Biggest Night in Harness Racing Post Script

Last night's North America Cup card is in the books. With good weather, a decent crowd pumped $5.6 million through the windows. WEG reported the amount bet on the Cup itself was a record. 

As for the races .... 

Trainer Marcus Melander seemed to have his horses ready, and it started in the Goodtimes where Neighver Punt delivered solidly at a nice 5-2.  The colt raced barefoot, and cruised home nicely. I thought Magic Punk, a deserved favorite, raced just okay. 

Regardless, the Hambo winner likely raced Friday night at the Meadowlands in the NJSS Final. Aside - Big Ranger set the track record at Scioto last night, and I thought looked the part of a Hambeltonian horse. 

Lexus Kody is back! I had this horse as one of the four obvious ones to use to close out the pick 5, but the way he raced you only needed to key the big fella (which I did not!). Snubbed for HOY last year, maybe he's pissed. Whatever the case, he was super. 

Melander's big night got better when Bourbanista won the Armbro Flight like an 8-5 shot, but paid $84. In my write up I talked about how everyone was off form, and if we looked at the race, this was one of the few that was on form. I didn't bet flat, but I actually had the tri in this race before Bravo Angel got tossed, in what I thought was a typical harness racing tic tac type call. I guess I'm biased. 

Burke's Indiana mare must've warmed up like an old lawn mower or something, because that horse was dead on the board in every pool. I liked her on the form, but she raced blah. 

I whiffed on Miki and Minnie; she was super, and when she was chalk over the Per mare, I think that told us something. Twin B Joe Fresh took a ton of money (word was she tied up last week) and was bad again. Maybe this grand mare has had it with racing at age six. It happens. 

The board for the Mohawk Gold Cup opened with two main contenders - Menary's Ervin Hanover and Doc Moore's Prince Hal Hanover. The sneaky money horse was Lou Hill with Doug Mcnair. All three raced well, and a third over steer from Dexter Dunn got the job done for the fastest horse in Canadian history. It was another entertaining race. 

The anticipation for the Fan Hanover was pretty palpable for harness geeks like us, with Loua Dipa meeting Jersey sires stakes champion Be Perfect BG. I was surprised that the pick 3 money showed Be Perfect BG a slight chalk, which made me wonder if Loua Dipa backers were missing something. 

Perhaps we were, as it's possible she was a little flat, getting a nice trip to only beat the Perfect Sting filly by a short head. She paid a pretty generous 6-5.

Regardless, I am shaking my head at this race a little. I believe these two fillies are very good, and Loua Dipa one of the best I've seen in a long time, but The Stable filly was not too far back in third, and Sangria Summer was only another length back, closing from deep. 

It's an immutable truth for both breeds - when we see something truly special there are gaps in the field, and the top one or ones have separation. Although the time was fast we didn't see that here. I'm interested to watch these two the rest of the year. Is Loua Dipa just fast or is she special? Jury is still out, in my view. 

In the big one, Odds on Mr. Mamba, drifted his way to a half length win at 2-1, beating a game Brandon Blvd with Beau Jangles a nose back in third. This was pretty much a carbon copy of the elimination, with the exact same tri. 

I think Odds on Mr. Mamba is a nice, fast horse, but I can't help but think he has some physical issues. They had a week to fix things and it didn't look like they were fixed. He didn't improve third start off a layoff; he raced about the same as he did last week. 

Either way, back to reality: Great job you little ball of bay gelding fire. The Wrenn's are fantastic people. The horse tries his ass off. He can flat out fly for a piece. I am so happy for y'all. 

Brandon Blvd raced once again, fine. I thought he was fine last year at Lexington, fine in the Somebeachsomewhere, fine in his elimination. I was happy to see trainer Andrew Harris get a big piece. The barn drew 10 in the Cup, 10 in the Mohawk Gold Cup and Yo Tillie was scratched sick in the Armbro Flight. 

I thought Beau raced pretty much like he did last week in his elimination. He got a nice half, control of the race, and (in something we rarely see in this race) the back half was faster than the first half. Kudos to Bob McClure for a beautiful steer. 

I know WEG employees yell at me on twitter (not really, you're all nice) but if we're being truly analytical, Beau has kind of raced the same his whole life, right? Like we noted above, a special horse separates and the field is strung out. Beau did that against local horses like Borderline Mobby or Redland Rocket Man, but failed to do it in his Metro or Breeders Crown. Those fields were bunched at the finish and Beau felt the stick to win those races. 

This year a fresh Brandon Blvd can obviously go with him, and a horse who went in 147.4 last year in the confines of Gabeland entered against him, and beat him on the square twice. I think Beau's a fine horse, he's going to finish the year with a lot of money, he's game. He's a really nice horse. But damn, stop yelling at me for not drinking the Kool Aid, lol. 

I was sad for the Legace's because their colt just didn't seem to fire on such an important night. I can't help but think there are going to be better days for this son of Sweet Lou. 

As for the crop, I'm not sure if it's going to end up being looked at as one of the better ones. Again, when you're three across the track with horses another length back in 4th or 5th or 6th in major grade one stakes, it's probably a fair take. But, I still find it exciting.  I'm looking forward to the Meadowlands Pace. I might even bet Beau if he's a price, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it Randy Waples!

I hope your night went well at the windows and enjoy the rest of your weekend.