Hinckley Retains Big Lead

by Rusty Nash for HANA Harness

August 31, 2015 – It was a very quiet week for the field of the 2015 HANA Harness Grand Circuit Handicapping Challenge presented by the Bellino Stables, DRF Harness, Hambletonian Society, Meadowlands Racing and Entertainment, Northfield Park, Tioga Downs, and Vernon Downs.

Saturday evening featured The Hudson Filly Trot and the Lady Maud from Yonkers.  When the tickets were cashed two of the HANA handicappers hit the contest daily double.  The pair should be familiar names for those of you who follow our friendly Quixotic adventure.  Bob Zanakis and Bryan Owen both tabbed Murderers Row and Purrfect Bags.  Each earned the maximum forty points.  Neither was able to climb over anyone else in the contest standings despite their handicapping success.

On short nights the only way to really move up is to be the only one with two big price winners plus the multiplier.  The two Saturday evening races simply did not look like they would produce anything close to two big prices.

There were no big movers this weekend.  In fact the slight movement that did occur in the standings was very small.  Thirty cents meant the difference in one case.  Our top three handicappers all scored the same number of points and are in the same relative positions.  Sally Hinckley remains safely on the engine with a lead of 336 points over Anne Stepien.  Mark McKelvie is in the show hole a mere 66 points further back.  Gordon Waterstone completes the super and Bob Zanakis rounds out the penta.

Standings as of August 29, 2015 - Leg 31
		Total Points	Points Earned	Overall	Position
Pos	Handicapper	Prior Week	This Week	Total Points	Last Week
1st	Sally Hinckley	2,600.80	4.50	2,605.30	1st
2nd	Anne Stepien	2,264.00	4.50	2,268.50	2nd
3rd	Mark McKelvie	2,198.00	4.50	2,202.50	3rd
4th	Gordon Waterstone	1,947.80	4.10	1,951.90	4th
5th	Bob Zanakis	1,891.10	40.00	1,931.10	5th
6th	Dennis O'Hara	1,820.50	4.50	1,825.00	6th
7th	Earl Paulson	1,800.20	11.10	1,811.30	7th
8th	Bryan Owen	1,602.20	40.00	1,642.20	8th
9th	Michael Carter	1,572.90	15.50	1,588.40	9th
10th	Josi Verlingieri	1,481.80	4.50	1,486.30	10th
11th	Ray Garnett	1,417.10	2.20	1,419.30	12th
12th	Mark Dezii	1,419.00	0.00	1,419.00	11th
13th	Rusty Nash	1,356.50	6.60	1,363.10	14th
14th	Garnet Barnsdale	1,326.40	15.50	1,341.90	13th
15th	Jay Hochstetler	1,310.50	11.10	1,321.60	15th
16th	Derick Giwner	1,223.60	6.70	1,230.30	16th
17th	Brandon Valvo	1,191.30	0.00	1,191.30	17th
18th	Ray Cotolo	850.80	6.60	857.40	18th
19th	Mark Deutsch	531.40	4.50	535.90	19th

Next week will be very busy.  There are events Thursday through Monday over the long Labor Day weekend.  We kick things off with two year old filly trotters in the Champlain Stakes at Mohawk.  Friday continues at Mohawk with more Champlain Stakes action plus the Simcoe for three year old filly trotters.  The marquee events on Saturday include the Canadian Pacing Derby and the Metro Pace.  Sunday sees us all visiting Balmoral for the American National.  We wind things up Monday at one of our wonderful sponsors, Tioga Downs, for the fourth leg of the Miss Versatility.  Several of these stakes will be contested in divisions which will make for a very interesting week on the HANA circuit. 

Hinckley Holds Off Furious Drive by Stepien

by Rusty Nash for HANA Harness

August 24, 2015 – It was a busy triple header for the field of the 2015 HANA Harness Grand Circuit Handicapping Challenge presented by the Bellino Stables, DRF Harness, Hambletonian Society, Meadowlands Racing and Entertainment, Northfield Park, Tioga Downs, and Vernon Downs.

Friday night kicked off with four races.  One from The Meadows and three from Vernon Downs (one of our contest sponsors).  Four handicappers were able to select three of the four winners.  Michael Carter took the early weekend lead with the better priced trio at 144 points.  Anne Stepien, Sally Hinckley and Bryan Owen were close behind with 125 points.  At the end of night one Sally easily remained the leader of the pack.

Saturday was a marathon event with five from Mohawk and most of the Pocono Downs card on the playlist.  It was close to a “no contest” as Anne Stepien simply crushed the field with an amazing performance of 892 points.  With eight winners she scored almost double the next best handicapper.  If Anne was Wiggle It Jiggleit she would have won by the length of the stretch in 1:46 with Montrell enjoying a soft drink and a good read. 

