‘Levy’ Final To Favorite; $44-Place Tops Toteboard Prices Over Hoosier, Century Victors

Our Buffalo Raceway tweets this past Wednesday once again, except for one second, wound up in fourth or fifth, mostly to favorites. The first spot play, however, Big Pasta, one of the fifth-finishers, was 45-1 and was beaten by a 52-1 shot. The only horse to hit the board was in Race 9 when Artistic Topaz ($5.70, $3.30) took second to a 7-1 winner.
Remaining finishers included Big Bad Boy (15-1) and Ranger Gus (4-1), both fourth and Marachere (36-1) in fifth.

Our tweets for Twinspires Twitter members come from @FrankCotolo –retweeted by @twinspires—and the raceway involved. Losers from April 20 at Buffalo will appear on next week’s horses-to-watch (H2W) list. Watch for special tweets from raceways on various Wednesdays.

Our wagering weekend began on Thursday, April 21 at Harrah’s Philadelphia. In Race 3 Overandovervictory (14-1) finished fourth, while our other contender, Cool Beans, scratched. In Race 9 we were second with Exteme Machine N ($5.20, $3.00) to the favorite, launching an exacta worth $15.80.

Friday was devoted to H2W participants, including (noted in the results below) a second at Maimi from Aqua Artist that paid $44.20. Saturday, Saturday night, April 23, however, was jam packed with events.

The George Morton Levy Pacing Series and Matchmaker Series concluded with final events and some consolations for hard-working aged horses and mares at Yonkers.

Sharp throughout the “Levy” series and winning the final, Bit Of A Legend was a part of a two-prong entry from Peter Tritton (whose other horse finished third). That entry was an overwhelming crowd choice. “Bit” rushed to the lead with little challenge and controlled the fractions to make his foes work hard to get on the purse grid.

Along with entries from Ron Burke’s barn and Jeffrey Bamond, Jr.’s barn, there were only five wagering entities in the eight-horse field. PH Supercam, our choice, was part of Bamond’s crew, the entry going off at 7-2. “PH” raced well enough, though wide much of the way (three wide in the fourth turn) and still gained ground to finish fourth.

We won the Matchmaker Consolation with the mare that wound up the favorite, Carolsideal ($4.00, $2.50, $2.70); our second choice, For The Ladies N (32-1) finished fourth. In the Levy eligibles we took third with Te Kawau N ($2.80), who wound up as the close second public choice. In the Matchmaker Final we were third with Al Raza N ($2.60) to the 3-1 Yagonnakissmeornot. In the Levy Consolation, Wiggle It Jiggleit paced in front to win in the no-place-no-show contest. Our choice for an unlikely upset, Melmerby Beach (43-1) was seventh.

In Saturday’s Miami Pick 4 we only contributed one winner, Alero Blue Chip ($11.20, $4.60, $2.40) in leg two, where our other contender,Upfrontoutthedoor (11-1) finished fourth. In leg one we had a second and a third, respectively, with Who’s Your Maddy ($4.80, $2.80) and Keystone Rocco ($3.80). We were second in leg three with Every Play Counts ($3.20, $2.60), while off the board with Roll’em Up (6-1). In the last leg we were second with Truly Kissed ($2.80, $2.20), while our other contender, Doctor Carter, scratched. The Pick 4 paid $362.70.

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 60 active horses (a 10-percent win hit rate and a 30-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

Dreamstyle Herbie, $11.60, $6.40, $2.80, Hoosier
Drake, $10.60, $4.50, $2.50, Century
Jetpedia, $5.40, $2.80, $2.50, Mohawk
Beyonces Rockn, $3.30, $2.50, $2.30, Mohawk
God Forbid N, $3.00, $2.90, $2.40, Yonkers
Grecale AS, $2.50, $2.10, $2.10 ok, Monticello

Seconds

Aqua Artist, $44.20, $8.60, Miami
Liscloon, $4.60, $3.40, Freehold
Andys Lil Buddy, $3.20, $2.20 (Exacta $8.60)
Quikwit, $2.20, $2.10, Saratoga

Thirds

Sweet Bobbie, $6.60, Rosecroft
Lyons Levi Lewis, $5.40, Flamboro
Genuine Desire, $5.20, Cal Expo
Final Retrieve, $3.20, Rosecroft
Favorite Dune, $2.60, Rosecroft
KD Bella, $2.30, Buffalo
Ms Mac N Cheese, $2.10, Mohawk
Grana Padanno, n/s, Mohawk

News & Notes

The 2016 season at Vernon Downs offers bettors a new wager on its menu, the 50-cent Pick 5. The wager includes the last five races of each program, with a carryover provision should no ticket correctly select all winners. Additionally, a mid-card Daily Double has been added on every program, including Race 5 and Race 6. Post time for the first of 84 programs this season at Vernon is 6:45 p.m. Eastern.

The inaugural editions of a pair of three-year-old pacing stakes events, together worth purses of $800,000 (added), will take place with eliminations on April 30 and finals on May 7 at Pocono Downs. The Pennsylvania Classic Pace for colts and its companion Miss Pennsylvania Pace for fillies, feature Pennsylvania-sired horses. A restructuring of the funding added by money from casino gaming in the state, totaling some $1.6 million, brings about the instant early-season classic. Half of that total went towards beefing up purses for the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championships, which at $350,000 are the richest in North America, and their consolations, and half the money was devoted to staging the aforementioned events. 

Connections of Wiggle It Jiggleit announced the pacing colt will be making his return to Canada in a matter of weeks. “Wiggle” heads first for Flamboro Downs where he will make an appearance in the Confederation Cup eliminations. That race for four-year-old pacers offers elims on May 8, with a $225,000 (est.) final on May 15.  The 2015 Horse of the Year, Wiggle,t rained by Clyde Francis, hopes to start after the Confederation Cup to go against his older rivals in the Molson Pace at Western Fair. That appearance could be changed in lieu of racing in an invitational pace at Harrah's Philadelphia. That race would be carded as part of the a Sunday card on May 29, when the Maxie Lee for older trotters and the Betsy Ross for older mare pacers is on the bill.

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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