It was a jam-packed
weekend with Kentucky harness action and New York prestige, going Friday
through Sunday. Here’s how it turned out for our suggested contenders at The
Red Mile, Yonkers and the tracks from our horses-to-watch (H2W) list.
Kentucky Grand Circuit
action began well for us on Sept. 27, as we nabbed each of the Bluegrass Stakes for
frosh-colt trotters, with the prices increasing as each win developed. Father
Patrick won but only paid $2.10 (a price beginning to look like an overlay
considering the colt’s magnificent record). Then, Oddson Almethyst went off the
top choice, something we did not predict, and paid $4. The best hit was next,
as Outburst won and paid $16.20.
At our The Breeders Crown Countdown blog
we analyzed the New York Sires Stakes Championships at Yonkers Saturday night,
where eight finals were worth $225,000 each. Our contenders did, indeed, turn
out to be live entries but some went off favorites and to our chagrin, lost
anyway. We had three winners, including the outrageously obvious He’s Watching
($2.10), Fool Me Once ($2.70) and one of the four second-highest paying
winners, Social Scene ($10.20). Three others were second, one was third and the
other broke and was eliminated at the start.
The countdown blog, in cooperation with the Hambletonian Society and TwinSpires, is
your exclusive bettors’ aid for handicapping top contenders’ events heading toward
the October classics. Check it out each week in league with our Thursday
TwinSpires blog as we become closer to our live coverage of the eliminations
and finals from Pocono Downs on Oct. 12 and Oct. 19.
Saturday at The Red Mile we once again backed Captaintreacherous (photo above), who put in his speediest effort to date, a 1:47.1 victory ($2.10). To hear Ray Cotolo's call of the race, click here.
Our other Saturday choices resulted in just two thirds with Carracci Hanover and Wake Up Peter.
Sunday at The Red Mile produced two seconds with Shared
Past, the favorite, and Lindy’s True Grit at a surprising 29-1 ($8.20 to
place). There were two thirds with Deadliest Catch and Mistery Woman.
H2W RESULTS
$13.00 Blackwalls, Batavia
$5.00 Littlebitofthunder, Rosecroft
$3.00 Greg And Flex, Maywood
$5.00 Littlebitofthunder, Rosecroft
$3.00 Greg And Flex, Maywood
The following are the horses that finished
second or third along with their post-time odds. Special notes on those
finishes follow.
Seconds:
Hit The Hill (9-1), Rosecroft; Blissfull Jessie (5-2), Northfield; Saywhatuneedtosay (2-1), Freehold
Hit The Hill (9-1), Rosecroft; Blissfull Jessie (5-2), Northfield; Saywhatuneedtosay (2-1), Freehold
Thirds:
Iemma Machine Baby (10-1), Northfield; Mythical Hall (16-1), Batavia; Skyway Titan (9-1), Maywood; Usefull Hanoer (6-1), Freehold
Iemma Machine Baby (10-1), Northfield; Mythical Hall (16-1), Batavia; Skyway Titan (9-1), Maywood; Usefull Hanoer (6-1), Freehold
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
News And Notes
San Pail, one of the best trotters bred in Canada, makes his return to the
track after more than a year, on Monday night at Mohawk. He only has five
rivals in the $34,000 Preferred Trot, but the quintet includes Intimidate,
arguably one of this season’s hot square-steppers. The Quebec owned
four-year-old demanded attention last fall when he captured the Breeders Crown
Final against a group including Hambletonian winner Market Share. Intimidate
comes into the race with a four race winning streak which includes the $214,000
Credit Winner at Vernon where he defeated the best older trotters in North
America. Trainer Luc Blais tried to race San Pail this year but he broke stride
repeatedly.
Another Canadian harness facility is in danger of extinction with the future
of Hiawatha Horse Park looking bleak. “There’s no compensation for us. Just
close your business down and basically file bankruptcy," said Hiawatha
owner Jim Henderson. He laments the uncertainty of his track in a story noting
that there is enough in their purse pool to operate for another two years but
that will depend on the government. To read the story, and watch the video,
please click here.
What about changing harness racing’s Triple Crown? Many people don’t even
know there are Triple Crowns for pacers and trotters, no less that a horse has
to participate six races, at least, to win a “Crown.” Click
here for a controversial essay about the sport’s business and the value of
holding Triple Crowns.
We have not been counting but we are aware
that this season is already responsible for numerous world-record miles on all
sized tracks. The industry puts speed at a high premium but, as readers of our
material over the years know, the record-breakers are sometimes spotty
performers and many of them get a speed badge based on the efforts of another
horse’s shortcomings. Truly fast horses, ones that break records by cutting all
the fractions and dismissing challenges (Captaintreacherous, I Luv The Nitelife
and Father Patrick this season as examples) are the truly fastest in the sport
and deserve holding speed badges. And, all in all, only the earned speed
records matter when it comes to handicapping. Don’t be fooled by fast times;
just be frightened by truly fast horses.
The progeny of trotting sires continue to be
popular and ultra-valuable overseas. Offspring from Donato Hanover and Cantab Hall fetched the top prices at
yearling sales in Italy and Sweden this week. In Italy the colt Toronto AS was
sold for $265,000. He is a Donato Hanover product. In Sweden the filly
Charlene Am, by Cantab Hall was sold for $95,000. Charlene
Am was sold on the first day of the Swedish Kriterium sale. The average price
of $22,500 was equal to last year but fillies were more in demand this year and
the average price for fillies rose by 44 percent.
Pompano Park is set to kick off its 50th
anniversary pari-mutuel season on Saturday, Oct. 5. This season will feature
new wagering options as well as several new faces on the track. There will be a
Pick-5 wager to go along with a Pick 3 and Pick 4.
Some
of the new stables expected for competition include those of Jim Hardy, Chris
Lems, Dave Stratton, Bruce Clarke, Jimmy Whittemore and Greg Wright. Returning
stables include stock from Mike Deters, Wally Hennessey,
Jim McDonald, Bruce Ranger, Joe Pavia, Jr. and Rick Plano. An addition of
Sunday racing will begin in mid-November.
Extraordinary
Extras
Indulge in many standardbred topics at my Hoof Beats
blog titled Vast
Performances.
Connect to Twitter and follow Frank and Ray Cotolo for
up-to-the-minute suggestions on wagers at many harness raceways. Then, wager
from your TwinSpires accounts.
Ray Cotolo contributed to this blog.
Cartoons by Thom Pye