As promised, we have scoured our records to end the season with our TwinSpires Harness Players’ Horses of the Year. While the industry rattles off its divisional title-winners (see News below and last week’s blog), we continue a tradition we began when we began our popular player blogs at YouBet.  

Listed below are all the horses listed in this blog in 2012 that won and paid 4-1 or more, though there were plenty of other winners suggested (tweets that did not appear in the blogs are not included, even though many were more than 4-1). We note the track where they won (most Balmoral winners were linked to our Hoof Beats blog) and the price that they paid in descending order.  

Atop the list is the Players’ Horse of the Year—the highest paying win mutuel of the lot.  

That horse is Kommander Hawk. From this year’s early horses-to-watch (H2W) list, the six-year-old pacing gelding won at Pompano Park and paid $78.20. Ellen McNeil owns him, John McNeil III trains him and Fern Paquet drove him. He is by Pro Bono Best out of the Seahawk Hanover mare Spinners Hawk. His mark is 1:51 at Pompano.

 

Kommander Hawk, Pompano, $78.20
Poorlittlegirl, Cal Expo, $64.20
Electrofire, Meadowlands, $43.00
Fox Ridge Banner, Pompano, $35.60
Goldern Terror, Buffalo, $33.00
Art Z, Meadowlands, $32.80 

Warrawee Nonsuch, Woodbine, $28.80
Life Is Good Today, Balmoral, $25.00
Rockincam, Hoosier, $23.20
Lady Lakes, Balmoral, $21.80
Devilish Donnie, Cal Expo, $20.60
Ruffleshaveridges, Meadows, $20.60 

Sell The Dragon, Balmoral, $20.60
Captain Obvious, Balmoral, $20.20
Darena Hanover, Pocono, $19.20
Slippin Away, Balmoral, $19.20
Aracache Hanover, Pocono, $18.80
Tone, Balmoral, $18.40 

Judys Jet, Balmoral, $16.80
Rock N Lawyer, Balmoral, $16.60
Wrangler Reward, Cal Expo, $15.80
Cherry Tree Nicole, Cal Expo, $15.40
Allamerican Improve, Buffalo, $15.00
Hollywood Lenny, Cal Expo, $15.00

Totowin, Buffralo, $14.80 

Romantic Moment, Mohawk, $14.50
Pilgrims Haley, Balmoral, $14.00
Verdad, Pocono, $13.60
Blue Claw, Woodbine, $13.40
Rejoiceandbeglad, Balmoral, $13.20

Yankees In Six, Pompano, $12.80
CDs Ideal, Balmoral, $12.60
Explosive Action, Yonkers, $12.40
Rebecca Bayama, Tioga, $12.40
Acapulco Gold, Balmoral, $12.20
Art Z, Yonkers, $12.00

Gentle Dragon, Cal Expo, $12.00
Rocklamation, Cal Expo, $12.00

High Noon, Meadows, $11.80
Bewareofthisaffair, Cal Expo, $11.60
A Rocknroll Dance, Meadowlands, $11.40
Destinys Chance, Pocono, $11.20  

Prestidigitator, Mohawk, $11.00
Aperfectyankee, Meadowlands, $10.80
Ideal Romance, Vernon, $10.80
Sand Starla, Balmoral, $10.80
Stylemaster, Balmoral, $10.80
Fritzs Z Tam, Yonkers, $10.60  

Mystician, Woodbine, $10.50
Billmar Scooter, Yonkers, $10.20
Day Blue Chip, Meadowlands, $10.20
Hanover DGN, Cal Expo, $10.20
Wishing And Hoping, Balmoral, $10.20
Pet Rock, Yonkers, $10.00
Say It Best, Pompano, $10.00

We hope you have benefited from the publishing of these horses when projected as winners. Through the next year we hope to continue to supply you with live horses, great-paying winners and elements for healthy paying exotics.

Here they are from the highest paying to the lowest paying winners from the list on our blog last Thursday:  

$9.80, Dani California, Cal Expo

$8.80, Gray Olives, Freehold
$8.40, Tangram, Cal Expo
$5.20, Exotic Sparkle, Fraser
$4.20, Chica Caliente, Fraser
 

Seconds:
Sir Jillian Z Tam (7-1), Yonkers; Rileys Luck (9-1), Philly; Sweet Reunion (7-1), Fraser   

Sir Jillian Z Tam was the second half of an exacta with the race favorite, paying $31.80. Rileys Luck paid $10.40 to place and $4.20 to show while losing to a 14-1 shot.  

