Top Win Prices At $21, $14; Three Levy Contenders From Two Legs Mark $505 Trifecta; 51-Percent In-The-Money Bets

Thursday’s attempt at the Freehold Pick 3 was thwarted by two favorites and an 18-1 shot (with only one choice per race). The longshot winner was in leg one where our choice, Mass Appeal (6-1) was eliminated from a break. Then, the public slammed the next two legs, beating Trey (20-1), who finished fifth and Donald Doc (9-1) who finished fourth. 

The Grand Circuit continued with leg two of the Matchmaker and “Levy” series at Yonkers. On Friday, March 24, there were three divisions. We wound up with the favorite in leg two of the first Matchmaker, finishing third with Divas Image ($2.20). In the second leg the public’s second choice won and we were third with a whopper, our first choice, Betabocool N ($11.80), while our second and third choices, Medusa, finished fourth and Tessa Seelster was seventh. The favorite won division three and we were fifth with Change The Rulz N (26-1).

Saturday, March 25, the second leg of the Levy presented a few huge disappointments, notably one of our choices last week—Melmerby Beach (12-1)—beating the horse that beat him last week, Long Live Rock, the horse we supported this week. That was the evening’s fourth division.

Although we have been correct about many of the weak performers in the Levy divisions so far, there was not been much to applaud about our contenders.

Another disappointment, for instance, was in the third division where we did have a winner, Missile J ($4.40, $2.50, $2.20), but our other choice, P H Supercam ($6.50) was third, beaten in the exacta by one of our choices from last week finishing in the exacta position, Somewhere In LA (13-1). That trifecta, featuring three we supported from legs one and two, paid $505.00.

The quartet began with a dull effort from Caviart Luca (6-1), as a first-time Levy division winner took the race at 5-1. Stay tuned, the Levy goes into its third leg next week, as does the Matchmaker, and with no dominating mares or horses, there are some outside contenders raring to beat the terrible inside bias on the half-mile track.

We started this week with a mini-blog to suggest spot plays for a Pompano Park Pick 6 on March 21 that started with a $16,000 carryover reward. There was nothing but heartache for our choices.

Three were short-priced failures, one, Stache (9-5), that broke and was eliminated. Diamond Dagger (5-2) did not race to those chances, flushing well three wide (from an 8-hole start) but finishing seventh, 3 lengths from a 16-1 shot that was very much an overlay. In another leg, Keystone Bodacious (5-2), came far off the pace but finished fourth.
A bad trip thwarted Gold Star Lovebug (6-1), burning out at the half while dueling with a pair of speedy leavers. Finally, Revrac Harbour (18-1) was a dull fourth to a public second choice (the race favorite broke and was eliminated at the start). The Pick 6 had a few winners, each ticket worth $11,708.05.

All horses that did not win in our features, including the Pick-6 spot plays from Pompano and any other special mid-week adventures, 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.

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 35 active horses (a 20-percent win hit rate and a 51-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

Lawgiver Hanover, $21.00, $6.50, $4.60, Yonkers
Ella V Horse, $14.40, $4.20, $3.80, Saratoga
Promontory Jo, $7.50, $4.50, $3.40, Fraser
Paydaze On The Way, $5.40, $2.50, $2.10, Monticello
Sunfire Blue Chip, $4.60, $3.40, $2.30, Yonkers
Hot Shot Lawyer, $4.00, $2.40, $2.10, Scarborough
Arts On Fire, $2.60, $2.20, n/s, Freehold

Seconds

Outlawtriggerhappy, $9.40, $5.00 (Exacta $59.80), Century
Dublin Rose, $8.10, $3.40, Yonkers
Togetherforever, $6.40, $4.00, Miami
Queen Of Racing, $5.20, $3.00 (Exacta $16.40), Northville
Mikeleh, $5.00, $3.80, Cal-Expo
Smoke Eater, $3.80, $3.60, Cal-Expo
Wind Of The North, $3.00, $2.20, Dover
Lastchancelilly, $2.20, $2.10, Monticello

Thirds

Lyric Of Life, $7.60, Northfield
Corky Baran, $2.40, Scarborough
Alexas Jackpot, $2.30, Woodbine

News & Notes

The $6 million Breeders Crown, harness racing’s year-end divisional championship series, will return to The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 2018. Pocono staged all 12 “Crown” events in 2013 (covered live by the TwinSpires harness-blog team) and saw victories posted by Bee A Magician, Captaintreacherous and the richest standardbred in North American history, Foiled Again. The five-eighths-mile track, nestled in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2015 and was the first track to host all 12 Breeders Crown races in one night on their inaugural hosting in 2010 (also covered on site by the TwinSpires harness-blog team).

Bee A Magician, one of the best Canadian-sired horses to ever set foot on the racetrack and one of this blog’s great finds since her early frosh year, has been retired at seven and will start a broodmare career. Richard Norman trained the daughter of Kadabra, Bee A Magician throughout her stellar career. Her lifetime summary reads 45-14-3 from 72 starts with more than $4.1 million in earnings, making her the highest earning Canadian-sired female racehorse in history. A divisional winner three times in Canada and twice in the U.S., Bee A Magician won Horse of the Year in Canada and the U.S. in 2013. Bee A Magician was in training for her return this season when she realized an injury to her right-front leg. Last May, she sustained a similar issue with her left-front leg, which knocked her out of action for four months. 

The H2W list reminds players that Rideau-Carleton Raceway launches Thursday night racing on March 30. The Thursday night cards’ post is 6:30 p.m. Due to its spotty weekly racing schedule and the deadlines of the major harness blogs, Rideau-Carleton has been omitted from a few H2W lists while still offering second-time entries. Come March 30, players will begin to see the track’s H2W products on the list, whether they are horses from the normal circulation of stock at the track or ship-ins from other Ontario raceways.

As of March 23, Saratoga Harness has a new policy for horses scratching out from Post 7 or 8. Trainers stabled on the grounds who scratch from said posts will not be permitted to enter their horse for seven days. Under no circumstances during that period will they be allowed to enter at any other venue, either. Trainers who ship to Saratoga will be given one free pass for the remainder of the meet, which runs through Dec. 17). Any subsequent scratches, the entry will be refused on that horse until the required seven days have passed. Players should note this while following specific horses at the New York oval.

Extraordinary Extras

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

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