Storm Stops Features; Watch List Place-Show Heavy Hits

Here is the TwinSpires Harness Blog Weekly Update.

Thursday, Feb. 4

We offered a strong bunch of contenders at Yonkers and for the opening day of the season at Pocono Downs but Mother Nature swept in with a major snowstorm, canceling many eastern-seaboard racetracks. Our Thursday and Saturday selected features were canceled except for two at Cal-Expo. We hope to revisit those contenders when they return in appropriate positions. See Saturday, below, for more storm-related news.

Check out the Super Sunday Pompano Park Special blog for Feb. 7

Thursday, Feb. 4

YONKERS FEATURES C A N C E L E D

 Friday, Feb. 5

Sacramento, California was far from the madding storm, presenting our only features for the week at Cal-Expo.

We were tops in one, though a favorite, with Rue Hanover ($3.20, $2.40, $2.40 ok).

In the other, Playthehandurdealt(7-2) never truly came into the mix and finished seventh.

Saturday, Feb. 6

The Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania were buried in two and or more feet of snow, forcing Pocono Downs to cancel its first harness-racing card of 2021 on Feb. 6. Two cards of racing are scheduled for next weekend, Saturday (Feb. 13) at 12:30 p.m. and Sunday (Feb. 14) at 5:00 p.m.

POCONO FEATURES C A N C E L E D

H2W LIST RESULTS

The H2W results list across-the-board prices. Exactas listed include a H2W horse finishing second to a race-favorite or if the first two finishers are H2W horses (an asterisk appears when both horses are listed—a cold exacta). The note “ok” determines that prices are correct (even when a show price exceeds a place price or all prices are the same).

Please note that some results reflect horses racing after the blog posts (they appear the following week).

This week, there were 27 active horses (a 19-percent win hit rate and a 52-percent ATB [across-the-board] hit rate). Horses with asterisks before their names were tweets @FrankCotolo. Follow for all late choices.

Winners

Meadowbrook Chip, $13.60, $3.60, $2.80, Pompano
Anthem N, $4.80, $3.10, $2.40, Yonkers
Banderbear, $3.60, $3.00, $2.10, Dover
Ideal Magic, $3.10, $2.30, $2.10, Monticello
The Amazingsando, $2.80, $2.40, $2.10, Miami
 Seconds

Duplicated N, $14.20, $7.40 (Exacta $71.20), Meadowlands
Tamar, $10.40, $7.60, Meadows
Louie Louie, $6.60, $3.40 (Exacta $39.00), Meadows
Seeuinnashville A, $3.80, $3.20, Meadowlands

Thirds

Adorabella, $9.20, Northfield
Ozone Blue Chip, $3.40, Freehold
OK Galahad, $3.30, Monticello
Skyway Ballet, $3.20, Northfield
Guccirific, $2.40, Pompano
 
NEWS & NOTES

There is a new slant on a Pick 6 wager at Yonkers Raceway in 2021. Instead of lowering base ticket prices, the track “aims higher in hopes of producing pools that are meaningful for all players.” The Pick 6 has seen a renaissance recently. Multiple tracks offer a bet of 10 to 50 cents. Yonkers keeps the lowest wager at $1. “The $1 base price increases the possibility of a carryover and maximizes the return to players,” says officials After a slow start (the wager was hit on the first eight nights of 2021), the Pick 6 went unsolved for six consecutive cards to produce a sizable carryover for bettors to attack.

Alan Leavitt, owner, breeder, sport celebrity, launched: Fast Horses: A Podcast About Harness Racing, Horse People, and Life In General. The first is available in all podcast feeds, and at the Fast Horses website. Leavitt owns a lifetime spent breeding and racing harness horses. He was a longtime directorship in the Hambletonian Society, a second term as Gov. Beshear’s designee to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission; 28 years as a USTA director, and a member off the Harness Racing Living Hall of Fame.

Nick Roland has been getting noticed more by more bettors. He raced on the Chicago circuit when Illinois harness racing thrived, moved to Iowa for driving/training experience and went full time at Running Aces in Minnesota in 2008 to become the track’s leading driver. He shuttled from Cal-Expo to Running Aces since 2017.His 2020 season earned purses just under a million. (Thanks to Ken Weingertner, USTA).

Extraordinary Extras

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