of the race since a horse may enter in more than one race. Types of wagering on any of the H2W listed horses are based on your judgment. If you have any questions, email us at TwinSpires.

H2W LIST

Batavia
10/7/15, +Winbak Colony R2
10/9/15, +Almost Midnight R1; September Hall R2; +Tequila Haze R7
10/10/15, +Muscle Max R9

Century
10/10/15, +Wrangler Potogold R3

Charlottetown
10/8/15, Astor Shark R6
10/10/15, +Perfect Circle R5;

Dayton
10/8/15, True Hero R10

Fraser
10/8/15, Grand Coolie R3; Kootenay Mystic R7
10/9/15, Cenalta Wizard R8; Thieving Magpie R10; Wrapped To Go R12

Freehold
10/8/15, +Red Rock R8
10/10/15, Twincreeks Jack R6

Harrington
10/8/15, +Zepplin Blue Chip R12

Hoosier
10/8/15, Joey Hackett R8; Marquesas ae R10

Meadows
10/9/15, +Rock That Look R2
10/10/15, Connie Jean R1; Missive R2; John Paul R3; Floodgait R4

Northfield
10/8/15, +Midnight Dude R3

Northville
10/9/15, Victorious Valle R5; +Power Stick R11

Philadelphia
10/9/15, +Eveil Dun Champion R2; Krispy Apple R6; Joes Fire R7
10/11/15, Jump Jive And Jam R9

Plainridge
10/8/15, Laramars Soul R2; Southwind Chase R3; Pan Grad R4; Lord Terror R6

Pocono
10/10/15, Raise The Curtain R4

Red Mile
10/7/15, +Taj For All R3
10/8/15, +Waitlifter R4, +Dog Gone Lucky R5

Rosecroft
10/10/15, Lyonssweetie R1; Bo Tox Hanover R8; Southern Lady R12

Saratoga
10/9/15, +Shasham R2

Vernon
10/10/15, +Pair Of Deuces R8

Yonkers
10/8/15, +Highland Rockstar R1
 

Ray Cotolo contributes to each edition