With seven winners each tour leader Sally Hinckley and Gordon Waterstone were both a very respectable “best of the rest” on what proved to be a very difficult Saturday evening for many of the players.  Sally added 497 points to her contest leading total and Gordon added 473.

The Saturday night rain out of the Cup and Saucer at Charlottetown’s Red Shores Racetrack and Casino (one of our contest sponsors) saw that event added to the Sunday line up of the Prix D’Ete and the Roll With Joe.  Dennis O’Hara and Gordon Waterstone both went a perfect three for three and earned the maximum possible 87 points. 

Big movers on the weekend, in addition to Anne, were Gordon Waterstone and Bryan Owen.   Gordon moved up to fourth and Bryan brushed from fifteenth to eighth.  The continued excellence of Sally Hinckley earned her runner up spot on the weekend to Anne Stepien.  With a cushion of more than three hundred points Sally is still wearing the colors of our tour leader.  

Standings as of August 23, 2015 - Leg 30
		Total Points	Points Earned	Overall	Position
Pos	Handicapper	Prior Week	This Week	Total Points	Last Week
1st	Sally Hinckley	1,970.90	629.90	2,600.80	1st
2nd	Anne Stepien	1,217.50	1,046.50	2,264.00	9th
3rd	Mark McKelvie	1,929.70	268.30	2,198.00	2nd
4th	Gordon Waterstone	1,378.90	568.90	1,947.80	6th
5th	Bob Zanakis	1,595.80	295.30	1,891.10	3rd
6th	Dennis O'Hara	1,462.00	358.50	1,820.50	5th
7th	Earl Paulson	1,536.50	263.70	1,800.20	4th
8th	Bryan Owen	1,054.40	547.80	1,602.20	15th
9th	Michael Carter	1,248.50	324.40	1,572.90	8th
10th	Josi Verlingieri	1,262.50	219.30	1,481.80	7th
11th	Mark Dezii	1,135.60	283.40	1,419.00	13th
12th	Ray Garnett	969.20	447.90	1,417.10	17th
13th	Rusty Nash	1,171.40	185.10	1,356.50	12th
14th	Garnet Barnsdale	1,043.80	282.60	1,326.40	16th
15th	Jay Hochstetler	1,173.10	137.40	1,310.50	11th
16th	Derick Giwner	1,079.00	144.60	1,223.60	14th
17th	Brandon Valvo	1,176.20	15.10	1,191.30	10th
18th	Ray Cotolo	757.30	93.50	850.80	18th
19th	Mark Deutsch	531.40	0.00	531.40	19th

Next week there are only two Grand Circuit events on tap and both are at Yonkers.  In all likelihood the ladies will again be leading the pack at the conclusion of next week’s contests.  Quite fittingly the two races are the Lady Maud and the Hudson Filly.

-30-

Hinckley on top in HANA Harness Grand Circuit Handicapping Challenge

By Rusty Nash for HANA Harness

         

August 10, 2015 – After the Hambletonian leg of the 2015 HANA Harness Grand Circuit Handicapping Challenge presented by the Bellino Stables, DRF Harness, Hambletonian Society, Meadowlands Racing and Entertainment, Northfield Park, Tioga Downs, and Vernon Downs, Sally Hinckley has firmly placed her handicapping sulky back in front of Mark McKelvie.  She did it by selecting five winners in the twelve race marathon and posted an impressive 1,966 total contest points.  Mark McKelvie remains very close and is a mere 52 points behind.  Gapped back in third is our early pace setter Bob Zanakis.

The real action occurred back in the pack where thirteen positions changed.  The biggest mover of the day was Earl Paulson and his super computer.  The computer and its ace programmer led all handicappers on the day with seven wins and 554 points earned.  Earl moved up seven positions from eleventh to fourth.

Dennis O’Hara was a close second on the day amassing 537 points on six winners.  He was the only other handicapper to correctly pick 50% winners on the day.  His key was Flanagan Memory at $21 which earned him 231 of his points.  He moved up the most positions from thirteenth to fifth.

The best individual pick of the day went to Brandon Valvo who selected D’One at $31.40.  The European invader won with a thrilling come from behind effort to upset Bee A Magician.  It was that race, plus the Cane, where Wiggle It Jiggleit faded after a speed duel that tripped up most of the contestants.

Next week the handicapping tour visits Northfield Park for the Carl Milstein Memorial.  The handicappers will appreciate the short work week to rest up for the following weekend that sees us visiting seven tracks and puzzling through 18 scheduled events.