Thirds
Coal Younger (11-1), Cal Expo; Paul The Powerful (8-1), Cal Expo; Jessalilpeace (4-1), Cal Expo; Cool Ashlee (10-1), Freehold; Straight Dancer (2-1), Northfield; Lee A Bryant (5-2), Northfield  

All adjustments for returnees to the list and additions will be in the Thursday blog. 

Indulge in many standardbred topics at my Hoof Beats blog titled Vast Performances. Every weekend as part of that blog we we offer Balmoral Pick-4-and-win picks at the USTA’s Strategic Wagering Program page which includes suggested win bets.  

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.

 

The overnight races continue to be our focus as several tracks were we review good horses getting bad trips, raring to return a full-force contenders Those prospects earn their way on to our exclusive horses-to-watch list (H2W).  

Our H2W list continues to provide TwinSpires players and blog readers proverbial “hot horses” based on our experienced spotters’ evaluations of recent races at various raceways.  

Before another quick review, we remind all H2W followers that playing the horses listed—no less how you play them—is based solely on you personal assessment of their closing-odds value. You need to play or pass based on how you like or dislike the odds given. There is no way we can tell which horses will go off at which odds. Besides, fair odds on any horse is measured by the individual. So, in our review blogs on Monday, we list all of the winners, no matter what they paid, and we show seconds and thirds with their closing odds because H2W followers use these horses in exotics. 

Reading the legend below remains in our specific format. Before the horses’ names is the track, followed on the next paragraph by a date it (or they) will be racing, with the race in which they are entered (R and race number). If a + is in front of a horse’s name, it means that horse is appearing on the list for the second and last time because it failed to win the first time it appeared. An “ae” means the horse is on the also-eligible list and needs a scratch to get into the race. It is up to you how to deal with more than one horse on the list that is entered in the same race.  

To discourage repeating the error we made last week when we omitted a horse that won and should have been on the list, we are adding a notation to the legend. If a horse that has appeared on the list but was scratched or is not racing its second week consecutively, you will see a N/R after its name and will appear on a separate line from dated entries. 

The H2W list displays “live” horses that have shown strict potential in recent events, having been thwarted by traffic or going a trip that sends up a flair to notice fresh form. All of them need to be considered contenders in the races noted, getting two chances on the list. If you have any questions about the H2W list, send them to us through the TwinSpires blog channel. 

Cal Expo
12/21, +Tangram R1; Ajs Little One R1; Chevie Balboa R1; +Jessalilpeace R3; +Paul The Powerful R5; +Im The Money R5; Little Box Out R6; Scootin Higher R8; +Coal Younger R8; +Komodas Fantasy R11

12/22, Dani California R9; Moody Miss R11

+Cheswick N/R; +WH Scooter N/R; +Precious Few N/R

Fraser
12/21, Red Star Dana R2; Manos De Dios R3; +Exotic Sparkle R3; +Sweet Reunion R5; +Cheyenne J R6; Call Me Up R7; Rossridge Fortune R8; Red Star Betsy R9; Chica Caliente R9; Fighter Bliss R10; Worknfortheman R11; +Quite A Lady R11

 

Northfield
12/21, Kinnick R2; +Power And Purpose R3; Arts Shadow R4; +Jennas Dream R6; +Straight Dancer R6; Custers Last Stand R13; Lee A Bryant R13; +Arion R14
+Sand Latte N/R; +Our Mclovin N/R 

Philly
12/21, Ornate Hanover R6; Aint Got A Home ae R6; Rileys Luck R8; On The Radar R10; Ambro Billow ae R14

Pompano
12/22, +Cascata R4; +Grin Big R4; +Super Railee R5; +Mcgreat R8
+Max Q N/A; +Desert Hanover N/A; +Major Najor N/A

Yonkers
12/21, Likeabatoutahell ae R11; Sir Jillian Z Tam R12
12/22 Armbro Billow (ae at Philly, see above) R3 

 

Foiled Again, now eight, repeated as Older Male Pacer and Anndrovette won again as Older Female Pacer.  

These champion pacers will be honored at the Dan Patch Awards banquet, Sunday, March 3, at the Westin Beach Resort and Spa in Fort Lauderdale, the climatic event of Harness Racing Congress VI that will run throughout the weekend. Information about the banquet, the Congress, and related topics can be obtained by going to the harness writers’ website, www.ushwa.org. 

In our harness weekend update we will announce the divisional winners from this TwinSpires exclusive harness blog series of 2012, which is solely based upon the horses’ potency as winners that have been predicted (and hopefully played by readers) this season. 

Ray Cotolo contributed to this edition.