Good Payoffs & Where's the Muscle?

Some wild and wacky payoffs tonight in horse racing.

Mountaineer's third race had a pool shot tri, paying $36,000 for a buck. What is weird is that on paper it was not that difficult. A 6-1ML onto two 15-1ML's. The morning line chalk was not a 1-5 shot either. In race 5, another whopper. RG's favorite trainer Donna Zook had a first time starter who won at a huge price. The heavy chalk ran off the board and the tote board exploded with monster show prices of $56, $45 and $48 respectively. A 1-5 shot ran off the ticket in race 7 as well, keying some nice exotics. It was bombs away night at the Mountain.

At Woodbine I notice off form, or on form horses without decent finishes are almost always underbet. Throw in a non-top driver and they can get downright scary on the underbet side. In race 8 (I was watching, not betting, so no accusations of redboarding please!) the Roger Mayotte driven Windsun Thunder went wire to wire and paid $13. If you look back into his lines it shows just how crazy this price was. At this exact same class 8 starts ago he jogged at 3-5. It was his lowest level in awhile. Then he moved up the ladder all the way to the 4YO open against some tough horses. Just two starts ago he was racing Bolero Charles, who is a Free For Aller. Down in that class he would be expected to be under 2-1, but for some reason he was not.

Harnessracing.com is running a race of the year piece. View from the Racetrack Grandstand took a look at them.

* Breeders Crown 2yo Colt Pace
* Hambletonian Oaks
* Kentucky Futurity
* William Haughton Memorial
* Little Brown Jug Elimination (Well Said elimination)
* Meadowlands Pace

I figure these races were picked for their excitement level; and those are good choices. What do we do with the Muscle Hill Hambo, though? I know it was not spine tingling, but the sheer dominance of that colt made it the race of the year for me.

You can go to Harnessracing.com and vote here.