Top Fillies Fire At Philly; Confederation Cup Eliminates Pacers; Power Plays Poised For Profit

Spring is not having it so easy as to blanket May with bright, gorgeous skies and temperatures. It has been cold and wet over North America. Still, the racing numbers increase as more tracks open and more fans focus upon major horseracing events.

We being our stakes features on Thursday at Philadelphia’s harness installation, as Pennsylvania Sires Stakes (PASS) for three-year-old pacers brings some former-frosh faces into their new division for another season of stakes and stardom. In Canada, four-year-old pacers fight for a berth in next week’s Confederation Cup at Flamboro Downs. Elimination fields go on May 14.

The Hambletonian Trail blog continues this week with soph-filly trotters at the Meadows on Saturday, May 13 in lucrative PASS divisions. Check out TwinSpires’ exclusive harness analysis in its own presentation on the blog pages.

We again urge all players to pay close attention to the weekly H2W (the horses-to-watch) list. Do your own handicapping, and then compare and consider our selections when betting.

SLICK SOPH GALS

PASS divisions, each worth more than $36,000 for three-year-old filly pacers are the features Thursday, May 11 at Philadelphia’s harness oval.

Division one offers seven, most with a slew of class and some using the stakes to debut their soph season. frosh Breeders Crown winner Someomensomewhere gets the rail in her debut at three, coming off two successful qualifiers. She will be heavily bet, especially since Jimmy Takter takes her campaign over from Ervin Miller, who handled her at three. The other debut at three comes from Agent Q, a PASS champ at two, with three hot qualifiers leading into this race. She should get the public’s second-choice status.

A danger to that duo is Risky Romance. She won her first soph race at Philly as a new member of Noel Daley’s barn and she has the style to pace down the couple of speedsters here that may shuffle and/or duel their ways to losses here. Risky Romance may be on the way to improving and becoming a bigger threat to this division all season but here she will offer a great price.

Division two could be more competitive than the first round but still, Watch What You Say should get favoritism. One very alluring entry, though, is Concerto. She did not race at two and so far has only lost once in four at three, if you count a misstep, which eliminated her from the race, and an unexplainably bad trip at the Meadowlands to start the season. Her galloping problem could be her only problem because if she gets going smoothly she could deliver a win for the faithful bettor.

In division three the anointed Idyllic Beach comes back to make her predictors happy. She is touted as the be-all-end-all of this division, though even her sparkling campaign at two was far from perfect in the win column (and we caught her with a $100 winner one of those times). She does out-class these but may not become the superstar soph touted.

We enjoy the possibility that another Noel Daley filly new to his stable, V String, will be improving at three and that her May 5 race displays the prediction.

Division four serves the public a Jimmy Takter filly that will devour the win pool. Somesleasetoplease is raring to win at three but is quite vulnerable by nature. She has only a maiden win to her card. Inverse Hanover is a Morning Line (ML) choice but once again our eyes are drawn to a Daley filly—Caviart Ally. At two she cashed a number of checks, won a pair in 14 starts and though her two qualifiers to get here are not impressive they are competent and suggest she is gearing up for a big race at three.

POWER PLAYS

FEATURES~FEATURES

Friday, May 12
Yonkers/ Race 3

A full menu of single-race exotics is featured, giving the results some juicy possibilities. Here are our four contenders in post-position order. Choose your exotic and look to invest more than a base $2.00 to provoke a solid score.

Sweet Talkin Satin is the ML favorite, returning to an inside post where two races ago inthis company he just missed in a strong effort at 5-2. He will be looking for a trip that doesn’t force him to go wide in a charge.

Dakota Jack has won six of 15 already this year. He campaigned in the “Weiss” series at Pocono, winning two legs. He has been well supported there and cashed checks at Yonkers in the Sagamore series.

Pier Ho Temptation was a beaten favorite at this level last week and should have little trouble from post 6, even if it becomes a grind to challenge to top few. If he meets his ML odds on the board he could pump up the prices of the single-race exotics.

To assure some hefty prices, BJs Guy from post 8, should be in the mix. He has reasons to be among the top four if only considering his New York-track performances that, although they have not produced a win this season, show promise to get a good check in an exotic’s spot that counts in the pay-off department.

FEATURES~FEATURES

Saturday, May 13
Poconco/ Race  2

Trainer James Matheos was back in command of  Fool Of Ideas after losing the gelding late last season to Jean Drolet. He put in a mild fifth in his seasonal debut and has cashed checks at this level, which Matheos feels confident about for the nine-year-old’s second start this year. Considering the inequality of the rest of the field, including a ML choice that has not been able to strike a win while burning money from losing, Fool Of Ideas may be ready to take this one easily while we take our win ticket to the back with a good pay off.

FLAMBORO FLYERS

Two $20,000 eliminations on May 14 at Flamboro Downs determine the field for the final of the Confederation Cup. There are six four-year-old pacers in each division.

Ron Burke’s Check Six is expected to be favored in round one. He comes off of a sub-1:50 mile at The Meadowlands and faces a few lesser-known pacers—except for Western Fame, who gets post 6. The post alone will turn many bettors off but that should not be enough. This is a tough pacer and he will fight hard to get into the final and just may win under adversarial conditions.

In the second division, Sintra, also coming off an impressively fast win, his second in a row, is figured to be the public choice. Going against him is easy, we feel, because Roll Away Joe, from post 2, could easily out-pace him with a better trip. A fair price may be offered; don’t expect anything huge, however. 


H2W Legend

Review our choices and follow the wagering at the prescribed track. These are possible contenders we have judged from reviewing races. The horses’ names are listed beneath the name of the track after the date they will be racing. The race in which they are entered (R and race number) follows. If a + is in front of a horse’s name it means it is appearing on the list for the second (and last) time because it failed to win the first time it appeared. An “ae” signals the horse is entered on the also-eligible list. If a horse is listed twice, refer to the entries on the night of the race since a horse may enter in more than one race. Types of wagering on any of the H2W listed horses are based on your judgment. If you have any questions, email us at TwinSpires.

H2W LIST

Buffalo
5/12/17, +Mcturesque R9
5/13/17, Button Fly R6; +It’s A Good Thing R11

Charlottetown
5/11/17, +Textually Active R3
5/13/17, +Woodmere Dancenart R1

Harrington
5/11/17, +My Sugar Daddy R4

Hawthorne
5/11/17, Kabam R4; Rockinaroundheaven R5; Mar Dream R8; Ohio Larry R9
5/12/17, Why Ask Why R8; I Could Care Less R9

Hoosier
5/12/17, +Over Friskie R11
5/13/17, +Rock It On Out R9

Meadows
5/13/17, Dapper Dude R6; Roll With Howie R13

Monticello
5/11/17, So Cam Lady R3
5/15/17, +Clara Bea R1

Northfield
5/12/17, Power Everywhere R10; Sand Sonya R11

Northville
5/13/17, Dynamite Stick R3

Plainridge
5/11/17, +Kennel Browser R3; +Bas J R4

Pocono
5/13/17, +VIP Bayama R9
5/15/17, Savannah Sunset R9

Scarborough
5/13/17, Lady Spartacus R10
5/14/17, +Lucy From Hebron R14; +American Plan R9

Scioto
5/11/17, Picasso Forever R10

Tioga
5/13/17, Only In My Dreams R4; Fox Valley Leo R8; Classic Seabreeze R9