Blockbuster Hambo Day Racing at The Meadowlands

East Rutherford, NJ - The 2015 Hambletonian Day card on Saturday, August 8 at The Meadowlands has all the elements necessary to be one of the great events in harness racing history.

The races will begin at noon with a $40,000 Open Pace and over the next six hours 164 horses will compete in 16 races for purses of just over $4 million, led by the $1.2 million Hambletonian and the $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks.

The story line for the Hambletonian became far more interesting when trainer Ron Burke entered the great filly Mission Brief in the open event, bypassing the Oaks and taking on last year's Hambo winning trainer/driver Jimmy Takter's five horse armada in the process.

The drama increased when Yannick Gingras, the regular driver for Mission Brief and Takter's top contender Pinkman, was named on both horses for the race. The two drew into separate divisions of the eliminations heats which will allow Yannick to drive each in their respective elimination before having to make a choice for the final, assuming both qualify.

Pinkman's late season rally as a freshman made him the champion of the division at two and he has defended his title with nearly flawless form this season. The most accomplished of the Takter five, Pinkman has won the Earl Beal, Stanley Dancer and Harry M. Zweig Memorials (all major stakes) in his last three start and has made well in excess of $1 million over his career for owners Christina Takter, John & Jim Fielding, Joyce McClelland and Herb Liverman. He is saddled with the far outside post ten in the first elimination.

Mission Brief has found the form that dazzled fans last season and was really keen to go in her most recent start, the Filly Zweig Memorial. The Muscle Hill lass is poetry in motion when on her game and has drawn the favorable post two in the nine horse second division for Burke Racing, Our Horse Cents, J&T Silva and Weaver Bruscemi.

The $1,000,000 Hambletonian final is race 13 and is scheduled to go to post at 5:15 pm.

The Hambletonian Oaks is a very well matched group of ten talented fillies. With the defection of Mission Brief to the main event and the tragic demise of elimination winner and consensus "horse to beat" Spirit To Win in a Monday morning training mishap, the race becomes a wide-open affair. Lock Down Lindy won her split in 1:51.4, starts from the inside for owners Mystical Marker Farms, Crawford Partners, Joe Sbrocco and In The Gym Partners and is currently doing her best work.

Wiggle It Jiggleit, currently the most exciting horse in harness, will race in the $319,400 Cane Pace, the first leg of pacing's Triple Crown (race 10). Wiggle It Jiggleit has been absolutely monstrous all season long and is coming into the Cane fresh off three weeks rest. He is a family project with young Montrell Teague driving the Meadowlands Pace winner for his father George's stable and trainer Clyde Francis.

The $109,500 Shady Daisy for the sophomore pacing fillies is another chapter in a season that has seen a very evenly matched group slug it out over the past two months with no filly able to rise above the others just yet.

The very best aged performers in the game are out in force on Saturday and account for several of the most competitive and entertaining races on the program.

Eleven pacing mares will race the route distance of nine furlongs in the $251,250 Lady Liberty (race 3). These mares may parade like ladies but when the starter says "Go" the gloves come off and the girls throw down. The Bamond family's absolutely iron-tough Anndrovette has won four division titles, $3.3 million and the Golden Girls stake last month here against many of these at the same distance when it looked like she may have lost a step. Well, she hasn't.

This year's edition of the US Pacing Championship is up next and offers a purse of $215,400 to a field of nine really good horses...make that eight really good and one great horse. The venerable $7 million winner Foiled Again has recently shown flashes of his best form after a slow start to the season for Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi and JJK Stables. He raced about as good as he ever has in the Haughton Memorial three weeks ago and had plenty of pace but no place to use it in last week's TVG Open. Foiled is also being honored with a Breyer likeness giveaway to all the kids that come out on Saturday.

The $301,500 John Cashman Memorial (open) and $181,450 Fresh Yankee (mares) feature trotting's elite in bulky fields at a mile and one eighth in races 5 and 6. All the stars of the division are on the racetrack in these trotting classics.

Magic Tonight returns home a champion, having won this year's Elitlopp in May for Swedish owner A. O J Konsult and trainer Roger Walmann. The expatriate son of Andover Hall faces a very deep field of eleven rivals including 2012 Hambletonian winner Market Share who is competing at the highest level on Hambo Day for a remarkable fourth consecutive season.

The Fresh Yankee is a brand new stake for mare trotters and the inaugural edition just could not have drawn a more stellar field. "Queen" Bee A Magician is the undisputed monarch of her division having won seven of eight starts this year including several versus mixed company while passing the $3 million career earnings mark along the way for owners Mel Hartman, Herb Liverman and Dave McDuffee.

