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Worlds Best Harness Racing Returns

New Years Day rings in another great track, as The Big M, Meadowlands returns with the start of their harness meet.

The meet is highlighted by the $1 million Meadowlands Pace on July 17th and the $1.5 million Hambletonian, the most coveted North American race for trotters on August 7th.

Racing begins Friday at 7 p.m. EST and goes through August 21st.

The first Derby of the New Year comes to us from Calder Race Course and it’s on the turf.  A field of 12 entered the nine furlong affair and is led by Lost Aptitude.  Lost Aptitude has won his last two and three of five overall.  All five of his starts have come on the turf and is the only stakes winner in the group.  He appears to have speed and stamina, which could put him right in the winner’s circle.  Of course picking favorites is easy and there several others here that rate a long look.

Becky’s Kitten exits back-to-back graded stakes including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.  In that race he did not draw well and was steadied early.  The Wesley Ward trainee didn’t draw any better here, post 12, but he is the best bred runner for turf and is the only starter to race in a Graded stakes.  His speed figures aren’t up to par with Lost Aptitude, but his second place finish two back puts him in the mix here.

The jockey on Becky’s Kitten for his last two, Julien Leparoux, jumps ship and lands on Cat Park.  The son of Tale of the Cat, out of a Dynaformer mare, is also well bred for the turf and beat Lost Aptitude two starts back.  In that race Lost Aptitude didn’t make the lead and Cat Park was able to out kick him down the stretch.  Cat Park didn’t show the same kick in his last and shows a curious work pattern since.  After his win in October he had two workouts, but after his last race he only shows one workout almost a month later.  Trainer Graham Motion may be running his horse in shape and this race could have been the target all along.  Third start off the layoff with his go-to rider could mean victory.

Gator Tiger, Sunrise Mystery, Our Champion, Fly by Phil and Trippo also make sense.  Gator Tiger, Sunrise Mystery and Our Champion have been running through the turf races for two-year-olds at Calder and Our Champion and Sunrise Mystery are coming off of wins.  Gator Tiger finished a neck behind Our Champion in their last.  It’s really hard to separate those three and all seem to be coming into the race well.  Fly by Phil hasn’t made a start on turf, isn’t bred for it, but is two for four overall with two seconds and goes for a good trainer in Kathleen O’Connell.  She isn’t known for winning with first time turfers, 1 for 39 over the past year, but the horse shows a work on the turf and could surprise at a big number.

Trippo is the lone shipper from New York and comes in off a second place finish in an allowance race at Aqueduct.  Trippo’s trainer Frank Alexander is a robust 22% with shippers into Florida off a 31-60 day layoff.  The one caveat is that all those wins were in maiden and claiming races.  In three stakes races Alexander’s horses have finished second, third, and tenth.  Another positive for Trippo is that Alexander, a normal 10% trainer, is hitting at 17% with jockey Cornelio Velasquez on the turf over the last five years.

After Lost Aptitude this race is extremely wide open.  The trifecta and superfecta payoffs should be decent and there should be some good win odds on viable contenders.  The race goes as race 10 and is the last leg of the late pick-4.  The Tropical Park Derby seems to kick off a weekend of turf stakes.  Across the country there are also turf stakes at Santa Anita and Fair Grounds.

Fair Grounds is a great track to wager on.  They always seem to have full, competitive fields with a full menu of wagers.  They even have the 50-cent minimum pick-4.  This Thursday is the last time for the two-year-old Louisiana-bred stake horses to win.  On Friday they will be three.

First up is the Futurity for colts and geldings.  The race drew nine betting interests and goes as race 5, which is the end of the early pick-4.  Off of his smashing victory last time in the slop Red Rally will be the heavy favorite, and looks to have this field at his mercy.  He is listed at 4-5 on the morning line, but will probably go lower than that.  He made a winning move coming in the stretch last time and drew off impressively.  Others to consider underneath are The Big Watusi and Ide Better Win.  Ide Better Win gets a good pace to run at and The Big Watusi goes second out and keeps Shane Sellers.  Lovely Tribute will be out winging and if left alone could get brave.

