Productive Power Plays Produce Exactas With Winners, Huge Place, Show Prices At Northfield, Miami

We started the week off with tweets for spot plays at Pompano on Feb. 8. In Race 3 we were second to the favorite for a $64.00 exacta with River Rising ($9.80, $3.60). He went off at 25-1. Our second choice, Fast Bill in Race 8, scratched and our third spot play, Dynamic Rayzer (7-1) finished ninth.
 
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.

This week we introduced Power Plays within the presentation of our personal features and produced some fine results. Of course Thursday, Feb. 9, our features at Freehold and the Meadowlands were cancelled due to a blizzard pelting the east coast. Monticello and Yonkers also cancelled, affecting our H2W entries. The choices for our cancelled Freehold and Meadowlands features will be re-examined in their races if they return for our next preview blog. Meanwhile, here’s what happened on Friday, Feb. 10.

Our Friday Power Play was the Pick 3 at Miami Valley. Within the three legs we presented some mighty payoffs. In leg one we were second with Packing Heat ($16.80, $8.00). We also hit the show horse with Royal Cam-Hall ($16.00). Those prices are not typos. A striking 34-1 shot was the upset winner in that race.

Legs two and three did not hit the board. Looking To Score (7-1) finished sixth, beaten by another 7-1 horse and Fantastic Rock (40-1) finished eighth, beaten by a 3-1 entry. But no one hit the Pick 3. With “ALL” in any of the three spots, a ticket paid $14.55. We covered that price with both of our first leg’s place and show horses.

Saturday, Feb. 11 we offered two Power Plays at Northfield. The fourth-race superfecta delivered three of the four. We may have nailed it but one in our quartet never had a chance—Nothing Wrong (10-1) broke. However, we keyed the correct winner for all exotics. Wings ($2.20, $2.10, $2.10 ok). If you keyed Wings for exactas, you got one, as another of our choices got second at 59-1. Stylish Dapper ($13.00, $7.40) was second for an exacta paying $34.40. The other choice, Sunrise Sunset (41-1) was in a dead heat for fourth, the final superfecta spot. A 17-1 shot grabbed third.

Race 6 was our other Saturday Power Play. The focus was the trifecta, along with the usual exotics, so we presented three contenders. We delivered another key horse winner with Richerthanrayno ($5.00, $4.00, $2.20). We also hit a $42.20 exacta with Countless Gold ($8.80, $3.80). Our third choice, KJs Foxy Lady (20-1) was fifth. The favorite hit the board for show and the trifecta paid $216.60.

More Power Plays are coming your way for next weekend in our Thursday blog.

All horses that did not win in our personal features (if not scratched) appear in the following week’s H2W list as second-time (noted: +) entries. Keep an eye on their second times around; more than a few come back to win.
 
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 25 active horses (an 8-percent win hit rate and a 28-percent ATB [across-the-board] 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

Del Rio Seelster, $7.20, $4.80, $3.80
Musselsfrombrussels, $5.20, $3.50, $2.80, Woodbine

Seconds

Jet Blue Miracle, $6.80, $3.20, Dover
Barbarian, $5.00, $3.80, Cal-Expo
Tashia, $2.40, $2.10, Northfield

Thirds

Bred To Race, $4.30, Buffalo
Indian Outlaw, $2.80, Buffalo
 
News & Notes

Meadowlands race-caller Sam McKee, who suffered a debilitating stroke last week is in rehabilitation. His family has set up a GoFund Me account to help him on his long and difficult road to recovery. Find it at https://www.gofundme.com/sam-mckees-medical-fund. Diamond Creek Farm, which stands the trotter Creatine, will be holding an online auction for a breeding to the stallion, with all proceeds from the stud fee auction going directly to the McKee family. Amount is to be paid up front. Breeding is transferable and can be used any season. Collection fees will be waived. The auction will run on the Diamond Creek website at www.diamondcreekfarm.com/creatine-breeding-auction.html, from Tuesday (Feb. 7) until Friday (Feb. 10) at noon. “The winner of the breeding will have a chance to breed to Creatine and most importantly, will be helping a fellow horseman and his family in their time of need,” says a farm spokesperson.

Remember Nuncio? We caught him early when he was racing against Father Patrick. The freshman went on to do very well on the track, a perennial follower of Father Patrick. Then he went on to race as an aged trotter and was shipped overseas to battle the top international veterans of the gait. Recently, Nuncio was named Horse of the Year in Sweden. Unbeaten in 11 races last year, the son of Andover Hall received 86 percent of the votes. Nuncio has not raced since Sept. 18, 2016 but is in training for Stefan Melander, who expects to bring him back (he is now six) to the track in late March. The first big target for Nuncio could be the Olympic Trot to be raced in Gothenburg late April.

Ohio continues to offer a plethora of harness racing as Scioto Downs joins Miami Valley on the Buckeye circuit. Scioto kicks off a 90-day season on Tuesday (May 9) with a 2 p.m. post time. Live racing will be held every Tuesday through Saturday until Sept. 9. Post time will be 6:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday while Tuesday’s post time and all holiday cards will start 2 p.m.

A varied early- and late-closers menu of racing, as well as stakes, will highlight the 52nd racing season of The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. The famed northeastern Pennsylvania oval will begin the 135-day race meet on Saturday, March 18. The Bobby Weiss Late Closer for three- and four-year-old horses will return this season in April with four event. The separate events will be for male pacers, female pacers, male trotters and female trotters. Each “Weiss” will consist of four legs and a $30,000 final. The Pennsylvania All Stars, an early closer for Pennsylvania sired two- and three-year-olds, will make their appearance in July. Sun Stakes Saturday will once again highlight Independence Day weekend. The finals for the $500,000 Earl Beal Jr. Memorial soph trot, $500,000 Max C. Hempt Memorial soph pace, $300,000 James M. Lynch Memorial soph-filly pace and $500,000 Ben Franklin FFA Pace will be on July 1. Eliminations will be one week earlier. If entries for the eliminations warrant, there will be a $75,000 consolation for the “Beal, Hempt and Franklin” and $50,000 for the “Lynch.”

Extraordinary Extras

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

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