Miami Valley’s $30 Winner Nabbed; Freehold Co-Favorites In $77 Pick 3; Tweets ‘Tween Blogs Continue

Again this week, Twinspires Twitter members were treated to special picks for Buffalo Raceway. The March 2 sextet of suggested contenders was tweeted from @FrankCotolo on Twitter and retweeted by @twinspires and @BuffaloRaceway. This week, one of six contenders, covering Races six through 11, won. That was Armbro Casino ($9.10, $6.80, $4.20). Of the other five to hit the board that Wednesday was Myra’s Hiho ($4.00, $2.50, Exacta $13.80). Some trip notes from that program could prove useful next week when the losers Twitter choices appear in the horses-to-watch (H2W) list.

Red Carpet Tonight (21-1) raced a tremendous mile, dueling with a public favorite from the half into the stretch. It appeared he would pass the leader but began to gallop, finishing off the board. Ty’s A Big Star, at 29-1, made up a lot of ground to the half but was hanged there and was passed by five in the stretch. Blue Mitchell (7-2) gifted the field 9 lengths to start and made up 8 lengths by the stretch and was able to get onto the purse grid by finishing fourth.

Two winners in Freehold’s Early Pick 3 highlighted our features’ suggested contenders on the March 3 program. We missed leg one, which was taken by the public choice. We expected larger prices from our winners in the other two legs but they were not the public’s second choices—Miss Behave ($7.40, $3.00, $2.80) and Touch Of Charm ($4.00, $3.00, $2.20). The Pick 3 paid $77.80.

Friday night, March 4, the Miami Valley Pick 4 was not a profitable theater for the exotic, although some of our contenders made the board with handsome prices from the purse grid. In leg one we had Tinder ($4.60) third, with Its Jesse Time (13-1) finishing ninth.

In leg two we had Velocity Lana ($11.00, $6.80) second, Paige Moon Dancer ($7.40) third and Arties Last Party (5-1) seventh. Those first two high-priced finishers contributed to a Triple worth $2,197.15 (the place horse was part of an Exacta worth $220.20) for anyone using the 5-1 winner.

In leg three we had a single, Ride A Cowboy (11-1), who raced evenly as the lone step-up in the race, finishing a cash-earning fifth.

In the fourth leg, we were third with Cast No Shadow ($5.80) and fourth with Addys Way.

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 59 active horses (a 14-percent win hit rate and a 42-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

Metro John, $30.60, $12.40, $8.00, Miami
Avatartist, $14.80, $5.30, $3.00, Woodbine
Jay Flight, $12.20, $5.00, $3.90, Fraser
Casanova Lindy, $5.70, $3.30, $2.80, Monticello
PCs Wildcard, $5.60, $2.80, $2.80 ok, Pompano
Touch Of Charm, $4.60, $3.00, $2.20, Freehold
MA Bay, $4.20, $3.20, $2.60, Freehold
dh—Travers Hall, $3.40, $3.60, $2.60 ok, Freehold

Seconds

Velocity Lana, $11.00, $6.80, Miami
Soul Train, $6.60, $4.70, Yonkers
Willey Bite, $5.40, $3.20 (Exacta  $7.20), Cal Expo
Jetapedia, $4.80, $3.80, Woodbine
Say It Again, Sam, $4.70, $5.50 ok, Buffalo
Rubber Soul, $3.70, $2.70 (Exacta $5.90), Flamboro
Palms Beach, $3.60, $2.80, Freehold
Woodmere Fullalife, $2.40, $2.40 ok, Buffalo
MT The Banc, $2.10, Freehold

Thirds

All Gold, $6.40, Dover
Cast No Shadow, $5.80, Miami
Caddy Jeff, $4.00, Buffalo
Bugatti Beauty, $3.10, Buffalo
Rhis Western Star, $3.00, Cal Expo
Maddys Credit, $2.90, Woodbine
Cheyenne Raider, $2.60, Woodbine
Yes You Can, n/s, Woodbine

News & Notes

If you like larger fields on half-mile tracks, you have to cope with trailers (horses starting races in a second tier of the field. Recently, at a Board of the Ontario Racing Commission’s meeting, it was approved that Western Fair’s half-mile racing could extend a variance to a trailer rule that limited the number of trailers in overnight races to one. The variance allows Western Fair District to add two trailers in two races per race card. It is also permitted to distribute purse monies to sixth place for the two races per race card that carry the extra trailers.

Woodbine Entertainment Group announced that 58 three-year-old pacers have been nominated to the 33rd edition of the $1-million Pepsi North America Cup, the richest race in Canadian harness racing. Many of the top frosh pacers from 2015 appear on the list for the event, scheduled for Saturday, June 18 at Mohawk Racetrack. The group includes Control The Moment, winner of the Metro Pace; Boston Red Rocks, the Breeders Crown and the Governor’s Cup victor; Betting Line; Nvestment Bluechip; Voracity; and Travel Playlist. Eliminations for the “Cup” are scheduled for June 11.

World champion Southwind Frank headlines a group of 77 three-year-old trotters nominated to the $700,000 Canadian Trotting Classic. Caprice Hill and Broadway Donna are two of 98 three-year-old trotting fillies nominated to the Elegantimage. Pacing fillies L A Delight and Pure Country lead a group of 63 nominees to the Fan Hanover for three-year-old pacing fillies. The Governor’s Cup for two-year-old pacers has attracted 199 nominees, while 200 two-year-old pacing fillies have been nominated to the Three Diamonds. The Valley Victory for two-year-old trotters received 185 nominations, while 184 two-year-old trotting fillies compile the list of nominees to the Goldsmith Maid.

Hoosier Park’s season is less than a month away. The 2016 season of 160 dates begins Friday, April 1. Live racing at Hoosier will follow a Friday, Saturday schedule the opening week; a Thursday, Friday, Saturday schedule the second week; and then a Tuesday-through-Saturday schedule for the rest of the season. With a new, daily first-race post of 5:45 p.m. each night, the live racing season will be conducted through Nov. 12. Racing secretary Scott Peine said the backstretch will be filled to capacity for the opening of this year’s season. The first round of qualifiers goes Wednesday, March 16 at 10 a.m. Qualifiers will continue to follow a Wednesday and Saturday schedule. Peine announced several overnight and late-closing events in early April and MayHoosier Park will also offer a variety of overnight series for Indiana-sired horses. Again, Hoosier’s signature event will be the $300,000 Dan Patch Stakes, this year on Friday, Aug. 12.

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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