"What about the young horses," you may ask. Well, the $389,450 Jim Doherty for fillies (race 2) and $349,850 Peter Haughton (race 7) for colts memorialize two of the game's legends with the first high-dollar opportunity for the freshmen.

Broadway Donna looks like a top filly, having dispensed of all competition with minimal effort thus far, including the fastest Doherty elimination last week for Jules Siegel's Fashion Farm. Woman's Will and Kathy Parker were the other elim winners and will seek the upset.

Southwind Frank is the favorite going into the Haughton, having won three of four thus far including both the NJSS final and his Haughton elimination with the greatest of ease. He is another from the Ron Burke barn and races for the same partnership as Mission Brief on what could be a huge day for those connections.

You want Wagering opportunities? We got 'em. There are $275,000 worth of guaranteed pools spread over several horizontal wagers and the day ends with a $231,403 carryover on the 8% take-out  Jackpot Hi-5. With this the close of the 2015 Championship Meet, this wager takes on "Mandatory Pay Out" status which will create huge interest and great value, potentially driving the pool into seven figures. Programs will be available here and in the Daily Racing Form.

If you can't make it live, the Hambletonian will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network from 4:00 to 5:30pm and is available in Hi-Def on TRN. The races are also available via live streaming from The Meadowlands website.

There are a ton of promotions going on throughout the plant all day long including the ever-popular Hambo hat giveaway.

It's the greatest day of the year in harness racing and it all happens at The Meadowlands on Saturday.

McKelvie on Top as Adios Weekend Scrambles the Standings

August 3, 2015 – With the multiplier feature of the 2015 HANA Harness Grand Circuit Handicapping Challenge presented by the Bellino Stables, DRF Harness, Hambletonian Society, Meadowlands Racing and Entertainment, Northfield Park, Tioga Downs, and Vernon Downs, the potential of the contest standings changing dramatically existed.  At the conclusion of the weekend, those predictions came true. 

After missing Friday night’s contest leg, Mark McKelvie responded with a roar, winning nine of the sixteen legs on Saturday, earning 1,075.9 points, which with his previous 717.6 points thus far has now propelled into first place with a total of 1,793.5, a lead of 126.6 points over Sally Hinckley’s 1,666.9.  Previous leader Bob Zanakis now sits third, with 1,372.3.

Other big movers this week were Gordon Waterstone who moved from seventh to fourth place, Josi Verlingieri (ninth to fifth), Rusty Nash (thirteenth to eighth), Mark Dezii (sixteenth to tenth), and Dennis O’Hara (seventeenth to twelfth).

While McKelvie already had eight winners at the end of the Meadow’s card, his coupe de grace was the fourth race at the Meadowlands where his last and final winner of the day pick in the TVG Trot of Flanagan Memory ($26.40, $9.00, $7.20) earned him a total of 383.4 points.

Standings as of August 1, 2015 - Leg 24
		Total Points	Points Earned	Overall	Position
Pos	Handicapper	Prior Week	This Week	Total Points	Last Week
1st	Mark McKelvie	717.60	1,075.90	1,793.50	4th
2nd	Sally Hinckley	1,014.30	652.60	1,666.90	2nd
3rd	Bob Zanakis	1,059.50	312.80	1,372.30	1st
4th	Gordon Waterstone	641.70	442.20	1,083.90	7th
5th	Josi Verlingieri	631.90	450.10	1,082.00	9th
6th	Michael Carter	749.50	275.40	1,024.90	3rd
7th	Ann Stepien	703.00	303.50	1,006.50	5th
8th	Rusty Nash	569.90	436.30	1,006.20	13th
9th	Derick Giwner	618.60	374.30	992.90	10th
10th	Mark Dezii	546.40	416.70	963.10	16th
11th	Brandon Valvo	561.40	395.10	956.50	15th
12th	Earl Paulson	614.20	334.20	948.40	11th
12th	Dennis O'Hara	483.20	446.50	929.70	17th
14th	Garnet Barnsdale	639.00	267.20	906.20	8th
15th	Jay Hochstetler	566.90	322.50	889.40	14th
16th	Bryan Owen	570.00	306.70	876.70	12th
17th	Ray Garnett	693.90	154.70	848.60	6th
18th	Ray Cotolo	362.70	351.70	714.40	18th
19th	Mark Deutsch	203.70	230.30	434.00	19th

This week the contest kicks off on Thursday, with the Whenuwishuponastar early closer final at Mohawk Racetrack and then finishes up on Saturday with the Hambletonian with its minimum of ten contest races.  Handicapper selections, results and standings are available at http://hanaharnesscontest.blogspot.com.