Adios, Hambletonian, Night School

They are dropping like flies in the Adios. An original field of eight has been reduced to just six with the subtraction of Hurrikane Kingcole prior to the draw and Allstar Legend on Friday afternoon.

Hurrikane Kingcole elected to skip the $500,000 highlight of the Meadows’s schedule for a softer spot in the New Jersey Classic at the Meadowlands. Trainer John McDermott felt his star 3-year-old colt did not like the track surface and elected to go elsewhere.

According to a press release sent out Friday afternoon, Allstar Legend will miss the final due to sickness.

The field now stands at six quality sophomores. With the late scratch of Allstar Legend, I am officially pulling my support for closer Thinking Out Loud and throwing all my monetary weight behind Sweet Lou.

Allstar Legend was clearly one of the early speed players and his defection means that Sweet Lou and A Rocknroll Dance will certainly make the front much more easily.

With the short field, there are no excuses for Sweet Lou today. Yes, it is a good field of horses, but he is on his home track and should be fresh considering his recent races. If he loses on Saturday, it will be a while before I find enough confidence to trust him as my top selection.

If you want to watch and wager on the Adios or any of the other races on the 18-race card at The Meadows, stop by our custom event page and check out the action and content.

Hambo time

The eliminations for the Hambletonian and Hambletonian Oaks are also on Saturday and I am hyped up for some strong racing action. With megastar Check Me Out in the Oaks and a wide open field of hopefuls in the Hambo, anything is possible.

I’ll be in the paddock tweeting if I see anything interesting and will also be tweeting pictures throughout the night. You can check it out at https://twitter.com/DRFHarness or view most of my tweets on our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/drfharness.

Night School

The first edition of Harness Night School is in the books and by all accounts it was a success. Numerous people joined the conversation and I was very pleased with the number of questions and the quality of the answers.

As the series continues we will go in-depth on more specific topics. Next week the curriculum is focused on DRIVERS.

You can view the archived first week of Night School and catch all of the lesson plans going forward, right here at DRF.