Cotolo’s Harness-Weekend Review, 6-13-11
A crop deep with talent, the glamour-boy pacers again displayed a competitive arena in the three elims for next week’s $1-million North America Cup. We struck on two, though one was a surprise favorite.
At Mohawk on June 11 the crowd once again poured money into the success of Big Jim, who showed his shortcomings in the Somebeachsomewhere with a public-disappointing second-place finish. This time he was beaten by the colt we suggested, Powerful Mist (pictured, New Media Photo), who paced “Jim” down readily and paid $12.20.
The colt winning the third split, Big Bad John, went to post as the overwhelming choice. I was told just before the race that the buzz was deafening on this pacer, who is on a giant winning streak but had not displayed top-class talent yet. The “now” horse won easily and paid $3.60. We were hoping for 4-1 or up.
Lookinforadventure was a massive failure, finishing last in his elim. We don’t know if he came out of the race all right but he looked terrible struggling down the stretch. Certainly, we gave him a shot as he went to post near 50-1. That suggested something might be wrong beyond our analysis that his last two races were troubled trips. Until we hear something positive, this colt is off the watch list.
Filly pacers raced in three elims for next week’s Fan Hanover Final and we scored big here with What’s New Pussycat, the winner of the third mile, paying $39.70. See You At Peelers returned to face her own division after a win against colts in the “Rooney” the week before and won her split. Our other choice, Rocklamation, broke badly and was pulled up.
In June 12’s Maxie Lee at Chester, Corleone Kosmos got the worst trip getting to the top at the half and lost by a single length at the wire. He closed at a juicy 6-1. Keep him on the watch list against the top older trotters.
As for the glamour-boy-and-girl trotters, our exclusive Hambletonian Trail blog ensues, along with reviews, results and archives at theHambletonian Society home page.
At Cal Expo, in June 11’s no-takeout Pick 4, we apologize for another mix up. Our schedule showed that when the track holds 13 races, the Pick 4 runs from races nine through 12. But last Saturday the Pick 4 ran from races 10 through 13 without our prior knowledge of a change. We hope to get the correct information before suggesting ticket contenders.
As it turned out, we had only one winner at Cal Expo, a paltry $2.80 favorite in Race 11, Jessililpeace.
Harness News
We apologize for overlooking the news that John Campbell was injured in an accident on May 30 at Chester. John is recuperating but sources report his injuries are worse than earlier diagnosed.
“I can move around a little better than I could the first few days, obviously but I have a broken bone in my knee that I’m not going to be allowed to put weight on for another eight weeks. I can’t use crutches; I basically can get from the bed to the wheelchair, to another chair and back to the bed . . . I can’t even get one of those little scooters because of the position it would put my broken knee.”
These injuries put the champion driver on the sidelines as the stakes season gets rolling, leaving John out of the picture for most of the season’s highest profiled events. We all wish him a strong recovery, no matter the duration.
More reports on two-year-olds are coming in from baby races. Two colts by Horse of the Year Rocknroll Hanover (sire of last season’s Horse of the Year, Rock N Roll Heaven) were the fastest recorded last week.
Mybrothergeorge won in 1:56.3. This colt is owned by the “Heaven” connection Frank Bellino and trained by Bruce Saunders. Time To Roll won in 1:56.3 for trainer Jimmy Takter.
In the trotting kindergarten, a daughter of Hambo-winner Donato Hanover, Real Babe, won in 2:00 for the second-straight time, putting almost 10 lengths between her and the next filly. Ray Schnittker trains and is a part owner.
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