Monstrous Maine $94 Score; Exacta Partners Produce $88 And $75 Pays; Always B Miki Whips ‘Wiggle’

Two weeks after we peaked this season thus far with a $119.00 winner (our largest payoff yet), our H2W (horses-to-watch) list, keeping a close eye on harness racing in Maine, scored at Bangor with Maras World at $94.20. See the results below for the details on all of the H2W prices from a week with very few offerings.

Thursday, Sept. 8’s Peaceful Way elims at Mohawk were chalk victories. We knew the powerhouse frosh-filly trotter Ariana G ($2.10, $2.10 n/s) ok would dominate but took a shot with Stuck In My Spanks (29-1), who finished fourth and a triactor using The Erm (52-1), who finished fifth. Too bad it wasn’t a carryover Hi-5 Jackpot.

In Peaceful Way two, we lost with Cameron Hill (37-1), who finished off the grid, fifth as the public choice won with ease.

Friday, Sept. 9 we backed into an $88.00 exacta at Yonkers. In the second of two New York Sires Stakes for glamour-boy trotters, we were second with Royal Bachelor ($12.00, $7.50), who we mentioned would try to beat the horse that won, The Royal Harry. In round one we had Thats A Bad Boy (13-1) who broke and was eliminated from competition.

Mohawk’s Sept. 9 elims included two for next week’s William Wellwood. We were second in round one with Signal Hill ($7.70, $7.60). In the second split our choice, Mountain Of Love (10-1), jumped and was eliminated from contention.

Also on that Friday program there were a pair of Elegantimage elims. No one could beat the division head Caprice Hill in the first split. Our Jangone (32-1) was sixth. In the second elim, the favorite also won as our Pink Pistol (57-1) broke at the gate and was eliminated.

At The Meadows on Sept. 10 there were four sires-stakes championship miles. We did our best with one of our Little Brown Jug contenders (see top-10 list below), Western Fame ($15.60, $7.60). The favorite won for an exacta worth $75.80. We were third with Hollywood Highway ($5.40), eighth with Shesasmokinlady (26-1) and Hot Curry scratched.

Scioto’s two big features on Sept. 10 gave us a winner—Always B Miki ($3.80, $2.20, $2.20 ok), which was a fair price over Wiggle It Jiggleit, as predicted. In the other feature, we were third to the favorite with Wind Of The North ($5.20).

One of Mohawk’s duo of Maple Leaf Trot elims on Sept. 10 resulted in another exacta with the favorite as our choice, Shake It Cerry ($4.70, $3.20) was second to Resolve. In the second elim we were fifth with JL Cruze, who we should all give up on this season.

BREEDERS CROWN COUNTDOWN

The Breeders Crown Countdown (BCC) handled the Canadian Trotting Derby elims at Mohawk on Sept. 10 and the first mile was no surprise, featuring another win by Hambo-champ Marions Marauder ($2.40, $2.10 n/s) with Winter Harbor ($3.00) second, as we predicted. The exactor was worth $7.60.

In the second elim, we were third with Bee In Charge (n/s), as Bar Hopping (4-1) beat favorite Southwind Frank.

The glamour-boy pacing Simcoe, Betting Line won again, sucking the win pool dry and our choice, Lyons Snyder ($2.20, n/s) for a $3.20 exactor.

On various Wednesday nights we tweet for TwinSpires Twitter members from @FrankCotolo –retweeted by @twinspires—and the raceway involved. Losers from each week will appear on the next week’s horses-to-watch (H2W) list unless they race before that blog is published, so watch for them returning to the races on days in between blogs. Watch for special tweets from raceways on various Wednesdays.

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 39 active horses (a 21-percent win hit rate and a 44-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

Maras World, $94.20, $63.00, $8.40, Bangor
Misty On The Beach, $16.80, $6.20, $4.60, Philadelphia
Cheyenne Patti, $4.20, $3.20, $2.60, Freehold
Strong Signal, $3.50, $2.40, $2.10, Monticello
Cover Model, $2.60, $2.10, $2.10 ok, Plainridge
City Kid, $3.10, $2.30, $2.10, Monticello
Lady Shadow, $2.90, $2.10, n/s, Mohawk
Manceiver, $2.80, $2.60, $2.10, Vernon

Seconds

Dante, $6.60, $5.90, Yonkers
Gallant Seelster, $$3.50, $3.30, Yonkers
Big Boy Matt, $3.00, $2.40, Harrington

Thirds

Docs Suzie, $11.00, Red Mile
Icanflylikeanangel, $2.90, Monticello
Surveillance, $2.90, Rideau-Carleton
Breaking Bad, $2.70, Rideau-Carleton
Gimme The Pacifics, $2.40, Harrington
Jimmy William, $2.40, Meadows

News & Notes

Here is our weekly update for The Little Brown Jug. We will be updating it until the week before the event, which takes place at the Delaware, Ohio Fairgrounds on Sept. 22, the final day of the Grand Circuit’s meet at the busy half-mile track.

1-JJ Flynn
2-Lyons Snyder
3-Betting Line
3-Check Six
4-Racing Hill
5-Another Daily Copy
6-Manhattan Beach
7-Katies Rocker
8-Nocturnal Bluechip
9-Western Fame
10-Fernando Hanover

It is obvious that Control The Moment, our top choice in our weekly top 10 “Jug” contenders, has disappeared from the list. That’s because, sadly, Control The Moment has been retired. The son of Well Said suffered an injury that prohibits him from ever racing again, no less finishing his sterling sophomore season. He won the Meadowlands Pace, the Cane Pace and other top events for his division at three. At two he won the Metro and was North America’s frosh-pacing colt of the year. His connections said the injury will not affect his stud career, which will begin in the 2017 breeding season.

Though driver David Miller’s best paying horse came in at $9.80, he won seven others at Philadelphia on Sept. 7 and pulled off a profit of $18.20 (base bets of $2.00) if a player bet each of his 14 horses to win. His average win price was $5.77. David lost six of 14 drives, one in each race of the program. The profit margin was $1.30 a drive, which is well below the profit margin of a strong flat-bet profit driver.

Extraordinary Extras

Indulge in many standardbred topics at my Hoof Beats blog titled Vast Performances.

Ray Cotolo contributed to this blog

For Thom Pye cartoons, informative harness history and more, click here ~