The filly version is race 7 and is the second leg of the late pick-4.  This race also drew nine betting interests, but came up much tougher.  Steve Asmussen has a three-horse entry, which is the 5-2 morning line favorite, but others in the race have better speed figures.  Geniesthreewishes broker her maiden in her first career start and is stepping up here, but the way in which she won suggests she can handle the competition.  Cherry Ide is another interesting long shot.  There might be a good-bad race pattern to her, but two of her last three starts were good.  Her only lone start was when she broke poorly and a poor break at Delta Downs is tough to overcome.  In reality a case can be made for the majority of the others, it definitely is a spread race.

After Blind Luck destroyed the field in the Starlet with her explosive late kick California horse players have to ask if anything can top it.  The short answer, yes.  The long answer is that Santa Anita opening day is Saturday.  The 10-race card has three graded stakes including the Grade 1 La Brea and the Grade 1 Malibu.  The first of the graded stakes is the Sir Beufort, a Grade 3 for three-year-olds on the turf.

The Sir Beufort goes as race seven and is the start of the late pick-4.  The Usual Q.T. will start favored after his victory in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby.  He has won five straight and a repeat of any of those would be good enough here.  After The Usual Q.T. the race seems to be extremely wide open and any one of the others could win.  Quoted made his first start on the grass a winning one and could have a bright future on the turf.

On to the Grade 1’s and first up is the La Brea for three-year-old fillies.  This race is extremely wide open and on first glance any one of the 12 may wind up in the winner’s circle.  Of the 12 only Gabby’s Golden Gal has won a Grade 1.  She took the Acorn at Belmont Park back in June.  Trainer Bob Baffert and owner Arnold Zetcher have teamed up for some big runs this year so look for her to make an impact.  Of the others Evita Argentina and Starlarks are the only two that have won a Grade 2 race.  Both of Evita’s were at this seven furlong distance and Starlarks won at a mile on the turf.  This could be the spread race in the pick-4.  Pay attention to double will-pays from race seven for any clues.

The co-Grade 1 feature Malibu is next and it drew a field of 13 three-year-olds who will try to win this on their way to the other races in the Strub Series.  This field is much like the La Brea field, but no horses have won a Grade 1.  Misremembered and Papa Clem have Grade 2 wins, but they were routing on the dirt.  Seven of the thirteen have started at this seven furlong distance with only Smart Bid, M One Rifle, and New Bay having won.  Smart Bid was super impressive in the Damascus on the Breeders’ Cup undercard and will be dangerous here.  Mythical Power hasn’t raced since May, but Bob Baffert can get them to run off a layoff and his style should suit well at this distance.  Hunch gets tested for class, but has done nothing wrong in his two starts.  The only horse with legitimate sprint speed is M One Rifle, but he is zero for two at Santa Anita and his front-running style does not play well on this course.  Look for closers all day to dominate.  If front-runners are doing well earlier in the card then perhaps MOR rates a look.

Santa Anita is the start of the 2010 California racing season and it should be a good one.  Zenyatta is not racing, but she will be there opening day.  Hopefully one of the other horses will have a Zenyatta-type performance and we may get a look at a Derby-hopeful in the last race.

There isn’t a lot of racing this week, but tonight at Penn National there is a decent allowance race for three-year-olds and up.  The race, race 5, drew a field of eight with Top Seed the 5-2 morning line favorite and is the third leg of the early pick-4, which could have a single in race four with Whowearsthepants.

Top Seed is making his second start off the layoff for trainer Michael Trombetta after finishing third in a stakes at Aqueduct.  This is the first time in his six-race career that Top Seed has put back-to-back races together without a layoff.  After three straight stakes races Top Seed will appreciate the drop, but he may not be a sure thing.  My Best Pal Red goes first off the claim, has won 10 of his 26 career starts and has been in the money 21 times.  A negative could be that My Best Pal Red has done his best work over a synthetic surface.  In contrast Are You Serious is a win machine on dirt.  He has seven wins in 17 career starts on dirt, but is making his first start since January.  A horse that may get over looked on the tote board is Lobo Del Norte.  Lobo Del Norte only finished a quarter length back of Top Seed in that race at Aqueduct and has numbers that hold up well in this field.